Page 63 of Her Cowboy Baby Daddy
Holy shit, was there a lightning fire?
But as soon as the thought formed, he discarded it. Not in this rain. He crawled out of his sleeping bag and unzipped the tent door, poking his head out into the storm.
Holy shit again. Those were headlights. Some fool had tried to drive up to the lake during the storm.
Reed? Coming to rescue his baby brother?
Spence closed the tent door again, sat for a moment, then reached for his clothes. He was going to be soaked in no time, which brought on the danger of hypothermia, but as long as he could get out of the wind and his sleeping bag remained dry, he’d be fine.
He hoped.
Spence sucked in a breath, then opened the tent and crawled out onto the muddy ground, turning to zip it again, before standing and heading through the storm toward the headlights. The road was slippery, as granite clay roads tended to be when wet, and his feet threatened to come out from under him more than once as he approached the truck, which was broadside across the road. He barely had time to register the fact that it was Hayley’s truck, not Reed’s, before he took hold of the door handle, wrenched it open and climbed inside out of the rain, slamming it behind him.
Hayley sat behind the wheel, eyes wide, face pale. The overhead light began to dim into darkness now that the door was closed, but he could still see her taut expression.
“I came to rescue you,” she said.
“Again?”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded as if in shock, but he didn’t think she was. Hayley was too levelheaded for that.
“Kind of screwed it up.”
“This time.”
He smiled a little, started to reach for her, then thought better of it. Even without touching her, the air between them seemed to crackle.
“We have two choices,” he said. “Head back to the tent, or make ourselves comfortable here until the storm blows over.”
“I think we should stay here,” she said.
He nodded, then turned to look out into the blackness. The rain seemed to be abating to a degree. “Let me take a look at what we’ve got.”
Before she could answer, he pushed the door open and jumped out onto the slippery ground, holding onto the door handle until he was certain he had his footing. He used the flashlight to do a quick check, then took advantage of a large branch and shoved it beneath the truck, getting down on his hands and knees to dig out the earth enough to wedge it tightly under the rear wheels. Then he walked around to the driver’s side and opened the door, motioning Hayley to scoot over. She scooted, he got in and started the truck.
“This might not work, but...” He put the rig into four-low and then gently let out the clutch as he feathered the gas. The truck hesitated, then the wheels got purchase on the branch and, slowly, the vehicle lurched back onto the road.
Without a word, or even a glance at Hayley, he drove the rest of the way to the campsite.
“Wait here,” he said, then got out and, in a matter of minutes, had the tent dismantled and his small amount of gear jammed into the backseat.
Then he got back in behind the wheel.
“Where to?” he asked, only half-kidding.
“My place,” Hayley said. “We need to talk.”
*
Talk. Right.
As if Spence, who was starting to shiver despite the heater being turned on high, was interested in talking. He needed to get warm. Soon.
*
Instead of talking,as soon as Hayley got Spence to her place, she started the shower, then returned to the living room and told him he was getting in.
He started to say no, but his teeth clacked together, so he simply gave her a look and headed down the hall to where the steam from the hot running water was rolling into the hall. He closed the door and Hayley went looking for something he could wear while she washed and dried his clothes. She finally came up with a robe that should cover the essentials.
