Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Lincoln
I probably lost a good ten years off my life when the scream ripped through the air.
I’d only made it halfway through the uprooted bush that was preventing me from seeing fully into the car.
As strains of it reverberated around me, I widened the path I’d created until I could bend down and stick my head into the vehicle’s interior.
Even as synapses fired to make sense of what I was seeing, my head rocked back as a solid right hook hit my jaw.
“Hey!”
“No!”
Both yells came at the same time but I had to give the trophy to whoever else was yelling as that volume was usually only attainable by opera singers and people who were literally scared out of their minds.
“I’m not here to hurt you.” My assurance was only met with wild kicking and more screams that sounded suspiciously like promises she didn’t “taste good” and pleas of “don’t eat me” which made about as much sense as, hell, as the flip-flop that I barely managed to dodge when it came sailing through the window.
I kept up a low-muttered litany of reassurance as I cautiously surveyed the situation.
When I realized only one leg was kicking like a bronco determined to unseat its rider, I saw the problem.
Her other foot was tangled up in the seat belt.
Touching her ankle only resulted in another scream I was rather shocked didn’t shatter every window of her car.
Time to regroup.
I wasn’t a man to retreat from a problem but was smart enough to realize approaching from the flank wasn’t going to work.
Once out of the bush, I walked up the side of the ditch and rounded the rear of her car.
A quick look had me thankful that there wasn’t more foliage waiting to hamper any rescue and also had me abruptly stopping mid step.
If you’d asked what I’d thought I’d see, I honestly couldn’t have told you.
But when they realized that I’d moved, their head lifted and another scream rent the air.
I’d braced for that possibility, but I sure as hell wasn’t prepared to see it being issued by someone with the wildest mane of curly red hair and the hugest emerald eyes I’d ever seen.
And never in a million years would I have expected to recognize the cutest damn pixie I’d ever laid my eyes on hanging half-way out the passenger-side window.
Her scream cut off mid-note as our eyes met and time slipped.
I had no clue how long we stared at each other, but when she smiled, my heart flipped in my chest, and when she said, “Hi, Linc,” my entire world tilted off its axis.
“Hi, Livvy. You always did know how to make an entrance, didn’t you?”
The sight of her button nose crinkling and the sound of her giggle had my lips curling. But when I saw the blood, all levity flew out the window and snapped me back into action.
“Fuck, you’re hurt!” My mind went into overdrive to remember the first aid I’d begun learning as a Cub Scout.
Though I was pretty sure I was going to need more than gauze and some tape to fix whatever booboo this was.
I had no doubt I’d receive a failing mark as a volunteer fireman too, as I’d not even begun to administer the first steps learned in the advanced courses.
Not only had I not managed to get her in a prone position, she’d been jerking around like a crazed marionette while I’d stood there chuckling and rubbing my damn jaw.
In my mind’s eye, I could see Captain Willams’ scowl of disapproval, but it wasn’t like I’d been the cause of the crash.
I was simply trying to handle the aftermath.
Then handle it, dumbass.
It wasn’t very helpful, but it was incentive enough for me to address the injured party. I had jumped and half slid down the embankment until I could crouch down to meet her at eye level, then instantly regretted doing so when she lifted her head.
“No, don’t move, honey.”
“I’m…”
“Don’t talk either. You could have a serious head injury—”
“I don’t—”
“And I said don’t—”
“Well, you’re just as bossy as ever, aren’t you!”
“Until I can get you out of the car and make sure you haven’t broken anything, it really is best if you remain as still as possible.
Do you think you can do that for me, pixie?
” When she began to nod her head, I shook mine.
“And that includes your head. Your chin is bleeding and you can have whiplash and a concussion.”
“I don’t think—”
“Are you a doctor?”
“Are you?”
I was sorely tempted to state I was but had never been one to lie. “No, but I’m afraid I’m all you’ve got unless you’d rather hang around and wait for me to fetch one?”
Her giggle was cute but also accompanied by a wince and the tip of her tongue slipping out of her mouth as if she thought she’d be able to reach her injury and soothe it.
“Unless you’ve grown a tongue the length of a giraffe’s and developed a taste for blood, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I warned, dropping one of my hands to pull a handkerchief out of my pocket. Holding it up, I quirked my eyebrow.
“Yes, please.”
Grinning, I gently wiped the drop of blood away, grateful not to see another immediately welling to take its place. I felt an almost irresistible urge to lean forward and kiss the boo-boo better but was saved from making a fool of myself when she groaned.
“Can you tell me what hurts?” I asked.
“My ankle. I thought you were some rabid bear reaching in to grab me, and I was trying to get out the window.”
“All that kicking got your foot tangled up in the seat belt. Give me a second and I’ll get you out of the car then we can see what’s what, okay?”
“Okay,” she said bravely but I saw the twinge of pain she’d been unable to disguise.
“I’m going to step back, but let’s see if we can get you a little more comfortable so that your head isn’t hanging down and putting strain on your neck.
” A quick assessment showed her arms appeared uninjured.
“Okay, I’m going to help you move your arms up.
That will lift and straighten out your back.
I’ll take it slow, but the moment you even think something’s wrong, you say ‘yellow’ and we can pause and reassess.
But if something instantly hurts, you call out ‘red,’ and I’ll immediately stop. Understand?”
“And green if I’m hunky-dory, right?”
That caught me off guard, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on her choice of response. Instead, I grinned. “Well, I’d hardly call you a hunk, but yes, you’ve got it. Ready?”
“Yep, green to go.”
Between us, we soon had her arms crossed to rest on the window frame. This allowed her to lay her head on her folded arms to relieve the stress on her neck and also helped straighten her back. She’d only whimpered a bit but I could see the pain in her eyes.
“Good girl, I know that hurt, but you did great. Color?”
“Green-ish yellow. My ankle is throbbing pretty bad.”
“I know, pixie, but we’re almost there. I’m going to get into the backseat. Stay as still as possible, okay?”
“Okay.”
Turns out stuffing a six-and-a-half foot man into a car the size of a soup can took a bit of contortion.
It also proved that Livvy wasn’t above giggling at my expense as I backed out for the third time to try to figure out the logistics.
“What on earth had you buying a vehicle not much bigger than a Hot Wheels car?”
“It’s cute,” she declared with a shrug that had my brow arching.
Her eyes widened, her shoulders ever so slowly relaxed as if trying to be as invisible as possible, and her cheeks flushed—and I’d not said a word. Interesting. It appeared that the traffic-light system wasn’t the only thing Livvy hadn’t needed an in-depth discussion to understand.
“Cute, huh?” I grinned to let her know I wasn’t a total ogre.
When she smiled again, I rubbed my hands together as if preparing to go into battle.
“I can deal with cute.” Turns out only about three quarters of me could fit into the car, but it was enough to take care of the seatbelt.
It would have gone a bit quicker if she didn’t giggle and twitch her foot every time my fingers slid over her bare flesh.
Without conscious thought, I reached up and popped the seat of her overalls.
She instantly stilled and I immediately silently cursed myself.
Understanding—even implied understanding—sure as hell didn’t extend consent.
I was about to apologize but she not only beat me to it, but when she said, “Sorry, ticklish,” and not, “What the hell?” I looked over to see her looking at me.
Her lips curled into a smile as I tried to figure out what the hell to say.
“I’ll be still,” she offered, letting me off the hook.
“And I’ll try not to tickle you,” I said, then added, “But if you twist your head back one more time, that little pop is going to discover it has lots and lots of friends. Got it?”
Green eyes widened and freckles stood out more against her flushed cheeks but she didn’t tell me where I could go. Instead she said, “Got it.”
“Good girl, here we go.” I made sure not to use my fingertips while slowly curling my entire palm around her foot before using my other hand to slip the belt from its multiple twists around her ankle.
Once it was free, I hesitated to let it go, not only because it felt remarkable to hold even a part of her in my bare hands, but because I knew it was going to start swelling the moment it had nothing to constrict it.
“Pixie, it’s not going to be easy, but you really need to keep your leg as still as possible while I try to figure out the best way to get you out of the car.”
A soft whimper was her only response and I made up my mind.
Since there was no way in hell there was room for two of us inside this matchbox, my choice was pretty clear.
I backed out and moved to crouch down in front of her again as she slowly turned her head to look at me.
“I’m proud of you, Livvy. We’re almost there. Can you be brave a bit longer?”
“I’ll try,” she said as a tear lost its hold on her chin to fall to the ground beneath her head.
That single tear tore at me in a way nothing ever had before. Being careful of her chin, I used the pads of my thumbs to brush the tears off her face and bent to kiss the tip of her nose. “Trust me?”
“Always,” she said softly.
It took a few more tears and a bit of audible cursing on my part as I knew that pulling her through the window wasn’t the most fun journey she’d ever taken.
With a large rock blocking any chance of opening the door more than an inch or so, it was also the only choice we had.
When I finally had her cradled in my arms, I was sure of two things.
One, she was going to have one hell of a sprained ankle, and two, I was damn glad this red-headed pixie had finally found her way home.
By the time I’d reached my truck, I’d decided she didn’t need to lie prone in the backseat. Instead, I sat her on the front passenger seat then snagged the extra shirt I kept in the backseat.
“This is going to hurt but it’s also going to help,” I said as I began to use the shirt as a makeshift bandage around her foot and ankle.
As I tied the sleeves together in a knot, I wasn’t sure whose heart was beating faster.
Her knuckles were white where they’d clutched the edge of the seat, but she’d never once complained.
When I looked up, she bent forward to kiss my cheek.
“Thank you for not being a bear.”
Thank you for not being a pig.
When her eyes went as round as saucers and her mouth dropped open to say, “You thought I was a pig?” I realized I’d said that out loud.
“Actually, a wild boar,” I corrected with a grin. “How about I tell you the story on the way to town?”
She nodded like a bobblehead doll which reminded me how she’d come to be in my vehicle and not hers. “First, you have to promise to sit still and try not to move your head. Besides your ankle, you could have whiplash and your chin might start to bleed again.”
Her nose scrunched up in distaste at that possibility but her head remained still, her eyes fixed on me. “I’ll be a statue.”
Pretty sure that would be impossible for a girl who’d never seemed to stay still, but satisfied she’d be as immobile as she could, I carefully tucked her legs inside, fastened her seatbelt, and after I’d settled behind the wheel, I began.
“Once upon a time, there was a girl named—”
“No, not a girl! A piggy…”
I glanced at her. “Do you wanna tell it?”
A curl shook before my arched brow had her rolling her eyes.
“That’s one.”
The only thing that moved was her chest as she inhaled.
She didn’t even blink as we stared at each other, I knew she not only understood the count, she understood exactly what I was thinking.
If for some reason she decided to test me, she’d find out that there were certain things I wasn’t giving in on.
“Good girl,” I said just to confirm what I’d thought I’d seen in those widening eyes. When her pupils grew, I wasn’t concerned as much about a concussion as I was considering what exactly that meant. It was yet another tidbit I tucked away to consider later. Meanwhile, I had a story to tell.
“This is the tale of The Pixie and the Pig.”
The giggle that she issued had my dick twitching and I silently thanked the Universe for bringing my Tornado Livvy home.