CHAPTER 17
Isabella
Sweat trickled down the back of my neck as I grunted. It took all my might to turn the tire iron. That sucker didn’t want to budge. Hoping for some leverage, I used the weight of my body to lean into it.
“Do ya want some help?” Jimmy offered for the third time.
“No.” I blew a piece of hair off my forehead.
Finally, it moved. Success!
Pride washed over me. Sure, it was just one lug nut, but I’d done it. By myself. Well, with Jimmy talking me through it, but still.
Once I got the first one loosened the rest of them were a little bit easier. After that, I used the jack to raise the truck. Jimmy patiently walked me through each of the following steps and pretty soon I had the spare in place. I knew that this was taking twice if not three or four or ten times longer with me being the one to put on the spare. But I couldn’t get over how sweet and accommodating he was.
After I released the jack, I tightened the lug nuts again. I put all my might into it, wanting to make sure the tire wouldn’t fly off when he was driving. I suddenly had an all new respect for mechanics. Their work could save or cost someone’s life.
“Breathe. You need to breathe.” I heard Jimmy say beside me.
I let out a breath that I hadn’t even been aware I was holding because I was straining so hard and thinking about the life and death of it all. As soon as I did, I felt light-headed. I tried to stand but I wobbled on my shaky legs.
“Whoa.” Jimmy’s arms immediately wrapped around me, steadying me.
I gripped his biceps and even in my dizzy state, I couldn’t help but notice the way his muscles felt under my touch. He was so solid. So strong. So sexy.
“You okay?” he asked, his eyes and voice brimming with concern.
His face was shaded by a ball cap, but that didn’t stop me from swooning over his gorgeous hazel eyes as I nodded. “I think so.”
“Why don’t we sit ya down for a sec, get ya out of the road.”
He ushered me to the side of the road and cradled me as I lowered onto a patch of grass. He handed me a bottle of water that he produced from who knows where.
Once I was settled, he went back and finished the job easily. What would’ve probably taken me another ten minutes, he did in less than one. And looked damn good doing it, I didn’t mind saying. I wasn’t just impressed he was taking such good care of me, but also how efficient he was at everything he did.
Cheyenne had mentioned that her little brother had a way about him, a capableness. That was before I knew that she was talking about Jimmy. At the time she said it, I wasn’t sure what she meant. Now I knew.
When I was with Jimmy, I never worried about anything. I felt like whatever happened, he would handle it. Being with him was the only time I wasn’t anxious about the past or the future, I was just in the present. It was a quality in someone I never knew was so attractive because I never knew it existed.
“How you doin’?” He lowered down beside me, holding a water bottle of his own.
“Better.” I took another drink of mine. “Did I do it right?”
“Yes, ma’am. You can officially say that you’ve changed a tire.”
My lips turned up in a smile. I was crossing things off my list left and right.
“And you looked damn hot doin’ it,” he said, before taking a swig of his own water bottle.
“I’m sure.” I laughed, assuming the hot must be referring to my being a sweaty mess.
He finished his drink and turned toward me. There was an intensity in his light brown stare that hadn’t been there moments ago.
“I’m serious. I was havin’ a hard time keepin’ my hands to myself. Literally.” His eyes dropped to his waist and I saw a bulge behind his jeans.
“That’s for me?” I’d never imagined that changing a tire would be a turn on. Although it was for me when I watched him, so I guess it worked both ways.
Now he was the one that chuckled. “Yeah, that’s for you.”