Page 48 of To Bring You Back
“Drop that and use both hands. You can get a new one.”
“It’s not mine. I’ll lower it down.”
He didn’t reply, but he also didn’t protest as she lowered the tool, one hand over the other. If the process damaged the power cord, she’d have to pay the hardware store extra, but it had to be less than her medical plan’s emergency room deductible. Finally, the tarp rustled as the tool settled, and she dropped the plug.
Another car pulled up by the house. Adeline adjusted her grip on the ladder and took the first couple of steps down before checking the vehicle again. Two females got out.
“Hey, Addie!” Olivia Cullen shouted.
Three more girls joined her on the sidewalk for a total of five.
“You should leave.” Adeline looked between her arm and her body to see Gannon, who continued to hold the rails, attention locked on her.
“Not until you’re okay.”
The girls hesitated, whispering and pushing each other forward. One rushed back to the car. Now that they’d found the person they’d sought all this time, they became shy?
Adeline white-knuckled the rails and watched her feet as she descended. She was about eight feet from the ground when the girls approached, talking over each other.
“Are you Gannon Vaughn?”
“We’re huge fans.”
“You’re the best singer I’ve ever heard.”
“‘Yours’ is amazing.”
Gannon didn’t reply. She descended another couple of steps, and his hand reached her waist, firm and warm and reassuring. When her feet hit solid ground, she didn’t immediately peel her hands off the ladder. Safe on the ground, Gannon’s chest against her shoulder, his hand still on her waist, protective.
“You okay?” He gently turned her from the ladder.
She nodded and ducked her face away from the staring high schoolers to brush sawdust from her cheeks and forehead. How humiliating.
Gannon shrugged out of his jacket and placed it in her hands. “Put this on.”
“But—”
“Fast.” He scooped up her phone and his helmet.
She scanned the scene as she obeyed. Another car had pulled up, and a man emerged.
The jacket emanated Gannon’s body heat and smelled like sandalwood mixed with something sweeter. Orange, maybe. The coat had fit him snuggly without looking cumbersome, but on her, the fabric proved heavy and stiff. The sleeves did their best to swallow her hands. She must look like a clown, and the latest arrival had a camera.
Her phone landed in her hand, and she slid it into the jacket pocket. Everything went black for a moment as Gannon fit the helmet over her head. His hand closed around hers, and he led her, half jogging, half stumbling, past the still-jabbering teens to the bike. He was on the seat in seconds. The photographer raised his camera, so she hopped on behind him. Her first motorcycle ride.
Gannon said something she didn’t catch through the helmet and over the throaty engine. He caught her hand and pressed it against his abs, then the bike surged forward.
She locked her hands together, lowered her chin to the side, and let the helmet rest between Gannon’s shoulder blades. Though she couldn’t make out the words, she felt the vibration of him speaking as they ripped down the street. He hooked a right onto the country road that linked the towns along the lake.
The wind rushedover Gannon’s face, through his hair, across his arms. Adeline’s arms, clamped around his torso, and her warmth on his back were fixed points. Just what she’d always been to him. Something solid in a rushing world.
When she’d lurched sideways on that ladder, he’d barely managed to park without crashing.
But she was safe now. In his care, and he wouldn’t let anything happen to her. She’d looked so cute with the dusting from the sander on her nose before he’d plunked the helmet on her. And then there’d been the slight impression of her wide eyes blinking at him through the dark visor.
He didn’t see anyone following them, but then he had thought he’d lost the photographer before heading to Adeline’s house. He should’ve resisted such a direct approach, not put her in their sights, but once he’d gotten her message, he’d lost most of his common sense.
With her this close against him, he didn’t miss it.
