Chapter 2 #2
“I don’t know,” she says, her voice soft. “The storm was loud. Or maybe I was just too focused on not getting hypothermia and blocked out the noise.” Her eyes light up. “But if I had hypothermia, my survival instincts were excellent. Just maybe in the wrong order.”
Damn, she’s adorable—and lucky it was me who found her in such a compromised position.
“Well, the order is important,” I say. “What if I hadn’t been a great-looking guy with a fairly strong moral compass? What would your survival skills have told you to do then?”
She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and blushes. “I suppose if you were a stranger with a lack of a moral compass, I would’ve tried to have a rational conversation with you.”
“Yeah. I totally got that rational conversation vibe from your screams of bloody murder. Nailed it.”
“Humans are born with the capacity to be empathetic, and I like to believe that everyone is good at their core,” she says sweetly.
“That’s how people die.”
I duck back into the en suite and hurriedly dress in the extra set of clothes I carry in my truck.
It’s a habit I picked back up when I returned to Sugar Creek last spring.
Hanging out at a ranch always includes dirt, mud, and shit—lessons that I learned hanging out with Gray and Hartley over the years.
My emergency grocery bag of clothing has saved my ass on many occasions.
“Here’s a tip,” I say, tossing my towel into the hamper. “The next time you come face-to-face with a guy you don’t know in the dark, start throwing shit while you call nine-one-one. You can test your good human theory while you create distance. Okay?”
“Or I could use my taser.”
I poke my head around the corner. “Do you really have one?”
A slow grin slips across her cheeks. I’ve never seen something so fucking pretty. “Yes, but it’s in the foyer.”
“And what good is it doing there?”
“You sound like Gianna,” she says, giggling.
I stuff my filthy clothes in the grocery bag and reenter the bedroom.
“I’ve met Gianna, and I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or if I should be offended.
” I grab my phone from the bed and slide it into my pocket.
“So what brought you to Blackbird Ranch? Doesn’t seem like a good night to take a road trip. ”
She tugs at the pink ribbon in her hair until it falls into her palm. “I just needed a change in scenery, I guess. A quiet place to think.”
Her gaze falls to the floor, and she wiggles her toes until they appear from beneath the pants. The ease on her face melts away. In its place is a somberness that feels like a punch in my gut.
Women don’t drive in a winter storm for a quiet place to think, and they sure as hell don’t come to a cabin in the middle of nowhere—alone—for fun. Surely, Gray doesn’t believe that. I don’t.
I blow out a breath and head to the hallway. Audrey follows just a few steps behind.
“What are you going to do all the way out here?” I ask as we reach the foyer. “You’ll probably be bored out of your mind by tomorrow afternoon.”
“I’m going to work a bit. I’m behind, so hopefully I can catch up without a million distractions.”
“Oh. What do you do?”
“Right now, I teach a couple of philosophy courses online at Montague College.”
I drop my grocery bag next to my boots. “Philosophy, huh? Like matter cannot be created or destroyed?”
“That’s more of a scientific principle,” she says, her eyes lighting up. “Science teaches you what happens. My classes discuss why those things matter.”
“So you’re the modern-day Marcus Aurelius?”
She laughs, but nods as if she’s quietly pleased by the reference. I’m not about to tell her the only reason that I know that name is because of a video I saw on social media.
“No, Marcus Aurelius was a Stoic,” she says. “I lean more Aristotelian—usually, anyway. Instead of thinking of life as something to endure, I like to think of it as something to shape. You can create a life that gives you room to flourish instead of just playing the cards you hold.”
Wow. “So you have beauty and brains, huh? That’s a killer combo.”
She blushes. “I know it’s shocking that I hold a PhD in philosophy after my lack of survival skills tonight. But I am smart on paper, apparently.”
I whistle through my teeth. “A PhD? That’s fucking impressive.”
She stands taller, her lips twisting together. The look on her face is the same one that I wear when someone says that I have the best elbow strikes in the world. “What about you? What do you do for a living?”
I grab my boots. They’re freezing against my toes despite my dry socks, and my shoulder screams in protest as I slide them over my feet. I did too much tonight. I’ll pay the price tomorrow.
“Me?” I ask. There’s no way I’m telling her that I make money by beating the shit out of other men when she’s a fucking doctor. “I guess I’m a Stoic these days. Kinda enduring life at the moment.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a little Stoic-y these days myself.” She watches me stand, nervously nibbling her lip again. “Look, I ….” She blows out a breath warily. “Can we never speak of the way we met? Please?”
Her eyes beg me to comply with her request. They soften, revealing her vulnerabilities just behind those gorgeous blues. She’s so beautiful, so wildly gorgeous that I’m not sure how anyone could say no to her.
“Sure,” I say, picking up my bag. If we’re never talking about this again, I must at least pay her a compliment because holy fuck.
“But I want you to know before we never talk about it again that I’ve seen some shit in my life, and that was the hottest introduction ever.
You could solve world peace with that hello. ”
She drops her gaze, the apples of her cheeks a bright pink, as she shifts her weight from one foot to the other. I wouldn’t mind staying and learning more about sweet Auddie Van, but Gray’s voice is in the back of my head and, deep down, I know he’s right.
Gorgeous, sweet, smart—what the hell would I do with that?
Break it. That’s exactly what I’d do with it.
There’s an awkwardness between us, probably because we got off on a naked foot without actually getting off. If she’s a quarter as turned on as I am, she’s desperate for some privacy right about now.
I’m not sure what to say or how to end this, so I just shrug. “See ya around.”
Her gaze whips back to mine as I reach for the door. For a moment, I think she’s going to ask me to stay—and for a moment, I hope she does. But as if we’re on the same wavelength, she takes a step back as I pull the handle.
A blast of cold air fills the foyer as I take in the scene in front of me. The icy bits have mostly turned to snowflakes, but they’re coming down like crazy. I yank my hood over my head and step onto the porch.
“How did you get here?” she asks, her arms wrapped around her middle to protect herself from the bitter temperature.
“My truck is on the other side of the house. We were working in the back acres, so I just drove through the field. Fastest way.”
“Oh.” She peers around me. “Can you drive in this?”
I can’t tell if she’s scared for me to leave or if she’s afraid that I’ll stay. The uncertainty—the chance that she might want me to stick around—isn’t enough to make me pause, but it is enough to boost my ego.
“This ain’t nothing, Doc.”
A slow grin splits her cheeks. “I’m not a doctor.”
I shrug and then jog into the darkness before I can talk myself out of it.