Page 2 of Through the Fire
Taking his features one by one, he wouldn’t sound that attractive—short, dark-brown hair, matching beard, hazel eyes—but there was something about him that knocked her sideways. He was rugged yet refined, with sharp cheekbones, a full mouth, and a strong jaw and chin evident even underneath the beard. His lashes were long and lush enough to make pageant contestants weep. His model-like beauty was only emphasized by the contrasting mountain roughness of his untrimmed beard and utilitarian clothes, making him look like an actor playing the role of a backwoods lumberjack.
Taken altogether, he was startlingly attractive—and unexpectedly intimidating.
Kit blinked a few times to reorient herself and remember what she was going to say. Years of working with cops and other first responders had inured her to burly, masculine men…at least that’s what she’d thought. This guy had taken her off guard, however. His unbelievably gorgeous face and silent regard were giving her a flashback to high school, and all the long-forgotten insecurities of a flat-chested, dorky teen tried to elbow their way back into her brain. She nipped those feelings in the bud. There was no way she was going to let anyone make her relive the misery of her teen years.
That thought and a sharp, cold gust of wind snapped her back to reality, and she realized she’d been standing there staring for much too long. She held back a groan. What a way to make an impression on one of her new neighbors.
Get it together, Jernigan.
“Hi,” she said, trying to make her smile seem casually friendly despite her strange reaction. She had a trailer to park and a new job to start. There wasn’t time to get distracted by a guy, no matter how distressingly pretty he was. “This is probably going to take me a few minutes. Can you back up and get where you’re going a different way? Otherwise, I can drive around the block to let you get by.”
His glance moved from her face to the trailer’s torqued position and back to Kit. “I don’t understand the problem.”
She blinked. “Just what I said. It’ll probably be a few minutes before the road will be clear. I’ll need to pull forward to straighten the trailer before backing it into the driveway again.” That was assuming she’d manage to keep it straight on the second attempt, which she highly doubted, especially with Mr. Gorgeous Lumberjack sitting there watching her.
He looked at the trailer again. “Why did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Turn the trailer like that? Why didn’t you just back it in straight?”
Great. Hot mountain man’s an ass.
Kit bit back a rude answer and sent the man a steady look. She had to give it to him—he had a great poker face. Even though she knew he was being sarcastic, nothing in his posture or expression gave him away. He even rumpled his forehead as if honestly puzzled by her ineptitude. What was next—a crack about women drivers?
“I’m working on doing just that, but this small trailer’s a bit tricky. Just give me a few minutes, and I’ll be out of your way…unless you want to back up and use someone else’s driveway to turn around in.”
“What’s tricky about it?”
She took a silent breath, trying to hold on to her impassive expression. Being a cop for eight years should’ve allowed her to perfect the look, but her emotions always showed too easily. Honestly, she didn’t need some incredibly-hot-but-snarky jerk to mansplain as she prepared to humiliate herself in front of him…again. At least he didn’t seem to be in any hurry. He could sit there and mock her, but she wouldn’t have to waste time driving around the block to let him though. “Okay. I’m going to go give it another attempt. If you’re going to stay, just know that my ability to back a bumper-pull trailer is inversely proportional to the number of judgy eyes staring at me.”
His head cocked, and his full mouth turned up at the corners in a smile so unexpectedly sweet that Kit couldn’t breathe for a solid four seconds. “Inversely proportional? You like math?”
The question threw her even more off-balance. “Sure, I guess? I mean, I like it more than backing in this trailer.”
His smile widened, showing off white, mostly straight teeth. The front two overlapped a tiny bit, and she found that small flaw surprisingly endearing. “It’s the same thing.”
“What?” Still confused, she frowned at him. “No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is. Everything is math.”
“Uh…okay.” Another gust of wind caught her, reminding her that she was still standing in the street, trying to figure out what this beautiful stranger was talking about, becoming later and later for work with every second that passed. She took a step away from the pickup and the odd, distractingly handsome lumberjack. “I guess I’m going to go do math, then.” She hitched her thumb toward the trailer. “Hopefully, I’ll remember enough high school algebra to get my trailer out of the way so you can get on with your day.”
“Not algebra.” The wrinkles in his forehead deepened as his smile changed, turning more quizzical than delighted.
“Right, of course. Geometry, then.” She headed back to her SUV, shaking her head slightly as she got into the driver’s seat, trying to brush off the strange encounter so they could get on with their lives. As she glanced in the side-view mirror, a movement caught her eye and she jumped.
The stranger had followed her, now standing right next to her back bumper—and he was enormous. Adrenaline nipped at her, and Kit mentally scolded herself for letting down her guard. She’d turned her back on a stranger even though she knew better than that. Just because a guy was hot didn’t mean he wasn’t a threat. As if sensing her tension, Justice sat up and peered out the window. When he caught sight of the stranger, his tail thumped against the seat. Ferocious, Justice was not.
Kit put a hand on the door latch, ready to get out of the car if the man came any closer, but he’d stopped. The tension in her muscles eased a tiny bit when he kept some distance between them, and she stuck her head out the window to give him a questioning look. Justice sniffed the air through the partially open window and then licked the glass with his broad tongue.
“I’ll help,” the mountain man said. “Otherwise, the trailer will end up stuck in the snow.”
She frowned, pretty sure he’d just insulted her. “Help how?”
“I’ll do the math, and you can drive. Together, problem solved.” He swept his arm to the side in a dramatic wave that erased her lingering tension, making it impossible to be intimidated. With his enormous bulk and shaggy beard, she hadn’t expected him to be so wonderfully dorky. He was like a nerdy, math-loving Sasquatch. Any remaining insecurities dredged up earlier were flushed away. She’d be willing to bet a lot of money that this guy hadn’t been one of the popular kids in high school, either. No, this guy had been getting stuffed into lockers right alongside Kit.
She eyed his broad shoulders. At least, he’d been stuffed in lockers until he’d hit a growth spurt.
