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He tipped her chin up. “Helluva view, but I think I’d rather get a hotel tonight.”
“Wow.” The wonder in her voice tugged at him. How did she keep pulling him in?
“No city lights to spoil the view, that’s for sure.”
“No. Not a light—” The howl of a coyote cut her off. “Did you wake me so I wasn’t food? Or because the tow truck was coming?”
“Now a little bit of both.” He slid off the hood and reached for her. “Get in the truck.”
She opened the door, and the wash of light showed off a haughty brow. “Get in the truck please?”
He tipped his head back.Give me strength.“Get in the truck before a coyote thinks that sweet ass of yours is tasty.”
“Jerk,” she muttered. But she didn’t argue.
He jammed his fists under his arms. There wasn’t a damn thing out there to block the wind off the desert. He waved to the tow truck.
Kendall flipped on the parking lights. The driver pulled a U-turn and slowly backed up to the truck. The engine chugged into idle, and a kid jumped out of the truck, weighing a buck forty if he was lucky. He was all wiry muscles and a few inches taller than Kendall.
Great.
“Hey. Thanks for coming out, man.”
The kid pushed back a battered 49ers hat, and he realized he wasn’t a kid at all. Sharp blue eyes shone out of a deeply grooved and tanned face. “I’m Jasper.”
Kendall opened the door. He turned and stared at her, hoping the stay-the-fuck-in-the-truck message was written on his forehead. But of course, she ignored it. She jumped down. “Hi. Boy, are we glad to see you.”
Jasper yanked off his hat. “Ma’am.”
Before Kendall could blaze past him and make friends, he snagged her hand in a firm grip, keeping her at his side. He held out his other hand. “Shane Justice. We’ve got two flat rear tires.”
“What did you hit?”
Shane kept Kendall’s hand in his and rounded the front of the truck to the driver’s side. He opened the door. Kendall tried to unlace their fingers. He looked down at her and held tight.
“Really? You’re going to get caveman on me now?”
He leaned down to her ear. “We don’t know this guy. I prefer—”
“What? Dragging me around like a child?”
“If I let go, do you promise not to make him your best friend?”
Her eyebrows snapped together. “You don’t know me well enough to say stuff like that, Shane.”
“Every store we’ve been in, you’ve had the clerks eating out of your hands.”
“Jealous much?”
She was naturally easy with people like his father—likeherfather. Something he’d never been able to master. It just wouldn’t ever be one of his skills, even if he had found himself smiling a whole lot more since Kendall had come into his life. Despite this ridiculous situation. The only other person he’d been this at ease with had been Kain. And that was with twelve years of history. He hadn’t been with Kendall for twelve days.
“Cautious.”
Her dark eyes softened in the low light from the dome light of the cab. “He’s harmless.”
“You hope.”
“I could take him.” She flexed her biceps, then dragged him down and nipped at his chin. “I’m not helpless, Shane.”
