Chapter 2
“Kaiah,” the handsome stranger said as he held out his hand. “I didn’t think your name was Cayenne.”
She shook his hand. “I may be a little spicy, but no, I’m just Kaiah,” she joked, and he laughed again. “So you’re Reid?”
“Reid Turner, at your service.”
Impressive. That explained why his biceps were straining the sleeves of that blue T-shirt. Now she pictured Reid in his uniform,
those biceps picking her up and cradling her against his brawny chest, and she was almost certain someone had turned up the
thermostat in the shop.
Stop it, Kaiah!
Reid pointed to her laptop bag at her feet. “Can I carry that for you?”
Kaiah shook away the thought and painted on a smile. “Thanks, that’s so nice.”
After retrieving her suitcase from Daisy, Kaiah and Reid headed to his black Chevy Suburban, where he loaded her luggage into the back. Bill stepped out of the shop.
“Ms. Ross, I’ll be in touch after I check in with a few parts dealers.” He shook Reid’s hand. “Good to see you.”
“You too, Bill.” Reid opened the rear passenger side door and held out his hand to Kaiah. “Climb on in.”
She took his hand and stepped up on the running board before settling into her seat. Her phone dinged with a text, and she
pulled it from her pocket.
Kam: Update on Daisy?
Kaiah: Car’s dead. I’m stuck in Nowheresville.
Kam: What???
Kaiah: I’ll call you when I get settled. And by the way . . . my Uber driver is Mr. TDH.
Kam: Get out! You HAVE to sneak a photo for me.
Kaiah snickered to herself while Reid buckled into the driver’s seat.
His dark eyes focused on her in the rearview mirror. “You still headed to the Sunshine Inn?”
“I’m actually not sure. Bill recommended to stay there while I was in town, and I guess he plugged that into the address.
I don’t even know if they have room for me.”
He swiped a hand over his five o’clock shadow, thinking. “I know the owners. Want me to call them for you?”
“Yes, please.” She held out the piece of paper with the phone numbers on it. “Bill gave me their number.”
“I got it.” He pulled out his phone, and when he touched the screen, she spotted a photo of an adorable little girl with dark
brown hair and a cheesy grin serving as his screensaver. Could she be his little girl? Or maybe his niece? Maybe he was married.
And if he was, Kaiah imagined that his lucky wife cherished both him and that cute little girl.
Reid dialed and held the phone to his ear. “Hey, Cade,” he said. “It’s Reid Turner. How’s it going? Is there any chance you’ve
got a room for the weekend? I have a passenger who needs a place to stay until at least Monday.” His handsome face clouded
with disappointment while he listened, and Kaiah slumped back on the seat. “I understand. Thanks so much. Tell Everleigh I
said hi. Bye.”
Reid angled his body toward her. “They’re full at the Sunshine Inn. Hosting a wedding. There’s also the Rosewood Inn. I’ll
try them.”
“Thanks,” she said.
He dialed a number, listened for a moment, and then frowned. “I forgot. They’re close for refurbishing.” He rattled off the
names of a few other hotels, along with their locations. Most of them were at the beach or the sound, which sounded way out
of her price range. “I can call them if you’d like.”
He must have read her hesitation on her face because he paused and appeared to be working through something in his mind. “I
have another option for you.”
She leaned toward him. “Okay.”
“I know this might seem a little forward, so please feel free to say no. But I have a garage apartment you can stay in.”
“Oh.” She moved her hands over the thighs of her jeans, making a swishing sound. Sure, this guy was handsome and friendly, but she didn’t really know him. Just because he was a firefighter and had a photo of a cute girl on his phone didn’t mean he was trustworthy. “Um . . .”
“It’s not extravagant,” Reid continued, “but you’ll have your own entrance. One of the guys from my station stayed there while
he was having some work done at his house. He liked it. I was thinking about turning it into an Airbnb, but I haven’t gotten
around to it.”
She bit her lower lip and debated what to do. Reid didn’t seem like a total weirdo. But what if he was? And what would Kam
say about staying with a stranger? Then again, Kam wasn’t stuck in the middle of Nowheresville, nearly broke with nowhere
to stay. It seemed like the choice was made for her. “How much?” she asked him.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Free?”
She lifted an eyebrow. Nothing was free. Everything had a price.
“Okay, okay. How about you pay whatever you can afford?”
She hesitated. Reid seemed harmless. But was this a good idea? Would Kam tell her she was crazy for trusting this handsome stranger?
“I can take you by the motels if you’d like,” Reid said quickly. “And if you’d rather find an Airbnb, I can look on my phone
and then—”
“Your garage apartment sounds perfect,” she said, shutting down the debate in her brain. For some crazy reason, she trusted
Reid, and she decided to go with her intuition. She hoped that wasn’t a grave mistake.
“Great,” he said. “What are you comfortable paying?”
“Well, the repairs on my car are going to be a little over two thousand, so . . .”
“Yikes.” He grimaced “Don’t worry about it. We can work it out after you get your car back.”
“Really?” This guy sounded too good to be true.
“Yeah, really.” He started the big SUV, and it rumbled to life.
While Reid drove through town, Kaiah made a mental note of everyone she had to tell about her change of plans—her editor, her tour guide in South Carolina, and the owner of the Airbnb where she planned to stay.
And Kam. She needed to give her sister the address of where she was staying just in case . . .
“Where are you from?” he asked, looking at her in the mirror again while they were stopped at a red light.
“New York.”
“Oh wow.”
“You?”
“Here. A Coral Cove native.”
“Seriously?” she asked. “It’s really . . . nice here.”
He laughed. “A bit smaller than New York, that’s for sure. How’d you wind up here?”
“My car brought me here. I was on my way to South Carolina and eventually to Florida, but my car had other ideas.” She explained
how it overheated. “Now I’m stranded—at least until Monday. Hopefully Bill will find the parts and I’ll be on my way.”
“What are you planning in South Carolina and Florida—if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I’m working on a series about hidden travel gems. I started in Maryland.”
“Hidden travel gems?” he asked. “Like cool places no one knows about?”
“Exactly.”
“So you’re a journalist?” he asked. And he actually sounded impressed.
Score.
“Yup.”
“That’s pretty cool. I bet you’ve been to some interesting places.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, I’ve traveled a bit and done some fun stories, but my dream is to write for a big magazine like Travel and Culture. I want to go to remote areas and write about interesting people and stories that matter. Not just fluff pieces, you know?
I don’t want to stick to beach towns. I want to update the world on the state of the rainforest and write about traditions
in the Indigenous communities of Alaska. I want to change people’s minds, not just tell them where to find the best corn dog
on vacation.”
Reid chuckled. “That sounds like a real adventure.”
He steered into a residential area as she cracked the window and basked in the cool, salty air. She scanned the brightly colored
beach homes sitting quietly along the street. Each home was a different shape and style—no two were alike—and each house sported
a cute and creative name like Rock ’n’ Reel, Catch ’n’ Relax, or Absolute Beach. The neighborhood felt warm and welcoming, and for a moment she wondered what it would’ve been like to grow up here.
Reid motored slowly down the road before pulling into the driveway leading to a bright blue, one-story clapboard house with
Beachy Keen written on a driftwood sign in a fun script font. A detached garage with an apartment above sat beside the home.
“What a cute place!” she exclaimed.
“Thanks,” he said. “My wife picked it out. We got this place for a song after we were married. Our folks helped us with the
offer, and the house needed a lot of work. We actually lived in the apartment above the garage while we fixed it up.”
So he was married. She nodded slowly, trying to make her voice sound as normal as possible. “That’s great.”
He checked his watch. “My daughter should be home any minute now.” He faced her and seemed almost apologetic. “I have to warn
you—she’s a chatterbox.”
“No problem.” Kaiah chuckled. “I love chatterboxes.”
“Good.” He pushed his door open. “Let’s get you settled.”
Reid carried her suitcase up the outside staircase leading to the apartment and punched in a code to the lock. He pushed the
door open and made a sweeping gesture. “It’s not much, but it’s clean. I’ll get you some linens.”
Kaiah stood in the middle of the spacious den and turned, taking in the sofa, flat-screen television, and galley kitchen complete
with a breakfast bar. Through an open door she spotted a large bedroom. “This place is actually bigger than my apartment back
home.”
He laughed and then stopped when he saw her expression. “Oh, you’re serious?”
She nodded. “This is perfect.”
He smiled. “Make yourself comfortable.” He found a notepad and pen on the kitchen counter. “I’ll write down the code for the
door. Are you hungry? I can see if I have any food in the house.”
“I can order something in. Just give me the address, and I’ll be all set.”
“Sure,” he said before writing on the notepad again.
The rumble of an engine announced a vehicle pulling into the driveway, and Reid crossed to the window. “She’s home.”
Kaiah inclined her head to the side. He’d said, “She’s home,” not “They’re home.” So, where was his wife?
He pointed to the door. “You can come with me if you want, and I can get your linens. Or you can get unpacked, and I’ll bring
them up later.”
“I don’t have much to unpack,” she said.