“I just want to go, OK? But my truck is stuck in the mud. So if you help me get it back on the road, I’ll leave and never come back.”
I shoot her a grin, the one that disarms all the girls I never bring home. It’s big, with dimples, and makes my eyes soften so people trust me. “No problem. Let’s go do that.” I shoot her a little wink.
Gun girl recoils a little. She starts shaking her head again. “You’re lying. You’re lying and I’m not falling for it.”
“I’m not lying, I’m gonna help you.” Just not the way you think. I take a few steps towards her, but she takes off running to the right, trips over a floor mat, barely catches herself before she faceplants, recovers, and stops on the other side of my black muscle car.
“You wanna play the kiddy chase game, gun girl?” I laugh a little at the thought. She’s tough, and scared, and holding a weapon aimed at my chest. So the whole idea is a little ridiculous. But she’s very cute in her I’ve-got-a-gun-and-I-know-how-to-use-it way. “I can play, but I always win.”
“Well,” she says, a little out of breath and with one of her hands on the hood of my car, like she’s trying to calm down. I take a few steps forward, and she eases away. “I always win as well. So we’re an even match for this game.”
She’s in bolt mode. One wrong move and she runs. And even though I could catch her easily under normal conditions, I don’t have the energy to catch her right now. My body is more fucked up than it looks from that crash. I need to eat and recover or I’m gonna pass out.
Her feet are not sure which way to go until I make a move one way or another, so I need to play this smart. “There’s no need for such fierce competition,” I say, taking a few steps towards the front of the car. She sprints to the rear end, keeping the car between us. “I might not be a good guy, as you put it. But I’m really not gonna hurt you.” Especially after what happened out there on the road when I grabbed her foot and took her down. I want to think a little harder about that, but she starts to move, interrupting my thoughts.
“Right,” she says, moving two steps away with each one of mine. “I pegged you for some kind of deviant criminal the moment I saw you fly past me on that bike. Careless, reckless, and so sure you’re invincible, the safety of other people on the road is of no concern.”
“What are you, some do-gooder crossing guard? It’s a deserted mountain road. That’s what we do up here.”
“It wasn’t deserted, I was on it!”
“Yeah, but we went around you.”
“That’s not the point. You could’ve hurt me. What if I had swerved into—”
“OK, fine,” I say, getting bored with this quick. This was not how I planned to spend this day and I’m already getting a migraine. “I’m the bad guy, you’re the good girl. I give up. Now do you want help with that trailer or not? Because I’m still soaking wet here, and I’d like to change.”
And that’s when I make my move.
I reach down and grab the edge of my dripping wet t-shirt and pull it up over my stomach. I catch her eyes going wide just as I tug it over my head. And by the time I’m tossing it aside, she’s staring at my abs.
I almost can’t tuck down the laugh.
“I d-d-don’t trust you,” she stammers, fixated on my bare chest.
“What’s not to trust, gun girl? I’m sure you’d like to get out of your wet clothes too. Hey, I got an idea. How about I take you upstairs and give you some dry ones. We can have coffee, warm up a bit, and by then the rain will have stopped and we can go see about your trailer.”
The whole time I’m talking, my feet are inching away from her, making her drop her guard. And that’s when I make my second move.
I drop to a crouch and start crawling along the side of the car. Not the direction she thinks. Because she thinks I’m gonna take the shortest distance. But she’s wrong.
“What the fuck are you doing?” She’s unsettled. Maybe even frightened. I can’t say I blame her. But a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do to protect his man cave. “Oh my God,” she whispers. “Where the—”
And that’s when I get around to the front of the car again. I’m watching the shadow of her feet as she moves, unsure of which way to go. But she fucks up just like I knew she would. A moment later she takes a chance and loses when she rounds the car and comes right to me.
I spring forward, grab her by the legs, take her down to the floor, sit on her stomach, and pin her hands above her head. The nausea hits me again, only this time it’s so strong, I might actually throw up.