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Instead, in the distance, a cloud of dust was billowing, the source heading in my direction. It had to be a car.
Even better!
I sprung up and stuffed my dead phone into my pocket. I ran out into the middle of the road, waving my arms.
My heart thundered, echoing the sound of the car tires over the gravel. With the pot-holed gravel road, it was taking forever for the car to get close.
I was tempting fate again. It could be another jerk. The last person I climbed into the car with told me once we were out here in the middle of nowhere to give him a hand job. I refused, jumped out of the car when he persisted, and he left me stranded.
Maybe this time I wouldn’t refuse a hand favor if someone could at least get me to a town.
What had my life come to?
I waved more as the car got closer, and I put out a thumb. That was a sign for hitchhiking still, right?
The car seemed to speed up and turned slightly as if veering to go around me.
Was the driver going to try to pass me?
Don’t do this to me! Be a civilized human being, please!
I widened my stance, keeping to the dead center of the road. The narrow lane meant they couldn’t ignore me. There was a ditch on either side they couldn’t avoid unless they wanted to hurt the car.
Unless they planned to crash into me.
I clenched my jaw and waited, waved, and hoped.
The car zoomed toward me, and I suddenly felt like we were playing chicken.
Sports car. Old model. I made a wild, hopeful guess it was a man inside.
I took a chance and lifted my shirt, exposing my breasts to get his attention.
Desperate times...
If he wouldn’t stop to help out of kindness, I was pretty sure my boobs would at least get him to slow down.
When he was a few feet away and still rolling in, I was a breath away from leaping from the road. The driver jammed the breaks. The car skidded at the last moment and drifted sideways along the road. The side of the bumper stopped just a few feet away from me.
My pulse raced. An unpleasant taste took over my mouth. My hands shook. I could have died.
At least he stopped. I lowered my shirt and wiped my face to clear some sweat.
The car was a black Montego with shiny chrome trim around the underbelly, at the bumpers and around the windows. The vintage car was in great condition, besides the fresh white dust from the gravel roadway, enough to pile up around the Mercury logo.
The car door flung open and a guy popped out, a little over six foot with dark pilot sunglasses on his tanned face.
Brown hair, simple tapered to the nape style, with frosted blond highlights that stuck out in different directions, but it was hard to tell if the light color was natural from sunlight or dyed. Strong jaw with a stylish, two-day unshaven face, enough to make him look more mature and give shadow to his cheeks.
The surprise was that he was super polished. I could spot cultured elite from a mile away, and he oozed it, from his hair style, to the way he was standing. What was he doing out in the middle of farmland?
His jaw was tight, with his nose flared. His disapproving scowl and heaving chest told me he was irate.
I retained my stance, drawing my head back to appear humble. I was desperate. I needed water.
“Are you insane?” His voice was silvery, yet there was a huskiness, and I wasn’t sure if the rough edge to it was natural or it was because he was stressed.
I spoke delicately as I could over the rumble of the still-running engine. “I need a ride. Or water, if you have it.”
He tilted his head, scanning me down to my chest and then back up to my face. An eyebrow lifted enough to arch over the sunglasses, and he twisted his lips. “Didn’t your mother teach you modesty? Someone worse than me could have been out here.”
Worse than him? I scoffed, ditching my dainty tone for something practical. “It’s hot. You were the only person who’s come by for hours... And then you were going way too fast and acting like you were going to drive through me.”
He whipped off his sunglasses, giving me a startled glare with wide blue eyes. “What? I thought you were hurt. I was trying to get here faster to see what the emergency was.”
The light blueness of his eyes stunned me, how they clashed with the even, deeply tanned skin of his cheeks. He had a country charm to his face. What caught my attention more was the disarming feeling that settled into me as those eyes showed he was genuinely concerned more than angry.
I had pictured him as rugged and possibly uptight while he had the glasses on. The eyes softened everything about him.
I relaxed my shoulders and breathed out slowly through my lips, giving myself a chance to calm. The heat was making me snappy, and that wasn’t nice of me given I was asking the favor. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I was desperate. I’m sunburned and lost. If you have any water at all… A ride would be better, if you can.”
His irritated demeanor instantly evaporated and his face relaxed. His lips formed a loose smile, something on the verge of amused. He looked me over again, but this time he seemed more curious. My burned skin and dry, cracked lips proved I was earnest about being in danger. My dark hair was wild, as I hadn’t combed it out. The frizz levels had to be astronomical.
He fiddled with the glasses in his hand. “Where to?” he asked.
“I was heading to Charleston,” I said. It was as big a town that I could get lost in, but still held some refinement. I could find work. I could blend in. “But any place between here and there with water is fine by me. I just need to get out of this sun.”
“No kidding,” he said. “You look like a tomato.”
He might have been right, but he seemed to know just w
hat to say to cause a surge of embarrassment through my heart. I bit my tongue and forced a pleasant smile. “If you can’t help me, if you could give me some water... Anything. Please. I don’t have much cash on me, but I can pay for it. And maybe put in something for me in Uber. Or a cab. Anything.”
His lips tightened. His gaze went to the fields around us, and I wondered if he was trying to figure out how he could drive around me.
“How’d you end up out here?” he asked.
“It’s a long story.”
He nodded slowly, replaced his sunglasses, and waved to me. “Come on, tomato.”
A small wave of dizziness crashed over me, and I hoped this wasn’t a mistake. I could take a few crude comments if it meant I made it out of this place alive.
I stepped carefully over the gravel to get to the car, the rocks easily biting at my feet through the thin shoes.
He sprinted to open the passenger door, a gesture I took with some surprise. He might have some rough edges, but he was still a Southern gentleman.
I studied him as I approached. He wore jeans, G-Star brand. The T-shirt I couldn’t place. It was simple, slight V-neck, light blue, no logo. Looked like cotton blend. He had some bulk around the chest, but with the way the clothes went around, it was hard to tell if it was bigger pecs than his rib section or just his broad arms making that appearance.
I leaned to get into his car until I spotted the seat. Leather. Expensive. I paused, looking back at him. “I’m sorry…”
He gazed at me, an eyebrow lifting above the ridge of his sunglasses again. “Stop being sorry and get in.”
“It’s just that I’m sweat covered and your seats.” I motioned to the leather. “I don’t want to ruin it. That stitching looks expensive.”
He wrinkled his nose. The gruff to his silvery tone continued, and I believed it to be natural. “I thought you were dying. You’re worried about the seat? What’s wrong with you?”
