Chapter 6
Sam
Shit, that was close.
A frustrated driver had decided to blow past the line of traffic, swerved to avoid hitting the cop car, and almost taken us out. Instinct had taken over, and every synapse in my brain screamed for me to protect AJ.
We landed hard in the bank of snow and ice piled by an earlier plow.
I already knew my knee would bruise, and I regretted that it hadn’t been a softer place for AJ to land.
I wrapped my hand around the side of her neck and ran my thumb across her cheek.
Checking for injuries? Sure, but more than anything, I just needed to feel that she was okay, that she was real and safe and not disappearing just when she started to spark feelings in my chest I hadn’t felt before.
She nodded, but I didn’t expect her to admit it if she wasn’t okay. Stubbornness ran deep in her veins. I had figured that out before we’d even left the airport.
A full body shiver ran through her. My instinct to keep her safe from the cold was at direct odds with my desire to have her under me.
The sound of boots crunching in snow approached, and Brock’s voice cut through my conflicting thoughts. “Are you guys okay? Do we need an ambulance?”
I met AJ’s eyes before answering him. “We’re okay.
” I gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze before pushing myself up.
My knee protested the move, but it was the absence of her heat against my chest that felt like a physical wound.
I reached out my hand and she took it. Her small fingers were ice in mine, and I gave her a quick assessment.
Her nose was pink, her shoulders were hunched around her ears, and her neck had goosebumps all over.
“Fuck, you’re freezing,” I said to her.
She was underdressed for the weather and unprepared for a roadside emergency, and I had left her alone to go argue with a trucker. Stupid. I’d let myself get distracted and put AJ in danger in the process. This entire trip had been a bad idea, and with the things I’ve seen, I knew better.
I pulled her over to the truck and opened her door.
I rummaged around in the backseat until I found a spare jacket and held it open while she threaded her arms through.
She’d probably never get the smell of grease out of her fancy suit, but given what had just happened, I didn’t think AJ would notice.
I opened her door, and she didn’t protest as I half lifted her into the passenger seat.
She looked impossibly small, all her bravado having leaked out of her, and the guilt settled in deeper.
Near misses were way too common in my line of work, but AJ had probably never seen anything like this.
Whether the cold she felt was all from the weather or partly from shock, I wasn’t sure.
She kept her gaze on my face as I laid a fleece blanket from the back seat over her lap.
I always kept spares in the truck for people who had been in accidents, and I was glad to have them now.
The fact that I hadn’t thought to offer her one before spoke to just how distracted I was, and I mentally cursed myself again.
“When you’re done tucking her in, can we have a word?” Brock’s casual tone struck a nerve, and I shut AJ’s door before rounding on him.
“Don’t you have a doughnut shop to patrol?
Clearly, you being here isn’t doing shit to keep anyone safe.
Flashing lights everywhere and still we almost end up as someone’s hood ornament.
Tell me how someone like that gets a driver’s licence, huh?
Explain it to me.” I shoved my hand through my hair and hated that I was shaking.
I paced away a few feet but turned and walked back.
There was nowhere to go. I was stuck in my skin, living in the guilt of it.
Brock grabbed my elbow and pulled me behind the truck and away from AJ’s window. “Sam, take a second.”
I rested both of my hands on the top of my head and blew out an unsteady breath.
“You’re safe. It’s over.”
“I don’t care about me,” I spat out.
“Well, then you are going to want to get it together before you get in the truck. Seeing you like this is freaking me out. I can only imagine what she will think if she sees that the all-mighty Sam is human after all. You live to glare at people another day. Be grateful for that and leave the rest to the cops, okay?”
“So, what are you going to do about it?” I was already paranoid enough about this road and the people on it. I didn’t need the fear in AJ’s eyes etched into my mind too.
Brock’s usually smirking face was completely somber. “We got a plate number, and the whole thing is on the patrol car’s dashcam. We’ll catch the driver, and the law will do its thing. In the meantime, I think you and Juliet better get back on the road.”
“God, you are an ass.” But my heartrate had gone back to something resembling a normal level.
Brock clapped me on the shoulder and started around the front of the truck.
“Hey!” I called after him.
He turned back in my direction.
“Thanks.”
Brock gave me a mock salute and went on his way.
I took one more deep breath and headed toward the driver’s side.
As my adrenaline ran out, I felt every hour I’d been awake and every snowflake melting as it hit my skin.
My coveralls were caked in muddy snow, leaving the fabric soggy and cold against my skin.
I unzipped them, pulled them off my arms and down my body, and leaned against the truck as I pulled them off over my boots.
It left me in jeans and a T-shirt in the blowing snow, but I was wound up from what happened, and I barely noticed.
I pulled two bottles of water from my cooler bag in the back and tucked them into the cup holders before sliding into the truck and cranking the engine.
The seat formed to me like a favorite pair of jeans, and I calmed.
I was in my element, and I had a job to do.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” I muttered as I followed Brock’s direction and maneuvered back into the traffic stream.
Once we were back in motion, I risked a look at AJ. She was curled up in her blanket, staring straight ahead.
I reached over to angle the vent on the dash in her direction and handed her one of the bottles of water.
I focused on the task of driving for a few minutes before risking a glance in her direction again. “Are you okay?”
She sighed deeply. “I’m fine. Just having a little pity party over here.”
My eyes scanned her face. She didn’t look pale, and she wasn’t shaking anymore. That was good. “Feel free to invite me to your pity party if you need to talk. I can drive and listen at the same time.”
A smile spread across her lips, and her eyes softened.
“I was just thinking about how crappy my luck is. Divorced. Cutthroat job. No social life to speak of. I missed my flight. Things seemed to be turning up when I met you, and now, I almost get smoked by a car.” She shook her head and sipped her water.
“Well, think of just how much good luck you needed to meet me. That must make up for all the other stuff,” I teased.
She still looked a little shaken, but she rolled her eyes.
“No, really. Worn out tow truck. Cranky driver. Sounds lucky to me.”
“It does sound lucky, I guess.” Her cheeks were that shade of blushing pink that I hoped meant she was thinking something dirty. “Unlucky too, though, since I had plans to review my presentation while we drove, and you are way too distracting for me to get anything done.”
My eyebrows disappeared into my hair. Distracting? I’d been called a lot of things, some of them even complimentary, but never distracting. “Because I talk to much or…” I prompted.
“Well, the tight white T-shirt, muscles, and faded jeans are kind of Hot Guy 101.” The blush deepened.
“To be fair, AJ, you are pretty distracting yourself.”
She gave me a small smile, and I held her gaze for too long, only returning my eyes to the road when I could feel my tires start to veer into the slush on the side of the highway.
God, she was beautiful. Intense hazel eyes framed by dark lashes.
High cheekbones and a long, elegant neck.
Rose lips and delicate gold hoops in her ears.
Even with all of her polish and our seemingly different lives, we could talk—really talk—and honesty seemed to just come out when we did.
The connection between us was developing so quickly, I could only imagine how it would be if I got her out of her clothes.
I cleared my throat to eliminate that thought from my head. “My shop isn’t far from here. We can stop there, get dry, grab a coffee, and then get back on the road.”
We were still climbing. The worst the highway had to offer was yet to come.
It was tempting to just hit the gas and keep going—try to get as far as we could as fast as we could since the weather seemed to be getting worse with the elevation.
My instincts were telling me to take a break, and I had ignored them enough for one day.
She nodded. “Thank you, by the way, for saving me from that car. I didn’t say that before.”
Based on our earlier conversation about her work life, that was probably a hard thing for her to say.
“I’m glad I was there,” I answered simply. “I’m sorry I was rough on you out there. I know you’ve got a look that could melt ice, but it’s my job to worry about safety.”
She smirked. “I just don’t want you thinking I can’t take care of myself.”
“I know you can. I also know you wore pointy toe boots and no coat in a snowstorm, so I’ve got to be on my game.”
“Gee, thanks.” She pushed my shoulder lightly, and without the barrier of my coveralls, I could feel the smoothness against my skin.
I hoped the touch felt as good for her as it did for me, but I resisted that train of thought.
She said I was distracting. Big deal. I was only here to give her a ride.
That’s it. Anything more, I needed to shut down faster than a highway in a blizzard.
I wasn’t twenty anymore, and lust wasn’t enough.
Romeo wasn’t a blue-collar grouch, and he could never compete with a job that was Juliet’s entire world.