ahead.
She hadn’t even made it out of town when she felt the disheartening slide of her tires against the pavement. The car was moving sideways. Frantically she turned the wheel first left and then right to straighten out. In horror she realized she was no longer in control.
She knew better than to apply the brakes, but she was sliding on pure ice and headed for a ditch. Her heart hitched in her chest and she braced.
She squealed as the car hit the ditch and came to a dead stop. She tried to move forward and the tires spun impotently. She threw it into Reverse with the same results.
“Darn, darn!” She hit the steering wheel with her palms. She was good and stuck.
She’d have to call for a tow. She unfastened her seat belt and pulled her purse onto her lap, rummaging around inside it until she grabbed her cell phone.
Before she could dial a number, she glanced in her rearview mirror and gasped in renewed horror. Twin headlights were careening toward the back of her car, and she couldn’t move out of the way. Objects in this mirror are closer than they appear. She read the words on her passenger mirror just before she squeezed her eyes tightly closed.
Bracing once again, she expected a crash, but it was more like a hard bump. The pickup truck hit her hard enough to throw the meatloaf dinner off the passenger seat and onto the floor, but thankfully not hard enough to injure her.
She looked in her rearview mirror once again and saw Brody getting out of the truck that had hit her. Great, just what she needed to make a bad situation even worse.
She rolled down her window and heard his muttered curses as he made his way to her driver side. “Sorry,” he said. “That patch of road is pure ice. Are you okay?”
“Tell me about it. I didn’t exactly drive into this ditch on purpose,” she replied drily. “And I’m fine, but frustrated.”
“It looks like I’m going to owe you a bumper.”
“Right now I’m not worried about a bumper. What I need is a tow out of this ditch.”
“That makes two of us. Mind if I get in?” He gestured to the passenger seat.
“Knock yourself out,” she replied. She rolled up her window as he left the driver side and walked around the front of the car to get into the passenger seat.
“What’s this?” he asked as he maneuvered his feet so he didn’t step on the bag on the floor. Once he was in, he moved the seat back to accommodate the length of his legs.
“Oh yeah, you owe me a bumper and a meatloaf special from the café,” she replied.
He filled the small interior of the car with the scent of the outdoors mingling with a woodsy cologne. Snow clung to his slightly shaggy dark hair and sinfully long dark eyelashes. He also wore the same frown she always saw on his face.
“I’ll call for a tow truck and we’ll worry about the bumper and meatloaf dinner later. The snow is really starting to pile up.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and punched in a series of numbers.
“Larry, it’s Brody Booth. Amanda Wright and I are stuck in a ditch just past the turnoff to the motel. We need a tow.”
It was obvious by his deepening frown that he wasn’t happy with whatever he was hearing, and a ball of anxiety unfurled in her chest.
“Okay, I understand. Yeah, I’ll be waiting for your call.” He hung up and pocketed his phone. “Larry and every other tow person in town is busy working the highway, which he said looks like a skating rink, so basically we’re on our own.”
“On our own?” She echoed his words as she stared at him in horror. “For how long?”
“It might be morning before somebody can finally get to us.”
“Morning? We can’t stay out here all night. I don’t even have a blanket in the car,” she said.
“You’re right. We can’t,” he agreed. “I suggest we walk to the motel. We can get rooms for the night and be out here first thing in the morning when help finally comes.”
She stared over her shoulder, where the motel sign blinked faintly like a red heartbeat through the haze of the falling snow. The snow. A shiver swept over her. It was deep enough now that it would swallow her little boots with the first step.
“Do you have some pants you can put on?” Brody asked. Was there a slight hint of disdain in his voice or was she only imagining it?
“Nope, just these sexy flesh-tone tights,” she replied flippantly. “Don’t worry about me, Brody. I’m used to taking care of myself.” She buttoned up her coat and mentally prepared for the cold trek to the motel.
“Wait for me. I need to lock up my truck.” He left the car and a gust of frigid air blew in.
She should have left the booth earlier. She should have been smart enough to keep a survival bag with blankets and bottled water and protein bars in the car. Sometimes she could be so stupid.
It didn’t take long for Brody to come back. He pulled open the driver’s door, and precariously she stepped out of the car. The icy wind instantly stole her breath, and she slid unsteadily with her first step.
He must have noticed because he grabbed her firmly by the upper arm, and together they made their way out of the ditch and back to the road.
It was impossible to speak with the howling wind in her ears and the driving snow hitting her in the face. She was just grateful for Brody’s strength as she slipped more than once and would have landed on her face or her butt if he hadn’t steadied her.
She was an icicle, frozen from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. All she could think about was a nice warm room, a very hot shower and then a bed to snuggle down in to wait out the storm.
She might have sobbed in relief when they reached the motel office but she was too frozen to cry. Brody immediately released his hold on her as he greeted Fred Ferguson, the owner of the motel.
“Heck of a night,” Fred said, his gaze behind his dark-rimmed glasses drifting from Brody to Mandy.
“The road is definitely treacherous tonight,” Brody replied.
“So are you both stuck?”
“Yeah, we’re both in a ditch down the road. We each need a room for the night,” Brody replied.
“That’s going to be a problem,” Fred replied.
Every frozen muscle in her body tensed. What now? “A p-p-problem?” she managed to stutter through her chattering teeth.
Fred nodded. “I’ve only got one room left.”
Brody visibly stiffened. “Only one?”
A wave of dread swept through Mandy. Apparently she would be spending the night with a man who didn’t like her and definitely didn’t respect her. Could this night get any worse?
“A double?” Brody asked
