Tryst (Take It Off #8)(15)
Author: Cambria Hebert

Thank God.

I waved my arms just so he was sure he had the right car and then hurried around to the driver’s side. A man wearing a pair of board shorts and a T-shirt stepped out. He didn’t look at all how I expected him to look.

Yes, I was stereotyping.

But my idea of a tow truck driver wasn’t some twenty-something man with a surfer outfit and sunglasses on his head (even at night).

“Car trouble?” he asked.

“Yes. I think it’s the drive belt. But it could be more than that.” I gestured to the Jetta.

“You have a place you want me to tow it?”

“I’m not from around here. I drove in from Raleigh.”

“How long will you be here?”

“About a week.”

He nodded. “Well, my dad owns a small garage in Surf City over on the island. He could have it fixed for ya before you leave.”

“That would be wonderful,” I said, thankful the car could be fixed so close by.

“Sweet,” he said. “I’ll just get ya towed up. Can I give you a ride somewhere?”

Suddenly, nerves got the best of me. Here I was accusing the last man who stopped to help me of trying to kill me, so how did I know this guy wasn’t just pretending to be a tow truck driver? Maybe he didn’t have a dad who owned a garage. Maybe he had a dad in county lockup, doing thirty to life for murder.

“Uhhh,” I said, trying to stall as I thought it through.

“Rand, is that you?” the guy in the hat said, coming around the truck.

Rand laughed. “Yeah, dude. What the hell you doing here?”

“I saw her car and stopped to see if she needed help.”

“Righteous.”

You know you’re at the beach when some “dude” says righteous.

“You working with your dad now?” he asked the kid, who seemed younger and younger as the minutes passed.

“Nah, just doing him a favor.”

“Sweet. Well, I’ll leave you to it. See you later.”

Rand turned to ready the truck for towing and the man whose name I didn’t know walked off without a backward glance.

“Wait!” I suddenly burst out, chasing after the man.

He stopped but didn’t turn. I rushed over and stepped around him, tilting my head back to look up. “You’re just going to leave me with him?” I accused. “A stranger?”

“Suddenly you trust me?” he said. I swear there was a hint of amusement in his words.

“This isn’t funny!” I whisper-yelled. “He could be dangerous!”

“Are you an actress?” he asked, knocking the bill of his hat back a little. I wished for a fleeting moment I could make out the color of his eyes.

“What?” I asked. “No.”

“Well, you sure are a damn drama queen.”

I made a disgusted sound. “I swear,” I muttered as I turned away. “Men just like to insult women.”

I only got about two steps when his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. “What did you say?”

“Nothing.” I tried to yank my arm away.

He tightened his grip. “Hey.”

The softness in his tone caused me to go still. I glanced up.

“I’ve known Rand a long time. He’s young, but he’s a good kid. His dad’s a good man.”

“Okay.”

He pulled on me just a little, enough to make me take a single step closer. Once again, I felt the heat off his body. It was utterly intoxicating.

“I wouldn’t leave you here with him if I thought you were in danger.” He spoke low.

The sound of his voice caused chills to race over my scalp. You know, the kind you get when you get a really good massage? Yeah, that kind. The good kind.

I nodded.

“I’d tell ya to stay out of trouble, but I really doubt that’s going to happen.”

I scowled as he released my wrist and walked away. Immediately, I covered the area with my other hand, trying to trap in the warmth he left behind, if only for a few moments. The skin around the area tingled… I liked it.

He drove away. He didn’t look back. I was glad.

9

Talie

I was learning all kind of life lessons lately:

1. You don’t always know someone like you think you do.

2. Getting fired from a job you hate still sucks.

3. Just because you tell your car not to break down doesn’t mean it will listen.

4. Blake is a butthead.

And most recently:

5. I was not destined to become a cat lady.

Salty hated me. And not in the way of there was a stranger in the house and he needed to get used to it. In the way of you better sleep with one eye open because he will claw you to death if you don’t kind of way.

From the minute I let myself into Aunt Ruth’s beach house, he did nothing but hiss, yowl, and stare at me from within doorways with some kind of death ray glare.

I offered him cat treats, cheese, and even a can of tuna. He was having none of it. The one time he let me get close enough to put a treat under his nose, he took a swipe with his claws and made me bleed. I was left with one conclusion.

Salty = a furry demon.

Even though the cat may or may not have been the spawn of Satan himself, the view from the windows was more than worth the danger. The house was small, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, the rest of the house being made up of an eat-in kitchen with a wooden table and a living room with tons of windows. Every room in the house had a view of the ocean (except for one of the bathrooms).

The windows spanned the length of the back of the house, offering panoramic views of the surf meeting the sand. Beyond the windows, the house sported a large, weathered wooden deck filled with lounge chairs for taking in the view. Stretching off the deck was a set of wooden stairs and a wooden path that led directly onto the sand. Between the house and the beach was a sand dune littered with seashells, tall grasses, and piles of sand.

Though small, the house was nice, with wicker furniture and soft linen cushions, light-painted walls, and a brightly patterned round ottoman as the coffee table. There was a small TV against the wall, sitting on a rustic-looking console table and photographs of the beach hanging on the walls. The kitchen was open to the living space and it offered white-painted cabinets, granite countertops the color of sand, and clean white appliances.

When Rand the tow truck driver dropped me off last night, I trudged into the house with my bags and dropped them by the front door. After standing on the deck outside, staring up at the starlit sky, I tried to make friends with Salty. That didn’t go as planned, so I found the guest bedroom and collapsed on the bed.