CHAPTERSEVEN
Hallie was in utter disbelief when Rev came to her rescue. Thank God he had because she hadn’t had a fucking clue as to what she would have done had he not shown up when he had.
The trek back to his cabin had been filled with fear and uncertainty on her part. They stomped through the mud and water until they finally reached a rustic-looking log cabin. As long as it was dry inside, she didn’t care where the hell he lived. All she wanted was to be out of this damn storm.
While she had been very much looking forward to meeting Rev, this was not the scenario she had imagined. She’d had an entire situation contrived in her mind about how their first meeting would go. He would stumble upon her while she was pretending to work on her research. They would get to talking and hit it off. He’d invite her to dinner, then they’d have a fabulous roll in the hay.
What she didn’t imagine was meeting him in a life-or-death situation in the middle of a horrendous storm, looking like an animal that had crawled out of the gutter somewhere. It also didn’t help that she sounded like a moron every time she opened her mouth. For whatever reason, she found herself completely tongue-tied around him.
He opened the door and stepped inside, giving her an amazing view of his backside. She remembered what it had looked like when he was buck naked and dripping wet. Sweet baby Jesus. She would never get that image out of her head.
Hallie gasped when she walked through the door. She wasn’t sure what she expected when she entered his home, but it certainly wasn’t this. The outside looked as if the house had seen better years, but the truth was, the interior had been fully updated and looked as if every creature comfort had been included. It was truly stunning.
Rev toed off his boots and set them out on the covered front porch. “I’ll deal with those later. If you'd like to clean up, there’s a bathroom and shower through that door. I’ll see if I can find something dry for you to wear until we can get your clothes dried.”
“Thanks.” Hallie set off in the direction Rev had pointed. The first thing she did was peel her clothes off and set them in the bathtub. She wrapped a towel around her hair and one around her body and worked on wringing out her clothes so they didn’t drip all through his house.
The light knock on the bathroom door startled her. “Just a second,” she said, tightening the towel around her. The last thing she needed was to flash him when she opened the door.
“I have some dry clothes that should work for you.”
“Thanks.” She carefully cracked the door open, keeping one hand on the towel.
She didn’t miss the way his eyes enlarged or how they quickly skimmed every inch of her body. She also didn’t miss the sharp breath he had taken.
Well, well, well,she thought. Maybe there was a mutual interest after all. Though she had pretended she didn’t know a thing about him, she really didn’t. It wasn’t like she or Gerri had gotten into his life details or anything like that. Only that he was looking for someone he could spend some time with. So, no. It wasn’t like she knew anything about him at all when it came down to it.
He handed the clothes to her, which she gladly accepted. She pulled the too-big T-shirt over her head. It hung nearly to her knees. There were two options for pants, a pair of shorts with a tie around the waist and a pair of sweats with a similar tie. Even with the tie, the shorts were far too big and kept sliding down her legs. The sweatpants seemed to be a better option, even if they were a good foot too long. Hallie rolled up the legs and tied them.
Once she was sure the pants would stay on her body and not slip down to her ankles, she cracked the door open and peeked her head out, looking for Rev. He stood in the kitchen in a pair of gray sweats and a white T-shirt that clung to his body.
“Hey, where should I put my wet clothes?” she asked, not wanting to leave them lying in the tub.
“We can throw them right into the wash. I’ll show you where it is.”
She grabbed her clothes and followed him down a short hall to the laundry room. She tossed her clothes in the machine, and he added his before tossing in a liquid soap pod and filling the fabric softener reservoir.
“I’ll check back on it in a little bit and swap it to the dryer when it’s done.”
“Thanks.”
“Are you hungry? I can make some dinner.”
Hallie wanted to deny that she was hungry, but her stomach chose that moment to let out a loud, humiliating growl.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Yeah. I was planning on grabbing something to eat after I finished up with my work, but …”
“But the storm,” he finished her sentence for her.
“Exactly. I feel really bad about intruding on you like this.”
“I’m just glad I could help. It got pretty dicey out there quickly.” Rev pulled a couple of steaks from the freezer and set them on the counter. “Are you good with steaks and baked potatoes?” he asked.
“Sounds great. What can I do to help?” she asked, not wanting to feel totally useless.
“Do you want to make the salad?”