She peeked at him from beneath the napkin.
“I will give you a ride,” Remy heard himself say.
She hurtled herself at him. Remy grunted at the impact because he had not been expecting her to hit him with the force of a mini tornado. For someone seemingly so delicate, she had a very strong grip.
“Thank you.” A heartfelt sigh of gratitude. “You have saved my life.”
His hands hovered in the air. Was he supposed to hug her in return? Give her a reassuring pat on the back?
Grab her tight and not let go?
Whoa. That last thought had come out of nowhere and was absolutely not the right response in this situation. So Remy went with option two. His left hand awkwardly patted her on the back. “There, there.” That seemed appropriate enough. “Though, I hardly think a ride equals a life-saving deed.”
Her head lifted. Tear drops clung to her long lashes. “It does to me.”
Uh, huh. “Were you this grateful to the truck driver?”
She still held him. Still gazed up at Remy with her desperate gaze. “Even more so. He got me out of—” Jacqueline stopped. Didn’t tell him exactlywhatshe’d gotten out of, before adding, “So I paid him with the ring. I didn’t want it, and he’d been so kind that it was the least I could do.” She swallowed and seemedto finally realize that she was gripping Remy too tightly. That her body had pressed closely to his.
He could feel all her curves. Her lush breasts. Her warmth. He could—
She jerked back. “The ring was the only thing of value I had on me. I-I can’t offer you anything else as payment.” Her hands twisted in front of her.
“Sure, the ring was the only thing. Totally makes sense to me.” He headed past her but paused long enough to reach out to capture her hand once again. Remy had discovered something rather odd. He liked touching her. His fingers threaded with hers as if it was the most natural act in the world. It wasn’t. He wasn’t normally big on touching. But, well, he needed to pull her along, didn’t he? If he was being the big hero of the night, they should get moving.
Before whoever was chasing the lost bride came running in after her.
They were almost at the door—Rodney still hadn’t glanced their way—when she suddenly dug in her bare heels. “Wait!”
Sighing, he swung his head toward her. “Wait for what?”
Jacqueline bit her lower lip. Released it. Bit it again. Didn’t speak.
“Ahem.” He gave an encouraging nod. “There something you need to say?”
“I’m not going to sleep with you in order to pay for a ride.” The words were so low that he almost missed them.
Almost, but not quite, and laughter erupted from Remy.
Red flashed in her cheeks.
Because the laughter was ever so booming, it even caught Rodney’s attention. He spun toward them. “Hey!” Rodney called. “What’s going on over there?”
She shuddered and pushed close to Remy once more. He realized that her back was to Rodney, and Jacqueline had just positioned herself so that her face was tucked toward Remy’s body. Other than seeing the white dress and dark hair, Rodney wouldn’t be able to say much about the womanifhe were to be questioned by someone later.
Remy rolled one shoulder in a shrug. “My lady came to get me tonight. Made a joke about me being late for our date.” It was close to midnight, so, yeah, that had to count as late. “See you around, Rodney.”
Grunting, Rodney focused on his screen once more.
Remy took a still-blushing Jacqueline outside. He unlocked the truck and hoisted her up into the high seat because the vehicle had some very big-ass tires. Big-ass everything, come to think of it.
Perched in the passenger seat, she looked down at him as the vehicle’s interior light illuminated the scene. “I’m sorry if I assumed the wrong thing inside.” Now she sounded miserable. “You’re obviously a good guy—”
More laughter. Damn. She was cracking him up. Very unusual. He had some acquaintances who would swear he never laughed. “Watch the foot. Don’t want those toes getting banged when I close the door.”
Her foot whipped away from the door. He slammed it, and, whistling, made his way around the vehicle. But before he climbed inside…Remy paused to glance around the area. The road appeared deserted. No other vehicles. No people at all. The main street in Halfway seemed as deserted as always.
But appearances could be deceiving. Remy knew that. So he took a moment. Looked for anything out of the ordinary.