his light blue eyes and chiseled features, he looked like the latest guy to play Superman... Henry something or other. Judging by his build, she could almost believe he’d be able to just lift the vehicle from the ditch, or so her overactive damsel-in-distress mind mused.
Yep, too many erotic novels. “Not at all, this ditch was exactly my destination...stupid GPS,” she said, suddenly grateful for the tiny mishap. Since Cooper, her reaction to the sight of most men was a desire to punch them, but this guy made her feel slightly less hostile.
“Well, I have a tow kit. I can pull you out if you’re ready to leave,” he said with a smile that made her mouth go dry.
She nodded. “I think so... Yes, thank you.”
“Why don’t you climb out and go sit in my truck while I pull your car free,” he said, opening her door.
A blast of cold snow blew across her lap, white against her charcoal dress pants, and she shivered as she climbed out. Pulling her light jacket closed, she zipped it as high as it would go. Snow piled over the tops of her short leather boots as she took several steps away from her vehicle, and she gasped. “Damn it, it’s cold.” Had this hellhole not gotten the memo that it was spring?
“You’re hardly dressed for Big Bear weather,” the man said, offering his arm for support as she struggled to climb the tiny hill out of the ditch. The smooth soles of her high-heeled boots made traction impossible and she slid backward with each step. “May I?” he asked, holding out his arms toward her.
“May you what?”
“Lift you out of here.”
She shook her head violently. At five foot nine, she was hardly a china doll. “I’m already shaming women everywhere with this clueless, city-girl damsel-in-distress situation... I think I can do this,” she said, digging her heels into the bank and, with every ounce of dignity and determination she possessed, launching her body over the high snowbank. “See?” she said proudly, straightening her coat and turning to face him.
He held his hands up. “Sorry, you’re right. You don’t need me, and I’m sure you could probably just grab the bumper and pull this thing out yourself, but I’d still like to help, if that’s okay?”
Her smile even felt flirtatious as she nodded. “Sure, why not?”
“Climb into the truck and stay warm,” he said, turning his attention to her vehicle.
She got in quickly and shivered in the warmth. “So much better,” she muttered, kicking her boots together to shake off the melting snow. Through the window, she watched the guy hook up his tow kit to her Escalade, grateful for his out-of-nowhere appearance. Glancing around, she saw the closest business was several blocks away—not a hike she’d want to make. And sitting in a ditch, waiting for a tow truck, she’d probably have frozen to death.
He worked quickly, obviously having done this before, and as she watched, she warmed even more. He was far from her usual type. Big football player build and thick thighs straining against the confines of his jeans as he leaned down to attach the tow rope to her bumper...but she found herself checking out his ass when he bent to collect his tool from the ground.
A nice ass, indeed.
He turned and she looked away quickly.
When he climbed in moments later, he put the truck in Reverse and freed the Escalade from the ditch with ease.
“Wow, clearly not your first time doing that,” she said.
“No. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that it’s your first time in Big Bear?”
He removed his gloves, and her eyes immediately flew to his left hand. No wedding ring. The silver lining on a shitty day. “Second, but the first time was when I was a kid and not this time of year.”
He handed her keys to her, and his warm fingers grazed her cold hand, sending an electric current up her arm. If a simple touch could create such an intense reaction in her, she wondered what a purposeful caress could do. Or those full, sexy lips. “Well, you’re free.” He hesitated before releasing them. “Make sure you get chains put on before you head down again...which is hopefully not too soon?”
So the flirtation hadn’t been in her mind. “Tomorrow, I think... I hope anyway.” It couldn’t possibly take any longer than that to convince that rude Scott Dillon to reconsider hosting his brother’s wedding, could it?
“Would it be terrible if I said I hope that your business here takes longer than you plan?”
She swallowed hard as his gaze took in the length of her. Damn it, she should have allowed those hands to lift her out of the snow. “You just may get your wish if the guy I’m here to see is as much of a jerk as I think he is.”
“Most men are,” he said with a laugh.
The deep, rich sound made her stomach flutter. “But not you, of course.”
“Not me. Nonjerk car rescuer extraordinaire Scott Dillon, at your service,” he said.
Her mouth gaped. No way. The hottest guy she’d laid eyes on in forever, the guy who’d just saved her from a ditch, the guy she was already envisioning naked was Scott Dillon? And he was already lying to her. Typical jerk.
He frowned. “What did I say wrong? If it was the reference to rescuing your car, that will totally be our secret. If anyone asks, you got yourself out of there.” His teasing grin was back, but there was a look of caution in his icy eyes.
Sighing, she allowed any and all inappropriate thoughts about him to vanish, along with her hope for rebound sex with a stranger that evening. “I’m Kate Hartley. We spoke on the phone.”
* * *
NO SOONER HAD he shut his office door than his office intercom beeped. “Mr. Dillon, there’s a woman here at the front desk to see you,” Cameron said.
Yes, the woman he’d been picturing naked in the backseat of his pickup truck, only to have the image shattered seconds later when she’d revealed her identity. So much for his hope of having literally stumbled upon a gorgeous tourist, one who wasn’t planning to stay in Big Bear for more than a night or two. His favorite kind of woman. “Tell her I’m not here.”
“Um...she just heard me talking to you,” Cameron whispered.
“So say it anyway,” he said. He scanned the mess of his office, knowing that regardless, in about a minute and a half, the determined, spirited, sexy-as-hell Kate Hartley would be barging in with or without his consent. She hadn’t driven all this way to be ignored. Too bad he couldn’t offer her the kind of attention he wanted to bestow.
He stacked the pile of unpaid invoices in a drawer, tossed the empty coffee cups into the trash can in the corner of the room and quickly swept the visible dust from the top of the fine oak furniture around him with the palm of his hand. Housekeeping had been reduced, and he sure wasn’t keeping on top of it.
Oh, well. If Ms. Wedding Planner didn’t like it, he’d be happy to watch her curvy ass leave.
The knock on his door was loud and right on time, he mused, glancing at his watch. “Go away,” he yelled, picking up the phone receiver
