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“Oh my lord.” She thumped her head against the headrest. It was legit starting to hurt as much as her leg, the pain booming through her temples. “I’m not interested, June. I’m just not ready.”
She closed her eyes. Instantly, January could see Tavish’s face behind her closed lids. He wasn’t classically handsome. He was way too rugged for that. He was so captivating that it had been hard for her not to stare at him the entire time. She hadn’t wanted to look down at her leg, but she’d made sure she’d alternated between looking at everyone in the room and not just him.
Would his dark eyes sparkle with a bit of light? Did his hair have those rich copper or auburn undertones that chestnut hair sometimes had? More importantly, what would he look like holding up her car with one hand, slapping on a tire with the other, completely shirtless and sweaty?
Fuck.
“You could ask him,” June stated playfully as she pulled over.
She was having way too much fun at the moment. January would rather it have been something else they could have had a laugh or a good chat over, but she couldn’t regret the time she was spending with her sister, even if it hadn’t gone according to plan and she’d just about torn her own leg off. It was still there, stitched up neatly and was going to be fine, and that’s what counted.
January’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror. The shiny forest green pickup with the white stripes down the side was pulling to a stop right behind them.
“Don’t you dare ask him that,” she threatened her sister.
“Or what? You’ll melt into a puddle of embarrassment?”
“I won’t speak to you this entire trip.”
“When you have to go to the outhouse in the middle of the night, I think you’ll break your silence long enough to ask me to go with you because you’re scared of falling in the hole or of man-eating spiders, even though those only come out in summer.”
“I hate you sometimes.”
“I know by hate you mean that you love me so much and I’m your favorite sister in this big, wide, wonderful world.”
“You’re my only sister and you’re still not my favorite.”
“That’s it!” June stuck out her tongue and punched January in the shoulder hard enough to actually hurt a little. She was banged up enough already. She didn’t need to add extra bruises. “I’m getting out right now. Your rudeness has chased me away. I’m going to go ask him just as punishment.”
“You aren’t.”
Right before she closed the door, June got serious. “I’m not, I promise. But I am going to go see if he needs help. You need to stay right there. You don’t need to be standing on your leg.”
“Doesn’t that interfere with your matchmaking?”
January should have known better. Her sister was a big believer in letting the universe make things happen. She had tons of books about crystals, chakras, tarot cards, and pretty much anything and everything else that could be even remotely considered related. It was kind of ironic because she’d never touch a self-help book if it was labelled self-help.
“I think if it’s meant to be, he’ll come back into our lives somehow.”
“Great. Well, I’m glad that you’re not going to ask him questions about his relationship status.”
“Nope. Just going to do the tire. I promise.”
January sunk back further into the seat. Her leg was pulsating now, sending shooting pains and fire up into her hip. It would probably be sore for a few days at least. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was manageable. She’d be fine. It could have been so much worse. She could have slipped and fallen and taken her nose off somehow. She could have cut something vital. There could have been broken bones.
The stitches would dissolve, and she’d be as good as new within a few weeks. While it would have been better if it hadn’t happened at all, then they wouldn’t be here. And she wouldn’t be treating herself to a somewhat shameful show of watching Tavish wrangle that spare out of her trunk like it was nothing, jack the car up with an equal amount of finesse, and put the spare on. The whole process only took five minutes from start to finish. Either he’d changed a few tires before, or he was just that good. Maybe both.
Even though she’d complained about it, she could admit to herself that she was enthralled. Watching someone built like that, like they were some kind of god or out-of-this-world hot man, or for sure one of those hunky, ripped, and chiselled heroes off the cover of a romance novel was pretty incredible.
To be fair, she also liked Tavish’s name. She liked his hair. She liked that his voice was soft but deep and he seemed like the kind of man who had a lot going on in his head so that he only spoke what was necessary, when it was necessary because he didn’t want to waste time on the extra words. He wasn’t just strong. Muscles were great for attraction and so was a square jaw and jeans that cupped the world’s most gorgeous male ass she’d ever set eyes on, but sensitivity and intelligence?
Good god, any man who had all threeandwas single would be considered a unicorn.
There was no way Tavish was truly available. Just no way. He wasn’t a unicorn.
January sat there with her heart slamming away until Tavish lifted a hand and waved to her like he knew she’d been studying him the whole time and he was perfectly fine with it. He didn’t hang around and make small talk when he was done, but that was probably because he had to race back to the clinic. He hadn’t seemed very keen on leaving in the first place.
“Oh god.” June didn’t fan herself when she slipped back into the car. She fanned January, which made her immediately whip down the visor and check her face in the mirror. She didn’t look flushed or flustered. She wasn’t even blushing. Her sister shot her agotchalook. “Do you want to know the best part of that?”
