by Jill Shalvis
Page 15
Author: Jill Shalvis
Her foot slipped.
Chloe did a perfect imitation of a cat scrambling for purchase on linoleum, but it was no good. A second later, she was on her butt. She gasped but didn’t bother to scramble up. It was too late now; she was in up to her belly button. Never one to waste an opportunity, she took another look around, then carefully pulled off her half-muddy shirt and tossed it to the shore to join her jeans. Relaxing, she soaked in her bra and panties beneath the wide-open sky.
As the mud worked its magic, she finally admitted to herself that what she’d felt earlier was more hurt than anger. She’d honestly tried to fit in, to pick up the slack around the B&B. And just because her mother’s death and going into business with her sisters had forced her life into a one-eighty, it didn’t mean she could ignore her other responsibilities. Dammit, she’d been serious about the skincare line she’d been working on, and her client list hadn’t been developed overnight. Didn’t that alone prove she’d grown up some?
But with some distance—and warm mud—she could admit to herself that she understood her sisters’ concern. Renovating the sunroom would cost time and money. And yes, they were right, Chloe’s track record was spotty. But there had to be a compromise. She could promise to commit to a certain number of days a week where she’d stay in town, for instance. And they could promise to believe her. With a resigned sigh, she rose and walked out of the mud.
She looked around, then with a philosophical shrug, she stripped out of her bra and panties, rubbed the excess mud off the best she could, and put her clothes on.
Commando.
Then, with the mud drying on her skin, she moved gingerly back down the trail, telling herself she was merely amplifying the healing affects by keeping the mud on so long. Hell, she’d probably look like a movie star after this. By the time she got to her Vespa, she’d talked herself into believing it. Hard to do when she felt like she’d been wrapped in concrete, but she managed.
That’s when she discovered problem number two. Her Vespa wouldn’t start. Okay, this was more than a minor setback. With no cell service, she had little choice. She walked down the road to the highway. Unfortunately, by the time she got there, her lungs had had enough. The two long walks had tightened her chest uncomfortably. Her inhaler helped with that, but she still didn’t have cell service. She was going to have to flag someone down off the highway while looking like a swamp thing.
So much for being a grown-up.
In less than five minutes, a shiny black truck pulled off to the side of the road. Todd’s baby.
“Hey, cutie,” Todd said with his good-old-boy smile as he leaned over and opened the passenger door. He wore a Mariner’s cap on backward, a ratty T-shirt, equally ratty jeans, and steel-toed boots, none of which took away from his easy good looks and tough build. A roofer by trade when he chose to work, he was clearly on his way to or from a job. “Problem?” he asked.
He didn’t blink at the mud. This was probably because he wasn’t looking at her limbs. Nope, that honor went to her braless breasts, now outlined with extra-special clarity thanks to the mud acting like an adhesive. “My Vespa’s battery is dead,” Chloe said. “And I don’t have cell service. ”
“No one does right here. ” He didn’t say a word about the fact that her Vespa was nowhere in sight. “You know what this means, right?” he asked. “You’re at my mercy. ” He grinned, and she sighed. One hundred thousand sperm and he’d been the fastest.
“Come on,” he said. “That was funny. ”
“Why are you out here?”
He shrugged. “On my way home from work. ”
“Isn’t this way out of the way?”
Another shrug, and he stared out his windshield. “Sometimes I like to be alone, to hear myself think. ”
More like he’d gone somewhere remote to get high. But he didn’t look buzzed.
“You getting in?” he asked. “Us outcasts need to stick together. ”
“Outcasts?” She shook her head. “You’re not an outcast. ”
“Misfits, then. ” Something came and went in his eyes when he said this, but she couldn’t read him. “You know what I mean. ”
“Yeah,” she said, softening. Because she did know. Exactly.
He had a duffle bag on the passenger seat, which he took and stuffed behind them instead. Then he patted the passenger seat.
He was Jamie’s brother. And Jamie was Tucker’s friend, and Tucker was Lance’s brother—but six degrees from trouble was still trouble, and she’d been trying so damn hard to stay out of trouble. But she was cold now, and getting even colder. Sawyer would hate this, but she couldn’t help the extenuating circumstances.
“Come on, sweet thing. I’ve got somewhere I’ve gotta be. ”
Guilt didn’t begin to cover how she felt about getting into his truck, but she did it anyway. She glanced over her shoulder and saw his open duffle bag.
She thought she caught sight of ziplock baggies stuffed with—
Todd reached back and shoved the duffle bag farther down so she couldn’t see into it. “You’re going to owe me,” he said, shoving the truck into gear and speeding back onto the highway, flashing her a grin. “Big. ”
She straightened and looked at him. Was he carrying drugs? She hadn’t gotten a close enough look, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to ask him while they were out in the middle of nowhere. Besides, she could admit that she hadn’t gotten a good enough look to accuse him of anything. “I’ll pay for gas. ”
“Not the kind of payment I was banking on. ”
“Shut up and drive, Todd. ”
He grinned again. Ignoring him, she huddled into herself for warmth, staring out the window. Clouds sifted through the trees like wood smoke, distracting her for a while. Out here, the growth was extravagantly thick with spruce and hemlock. Moist air rode in from off the coast, something her lungs liked but made her even more cold.
Twenty minutes later, she sat up straight. “Pull over. ”
“Yeah, baby,” Todd said, and braked.
“Not for that! Lucille has a flat. ”
“Hell no,” Todd said. “I’m not helping that old bat. She’s always calling the damn cops on me. ”
“We can’t just leave her there. ”
“Hell, yeah, we can. ”
“Todd, goddammit, pull over!”
Todd shook his head and slammed on the brakes as he pulled onto the shoulder. Dirt rose. “I’m not changing her tire. She told Kelly Armstrong I was a menace to society, and her husband, Manny, fired me. Cost me three weeks of work. ”
“We can’t just leave her out here. It’s chilly, and she looks cold. I’ll help her myself. ” Chloe swung out of the truck.
“I’m not waiting,” Todd warned, revving his truck. “I’m late. ”
“Then don’t wait. ” She slammed the door, not surprised when he peeled out and was gone, leaving her literally in his dust. “Idiot. ”
Just as she walked toward Lucille, another truck pulled up.
Sawyer Thompson ambled out of his truck, then stood there in low-slung Levi’s and a soft-looking, thin black sweater over a black T-shirt, eyes hidden behind dark, reflective sunglasses.
Off duty, Chloe thought as a violent shiver racked her.
“My white knight,” Lucille said, dusting off her hands. “I called him a few minutes ago. ”
When Sawyer walked up to Lucille’s little Prius, the older woman was giving the flat a kick. He glanced at Chloe, who was very busy studying the highway. “Hey,” he said, taking in the mud all over her. “You okay?”
“Perfect. ”
Okaaaaay. He watched her shiver and handed her his keys. “Go wait in my truck; crank the heat. ” He headed toward Lucille, not all that surprised when he heard Chloe follow him. “Nice job on listening,” he said.
“Maybe I’d listen if you ever asked. ”
&
nbsp; “I ask. ”
She snorted.
Lucille had stopped kicking her tire and had picked up a lug wrench.
“You didn’t mention you had a passenger when you called me,” Sawyer said.
“I didn’t. ” Lucille glanced at Chloe. “She just got dropped off. ”
Sawyer turned to Chloe, who was back to studying the highway like her life depended on it. “What does she mean, you just got dropped off?”
“I believe I have the right to remain silent,” Chloe said.
Shaking his head, Sawyer crouched at Lucille’s side by the back rear tire and took the lug wrench.
Lucille backed up and smiled knowingly at Chloe’s condition. “Mud springs, right?”
Chloe nodded.
Sawyer narrowed his gaze on Chloe. “You were at the mud springs?”
“Yes. ”
“How did you get here?”
Before she could answer, Lucille cut in with, “I used to take my stud muffin up there, back in the day. That mud has healing effects, you know. And also, it’s an aphrodisiac. Not that you need an aphrodisiac with this one,” she said to Chloe, gesturing to Sawyer with a sly smile.
Sawyer grimaced, but Chloe cocked her head and studied him. “You don’t think so?” she asked Lucille doubtfully.
“Honey, just look at him. ”
Both women studied him now, and Sawyer, afraid of nothing except possibly these two, found himself squirming.
“Where’s your uniform?” Lucille asked. “I like looking at you in it. ”
“I’m off duty,” he said.
“Aw, and you still came out to help me instead of calling someone else to do it. ” She patted him on his arm. “Such a sweet boy. ”
Chloe made an indistinguishable sound, but when Sawyer looked at her, she was all green-eyed innocence.
“I talked to Suzie today,” Lucille told Sawyer. “She told me what you did for her boy this week, how you stepped in for him. ”
