Page 15

“Put it in neutral,” he ordered, moving to the back of her car. A man of few words, but who was she to judge? She turned the wheel to the right as he pushed, and sure enough, it slid off the road. She parked it as far off the road as possible.

“Keep those hazards on,” the guy said as he walked back to his car. Why did he seem so familiar? Charlotte was sure she’d never met him before.

“Thank you,” she replied through the window. But he was already walking away, seemingly anxious to do so. She rolled the window back up, as if it might provide a protective barrier.

It struck Charlotte that she’d heard of people getting hit while they were parked on the side of the road. It seemed like a good idea to move as far away from the cars whizzing by as possible, so she crawled over to the passenger side, getting the sleeve of her blazer stuck on the stick shift in the process.

Oh, her mother would have a field day with this.

A knock on the window beside her was the last thing she expected.

No, the last thing she expected was that it would be him.

Freaking seriously? The same guy who, despite her best intentions, she couldn’t seem to get out of her head all day.

She’d turned the car off, so Charlotte couldn’t roll the window down. Instead, she opened the door as Torr Derrickson took a step back.

She swallowed. “Hi.”

Had he seen her crawling across the front seat?

“Hi,” he said back. The deep baritone of his voice made her want to hear more of it, even as she chastised herself for such an insidiously silly thought. Even Toni, who was dating his brother, for God’s sake, thought it was a terrible idea for her to be interested in him.

“So,” she said, hating herself for feeling so nervous around him. He towered over her, sure, and his subtle yet spicy cologne made her want to suck in a big gulp of air, but so what? Plenty of men were tall and smelled fantastic, right? “Fancy meeting you here.”

He raised his brows, but said nothing.

Charlotte hated people who did that. It made her really uncomfortable. But she’d learned not to fill the silence with words either, so instead of blabbering on, she simply smiled as if being parked haphazardly on the side of the highway were an everyday occurrence for her.

“The school is that way,” he said, pointing back toward town.

Charlotte looked down at her outfit—which, sure, looked a little schoolmarmish with its slacks and navy blazer—and then back up at Torr.

“Funny.”

Jerk.

“Maybe you haven’t noticed,” she added, “but I’m not going anywhere at the moment. Work . . . or otherwise.”

His tongue peeked out of his lips, but instead of licking his lip from side to side, it rubbed his top lip and then lower lip. A quick gesture to be sure, it was nonetheless long enough for her imagination to take over. She’d seen him do that same thing the night they’d met. On anyone else she’d chalk it up to a nervous habit, but Charlotte was pretty sure Torr didn’t have any nervous habits. Which meant it was deliberate. And when someone licked their lips, it usually meant . . .

“I noticed,” he said.

The way he looked at her as he said that, drawing the words out long and slow, made it sound like more than an answer to her question. It felt like he was saying he’d noticed her.

“I’m waiting for the tow truck. They should be here any minute, so you don’t have to—”

“I’m not leaving you alone by the side of the road,” he said with such finality that Charlotte didn’t think to argue.

Although she wasn’t normally one for the macho “I can protect you” routine, her heart skipped a beat nonetheless.

He’s not the man for you. This guy is the quintessential playboy. Love ’em and leave ’em. Besides, he’s not staying long in Stone Haven anyway.

“So what happened?”

Slamming the car door behind her, Charlotte shrugged. “It wouldn’t go. I stopped at a red light and—”

“When is the last time you had your oil changed?”