Page 10 of Finding You

A small smile played at her lips. Devin really seemed like a good man. Besides being incredibly handsome, he was just genuinely nice. After spending so much time with him today, there was a part of her that believed he was too good to be true. Besides rescuing stranded motorists, he owned his own business, came from a good family–his father was a pediatrician and his mother a nurse and they both traveled to underprivileged parts of the world to give medical care–and from the reviews she read about his garage, everyone loved him.

It wasn’t hard to picture him as a knight in shining armor, that’s for sure.

Shoving the duffel bag a bit to make it more comfortable, she yawned broadly. “Tomorrow. Tomorrow I can look for a place to stay, and…” She opened her eyes as a light came on. “What the…?”

Sitting up, she let out a small scream.

Devin Maxwell was standing outside her car door, shining a flashlight right in her face. “Open the door, MacKenzie!”

Well, damn. She was this close to being able to go to sleep and now this.

Shuffling around, she pushed the driver’s seat forward and unlocked the door. Devin yanked it open and she braced herself for what was sure to be some kind of rant.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.

“I was trying to go to sleep,” she said sweetly, batting her eyelashes at him.

He inhaled deeply and let it out slowly before responding. “Why are you sleeping in your car? I thought you had a room at The Cozy Corner?”

What could she say? With a shrug, she replied, “They were booked.”

“What about the other hotels? They’re not as close but…”

“Booked,” she said dejectedly. “All booked. I tried them all. And I didn’t know the area well enough to keep calling around. The woman at The Cozy Corner gave me the numbers of all the places close by. When I couldn’t get a room at any of them, I didn’t know what else to do.”

He crouched down next to the open door and studied her. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have helped you find something.”

She wanted to scream and cry and stomp her foot in frustration. “You’ve already done enough! You’ve towed the car, bought me dinner, and that was after being kind enough to stop and help me in the pouring rain in the middle of nowhere! I’m kind of done leaning on you for help today!”

He chuckled.

“What? What’s so funny now?”

“Sweetheart, you have got to be the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.”

“Yeah, well…it’s all with good reason, I swear.” Her shoulders sagged as she looked at him. “Why are you doing this? Why are you being so nice? Why do you even care what happens to me?”

Devin studied her hard for a moment before his features relaxed. “Believe it or not, this is what decent people do,” he said softly. “We help one another–especially when someone’s a little down on their luck.”

“I’m not…” But she immediately cut herself off. As much as she hated to admit it, that’s exactly what she was. “I guess you can tell this is all new to me–the whole…people being nice to me thing. My dad was the only decent person I’ve ever known.” Tears stung her eyes, but she willed them away because she was done crying today.

He stood and held out his hand to her. “Come on. Grab your bag and let’s go.”

She eyed him warily. “Go where?”

“For tonight? Home with me. I’ve got a guest room you can stay in.”

“Uh-uh,” she said defiantly, shaking her head. “No way. Not gonna happen. I don’t even know you! You could be…”

“Are we back to the serial killer theory again?” he asked, sounding bored. “Because really, if I haven’t killed you already, I think you’re in the clear. No killer would go to this much trouble.”

It was ridiculous to laugh, and yet that’s exactly what she did. Exhaustion was making her loopy–that was the only reason she could possibly come up with for why she was putting her hand in his–and boy did that feel good! - and why she was letting him pull her from the car. Once she was standing beside him, Devin reached in and grabbed her bag, locked the car, and led her over to his truck–his hand firmly wrapped around hers.

It wasn’t until they turned out of the parking lot that MacKenzie looked at him. “How did you know I was there?”

“I called The Cozy Corner because I wanted to make sure you made it there all right. When they told me you didn’t have a room there or any reservation, I got suspicious. So I waited you out.”

“Damn. Do you have any idea how long I waited for you to leave?”

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