Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Beck
The woman before me is the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever laid eyes on. When I caught sight of her on the doorbell cam, I was immediately attracted to her, but nothing compares to gazing into her giant brown eyes. Frightened brown eyes. Shit.
“Take my hand.” I extend my gloved fingers.
“I’m not hurt.”
“That’s not the point.” My unintentionally gruff tone won’t soften, a hard habit to break. “You’re clearly not good on your feet.”
“You saw me fall?” Her adorable full cheeks flush crimson, making them even redder than they were with the icy wind snapping against her skin.
I nod, and she hesitantly extends her hand.
The minute our fingers brush, a feeling washes over me I haven’t felt in years.
It electrocutes my veins and lands in the pit of my stomach.
Every instinct in me screams, pull away! But I can’t. The woman needs help.
Carefully, I help her to my pickup truck parked a few feet away. She’s Bambi on ice. The third time she slips, her arms wrap around my waist in an attempt to steady herself. Again, that feeling courses through me. Attraction, yes, but it’s also mixed with something else.
And it terrifies me.
I help her into the truck, then carefully come around to the driver’s seat.
The heater works overtime, a true godsend.
“I swear I’m better on dry ground.” The woman wipes wetness from her cheeks, then glances in my direction.
Her smile could melt every inch of snow already accumulated on the ground.
It’s a lot to take in. She stares at me waiting for a response.
Why can’t I fucking get my words together? My brain is scrambled eggs. I opt for a grunt and put the truck in drive, moving toward the gate.
“I’ll drive you to the gas station.” Finally, a coherent sentence.
“I can just call my brother if you don’t mind waiting for me.
” She reaches down toward her feet. “Wait.” The high pitch of her voice startles me, and I slam on the brakes.
We momentarily skid until my four-wheel-drive kicks in.
I could kick myself for reacting like this.
I’m not used to anything out of the ordinary, and this is the last thing I expected tonight.
My knuckles whiten against the wheel. “What?”
“I forgot my purse in my car.” Her laugh startles me.
She presses her pink-tipped fingers against her chest. “My phone. It’s in my purse in the car.
As is my wallet. And last I checked, they don’t accept sexual favors as payment.
” My eyes widen. Again, I don’t know what to say.
“I’m kidding.” She leans toward me, pressing her hand against my arm.
I flinch involuntarily. “About sexual favors. But my purse really is back in the car.” Her tone changes, the smile sliding swiftly off her face.
“Just turn around so I can grab it, and then I’ll call a tow truck to come and get me.
” She’s silently pleading with me to do as she asks, and of course, I oblige with another curt nod.
All of this unexpected activity has me wound up. I don’t usually get visitors up here. Except deliveries, which are always left on the porch without human contact.
I drive a few feet back to her car. “Thanks for being so quick to act on this.”Isla licks her full lips. “And I get not opening the door to strangers. Lots of weirdos in the world. Myself included.” She giggles at her own joke.
How… how can someone who just fell down a set of stairs and crashed her car into a tree have such a positive outlook? It’s concerning.
“No problem.” I turn back to face the front. Locking eyes with her feels dangerous. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been exposed to a woman like her in a very long time, but I’m nervous around her. And completely and totally aroused.
“Well,” Isla says. The heater hums. Awkward silence hangs between us. “Guess I’ll be seeing you.” One final gaze into her eyes, and I know I can’t let her sit in that car alone and wait for a tow truck. Even if what I’m about to do goes against everything I told myself I’d never do again.
“Come wait in the house.” There. I did it.
“Oh, I don’t want to put you out. You seem…” My head snaps in her direction. “Particular.”
“Does your heater work without the engine?” I ask.
“Um, no.” Her laugh is honey drizzled over fresh fruit. “Most don’t.”
“Then I insist. I can’t let you freeze to death out here.”
Another thick silence passes between us. “Okay. Yeah. Let me grab my purse.”
“I’ll help you.”
“No!” Her smile never fades. “I’m a big girl. I’ll take it slow. Be back in a jiffy.”
“A jiffy?” I mutter to myself as she heads to her car to complete her task. Where did this ball of sunshine come from? This is clearly a woman who’s never had anything truly bad ever happen to her. Not like me.
When she’s back in the cab, we drive the short distance up the driveway. The truck only struggles slightly. We pull into the garage.
“I do have one question.” Her words pull my attention. “How did you know I hit that tree so fast?”
What I don’t tell her is that I watched her closely from the moment she stepped on my porch to the minute she left.
I turned on the cameras ahead of time to see her leave.
Silently wishing something would happen where I’d have the chance to come and talk to her, but too afraid to just open the door and take the books directly from her hands.
“I have cameras all over the property. Motion-activated. I saw the whole thing.” A partial truth, yet not a total lie. My social skills have grown weak, but I don’t want to come off as a total fucking creep. Because I’m not.
“Oh.” She smiles and takes a deep breath, causing her maroon parka to rise and fall against her full chest. “Cool.”
My heart thumps against my ribs as we head inside. She’s the first visitor I’ve had in this house, and I’ve lived here for over seven years. I hope I don’t live to regret this.