I smile at her and finally let go of her seat belt. Her cheeks are flushed and her hair is damp where it’s peeking out from under her stocking cap.
I ignore her remark about not calling for a tow. “I’m glad to see you own a winter hat,” I say. “I worry about you, the way you stand outside in the freezing cold in front of the camera.”
She’s been outside long enough to get pummeled by the wind and snow, and I wish I had something to take the chill off.
Well, I do, in fact, have a very large something to take the chill off, but she’s not ready for that yet.
I know, what a creepy thing to think in the 30 seconds after helping someone. But damn. Being this close to her and feeling what I’m feeling...and it’s been a long time since...well let’s just say it’s hard not to think about getting her into my warm bed.
I rifle through her emergency kit to find something other than my body to warm her up. She’s got junk food, water and vodka. “Well, you prepared for a party,” I say.
She seems agitated the more I riffle around in the kit. “Um yes, there’s nothing else in there…”
I grab on to the end of something that looks like a flashlight. It’s purple and has a button on the end of the handle. “Flashlight?”
“Um, it’s…” she says. “My massager. Never mind that, it’s just a neck massager that helps with migraines.”
When I click the button, no light comes on, but it vibrates. And that’s when I see the silhouette of it in the darkness.
“Oh,” I say, “how do I turn this off…”
She grabs for it in the dark. "Here, you just click it two more times and… OK, it’s off. Oh my god.”
I toss my head back and laugh. Her face turns three shades of crimson. "Wow, you really aren't messing around with your emergency kit.”
“Nope. I mean yep. I mean, shut up, let’s go."
I shrug and throw the truck into gear. "No big deal. Nice to know my favorite local weather girl is actually a human being."
Her cheeks are so red they’re almost pulsating.
But it doesn't change the fact that Mary Reed is ten times as beautiful in person as she is on TV.
“I’m extremely human. I’m so human I can’t pay you for a tow. Christmas presents pretty much broke the bank this year,” she says.
“Well, then it’s a good thing I can’t tow your car out until morning. Not safe for me to be towing vehicles on these country roads.”
This is sort of a lie. I could effortlessly hook up her little Toyota and safely drop it at the garage tonight as well as see her home safely. But I don’t want her driving anywhere else tonight. Something tells me she might be the kind of woman with a one-track mind.
Too bad, because I’m not letting her out of my sight.
“OK, so you’re…what? Giving me a ride out of the goodness of your heart?”
I nod. “Exactly. Where were you headed? And why? I do believe I saw your weather report earlier tonight, warning everyone to not do exactly what you were just doing.”
She sighs. “I was just going to go home and be alone tonight as usual, but then…then I changed my mind and wanted to go see my friend Jenna. She lives on Black Angus Trail. Thought I’d ride out the blizzard with her and some friends.”
“What kind of friends would have you drive in a blizzard?”
“Drunk friends. Fun friends. Friends trying to set me up on dates,” she says.
I’ve never had this kind of reaction to the idea of an attractive girl being hit on by someone else before, but suddenly I’ve got the primal urge to take charge of tonight.
“Oh, that is absolutely not happening tonight, my weather girl,” I say.
She shifts in her seat.