It appeared her brusque words had finally gained his full attention. The man muttered something under his breath. At last, he started to move. He was almost upright when he let out a grunt of pain.
“Is it your leg?”
He nodded as he drew in one deep breath after the other.
She glanced between him and the dash. There just might be enough room for her to wiggle in there. It’d help if she had a flashlight. And then remembering her cell phone, she grabbed it from her pocket and turned on the light.
Her gaze met his. “I’m going to try not to hurt you, but we have to free your leg. Can you work with me on this?”
The man’s eyes reflected his uncertainty, but then he relented with a curt nod. “Just do it. And quickly. I smell gas.”
He didn’t have to tell her twice. On her stomach, she moved across the butter-soft leather upholstery. When she got to the man’s body, she did her best to focus on the task at hand and not the fact that when she placed a hand on his thigh, it was rock hard. The man was all muscle and—and she had work to do. At last, she was wedged between him and the dashboard with barely any room for her to move her arms.
“Can you move the seat back?”
His body shifted. “It’s not working. The electrical system must have shorted out.”
“Okay. I’ve got this.”
She had to get this man free of the car and then find out what had happened to Gizmo. Her poor sweet furbaby could be hurt or worse—
Stop. Deal with one problem at a time.
Hands first, she repositioned herself. She flashed the light around. The side of the car had been smashed inward. His ankle was pinned between the car door and the brake pedal. It looked bad—real bad.
Serena drew in an unsteady breath, willing herself to remain calm when all she wanted to do was run away and find someone else to help this man. But there wasn’t time for that. She could do this. She could. Serena placed her hand gently on his leg and paused. When he didn’t cry out in pain, she proceeded to examine the situation. She ran her hand down his leg, checking for any major injuries. She didn’t feel any. There was no wiggle room on either side. The brake pedal was digging into his flesh.
Knowing that she was going to need two hands, she held up the phone to him. “Can you hold this for me?”
He took the phone. The light was angled too high.
“Tilt it a little lower. I’m going to try to move the brake pedal. Are you ready?”
“Yes. Just do what you need to do.”
Serena pressed on the brake. The pedal became stuck on his black leather dress shoe. She tried moving his foot, but it wouldn’t budge.
She felt his body stiffen. Serena released his foot. He was really pinned in there. And it frightened her to know that she might not be able to free him before the car went up in flames.
She swallowed hard. “I’m going to take off your shoe and see if that will help.”
“Do what you need to do. You don’t have to keep updating me.”
Just then she inhaled the scent of smoke. Her pulse quickened. They were almost out of time. And this wasn’t the way she planned to leave this world.
Her fingers moved quickly. The shoe tie pulled loose.
He cursed under his breath.
She stopped moving. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Keep going.”
“But I’m hurting you.”
“It’s going to hurt a lot more when that fire reaches us.”
“Okay. Okay. I’ve got it. I’ll try to do this as quickly as possible.”