Chapter 1 #3
Every city-girl instinct had melted away when she fell on the ice and was single-handedly heating it with her butt.
Deke turned away and strode over to her car, opening the driver’s door to pop the hood. As he bent down, she got a nice view of his back.
And nicely muscular backside.
Something about his body made her think again of Kell, back when they’d worked together at the Earth Endangered Coalition, one of the biggest non-governmental organizations in the world. He’d looked nothing like this guy, but something about him pinged her radar.
Pinged a few unmentionable body parts, too.
“Are you a mechanic?” She checked out his white truck. A logo of three big, shiny, green leaves was on the side, with the words Pulling for You.
In smaller letters underneath was a tag line: We touch it so you don’t have to.
What the heck was that supposed to mean?
“No.” He pointed to his truck. “Read the door.”
“I just did. You’re a landscaper?”
“I pull poison ivy.” Opening the driver’s side door, he popped the hood, walked around and lifted it, securing the metal prop.
“That’s a thing?”
“That’s a thing.”
“You have an actual business doing that?”
“Yep.”
“Wow. Who knew?”
“L.A. knows.”
“Excuse me?”
“L.A. A lot of my clients are from Hollywood.”
“Here? You have clients from L.A. in... Maine?”
“Yep.”
“You’re joking.”
“Believe what you want to believe.”
“I want the truth.”
He just snorted, the sound followed by inaudible muttering as he rooted around under the hood.
Something about the sound rankled her, as if he were being hyper-judgmental.
Of her.
It was the kind of sound you make as an indictment. How dare he? He didn't even know her.
“You’ve got a cracked radiator hose,” he announced from under the hood.
“In English, please.”
“The doohickey in your whatchamacallit is broken.”
Rachel let out an aggrieved sigh. “You would never say that to a man.”
“Sure I would. Plenty of men are as ignorant about cars as you.”
“I am not ignorant!”
Crossing his arms over his broad chest, he stared at her, sunglasses mirroring Rachel’s reflection back at her.
“Then you fix it.”
“I have no idea how to fix it!”
“Then quit trying to control everything. And work on your attitude.”
“I don’t have an attitude! But even if I did, it would be justified. I’m stuck on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, on my way to work on a project I don’t even like, and now I’ve got some Paul Bunyan wannabee insulting my intelligence.”
“Thank you.”
“Excuse me?”
“The Paul Bunyan comment. I’ll take it as a compliment.”
“You know,” she said slowly, looking at him closely, his tone ringing bells in her head, “you really do remind me of your cousin Kell.”
“My cousin?”
“You said you're related to the Luviews. I assumed.”
“Smart. Because you're right. I'm closely related to Kell. I remind you of him?”
“Yes.”
“Really? I’m surprised.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s such an asshole.”
Laughter poured out of her, unexpected and raw, the giggles lifting her heart.
“I don’t know about that. He sure was stubborn when I knew him, but not an asshole. Just very, very sure he was right, even when he was so, so wrong.” The sigh she let out at the end made him jolt a little, cutting a look her way.
“You know him well?”
“I–well, um–no.”
Eyebrows raised over the frames of his sunglasses. “That’s quite an answer.”
“I don’t know him now. I did.”
“You one of his ex-girlfriends? Heard he’s a player. Sleeps around. Public health nightmare. Let me guess–you had his baby a few years ago and now you’re here to make him pay.” He clucked his tongue three times.
“Kell?” Rachel frowned. “That doesn’t sound like the guy I knew. And no, I’m not here to surprise Kell with a secret baby.”
“Good. A town can only handle that happening so many times.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, actually, that did happen a few years ago with Brian Mulroy. But not Kell, no. He must wrap it so he’s not producing progeny.”
“Let’s change the subject.”
“You brought up Kell. Just telling you what he’s like.”
“I suppose people change.”
“Naw,” Deke said in a low, gravelly tone. “They don’t.”
“You think we’re immutable? We should just throw our hands up and say, that’s just how it is, oh, well?”
“Sure. Life’s a hell of a lot easier if you accept reality.”
“That’s really depressing.”
“So is the broken part on your car. The reality is that you need a new radiator hose.” Tipping his chin up, he looked at the sky. “We’ve got about an hour to get you to town before dark. This car isn’t going anywhere but the repair shop. You need a hotel?”
“I have one already, thanks. Remember? My inn. One bedroom. I’m staying in Luview for a few nights.”
He let out a low whistle. “That must’ve been hard. You book it a long time ago?”
“I don’t know. My assistant booked it,” she answered, but now she was starting to wonder.
Dani had sent her a flurry of emails about her hotel arrangements a few weeks ago, when Orla put her on the project, but Rachel had only skimmed them, just reading the itinerary and making a note of the address in her phone for GPS.
“On business, you say?”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
He reached into his truck and rummaged around in a small canvas bag between the seats. The only hint he was frowning came from his glasses shifting on the bridge of his nose.
“Allen,” he sighed, the sound closer to a growl. “Took all the duct tape again.”
“Who is Allen?”
“My assistant.”
“You have an assistant, too?”
“Not the same kind you have.”
“What does duct tape have to do with–oh! You’re fixing the hose! Well, it’s a good thing you can, because–”
He held up his hand and stared at her, the sunglasses reflecting her image. “Duct tape’s good for lots of other things.”
A creepy sensation started in her tailbone and snaked up her spine, tingling with dread.
Then he pulled out a plastic container of what looked like glue.
“Business trip?” he said again, continuing to pry.
“None of yours.”
“Lady, Luview is so small, the American flag at the police station waves a little harder if a dog across town farts.”
“Thanks for that ringing endorsement of The Most Romantic Place on Earth.”
“We know each other’s business, like it or not. Strangers are part of the gossip mill, too, so I’ll know what you’re doing in town ten minutes after you start doing it.”
Deke leaned under the hood, a small gray tube the thickness of a banana in his left hand and a rag in his right. As he began applying the glue, she could see he was going to drip some on the engine.
“Watch out.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“You said you’re not a mechanic, so how do you know?”
He just sighed.
“You’re doing it wrong,” she insisted. Stretching, she tried to take it away.
“Stop!”
Who did this guy think he was? It was her rental car, after all. Her responsibility. Her stupid predicament. The glue tip was angled the wrong way, and if he didn’t turn it around, he’d get glue everywhere.
Then she realized it wasn’t the angle of the tip. There must have been a small puncture in the tube, because as he squeezed, it was coming out the wrong end.
“Look, Deke,” she said, trying to show him. He grinned when she said his name, and his smile sent a zing! through her core that made her heat up, hormones salsa dancing inside her.
Wait a minute.
Wait.
A.
Minute.
The tips of his fingers maneuvered the tube in exactly the worst way over the hose. Instinct made her jump forward; her boots didn’t help, but she began trying to brush the spilled glue off the hose with her hand.
“Damn it, Rachel, cut it out!”
Rachel.
He called her by her name.
A flood of emotion coursed through her, growing with every beat of her heart. Her nerves were already on edge, but this wasn’t fear. This was something warmer.
Something she had to fight.
“How do you know my name?” she demanded. She had a good grip on the hose, but so did he, and he wasn’t letting go.
Stubborn guy.
“Let go,” he insisted, pulling on the hose.
“You let go!”
Already standing next to him, she moved closer, filled with a sense of the familiar, the exciting, and the strange, all at once.
It left her dizzy and aching. Thick, wavy hair that curled at the edge of his collar gave the man a rakish look, wild and free, and mixed with that lush, dark beard, he was a true mountain man.
One who smelled like woodsmoke, lime, spices, pine -
And… superglue.
“This is ridiculous. Let. Go. Now!” he grunted.
She tried pulling her hand away, but her four fingers were stuck to the hose. His were attached just above hers.
Shaking her hand hard, she tried to unstick herself, but all she did was cause pain, the cold skin on her fingers stinging as she moved. Using her free hand, she stabilized the hose and tried prying the tip of her index finger away, but the only result was resistance and a surreal sense of panic.
He stopped her by pressing his free hand down hard over the hose, careful to avoid anyplace where their fingers were attached, and he worked the tips of his fingers as well.
No luck.
“I never told you my name,” she persisted, wondering how she could seriously have been so stupid as to have missed that this was Kell.
This was Kell?
“Must have read it on something in your car.”
“It’s a rental. And my purse with all my ID is under the seat.”
“Huh.”
Then his hat fell off his head as he bent over, trying to pry her hand off the hose. The sunglasses slid down his nose. Their eyes met, and she knew.
Knew.
His dark gray eyes were so familiar.
“Are you kidding me? Kell Luview? It’s really you? Why would you lie to me and tell me your name is Deke? What is this? What are you up to?”
She tried to get away, tried to pull away.
His hand came with her.
A sigh that sounded murderous turned into a low chuckle of disgust.
“Yeah, Rachel, it’s me. And look what you’ve done, again. Ruined my life.”
“What?”
Those beautiful gray eyes narrowed.
“Then again, that’s your superpower, isn’t it?”
[Author’s note: for the full story experience, listen to the audiobook on Audible, narrated by the amazing team of Erin Mallon and Teddy Hamilton!]