Love to Believe: Fireflies ~ Book 2 (2 page)

Thirty minutes later she powered off her computer and made a final trip to the bathroom before heading off to the party. She wrestled her curls into some semblance of submission with an elastic band she’d found at the bottom of her purse and perused the results in the bathroom mirror. Giant top-knot messy buns were in, right?

So what if she looked like the love child of Pebbles Flintstone and Marge Simpson. Fussing with makeup wasn’t her thing, but she figured she owed it to Nate to at least look like she tried, so she flicked a mascara wand against her lashes and smoothed tinted balm on her lips before flipping off the lights. She double-checked the alarm and lock, checked them again for good measure because you never could be too careful, and power-walked to her car. The parking lot was well lit, but she was still alone out here, with the building situated away from the road and behind a stand of Georgia pines so draped in dormant kudzu they looked like a cluster of muddy swamp monsters.

The November wind gusted. The shrouded pines shivered, and the whispering rustle caused Rebecca to glance around her with unease. She increased her pace, clicking the button on her key fob in rapid succession and breathing easier when the chirp-chirp signaled the unlocking of her car door. She checked the backseat for serial killers--
yep, all clear
--and slid behind the wheel, yanked the door shut, and hit the locks. Being inside the vehicle didn’t relieve her of the notion she was being watched, but at least she was locked up and out of the cold, safe and sound.

She took a deep breath and sighed. She really had to stop watching crime shows with Maddie and Brenna. They were making her paranoid.

Yeah, right. Like TV is to blame.

She blew out another long breath and buried the thought
.

Rebecca drove from the parking lot and cranked the radio full blast, singing loud and proud with Miranda Lambert, undaunted by her own lack of a musical ear. Who needed pitch? What she lacked in talent she more than made up for with attitude and enthusiasm.

Between the pounding bass and her own singing, she never heard the boom of thunder warning of an impending downpour, nor the telltale
thwunk-thwunk-thwunk
when her tire went flat. The car’s suspension suddenly vibrated and the vehicle pulled to the right.

No stranger to flat tires, she gripped the steering wheel and guided her car to the shoulder of the road where she parked and gave herself a moment to curse her bad luck.

The heavens opened up the second she stepped her suede boots onto the ground. She zipped her jacket and ran around the car to confirm the flat--
yep, front passenger side
--and then got back in the car to call Nate.

She grabbed her phone, groaned, and tossed it back into her purse. No service. Perfect.

The dashboard clock glowed the time, and she knew she would miss the surprise portion of Caleb and Maddie’s engagement party if she didn’t get back on the road. She’d have to brave the elements. She chewed the side of her thumb, while eyeing the steady fall of rain, and steeled herself for another blast of the wet cold, courtesy of the North Georgia mountains’ November night.

“Man up, Rebecca,” she said aloud and climbed from the car.

A few minutes later, she stared into the trunk which looked just as she had left it earlier in the week. Empty, save for the folded comforter still tagged and bagged from a journey to the dry cleaners--a trip made necessary by her cat, Mr. Peabody, who had puked up two fur balls along with the remains of an unfortunate catnip mouse--and the space beneath the matting that should have housed her spare tire lay hollow.

Oh, yeah, she remembered now. She’d loaned her spare to Vern’s mom, her neighbor Etta, a few weeks ago. Never got it back. Great.

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be. Do either and you’re a damned fool idiot.” So went the altered quote by Rebecca’s Grampa Boone.

Rain sluicing over her, she slammed the trunk and would have run to get back into the car, but headlights winding up the two-lane highway held her to her spot of relative safety on the road’s shoulder. She cursed the other car--no, not a car, a Chevy Silverado, tricked out and badass--and its driver as she waited for them to pass. The falling rain, mixed with sleet, pricked the skin of her hands.
Great. Just freaking great.
She hunkered into her jacket and shivered, willing the truck to hurry by. Damn, it was cold. Since when did it sleet this early in the year anyway? It was usually January before this kind of precipitation invaded the region, and even then, this sort of bad weather wasn’t always a given.

The truck slowed as it approached. Panic trickled into Rebecca’s extremities.

No, no! Don’t slow down. Keep going!

Why was the guy stopping? What if he was some crazy serial killer? What if he whacked her on the head and forced her into his truck? He could dump her into a ditch, or drag her into the woods. She gulped. Nothing but protected state forest as far as the eye could see. Lots of places to hide a dead body.

Why today, of all days, had she left her Glock at home?

The door of the truck opened and the guy got out. She planted her stance and curled her hands into fists. The man was in for a big surprise if he thought--

“Rebecca, is that you?”

Well, hello, gorgeous
. Relief pumped through Rebecca’s veins and she relaxed her muscles. Not a serial killer after all, just a guy with killer looks. Damn those crime shows. A smile brightened her face, and she jogged around her car to meet her savior halfway.

“Sean Kinkaid, you sexy beast, your timing is impeccable.”

“C’mon, let’s get out of this mess.” He took her arm, led her around to the passenger side of his truck, and helped her climb up and in.

“Nice ride,” she said after he slid behind the wheel. “Sorry, I’m dripping all over your leather seats.” She held her hands in front of the warm air blowing from the dashboard, and the heat made her shiver.

“Who cares? It’s a truck.” He flashed a smile. “Did you already call for help? You weren’t planning on changing that tire yourself were you?”

“I was, but I loaned my spare to a neighbor. I’ll have to call a tow later.”

“I assume you were headed to Cal and Maddie’s party?”

“You assume correctly. Let’s just go on ahead. I’ll have to take care of this tomorrow.”

“You sure? I don’t mind waiting with you if you don’t want to leave it.”

“No cell service on this stretch of road, so I can’t call for towing. Anyway, neither of us wants to miss the party. I need to get my stuff though.”

Sean held out his hand. “Give me your keys. I’ll get whatever you need.”

“My purse and laptop are on the passenger seat. And there’s a big bag of M&Ms in a grocery bag in the back. I’ll share. Consider it your reward for rescuing me.”

His eyes, those amazing Kinkaid peepers of dark denim-blue, dropped to her mouth. When he met her gaze again, mischief played at the corners of his lips and Rebecca’s cheeks heated under his perusal. Sean must have seen her blush, because his eyes crinkled at the corners and his expression slid into one of unabashed amusement.

“Be right back,” he said, still grinning as he headed out into the wet mess.

Okay, score one for Kinkaid.

Rebecca cursed herself for falling into Sean’s sexy little trap. The man was incorrigible. Gorgeous, but incorrigible.

She thought back to the first time she met Sean, at last year’s Fourth of July picnic in the park when her mother, Sada, and his mother, Edie, had combined their matchmaking skills for the purpose of bringing Caleb and Maddie together. Her first impression of Sean was that he was too good looking to be real, and she began an outrageous exchange that set the tone for their relationship--a casual friendship, anchored in extreme flirting and wild sexual innuendo with not one teeny bit of action to back it up.

Rebecca snapped her seatbelt and adjusted it for comfort. Sean had gotten the best of her with that look and he knew it, the bastard. She settled back into the seat.

Next point goes to me.

“Damn, it’s freezing out.” Sean slid back into the truck and set Rebecca’s purse and laptop between them. His soaked hair dripped water into his eyes, and he pushed his hand through it, slicking it back and sending a shower of raindrops across his broad shoulders. “How about this freak storm? I’ll pay better attention to the weather report from now on, I guess, but who worries about freezing rain or sleet in November?”

“You look smokin’ hot to me.” Rebecca delivered the comment in her sexiest voice, dropped her gaze below his belt line, held it there for a few beats, and then roamed her eyes back to his with deliberate scrutiny. She congratulated herself for his momentary speechlessness and maintained the steamy look until her humor got the better of her and she laughed, back to her snarky self. “What’d you do with the M&Ms, hot stuff? Melt them?”

He squeezed his eyes shut, said, “Damn it,” and opened the door.

Rebecca’s laughter followed him back out into the storm. He returned a few moments later and handed over the bag of candy along with her keys. “Open that thing up. I’m starving. What kind are they?”

“Peanut butter.”

“My favorite.”

“Mine too.” She tore open the bag and tilted it toward him. After a quiet moment she asked, “Is it weird for you? Seeing Maddie with Cal, I mean, since she was married to your brother.”

Sean eased the truck onto the road and finished his mouthful of M&Ms before answering her question. When he spoke, he delivered his words with quiet deliberation. “I guess it was hard at first, because I never knew Maddie when she didn’t belong to Jack. I remember the day he called me from college his freshman year to tell me he was in love. I laughed my ass off, told him she was just the first of many to come.”

He kept his eyes on the changing road conditions, but smiled. “I was wrong. Jack loved Maddie from the minute he saw her, and she was over the moon for him, too. After Jack died, Maddie wasn’t--” Sean sighed, shook his head. “The light went out of her. And then Cal and TJ came into her life and it’s like she’s started breathing again. How can I be anything but happy about that? Besides--” He shot her a quick glance. “--if Cal and Maddie are to be believed, Jack is the one who got them together.”

“Do you believe it? That Jack, you know, did some matchmaking from the Great Beyond?”

“I think Caleb and Maddie believe it.”

“That’s noncommittal.”

“It’s all I’ve got.”

“Maddie said Jack used to communicate with her all the time through the stuff on his desk. Do you ever feel like he talks to you?”

“I wish. I’d be lying if I said I never talk to him, and there are sometimes it seems like he’s, I don’t know, I’ll say
nudging me
, for lack of a better term. I’ve never felt it like Maddie, but yes, there are times I feel like he’s hanging around, knocking me upside the head when I need it.” He shrugged. “Wishful thinking.”

“Maybe not. I like to think the people we love stay with us.”

“I hope that’s true.”

“Hey, where’s your girlfriend tonight? What’s her name?” Rebecca asked.

“Brandi?”

“No, the other one.”

“Give me a clue.”

“I’m talking about the one with the gigantic boobs. The chick you brought with you to the picnic last Fourth of July.”

“Ah, Cynthia.” His sigh embodied appreciation.

“Cynthia. That’s right. All boobs, no personality. What was she, like a 42 DD on a size two body? No way those puppies are real, you know.”

“So.”

Rebecca laughed. “I bet if I look up the word ‘shallow’ in the dictionary your picture will be next to it.”

“I’m a boob man. So sue me.”

“Well, then, I’m forever safe from your wolfish ways. When God passed out boobs, I was a block away standing in line for a double helping of Freaking Awesome.”

“He gave you a quadruple helping of Freaking Awesome, but we both know I can’t personally vouch for your boobs. I’m willing to rectify that anytime.”

“Trust me. Not worth your notice.”

Sean flipped the directional and slowed for his turn off the rural highway, stopping for the red light. He remained silent and Rebecca gave herself a point in their silly verbal game, knowing she had congratulated herself too soon when he turned his full attention to her.

“I’ll always take quality over quantity, and you know what they say--more than a mouthful’s a waste.”

Rebecca blinked her eyes, speechless.

“Point goes to me.” He licked the tip of his index finger and check-marked the air.

Rebecca’s lips curved in a grudging a smile. “Okay, yeah, you got that one.”

“Thank you. Anything else I should know?”

“Well, if this is true confessions time, I’ll admit that half the time I don’t wear any undies. It’s more comfortable to go fully commando.”

He regarded her through narrowed eyes and she knew that he knew she was game-playing. But some little part of him, she bet, wouldn’t be one hundred percent sure and he’d have to take the bait.
Wait for it
, she thought.
Any minute now.
She studied the landscape of naked trees shivering in the icy wind beyond the passenger window and bit her lip to hold back the smile of impending victory.

“So, uh...” he began.

And here it comes.

“Are you saying you’re completely naked under your clothes right now?”

Rebecca burst out laughing and copied Sean’s gesture of check-marking the air. “We’re all naked under our clothes, Sean.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do. And you’ll never know, but I bet you’ll wonder.”

“That is so not fair.” He laughed, the sound rich and warm in the interior of the truck.

The light turned green and he drove through the intersection with care. The defroster blew full blast to keep the windshield clear of ice.

“It’s after eight,” Rebecca said. “You might have made the party on time if you hadn’t stopped for me. Thanks for not leaving me stranded.”

“Nasty night to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere.”

Rebecca regarded him. “Did you know it was me when you stopped?”

“I recognized you after I got out of the truck.”