Page 4 of All I Need

She takes out what looks to be the 9-iron and lays it gently on the ground by her feet before she rolls the golf bag around in the gravel on the side of the road then throws it overhead to join the clothes.

Standing up straight she bends over to grab the club off the ground. She slams the trunk shut and we watch wide-eyed as she walks around to the front of the car.

“Oh shit,” Grayson mutters and I know I should get on him for cursing but he’s right, and I just said the same word so it’s not like I can say much anyway.

Instead, I scramble quickly to get out of the pickup and yell, “Stop!”

Golf club suspended mid-air, she turns and looks at me as if noticing I’m here for the first time.

I look both ways and cross the highway. Even before I cross the yellow line, I recognize her beauty. And the fire in her eyes. Her dark blonde hair is curly but wild, her chest heaving up and down rapidly. She’s sexy as hell in the short cut offs but that sliver of skin I can see beneath her barely buttoned white shirt is where I zero in.

“What do you want?” she sasses, lifting her chin in what looks like a threat to defy her next move.

I eat up the pavement between us but don’t get too close. Sexy or not, I’ve witnessed her violence already and figure I’m probably safer with a bit of distance between us.

“I don’t think you want to do whatever you’re about to do.”

She slowly lowers the weapon in her hand to the ground and uses it like a cane to lean on. “And you know so much, huh? You think you know what I want?”

“Nope, but I do know that the car you’re about to beat the ever loving shit out of with a golf club is worth about eighty grand.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not mine anyway.”

“Stolen?” I wince at the accusation—or maybe it’s at the fear of what she’ll admit.

“Yup.”

She offers no further explanation aside from cocking a hip to the side.

I glance over my shoulder at my pickup to see Grayson leaning across the console, watching our every move.

Shit.

Gesturing to the clothes in the ditch, I ask, “Didn’t want those anymore, I take it?”

“Nope.”

I sigh, realizing that this gorgeous woman before me isn’t looking for help. Even with that realization, though, I can’t stop myself from wanting to step in.

“Look, I don’t know what happened and I have no doubt in my mind that whatever the owner of the clothes and, my guess is, this car, did, deserves every bit of what you’re about to do, but I’d really hate to see you go to jail for vandalism.”

She takes a steadying breath and I watch as she thinks over my words.

I scrub a hand through my short dark hair and place my sunglasses on top of my head so she can see the sincerity in my eyes.

“I obviously don’t know you but it appears this is your current mode of transportation and I’m not sure if you’ve taken a look around you, but there’s not a whole lotta ride shares around here. I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but I suggest you hold off on doing too much damage to this thing.” I rest a hip against the side of the car and lean a little closer. “At least until you get to where it is you’re going.”

“You seem to think you have the right to have an opinion in this.”

I hold my hands up in the air. “Nope. Just trying to help a traveler out.”

She glances at my pickup and I follow her eyes. Grayson is now propped up against the tailgate of my pickup, arms folded over his chest and ball cap on backwards. He’s the picture of teenage cool. I didn’t even hear the door slam shut when he exited the truck.

I nod my chin in his direction. “You wouldn’t want to taint a young man’s innocence, now, would you?”

She scoffs, clearly seeing through my bullshit. “Innocent, huh?”

“I’m hardly innocent, Walker!”

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