Crash Into My Heart (2 page)

It sounded like he said
“
the
hell you do” and then he was climbing down the embank
ment towards her. H
er heart race
d
and she
struggled to breathe. She
wrestl
ed
with the
stuck
door in earnest.

The man reach
ed
her
car
in a few strides
.

“Let me help you get that op
en
.”

“No, I’m fine.”
She shooed at him with a wave of her hand.
“Go away.”

Janice tried to sound calm, but she
was sure he
hear
d
the panic in her
voice
. She sounded
like a victim instead of a
confident
woman with everything
under control
.
She
hated
to be out of control.

Ignoring her
request to go away
, he caught hold of the open edge of the door
,
yanked it up and outward
, rocking the car. The door
moved
another two inches.

“There,” he said. “That should be enough.”

Janice
stared up at him
. He didn’t
seem
like a serial rapist m
urderer. But
neither ha
d Ted Bundy
, had he?
U
p close, even in the
encroaching
shadows, the man
was remarkably handsome.
He held out his hand to her. S
he
studied
it
with suspicion
.

***

She’s
in
shock,
Adrian
thought
. She’s
dazed
. He
saw
the evidence of
the blown tire. H
e
was impressed. She’d
kept
the vehicle
uprigh
t,
o
n a relatively stra
ight path until she hit th
at
boulder
. Unfortunately, t
he car was totaled.

He looked
down at her
through the driver’s door
. She was slender,
elegant in a striped pale
yellow
summer
dress and
white
sweater. Add a stri
ng of pearls and she was a
blonde version of a
Jackie Kennedy-type.
She wore her p
ale
, wavy hair
up
in a casual French twist
.
Fine s
trands
escaped to frame
a finely-boned face with those
blue
eyes
that had stunned him
.
Eyes that were looking at him like he was
the
big, bad wolf instead of
her
knight-in-shining armor.

“I won’t
hurt you.” He stepped back
to appear less threatening.

Sh
e tugged at the door
, realized it wasn’t moving and sighed.

“I
’ll
get out
by
myself
,” she said
, her voice laced with irritation and a little fear
. “I
said
I’m
fine.”

“You’re bleeding.”
He gestured to
blood
smeared
on her sweater.

S
he corrected him. “
My
nose
was bleeding
.
”

Feisty thing
.
He was tempted to just get back in his car and drive away
to teach her a lesson
.
He shook his head silently.
The h
and she’d waved at him was bare
.
She was single.
He might be a jerk sometimes, but he’d
never
le
ave a woman—without protection—
by a road at night.
He reined in his temper and forced a smile.

“Good. I’m sure the EMTs will confirm you’re in perfect health.”

“
Y
ou call
ed
911?”

“Unfortunately,
no.
N
o
signal. We’ll have to drive out of the canyon to
locate
one
.”

“We?”

Was she ever getting out of the
damn
car?
Adrian
stood
knee deep
in s
h
rub
,
with stinging nettles
by
the feel of it.
His
suit
slacks would be snagged to ruins.
Next thing,
a rattlesnake
would pop up
to sink its teeth into
him
.

“
What’s your name?” he asked.

“Why
?”

“I’m
Adrian
Margolis. W
hen I saw your car disappear off the road, I thought
I’d
be
a
good
citizen
and come back to help
.
You’re
saying
that you don’t want
help?”

She chewed
th
e bottom of her lip
.

“
Al
l
right
.”
She acquiesced
grudgingly
and moved to climb up out of the car. As she stepped out, she stumbled slightly in her
heels.
Adrian instinctively
leaned
forward
. He caught her, pulling
her upright
.
She jerked in surprise.
In her efforts to
get
away
, she ended up
doing the reverse, falling
into his chest. H
is arms encircled her.

Time froze.

Her
hair s
melled like jasmine. Her
frame was so
s
light he thought he could
pick
her
up
with one arm.
Despite
her heels, her head
barely reached his chin.
H
e
bent,
lifted,
tipped her
over his shoulder
and
carried
her out of the ditch.
Like she was his spoils of war.

He was already to the road
before
she
realized his
hand was cupping
her
bare
thigh
under
her
full
skirt
.
She struggle
d
against him
.

“Put me down!”

He sighed, reluctantly releasing
her.
As
she
slid down
, he let his
hand slid
e
up her b
ackside, over the curves of her
bottom.
Oops! He jerked his hand away. She was wearing G-string panties.
He was pretty sure wasn’t going to like his hand on her bare bum. Not yet, anyway.

***

Janice felt breathless. The
guy
was
strong. He’d carri
ed her like she weighed
nothing more than
a piece of Styrofoam
.
Her skin burned as his
ha
n
d
slid up
her thigh
.
Tingles
fl
uttered
across her
whole
body
when h
e
’d
briefly cupped her bottom.
She stepped back abruptly, pushing
him
away.
His hands
left her
and in its place a
chill settled
over her.
A sense of emptiness?

“Were you just co
p
ping a feel?!” She tried
not to
shrill
.

He crooked a
slanted
grin at her.
There was the promise of mischief in that look.

“Not initially.”

“
Ohh
…you’
re not
very
practiced
at being a
good
citizen
.”

“And y
ou’re not very
grate
ful
.”

Then he smiled
wickedly
at her and her heart stopped.

“
Consider that
balancing our account
s
.”

“Coming onto a woman who has just survived a serious car accident is not being
especially
conscientious
.”

“
You’ve got a sharp tongue, for someone in the need of
help.”

“You
are a
...a…a
pig.”

“What?
”

“Practically molesting my body.
What else would you call
your
behavior?”

Adrian’s face darkened
slightly
. He unlocked
his car doors with his key fob and opened the passenger door.

“Get in
.”

“No.”

“Get in or I’m leaving you here to
fend for yourself.”

“If you think I’m getting into
a
car with
a
jerk
…”

A sound interrupted her
.  T
wo
shaggy
-bearded
, leather-garbed
men on low-slung Harley
s crested the hill
towards them. The men slowed as they approached,
staring at
the sleek
sports car and
the
battered
sedan
in the ditch.

Adrian
scowled at her
.

“Maybe you’d prefer those two men’s assistance.”

Janice glared defiantly
back
.

“
Ooof
!”
Did he have to be so, so, so…rude?

She set her jaw and
stepped
into the car.
Adrian
, after checking that s
he was
tucked in, slammed the door shut with more force than necessary.

“Everything
okay
, man?”
One of the bikers calle
d out as they rolled to a stop
.

Janice held her breath. Adrian was a big, strong guy. He could handle the situation. At least she hoped so.

“We’re fine. My
wife
’s car blew a tire
.”

His
wife
?
That’d be the day.
As Adrian spoke, he moved confidently around the car to the driver’s side and opened
his
door.

The two bikers nodded agreeably.
They obviously
looked scarier than they were
.

“
Glad
you
folks are
all right.” They revved their
bikes
and took off, disappearing around the curve at the bottom of the hill.