Seth smiled, probably relieved that she wasn’t mute, but his smile made her knees tremble. She recognized she was behind the dating curve as the only time she left her small town of two hundred was to go to the big town of Preston and wait tables, but she knew for certain they didn’t make men like this back home.
“Cain?” the brother asked. “Like Cain and Abel or cane sugar?”
“You are such an idiot,” Seth said, releasing her hand to push his brother into the closest tree.
Breeze shuffled away, hoping they weren’t going to start rolling around on the ground again, but luckily the brother just laughed and said, “Testy, testy.”
Seth turned back to her, ruffling his hand through his golden-brown hair. “Sorry. I can’t take him anywhere.”
Breeze found herself smiling. She’d had so little to smile about, especially the last few days. It felt awkward, and really, really nice. “Has anyone ever told you two you act like you’re twelve-year-old boys?”
Caleb threw back his head and laughed. “Only our beautiful mother, every other minute.” He looked to Breeze. “You good? I’m going to head back to the party.”
Seth cocked an eyebrow at her. “Are you comfortable being left alone with me?”
She nodded, tilting her head toward his brother and pointing at a fire extinguisher that lay near the edge of the clearing. “It’d be better than being left alone with him. I get the feeling he might start me on fire just to see if he could put me out again.” She smiled to show Caleb she was teasing.
Now Seth was the one laughing.
“I wouldn’t blow you up or anything, but if I … accidentally set you on fire,” he winked, “I could put you out easily.” Caleb lifted the fire extinguisher as if saluting her with it.
“I feel very reassured,” she teased, feeling like he was the older brother she used to dream about. Funny, a bit crazy, but he’d have your back in a fight. Sometimes it was hard being the oldest.
Caleb waved and pumped his eyebrows as he walked away. “I won’t wait up,” he called to his brother.
Breeze ignored that insinuation and gestured to the extinguisher his brother carried. “What’s really up with that?”
Seth shrugged, looking boyishly irresistible in a tough man’s body. “We may have started a little fire with our fireworks display.” He grinned. “Don’t worry. We’re experts at putting fires out.”
So they were behind the fireworks. Yet as she looked at him it hit her. Something about his voice and that appealing grin. The reality slammed into her of where she’d seen him. On the televised motocross races that Ridge couldn’t get enough of. “Seth Jewel?”
He nodded, looking a little concerned about her mental state. He would be a lot more concerned if he knew what she had to go back to.
“You’re the guy who is like nuts on motorcycles and snowmobiles. X Games superstar.” She couldn’t believe she hadn’t connected that immediately when he said his full name.
Now he was grinning again. “Yes, ma’am, that’s me.”
“My brother idolizes you.”
He looked slightly embarrassed but mostly proud. “Thank you.”
Her brother. She needed to get back. If Flint discovered that she’d disappeared, he might lash out at her brother. Ridge had some cuts and scrapes on him when she’d arrived. She’d seen several of the men hit and belittle him. It made her sick. Two more weeks, if they both worked long hours, and they could get out of there. She just prayed they both could stay safe for that long.
“I need to go,” she murmured, brushing past Seth and retracing her steps.
“I’ll walk you back,” he said, falling into step with her. She flinched in surprise. His words were a statement, not a question, which made her spine stiffen. She wanted to protest simply on principle. She didn’t take handouts or let men take charge of her. Yet Seth didn’t seem as if he were trying to control her. He was obviously a gentleman and she felt safe around him. If only she could swallow her pride and beg him to help her out of her current predicament. No. She and Ridge could handle it. She hoped. She wasn’t about to involve an innocent stranger, and her brother’s hero at that, with the likes of Flint Brooks.
“Where are you coming from?” he asked.
“A cabin about a mile east of here,” she said. She was good with directions and could easily use the moon and the mountains to retrace her steps. “What about you?”
He pointed the opposite direction of where they were going. “My parents’ cabin is a few hundred yards that way. We’re having a party tonight to celebrate my brother Luke’s marriage.”
“Hence the fireworks.”
He smiled. “Caleb and I have always liked to blow things up.”
“My brother, Ridge, and I used to love to make dry ice bombs when we were younger,” she commiserated.