Chapter 3
AJ
Imentally congratulated myself on my negotiating skills.
A tow truck wasn’t exactly what I was aiming for, but as long as it got my butt on a plane, I could play nice with the big man leading me through the parking lot.
Sam approached the passenger side of what I had assumed was a semitruck and wrenched open the door.
He slid my suitcase behind the seat as if it weighed nothing more than a low-fat latte and gestured for me to climb in.
I craned my neck to take in the sheer size of my new ride before moving toward the chrome step.
It was a shade of dark navy, with a logo on the side that said Safe and Sound Towing.
The bottom half was splattered with mud, and the wheel wells were caked in a thick layer of dirty snow.
It looked well used and solid. Surely, more than one person had breathed a sigh of relief seeing the machine moving toward them on the highway.
“I was expecting a pickup truck with a hook on the back.”
“I hope size doesn’t intimidate you.” He flashed a boyish smile.
I shot him a glare and moved to climb—and it was a climb—into the passenger seat. My shoulder brushed his arm as I passed him, and I was oddly reassured by how solid he felt.
Sam watched me with a slight sparkle in his eyes. Mercifully, he didn’t comment further or offer to assist as I scrambled up.
Chivalry was all well and good on a date, but I hated being treated differently because I was a woman.
Any different treatment at work only served to remind me that it was a boys’ club and not everyone was thrilled that I had joined.
That was why this pitch mattered so much, and why I was willing to go to any lengths to get to Los Angeles in time.
It might be my only chance to prove I could handle the big clients and bring in the big dollars.
Sam slid easily into the driver’s seat and cranked the engine. “Buckle up, buttercup. This could be a bumpy ride.”
I gritted my teeth at the name “buttercup” but decided to let it go.
The parking lot was slippery and sprinkled with stranded travelers. Sam’s eyes moved constantly between all of his mirrors as the rig started to move. His hands glided over the wheel like they were born to be there, and we started creeping through the snow.
I settled into my seat, feeling the well-worn brown leather under my palms. The backseat was piled with safety gear, a hard hat, high visibility vests, and a sea of plaid.
A stack of triform receipts were attached to a clipboard on the seat between us.
I really should have been more cautious sharing the journey with a man I didn’t know, but something about the subtle smell of coffee, exhaust, and engine grease reminded me of spending time in the garage with my dad.
Holding the flashlight for your dad was a quintessential memory for every Kamloops kid.
Over the course of my lifetime, though, the city had gone from a spread-out, blue-collar town to one with soaring rent prices and a thriving downtown.
Mill, mine, and factory jobs had decreased due to automation, and a university degree was all but required to make ends meet.
Families looked different, houses looked different, and my day-to-day reality was a world away from my mother’s when she was in her thirties.
A few years ago, my parents had decided that life in Kamloops was just too busy.
They moved to a rural area a half hour out of town.
I missed them, if I was honest with myself, but the hour round trip was just too long when I worked as much as I did.
I was so wrapped up in my high-rise, latte, and business-suit life that just sliding into the seat of Sam’s truck felt like going into a different world.
Sam was certainly a world away from the men I usually met.
As we pulled away from the airport, I snuck glances to my left.
Sam was in professional-driver mode, carefully scanning the road as he steered his oversized rig onto the highway.
The first thing I noticed was the hardest to ignore.
The man was massive. I was used to towering over people with my five-foot none-of-your-business frame, but Sam was something else.
My seat enveloped me like a wide leather recliner, whereas his was flattened by hours of use, and his shoulders spilled over into the middle seat.
He’d pulled up the sleeves of his coveralls, revealing forearms snaked with veins and muscles.
I watched them flex and move as he shifted gears.
Forty, maybe? There was a gray or two in his otherwise thick chestnut brown hair.
A few lines snaked out from a set of sky-blue eyes, where he squinted in careful concentration.
Maybe a few of those lines were from age or fatigue, but either way, he wore them well.
The scruff on his jaw was thick and dark—mixed, I suspected, with the odd swipe of grease or dirt.
A small bump on the bridge of his nose added, rather than taking away, from his rugged good looks.
Nothing artificial here. Just man and muscle. Dirt and sweat.
As Kamloops disappeared into the rearview mirror, I took a deep breath for what felt like the first time in days.
The first hour of the drive would take us from Kamloops to the small town of Merritt.
The elevation on this part of the highway was lower than the summit.
It weaved through farmland, grassy hills, and trees damaged from wildfires.
Depending on the weather system, this could be the worst part of the drive or the best. Today it was the latter.
I could actually see the asphalt as we rumbled along, and traffic was moving at a consistent pace.
The energy in the cab felt warm and comfortable.
I was on my way. I was going to make it.
I couldn’t help but smirk as I pictured the look on Stephen’s face when I nailed this presentation.
He was usually the go-to guy for this kind of thing, but his young bride-to-be was pregnant and expected to pop any day now.
I admit, it had been hard to hear that he was expecting a child with another woman when he had never wanted one with me.
If there was a silver lining, though, it was that he had other priorities now, giving me an opportunity to bypass the boys’ club and prove I had the chops.
Rumor had it one of the higher-ups was going to retire within the year.
I knew Stephen would be considered for the position, but if I nailed this new client, then I had a case to be considered too.
Sam pulled one hand from the oversized wheel and moved the gear shifter like it was an extension of his arm. He glanced at me. “That’s the closest thing to a happy face I’ve seen from you since we met.”
I was pulled from my fantasizing, and my jaw ticked. Any comment on my appearance immediately had my hackles up. “If you tell me I’d look prettier if I smiled, I’ll jump out the window.”
He barked a laugh and raised a hand in surrender. Calluses lined his palms and grease stained the swirls of his fingerprints. “Just nice to see a happy face after pulling cars out of the ditch for the last day and a half.”
I winced. God, what was wrong with me? It had been too long since I’d had a normal conversation with a person outside of my cutthroat work bubble.
Did I even know how to talk to people anymore?
No wonder I was single. “Sorry.” I resisted the urge to wring my hands.
When had the concept of a person saying what they meant become so foreign to me?
“That sounds exhausting. I’m a little on edge about this trip and I’m used to dealing with a certain type of man. ”
He glanced in my direction. “This isn’t about me being simple again, is it?”
Cheeky bugger.
I playfully shoved him, the palm of my hand meeting the hard granite plane of his shoulder. The heat from his body seeped into my skin, even through his coveralls.
Ah, human contact. Male human contact. I’ve missed it.
I hadn’t even had a coffee date since my divorce two years earlier. Every second of that dry spell hit me from that one touch, and my body warmed.
“Easy, tough guy. Don’t want you to wrinkle your suit.”
I actually laughed, a feeling that felt foreign on my tongue.
Was he flirting with me? The fact that I couldn’t tell was pathetic.
A small piece of pre-Stephen AJ perked her head up.
I didn’t know this man. I wouldn’t see him again after today, but that little piece of me wanted him to understand.
“I’m just used to people assuming I am there to get them coffee and not the one making the decisions. ”
He frowned and nodded. “My top driver, Katie, gets that all the time. When people demand someone more experienced, I tell them they can either apologize and let her do her job or call another company. I have no time for that garbage. I know it’s not just about her age.”
“She must be young then?” The question of whether he was dating her flashed through my mind, but I resisted the urge to ask.
He nodded. “She showed up on the doorstep of my business not long after she finished high school. Her dad is a long-haul trucker, so she knew her way around a shop like mine, and everything else she was eager to learn. I don’t claim to be a businessman, but one thing I know is that I would rather a good attitude on someone who knows nothing than a bad attitude on someone who is an expert. ”
“As far as business goes, that is a good place to start,” I said.
“Well, it sure worked out with Katie. Half the truckers and drivers on the road, including me, keep an eye on her like a daughter. It’s impossible not to root for her, and she is damn good at what she does.”
I scanned his face and absorbed the information. I had been caught up in my office politics for so long it was easy to forget that a world existed outside of it. Between being at work, going to work events, and thinking about all of it, I didn’t leave myself much energy for anything else.