Chapter 2
After buying some supplies for dinner, Nic Castle walked back to his Range Rover, making a mental note to find out when his new car would be ready.
He felt a drop of rain fall and regretted failing to bring a coat to a region famous for its water.
As he opened his door, he noticed the woman who’d doused him standing in another bay.
Was that her vehicle being loaded onto the back of a breakdown truck?
She’d certainly provided a jump start to his extremities when she brushed at his thighs.
While it would be annoying to spend the next hour or so in damp clothes, it was a novelty to feel aroused.
Theo’s accident last year had left Nic with little time or inclination for a relationship.
He’d been too busy trying to keep the business afloat without his brother’s steadfast support and spreadsheets.
Nic worked his windscreen wipers to the max as he pulled away from the service station, glancing at the breakdown truck in his rear mirror.
He wondered how far the woman was from home.
Not your problem, the little voice in his head assured him.
Looking out at the drowning tarmac ahead, his thoughts turned to the bed that waited for him in the unfinished Lakeland development.
He sighed as he turned his music up louder.
When he’d offered Theo a room in his flat in Central London, he had intended to be there, helping him settle in.
He’d been shocked when Theo accepted on the condition that Nic moved north to project-manage their Lakeland development in the initial weeks and give him some space.
On the one hand he understood Theo’s decision.
His younger brother’s pride had been dented by a slower recovery than expected and a longer than intended spell of living back with their mother in Brighton.
He needed time and privacy to recuperate.
But Nic worried Theo held the accident against him, despite all his protests to the contrary, and was anxious about him navigating the large apartment alone.
Perhaps it was for the best. Living with his brother might have heaped on guilt and distraction when he really needed to focus on keeping all the plates spinning.
And while small-town politics gave him hives, the Lake District was far removed from the south coast and the catastrophe that had cast a shadow on their lives.
He briefly wondered how he’d cope with the trigger of living next to a lake, before deciding the only way to tackle his demons was to face them head on.
As he moved into the middle lane to avoid a truck, his mind drifted back to that whirlwind of a woman at the services – her curvy figure enhanced by a tumble of golden-red hair, and freckled cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment.
It was hard to remain annoyed when he’d fully taken her in.
Maybe he should have offered her a lift.
But what were the chances of them going the same way?