Chapter Two
Eric
Oh, boy was I in trouble. Damsels in distress were my downfall. Especially beautiful, sexy ones with intelligent eyes. Especially pretty woman who smelled like a springtime sunset. Fresh, free, more important than the universe.
A heart-shaped face framed by lush brown hair. Big eyes that missed nothing. A smile that could melt a guy’s heart and a body made for sex. Her curves fit against me like a well laid out plan.
I steadied her until she had her footing and then reluctantly let her go. The last thing I wanted her to think was that I was some kind of threat. Not to her. Everything told me that the wrong word and she’d bolt like a doe through the woods. She’d be gone so fast she’d be just a memory and that was the last thing I wanted.
I opened the front door and showed her in. Thankfully I had cleaned up and the place looked good. A few Christmas decorations. Sally made me put them up. She said Mom would roll over in her grave if I didn’t. The dishes were done and put away. And the room smelled of pine from the small Christmas tree in the corner.
It looked almost normal. I sighed inside.
“This is nice,” she said as she slowly stepped in, like a cat warry of a trap.
“You act surprised,” I said as I turned down the hall.
“No …” she said as she followed me.
I laughed. “In here, the guest room. I’m down the end. The bathroom is across the hall. The other room is my workroom.”
She nodded. As she looked around the guest room. The double bed, a dresser with some of Mom’s Knick Knacks.
“Thank you. This is so nice of you,” she said with that soft, feminine voice that touched something deep inside of me. God, I’d been alone too long. I was turning into a silly fool over a girl’s voice.
I shrugged my shoulders. What could I say? It wasn’t like I could let her freeze to death.
“The kitchen is in here,” I said as I started to show her the rest of the house. “Feel free to grab anything you need. And don’t be surprised if you hear me up in the middle of the night. In this storm, I will probably get more calls.”
She frowned, “If you own the shop, why are you driving the truck?”
I laughed and shrugged my shoulders. “The other guys have families. I figure they need to be home on this night.”
She looked at me strangely for a moment then nodded.
The two of us stood there looking into each other’s eyes for longer than we should have. But I had forgotten what I was supposed to do next. The woman was beautiful, in my home, all alone and I was like a stupid teenager on his first date. This was so ridiculous.
“Well, we should probably go to bed,” I said.
Her eyes sparked open and her cheeks grew pink. It took me a second to figure out what I had said. I smiled at her and leaned forward.
“Don’t worry Brooke, I’m not a beast. I promise. I won’t attack you during the night. And just so you know, your door locks.”
She relaxed just a little. “Thank you again. And you are right. I am tired.”
“All the adrenaline,” I told her. “You’ll crash and be out for the night.”
Again, the two of us stood there, neither wanting to break the spell. Finally, she pulled back, shaking her head as if she was trying to clear away cobwebs.
“Thank you again, Eric. I really do appreciate it. Everything. Coming to get me on a night like this and then offering to let me stay here. It's very sweet.”
I laughed. “Yeah, just don’t tell anyone. I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”
She smiled up at me then went into her room. My shoulder’s slumped. Oh, crap, it was going to be impossible to get any sleep. I had a feeling I was going to spend the night tossing and turning thinking about the beautiful girl in the other room.
Somehow, I finally fell asleep only to be woken by my phone beeping at me. Another car in the ditch. Not far from where I’d retrieved Brooke.
Brooke! My mind jumped to the idea of the pretty girl curled up under the blankets in the next room. How was she doing? I was sure she was had been worried. I had seen it in her eyes when I suggest she stay here. The woman wasn’t a fool. But she’d squared her shoulders and accepted the danger.
I had to admire that, I thought as I quietly got dressed. If I was careful, I could get out on the road without waking her.
As I opened my bedroom door though I had to freeze. Brooke was coming out of the bathroom. We both froze. My heart lurched. She was dressed in a cropped T-shirt and shorts. All I could see were long bare legs that looked like they went on forever.
I couldn’t stop myself from slowly looking her over. All the way up until our eyes locked. Her cheeks grew pink. I’d obviously surprised her.
It took me a minute to get my mind to work again. The woman was beautiful in that innocent, yet sexy way some women have. A mixture of virginal and temptress that could drive a guy crazy.
“I’ve got a call,” I managed to say.
She swallowed hard and nodded as she jumped back into her room.
Great, I thought. She was going to think I was a creep for checking her out. But hey, she was the one-half naked in my hallway. What did she expect?
Shaking my head, I pulled on my gloves as I left the house, Making sure to lock up behind me.
When I returned early the next morning, I silently let myself in and froze for a moment. Let her sleep. If I was lucky, I could grab a couple of hours before the next call.
As I crept past her door, I caught a hint of her perfume. A sexy combination of female scent that made my insides beg for more.
God, I had it bad I realized. The girl’s perfume was driving me crazy.
.o0o.
Brooke
The smell of coffee pulled me up out of a dream about a large man carrying me to his cave and taking me over and over again.
My cheeks burned, and my very core ached with need.
Was he back? I wondered. I hadn’t heard him. But coffee, he must be back. Why did I have such a strong desire to see him again? Why was my mind picturing a dozen different scenarios? All of them including Eric.
Shaking my head, I tried to push those sexy thoughts aside and concentrated on my immediate future.
I dressed quickly and walked down the hall. Christmas morning, I realized. The tree was lit. Christmas carols played in the background and Eric stood in front of the stove flipping pancakes. His large back to me. A dish towel was draped over his shoulder. The man almost looked domestic. A smile creased my face. The man was about as far from domestic as a person could be.
He must have sensed I was there as he turned and smiled at me while he pointed to the coffee pot.
“Good Morning, Coffee? Breakfast will be ready in a minute.”
My insides melted just a little. He instinctively knew the way to my heart. Coffee.
I poured myself a big mug and used the half and half on the counter to spruce it up. Taking a big sip, I felt my world fall back into place.
“Thank you,” I said with a heavy sigh.
He nodded as he flipped another pancake.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked without looking at me.
“Yes,” I replied which was a lie of course. I’d spent most of the night thinking about a large, black-haired man who had rescued me from a possible death.
“Here,” he said as he pointed to the bar stool on the other side of the counter. “Two, three, or four,” he asked as he held up a plate.
“Um … A couple, I guess,” I said as my stomach rumbled making me blush.
He laughed and added a third one to the stack and some sausages to the side. He put the plate down in front of me. Then some silverware and syrup. The delicious scent of good food flooded my senses.
The competent man also cooked.
“So,” he began as he set his own plate down and sat on the stool next to me. “I can’t get your car fixed today. All the part’s stores in the area are closed. But I can get the guys working on it first thing tomorrow.”
All I could do was nod as I devoured the food he had cooked for me. Inside though I was desperately reconfiguring my finances. This would be less to live on in Seattle until my first paycheck.
“In the meantime,” he continued. “you could do me a big favor.”
My fork halted halfway to my mouth as I jumped to a dozen different possibilities.
He read my mind and laughed as he shook his head.
“I told you, I’m not a beast. I don’t force women into my bed.”
No, that was sort of obvious, I thought. A man like this wouldn’t have a problem finding women. They were probably lined up for him. I slowly let out a long breath as my cheeks grew hot again. The mere mention of bed and my mind went where it shouldn’t. Why was I always blushing around this man?
“What do you need me to do?” I asked as I finished my bite of food.
“Come with me to my sister’s for Christmas dinner. She would kill me if she found out I left you here on Christmas.”
My heart stopped. His sister’s. For Christmas. What would they think? I balked as my brow furrowed.
“Don’t worry about anything,” he said. “It’s just dinner with her and her husband and their three rug rats. Jake’s aunt Beatrice might be there. But it will just be a big dinner around the dinner table. But like I said, Sally would kill me if she found out I left you behind.”
Why did I think he was making that latter part up. He was just trying to be nice and didn’t want me to feel guilty.
“Are you sure, I mean don’t you need to check with her. Or something.”
He laughed as he shook his head. “You don’t know Sally, she’ll have enough food to feed a football team.”
Christmas dinner? My mind jumped to a montage of lonely Christmas dinners. If I was lucky enough to be in a foster family, I would always feel like an outsider. Even when they went out of there way to make sure I got just as many presents as the other kids. I still felt like an outsider.
I was a pro at being an outsider.
“Sure,” I said as I shrugged my shoulders.
He smiled as if it had been important to him. That fact made me feel special inside. The two of us looked into each other’s eyes. I felt myself falling. He glanced at my lips then back up to my eyes.
Instinctively, I leaned forward as if pulled by a magical force. He started to lean forward when his phone on the counter beeped.
It was like being hit by a bucket of cold water as my universe re-established itself.
“Yes,” he growled into the phone which made me smile. He had been as upset as I was by the interruption.
“Sure,” he added with a heavy sigh. “I’m on my way.”
My heart fell. He was leaving again.
Eric hung up and turned to face me. I could see it in his eyes, he was thinking about how close we had come to kissing and was wondering if he could return to it. But the moment was lost. We both felt it. The magic had passed us by and would never return.
Taking a deep breath, he got up and took our plates to the sink.
“I’ll be back in a couple of hours. There’s an accident out on forty-four. But I’ll be back by noon in time to head over to my sister’s”
I nodded as I bit my lip, I was still aching over the loss of that kiss and dreading spending the morning without him. How had this happened? I barely knew the man but already dreaded him being gone.
“Listen,” he said as he grabbed his jacket off the back of a chair. “Feel free to explore, there are no hidden rooms. No secretly buried bodies.”
I laughed as a thrill shot through me. Suddenly the idea of learning more about this man seemed like the most important thing in the world.