5
As Easton sat backin the driver’s seat, staring into the bluest eyes he’d ever seen, his heart was hammering against his rib cage and adrenaline—not arousal—raced through his blood.
He was doing his best to convince himself that he was feeling the way he was because he’d just had a close call with the Grim Reaper. His heart pounding and his body buzzing had nothing to do with the fact that he was sitting in a confined space with the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
No. That was absolutely not why he was experiencing the physical things he was experiencing.
“So, what’s the plan?” she asked.
“The plan?”
“You said if you got in the SUV, would I. I did. What’s next?”
Shit.Easton hadn’t really thought that far in advance. He just knew that he needed to get her to safety and if the only way to do that was to get in the car himself, so be it. There wasn’t a lot of options at their disposal. Actually, only one he could think of.
“We wait,” he answered.
Her brows lifted. “Wait for what?”
“The weather to calm down or help to come.”
She blinked as she repeated, “We wait.”
He knew that it wasn’t the most heroic of plans. Which sucked because if there’d ever been anyone in his life that he would have loved to be a hero in front of, it would be the blonde staring at him with the face of an angel and a body for sin.
But that was all he had. Wait.
“Yep.”
He braced himself for her to argue with him or the flicker of challenge to light in her eyes, but neither of those things happened.
“Okay.” She took in a deep breath. “Well now that that’s settled, I think the next thing we should do is eat,” she stated decisively.
He sat there stunned at how quickly she’d conceded to wait.
“Are you hungry? I’m starving.” She reached into the back seat, twisting her body in a position that had her shirt and jacket riding up revealing a sliver of bare skin.
It was barely an inch of flesh, but that inch was serving to heat him from the inside out. Desire and urgency rushed through his veins, and he turned his head, staring straight out the window as he tried to get his overactive hormones to calm the fuck down. His response to this woman was unlike anything he’d ever felt. It was consuming, all-encompassing. He didn’t have any control over it, which was a very new experience for him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her settle back into her seat and he knew it was safe to look.
He shifted his attention back to her and watched as the heavenly creature dug into a reusable tote bag on her lap. “I have beef jerky. Sour cream and onion chips. Rice Krispies treats. M&Ms. Peanut, obviously—”
“Why obviously?” he asked, not able to stop himself from interrupting. As incredible as this woman was to look at, he was even more interested in what was going on in that beautiful head of hers. He wanted to know everything about her, every thought and opinion she had, including why peanut M&Ms were the obvious choice for a snack.
Slowly, she lifted her chin and turned her head toward him. “Because I’m not a psychopath.”
“People who eat plain M&M’s are psychopaths?” he questioned.
Her baby blues narrowed slightly before she spoke in a cool tone. “I presume that is a rhetorical question.”
He couldn’t help but grin as she returned her attention to her bag and continued to announce its contents.
The woman seated beside him was unlike any person he’d ever met, and he’d traveled the world and met a lot of people. Everything about her fascinated him. She looked like she belonged on the pages of Vogue or Vanity Fair, like she was used to people waiting on her hand and foot. But she’d got out in the freezing cold to help him change a tire, which he was pretty sure she had no clue how to do.
She obviously cared about her appearance and took very good care of herself, but she had packed enough junk food to feed a football team.
She’d had no issue throwing herself in harm’s way to save him, but when he wanted to walk to get help, she’d insisted on going with him.