notice from the telematics company that her car was involved in an accident, so at least one of those safety systems had failed to do its job.
“Protective, is he?” He gained another inch.
“And then some. Ever since Savannah’s break-in he’s been worse than ever.”
“Who’s Savannah?”
“My little sister. One of them, anyway.”
“How many sisters do you have?” He’d managed to squeeze partially through the window but he still wasn’t far enough to reach her well.
“Uh, two. And a, uh, a bunch of brothers. I’m smack in the middle.”
“Middle-child syndrome?”
“Please.”
He smiled at the way she rolled her eyes. She was making good sense, and he hoped that meant she didn’t have a concussion. “I have three brothers myself,” he offered conversationally. “No sisters, though, to my mother’s everlasting disappointment.” He stretched his arm across the interior of the vehicle and snagged the tips of his fingers around the headrest of her seat, so he could use it for leverage to heave himself halfway into the vehicle. He managed not to swear a blue streak when he got up close and personal with the gearshift as a result.
“I’m gonna cut the belt and catch you, okay?” His voice was rougher than he wanted. He was a pickup-truck sort of guy over sports cars and the nauseating throbbing in his groin cemented the fact. He turned gingerly onto his side, earning another inch of leverage.
She visibly trembled. “Maybe we should wait for more help.”
“We could.” He exhaled again, blowing out his own pain as he concentrated on the alarm sharpening her dazed eyes. “It might be a while before help gets here, though, and I’d just as soon get you outta this little beast now. Not real comfortable for you hanging upside down, I’ll bet.”
She shook her head slightly. “No,” she whispered. “I was afraid nobody was coming.”
She looked like she was going to cry. “I’m here now,” he said steadily. “And I’ll stay right here with you until more help gets here. Can’t say I’m real comfortable with the position.”
Understatement of the year.
He looked into her eyes, willing her to keep her focus on him. “I’m Pax, by the way. I’m the sheriff around these parts.”
She gave him a barely perceptible smile. “Georgia,” she murmured.
Savannah and Georgia. He’d have teased her a little at that if not for the way her eyes had fluttered closed again. “Don’t pass out on me, Georgia.” He wrapped his fingers around her dangling arm, sliding down to her wrist where her pulse was fluttering.
“I’m not gonna pass out.” She managed to sound offended. “My head is pounding.”
“Expect you’ll have a lot of aches and pains. Considering everything, that’s not a bad thing right now.” It was awkward as hell, half inside the upside-down car and half out. At his angle, stretched the way he was against the headliner, the best he could do was let her land on him. The headrest of the passenger seat was digging into his ribs but at least it wasn’t endangering his prospects of siring kids one day. “So, unless you really insist on hanging there until backup arrives, I’m gonna cut the shoulder belt first, and then the lap. That all right with you?”
“I’ll fall.”
“I’ll catch you,” he promised. “Just tell me when you’re ready.”
Her lips compressed. She closed her eyes again and gave a faint nod.
Good enough for him.
He reached up and slid the sharp knife between her snug purple T-shirt and the shoulder belt, then sliced through the belt.
She gasped and her hands shot out, knocking against his head and shoulder. Several cubes of broken glass rained down on him. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry. You’re good, Georgia. There isn’t going to be anything graceful about this. I told you I’ll catch you. Just keep your hand on my shoulder if you can, and—” He reached again and wedged his hand against the leather seat, snapping through the lap belt. The second he did, her body started to fall and he pressed his free palm against her stomach long enough to fold the knife safely out of the way.
Then she rolled down in a ball onto him, all long hair and trembling limbs.
The second she made contact with him, she burst into sobs and buried her face against his throat.
“It’s okay, honey.” He gently patted her back. She really was no bigger than a minute. “You’re gonna be fine.” He’d feel better about that assurance once she was actually checked out, but for now, she was lucid and showing the kind of normal reaction he’d expect. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
Eventually, her sobs quieted. Her trembling settled. She finally lifted her head, and her eyes met his. “You saved me.”
Discomfort that had nothing to do with gearshifts and awkward positions chugged inside his gut. She was a looker. No amount of puffy, red eyes could disguise that fact. He hadn’t felt such a visceral attraction to a woman since Whitney.
Which was a good reminder to keep his mind where it belonged.
“German engineering and advanced safety systems saved you,” he said gruffly. “Think you can slide out the window?”
She angled her head, looking toward his legs still hanging outside from the knees on. She gave him a shaky smile. “In some places we’d need to be married before being this close. You’d better go first.”
She didn’t give him a chance to argue the matter, because she was busy wriggling to one side of him. Doing so meant pressing her hand against his chest to gain enough leverage and he hoped she blamed his thumping heartbeat on adrenaline.
He’d been a cop for eight years. A sheriff for nearly two. After what happened with Whitney in Dallas, he was too smart to let himself be derailed again by a pretty set of blue eyes.
Still, it was a relief when Georgia was finally curled alongside him rather than sprawled over him, and he worked his way back out the window. First his leather belt caught on something, and then his shirt tore as he awkwardly got one shoulder, then the other, through the bent window frame.
Finally, though, he was on his knees again in the dirt and he reached back in to her. “It might be easier for you if you come out headfirst.”
She nodded and, far more deftly than he could have done, pivoted on the rear of her white shorts, then shimmied out the window. She was narrow. Slender. He had no trouble whatsoever catching her shoulders the second they cleared the metal and he lifted her free of the wreckage, moving her to the patch of dirt that had been scraped raw by the car.
She exhaled, and slowly fell backward until she was sprawled flat on her back. She pressed her hand to her chest and stared up at the sky. Tears slid from her eyes down into her hair.
He
