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“Your brother?” I ask, immediately aware of the tension in my voice.
“You’re safe with us, I promise,” Kellan replies gently. I reckon he can tell I’m still on edge.
It’s only when his brother pulls over and gets out of the car that I realize this could very well be the spiciest visual Christmas present I never imagined I’d get. Kellan’s brother is almost identical, albeit significantly larger, taller. An even greater mountain of a man with equally striking green eyes and dark hair. He’s dressed in charcoal gray overalls and a thick black turtleneck.
“This is Fallon,” Kellan says.
Fallon definitely lives at the gym or deadlifts a dozen tractor tires every morning just for kicks. I feel so tiny by comparison. Then again, at five-foot-five I’m practically minuscule compared to these two. I can’t help but lick my lips as I gaze at them, unable to look away.
“Hi, Fallon,” I mumble.
He grunts something that sounds like ‘Hi’ before he glances over at my old Citroën. “That it?”
“Yeah. We’re not sure what’s wrong with it,” Kellan tells him.
Fallon walks over to my car and opens the driver’s door. The keys are still in the ignition, so he tries to get the engine started, checking the dashboard with each turn. “I think it’s the electrical system,” I blurt out when Fallon gets out of the car and decides to look under the hood next. “There’s no power whatsoever. It’s done this before.”
“Possibly,” he replies, giving me a steady, dark look.
I imagine this is what a deer caught in the headlights feels just before the inevitable impact.
“You’ll have plenty of time tomorrow to look at it,” Kellan tells him. “I’m gonna take the girls back to the house for the night.”
“That’s sensible,” Fallon replies, then glances my way again. “I’ll give you a diagnostic tomorrow after I check everything.”
“Thank you so much,” I reply.
Kellan gently nudges me with his shoulder. “Come on, time to go. Your girls need warm food and a decent bed to sleep in.”
All I can do is follow him back to his car as the snowfall thickens and the winds howl even harsher against the white night. Once I’m in the passenger seat, seatbelt fastened, I find myself depleted and sinking into an unexpected dream state. I catch one last glimpse of Fallon pulling his pickup truck closer to my car so he can anchor it to his pulley before my eyes surrender and darkness beckons me.
I’m not sure how long I was out, but I awaken just as we are pulling up outside a ginormous mansion—a magnificent colonial-style construction set within a sprawling beautiful garden. The hedges are all covered in snow, much like the rest of the property, but I can imagine this place on a hot summer’s day, greenery everywhere beneath a clear, blue sky. The building itself is U-shaped, with a dark-red brick façade and French windows, wrought iron terraces on the first and second floors, and white stone columns adorning the porte-cochere.
“Are you doing okay?” Kellan asks as he takes the keys out of the ignition.
“Yeah. I must’ve dozed off.”
“You did and that’s a good thing. It means you felt safe enough.”
I lose myself in his eyes for the better part of a minute until I remember my girls are in the backseat. One quick glance as I catch my breath and smile, seeing both of them fast asleep and wrapped up in their blankets, their plump cheeks pink with warmth. “I think I can put them straight to bed,” I whisper. “We did manage to eat something earlier before…” My voice trails off as the horror of what happened returns to haunt me.
Kellan takes my hand in his and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “That’s alright,” he says. “Their room is ready, and so is yours.”
“Hold on, two rooms? That’s too much, Kellan. We can just use a single room for the night.”
“Nonsense. There’s plenty of space for the three of you. Just relax tonight and tomorrow we will deal with your ID, bank cards, and your car, along with whatever else you need.”
I don’t like this feeling of helplessness. “I… I don’t know.”
“Accept the kindness of strangers,” he says. “It won’t cost you anything, Avery. It’s literally the least I can do.”
“What about your brother?” I ask. “I don’t expect him to fix my car for free.”
“He owes me a favor.”
I scoff and nod toward the mansion. “And what about this other guy who lives here? Does he owe you a favor, too?”
“As a matter of fact, he does,” Kellan shoots back with a confident smirk that has me hot and slick between my legs.
