At Arm's Length

by Amber Nation

  “No, we’ve had two people check-out due to the fear of the impending storm,” Trudy stated.

  I held the vase underneath the spray of the kitchen sink cutting off the water once it was half full.

  “I don’t like the sound of this storm, Marlee. Are you sure you don’t want me sticking around? Or better yet, close altogether? We have complete vacancy.”

  “Nah,” I waved her off. “You need to go on home. You have your own store to look after, I’ll be all right here. I already called Marta and Vince telling them to stay at home with their kids.” Marta was our maid, who took care of getting each of the rooms cleaned and situated, while her husband, Vince, was our cook. Normally during the week, we had pastries from Trudy’s café brought in for breakfast, but during the weekend, our busiest time, we had a cook who served breakfast and would stick around for lunch if need be. “And you know we would never close. Never mind my father hasn’t closed one day the entire time it’s been his, including the day I was born. But I couldn’t fathom not being open for someone who needed a warm place to sleep.”

  “Stubborn,” she said, but quickly shot up her hand when she noticed my raised brows. “But I wouldn’t have you any other way. You are one of the nicest, most genuine people I’ve ever met. And I’m not just saying that because you are my bestie.” She lowered her voice, “But please, for my peace of mind keep Greg on speed dial.” My lip curled in immediate distaste at the mere mention of his name. “I know you don’t like him that much—”

  “Like him?! How could I like someone so…So…”

  “Hot?”

  I huffed, “Hot? Absolutely not. I was going to say crude. He’s arrogant and obnoxious. And…”

  “Smokin’ hot,” she stated bluntly. “And he would do anything for you in a heartbeat. All you would have to do was say the word. And yes, I’ll admit he is a bit immature.”

  “That’s a complete understatement. Sure he would help me, but it would come with a price. He’s relentless in his pursuit of me, and turning him down only seems to make him come on stronger. If you think he’s so hot, why don’t you date him?” Maybe then it would get him off of my case. Wishful thinking.

  Trudy narrowed her gaze, knowing I would relent. She wanted to make sure I was safe so I would appease her for now. “Fine, I’ll call and give him a heads up that I’m here by myself. Happy?”

  “Very.” Yeah, I was ecstatic myself. I knew this had disaster written all over it, but in a roundabout way she was right. I needed someone to know that I was here in case of an emergency or, heaven forbid, I would need to be shoveled out.

  Trudy gathered her belongings and slipped on her coat as I put the final touches on the flowers, and she pulled me into her arms for a quick hug before she left.

  And then there was one.

  Being alone at the Manor never really bothered me, but for some reason today I felt really alone. I knew just the thing to fix that feeling, a book. It was always the answer. But first I needed to bite the bullet and call Greg.

  I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and scrolled through my contacts until I landed on his name. A sick feeling rose in the back of my throat. He may be good looking, but he was just too much. And that was putting it very blandly.

  On the second ring, he picked up. “Hey, baby,” Greg breathed, breathed as if the sound would automatically undo me, into the phone, and I instantly wanted to retreat.

  Abort mission!

  Would it really be so bad that I didn’t have instant backup in the instance that I would need it?

  I swallowed back my distaste, remembering my niceties. “Uh, hey, Greg. How are you?”

  “I’m great now that I’m talking to you. To what do I owe this extreme pleasure? Finally done with skirting around our obvious attraction to one another and ready to act on it?”

  See what I mean, he wasn’t just crude, he was insane.

  “No, that’s not it. I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be at the Manor by myself in case the storm gets too bad and I need to call for something.”

  I heard him chuckling through the phone, and I could just imagine his cocky smirk coming into play. “You sure that’s not an invitation? I know a few things off of the top of my head that involves you and me that would pass the time.”

  Ugh!

  “Greg,” I began. I was trying to think of a way to make my point drive home without being harsh. It was becoming harder to hold my tongue around him and give him what for. “I promise you that there was no underlying hidden message. I just wanted to give you a heads up in case the storm is as bad as they anticipate. That’s all.”

  I heard his reluctance even though he was silent. Underneath his cocky, arrogant exterior was a human being just like everyone else. This was the reason I had my motto, treat others as you would want to be treated. I didn’t like people feeling bereft, even more so when it came from my hand. But this wasn’t something that I could avoid.

  He had a strong personality and an even stronger drive with one main goal in sight it seemed: to get me into his bed.

  “All right, Marlee,” he said, his voice just barely above a whisper, and my stomach sank. I’d hurt him. Even with being as gentle as I could, I wounded his pride. “You know, one of these days you’ll come to your senses and realize just how much you want me and my body. And when you do, I’ll be ready.”

  And I just threw up in my mouth. Christ, he really was immature.

  “Bye, Greg,” I said and hurriedly disconnected the call. It was then that I vowed that I would have to be dying a slow and torturous death before I would ever call Greg Haines to come get me out of a bind.

  Let’s hope it would never come to that.

  “Excuse me?” I managed to bite out between my clenched teeth. I was trying to successfully keep my anger in check, but failing miserably. “You can’t tell me that out of this entire airport that is the only thing left?”

  “Sorry, sir, but I believe that’s exactly what I said.”

  It was just my fucking luck.

  “All of the other vehicles have been claimed. With all flights grounded, the selection depleted pretty quickly,” the rental car attendant announced in a condescending tone. I may be big, but it didn’t mean that I was dumb.

  What was worse than the tiny ass car they were trying to load me with was the fact that I was now stuck in bumfuck Colorado instead of on my way to Hawaii as originally planned. If this wasn’t karma’s way of laughing in my face, then I wanted to be proven wrong.

  Between the emergency landing at the smallest airport in Colorado and the frantic line of people trying to rent a car so they wouldn’t be stuck in the airport, I was beyond done. All of this chaos because of the impending threat of snow. I was exhausted and hungry and on the verge of seriously snapping. People still scrambled about trying to pick up their pace to get the hell out of dodge.

  Again, all because of a few snow flurries. Talk about overkill.

  So now instead of the exotic island of Hawaii, where the sun is hot and the women hotter, I’m stuck in the fucking cold without a coat.

  “Mr. Reed, do you want to reserve the car or not?”

  Ah, so the lady did know who I was, and I still couldn’t catch a break.

  I sighed and ran a hand through my cropped hair, trying to keep my temper in check by counting backward from ten. This might be my last chance to get the hell out of here. I could take the cramped quarters of a compact car compared to the alternative. That being hanging out in a dingy airport. No telling what would happen to me here. The thoughts running through my head gave me chills. It had to be bad to give a grown ass man honest to god goose bumps. And not the good kind.

  I could always think of it being on a tour bus with the team. Shit could get cramped, and there was nothing you could do.

  I yanked my credit card out of my wallet and slid it across the counter hoping like hell I didn’t regret this decision.

  “You will find that it has excellent gas mileage.”r />
  Yeah, like I fucking cared about the gas mileage. I was more worried about fitting.

  Yup, regret was already seeping its way in.

  I stood on the salt-covered sidewalk, my suitcase at my feet as I stared at my rental car for the week. I was six-feet-three and easily 225 pounds of legitimate solid muscle, and there was no fucking way I was folding myself into that.

  Any smaller and the damn thing would be nonexistent.

  A fucking Toyota Yaris… And a two door Toyota Yaris at that.

  I decided that there was only one thing I could do at this point in time, and that was take out my anger on my luggage. It wasn’t my brightest idea, but I was merely hanging on by a thread, inching closer and closer to the end until there was nothing left to hold onto. I expelled my rage by yanking my suitcase off the ground and throwing it down into the trunk.

  Right. What trunk?

  The damn thing didn’t have one, and the backseat wasn’t even big enough for an infant.

  Sighing and closing the back hatch, I jerked the driver’s side door open and folded my frame into the leather seat. I was immediately met chest to steering wheel without any spare room to move adding that to the fact that my ass was now an icicle because of the freezing leather. I couldn’t help but to roll my eyes and think that whoever sat here last must’ve been a fucking gnome. My knees were crowded, and it took more effort than necessary to position the seat to where I was semi-comfortable. There was no full-blown relaxation in this contraption.

  After starting the car with a gentle purr, I shook my head because this wasn’t a car that any man should ever be allowed to drive, let alone sit in. I turned on the heat full blast and wondered where the hell I was going to go.

  It wasn’t as if I had an agenda or even a destination anymore. Hawaii would be a mere memory. I had the fleeting thought that maybe the open road would be good for me, clear my head for once. And that is the mentality I tried sticking with. For my own sanity.

  I just hoped like hell no one saw me in this chick mobile because my street cred would definitely take a hit.

  It seemed as if I was only on the road a short amount of time before the sun settled down behind the clouds making the roads eerily dark without any street lights illuminating the way. That and the rapid fall of snow flurries made visibility almost nonexistent.

  It was safe to say that I was wrong. I can admit it every once in a while, I’m only human after all, but twice in one day was seriously pushing it. These weren’t your average typical snow flurries. By the way the wind was whipping the car around on the road, the wipers working furiously against the windshield, and just trying to see more than ten feet in front of me, we had now moved well into blizzard territory.

  These were snow flurries on steroids.

  “Well, Holden, it seems you aren’t in Kansas anymore,” I muttered to the void of silence.

  This car didn’t help matters as it was purely inadequate, plain and simple. This car didn’t need to see snow let alone be driving in it. The tires had no traction, and at any moment I felt that the conditions would have this ‘little engine that struggled,’ sliding off the road into a ditch with minimal ease. Kind of reminded me of how my buddy on the team, Roscoe could plow into just about anything with little to no effort at all on his part. The opponent would have the wind knocked out of him, while Roscoe, being a linebacker, looked as if he was out having a stroll in the fucking park.

  Hell, Roscoe could probably push this damn car faster than it was going. But it had great gas mileage. What a fucking joke.

  A few miles back, I barely made out a sign that said there was someplace called Tate Manor ahead, and that was the only thing that kept me forging ahead. I hoped like hell it was a fancy-schmancy name for a hotel.

  The only thing I was looking forward to was the promise of a warm meal and an even warmer shower.

  I tried to move in closer toward the windshield as if that would help my view become a bit clearer. It’d been awhile since I had seen that little sign off the side of the road, I thought I would’ve seen it by now.

  All of a sudden the car swerved to the right and my fight or flight instinct kicked in, but I realized a moment too late that I had made a huge mistake. Instead of easing up on the gas pedal, my body had me slamming on the brakes and tugging the steering wheel to the left. The entire car spun around on the slippery road and continued spinning until it plunged down an embankment. For a little car, it put up one hell of a fight. My body was bouncing around, and at one point my head slammed into the steering wheel. My entire world faded to black, and I couldn’t tell you when or even how the car finally came to a stop, because I was out.

  I woke with a start, not knowing where in the world I was. The torturous pounding at my temple helped me escape the fog I was in. Then it all came back to me.

  Getting suspended because of my lack of self-control with my anger.

  My Hawaii vacation interrupted because of the weather.

  And the Yaris…

  My eyes finally focused on the scene in front of me, and I cringed, then cupped my forehead trying to relieve some of the pain. My fingers brushed against something wet, and when I pulled my hand away I vaguely noticed the tinge of blood coating my skin.

  That would explain my pounding headache, I thought.

  The entire front end of the car was smashed in, the culprit being the trunk of a large tree. The airbag didn’t even deploy after impact.

  Toyota fucking Yaris.

  I wretched open the door and climbed out of the death trap, my limbs staggering as I tried to regain my balance. Even breathing was a struggle, but then again it could have been the frigid cold and the relentless wind whipping against my face.

  At least I was able to find a coat at one of the few shops that was at the airport, or else this would be a really frigging unfortunate situation. As if things weren’t already bad enough, I pulled my phone from my jeans, my hands trembling just the slightest bit as I glanced at the screen.

  No signal.

  I tipped my head back to where I had no other choice but to look toward the sky. Inhaling a deep breath into my lungs, I slowly released it trying to force my anger to fade away with it. The calming action did nothing to dissipate my mood. “I get it,” I yelled into the void of the night, shutting my eyes and closing the barrier to the snow falling. “You’re pissed at me because of my actions and lack of consequences. But now, it’s time to fucking let up. I’ve paid my penance!”

  Leaning into the car, I pulled the key from the ignition as if it actually mattered. The car was toast, but heaven forbid they penalize me for not turning in the keys. I thanked the heavens above, the same one I, only moments ago just finished cursing at, that I had enough sense to actually purchase the extra added insurance. Silver lining and all, I suppose.

  I pocketed the keys and removed my suitcase before slamming the door with a loud thud and finally took in the expanse of my surroundings. The sight in front of me was enough to make me fall to my knees and rejoice. The very manor that I saw advertised was about 100 yards from where I was standing. And the red illuminated vacancy sign made me want to fist bump into the night, especially since it seemed more or less like a Bed & Breakfast. Just a little less than a football field was standing in my way of a hot shower and a bed. I tugged my sock hat, which was also an airport purchase, down over my ears and began trudging through the already deep snow. I was ready to face plant into the bed and sleep for a week.

  No! I couldn’t believe the choice the woman made. Two men vying for her attention and there she went, following the choice her friends made rather than listening to her own heart.

  My eyes continued to scan the words on the page as my heart raced a mile a minute. That was it, the final straw. I had to pry my eyes away and force myself to slam the book shut. No matter how many times I’ve read this book, and it was a lot, I always got angry at the ending. The book was like a beacon, constantly calling my name, so I always came back to the darn
thing. It had all the emotions you felt swirling inside. One minute you were laughing and swooning at something that was said, then the next you were ready to throw your book across the room. It literally put you through the ringer.

  Such turmoil the overlooked beau must’ve felt, especially when it was clear for all to see that he was the heroine’s true love.

  If I was crazy enough to be in a similar position, there wouldn’t be a shadow of doubt in my mind that I would listen to my heart. Sure, the opinions of my closest friends carried merit, but ultimately the decision would dwindle down to being mine and mine alone.

  I rested the closed book against my thighs as I released a long, drawn out sigh and looked at the flowers on the desk. What I wouldn’t give to fall in love. To experience a man so devoted to me that I couldn’t imagine a day without him.

  I sunk further into my father’s easy chair and tucked my feet underneath me. Now, only the top of my head was visible from the front of the reception desk being that it was counter height.

  This meant that unfortunately, I couldn’t see past the little nook I was crammed in. Not the brightest move on my part with being alone, but living in Gunnison, Colorado, the thought of an actual threat didn’t even cross my mind.

  Citizens of Gunnison left their front doors unlocked, heck, half of the town probably left their car doors unlocked as well. The crime rate here was substantially low, actually come to think of it, it was almost nonexistent.

  But once the enormous mountain of a man appeared directly in my line of vision, I immediately gasped as a wave of unease locked my body in place. No survival instincts came to mind, all thoughts vanished, and my brain was considerably useless. Here I was, a sitting duck waiting for what? I didn’t know. He had a hard look plastered to his face, and you could just tell that he was exhausted and in no mood to deal with anything let alone anyone. Where the hell had he come from? I must’ve been so lost in my thoughts that I hadn’t even heard the creak of the front door.