Levi opened the passenger door and offered his hand to assist her down. It was a big step for anyone who wasn’t him, and he didn’t want her to stumble and hurt herself trying to get out, especially since there wasn’t any way to get her to a hospital with the road blocked. Deborah Smith was a retired doctor who lived in a secluded cabin farther up the mountain, and people went to her every now and again, but it wasn’t like she had an X-ray machine in her living room if Hayley broke her leg.
She didn’t immediately put her hand in his. Instead, she regarded him with a pinched expression, her eyes level with his from her perch in the big rig. He let himself have a moment to indulge in the richness of her irises. They truly were a decadent pleasure, chocolate infused with bursts of honeycomb delight. The way her bangs traced the outline of her face acted as a frame for a masterpiece.
Levi Redding was a man of few words, but the speechlessness he felt while looking at this woman was akin to having the wind knocked out of him. Sudden. Gripping. And utterly, completely, unequivocally overwhelming.
He took in the narrowing of her lids as her gaze jumped from his face to his outstretched hand and back again. Was she still afraid of him? Did his size really cause her that much distress?
He opened his mouth to reassure her again that he would never harm her in any way when she slipped her delicate palm into his. On instinct, his fingers curled around her hand. Just as with the first time he’d touched her to help her into the cab, a shock of awareness splintered from every point of contact where her skin touched his and shot up his arm with alarming intensity.
He sucked in a breath through his nose. Mental acrobatics were required to keep his grip gentle yet supportive instead of reflexively tightening his grasp.
What was wrong with him? Why did he keep having these out-of-character reactions to this particular woman? She was beautiful, yes, but he’d seen beautiful women before. Her laugh, her scent, her voice—none of those things were offensive to him. Being around others caused a visceral reaction within him. The same was true for Hayley, but it was different. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
Once the soles of Hayley’s shoes touched the ground, she pulled her hand back, leaving the phantom caress of her touch tickling the lines etched into his palm. It was soft and light, rippling in faint waves like a pebble tossed into a pond.
It drove him out of his mind.
With rough, swift strokes, he rubbed the palm of his hand across the outside of his thigh in an attempt to erase the imprint she’d left on his skin.
Something really must be wrong with him. Not that that was new information or anything. He’d always figured his internal wiring was faulty somehow, not all things exactly right. But this? This was altogether a very different kind of wrong.
7
Hayley was in the office using the phone to call the Little Creek Library to let them know what had happened to their bookmobile. Levi assumed she’d also call any friends and family or a significant other who may worry about her when she didn’t come home for the night. Or the next day. Or the next.
He rubbed his index finger hard across the span of his forehead. Hopefully the Department of Transportation would have an estimate on how long it would take them to clear the road. Hayley had said she’d make that phone call as well. He wasn’t sure which of them was more anxious to hear when a crew would be sent to the rockslide site.
The answer should be obvious—Hayley. She was the one not allowed to go home, stuck with a grumpy stranger in a town so small it wasn’t even a town at all, and forced to make do with a situation that too eerily mirrored being marooned on a deserted island. Hopefully, if given the choice, she’d have chosen a van full of books to be stranded with because that was what she’d ended up with.
But there was a reason Levi had chosen Turkey Grove instead of someplace closer to his family when he’d moved out. He loved his family, but he’d taken the first opportunity toescape their chaos. He’d never really been all that good at living with people to begin with, even when he was a child. He was years out of practice of putting up with the hassle of sharing space with another person. To be perfectly honest, he wasn’t all that confident in his capability to coexist, let alone to do so harmoniously.
He unhooked the last of the chains from around the bookmobile’s chassis. It was in position to be hoisted on the lift, if necessary. First, he needed to pop the hood and have a look underneath. The fact the engine wouldn’t turn over narrowed the problem to a faulty battery, alternator, or starter, if he had to wager a guess. Of course, that could be only the beginning of any sort of mechanical issues, especially in a vehicle this age. Thankfully, he had a number of parts on hand for an array of makes and models, so chances were he could likely get the bookmobile up and running again by the time the road was cleared.
His gaze snagged on the 1968 Plymouth Barracuda he had up on the lift in the neighboring bay. His latest project car, and one he still couldn’t believe he’d found in a junkyard in Hendersonville. The owner had no idea the treasure he’d had wedged between a T-boned Ford Focus and a rusted-out station wagon. Levi had been more than happy to pay the man’s asking price of a couple hundred dollars to take the car off his hands. Once Levi restored the muscle car, it would be worth over thirty grand. Some people flipped houses for a living; Levi flipped classic cars. He’d have to put the project aside to work on the bookmobile, but he didn’t have a buyer lined up yet, so time constraints weren’t an issue.
The door that led to the office opened, and Hayley stepped out. She fiddled with the ends of her shoulder-length hair, rubbing the strands between her thumb and index finger. He waited, watching her. He didn’t need to ask what she’d learned about the road clearing or if she’d been able to get throughto someone in Little Creek. If he waited long enough, he was certain she’d supply the answers unprompted. After all, she hadn’t been reticent with conversation up until this point. Why should that pattern change now?
She chewed on her bottom lip, then let her hands fall by her side. “The Department of Transportation is estimating a week or two of around-the-clock work to get the road cleared and repaired.”
Hayley was just an itty-bitty thing, but she seemed to shrink in on herself as she stared at him through her lashes, uncertain.
Levi didn’t like that look on her. He didn’t like it one bit. Even when she’d shown signs of fear when he’d first stepped out of the tow truck, there had still been an iron rod of determination in her backbone. Like she wouldn’t go down without a fight. Where had that gone?
“Are you sure it’s okay that I stay with you?” Her voice wobbled.
He gritted his teeth. He hated that even more.
“I’m sure I can—”
“Yes,” he ground out. He couldn’t stand to hear her speak another word in such a small, deflated tone.
She nodded, as if trying to convince herself more than him. “Okay. Thank you. I promise you won’t even know I’m there.”
“You said that already.”
“Oh, right.” She shrugged and smiled, though the expression didn’t reach her eyes. “It was worth repeating.” She shifted her weight between her feet and looked around the space of the garage as if trying to find something else to focus on.
Levi should show her up to the house and let her get settled. Maybe she’d want to hide herself away in the spare bedroom for a while to adjust to her new surroundings. Then he could do the same. But now that he had a houseguest, he should probably also make something for dinner instead of heating up leftovers like he’d planned.
