Torch (Take It Off #1)(9)
Author: Cambria Hebert

He held it low enough that I was able to just slip both my arms inside, successfully managing not to bump my bandaged wrists, and then he slipped it up around me, his hands not touching me once.

Thankfully.

Okay, I was a little disappointed. It seemed my body liked his touch. In fact, my body practically hummed whenever he was around. It was beyond strange.

He made short work of the buttons, closing the shirt up around me in record time (making me think he purposefully took forever on that one button on my jeans), and then stepped back to admire his work.

The shirt hung to my knees.

He smirked. “You are tiny.”

I stuck out my tongue at him. “You’re just huge.”

He winked.

Heat flooded my cheeks because suddenly commenting on his size took on a whole new meaning.

Thankfully, the nurse pushed open the door and wheeled in my ride. I sank down into the wheelchair and positioned all my belongings in my lap, taking a moment to mourn the fact that everything I owned fit in a single shopping bag.

Down at the entrance of the hospital, Holt disappeared for a few minutes only to return in a truck that I was pretty sure I would need a ladder to get into.

It was huge. It was also cherry-red with not one spec of dirt on it. The rims on the giant tires were chrome, and I actually caught a reflection of myself in the front tire. The side of the truck said HEMI and by the sound of it, it had two mufflers on the back.

When he came around the hood, he laughed at me and the nurse. “You should see your faces.”

“You want me to get in that?” I asked dubiously.

The nurse leaned over the back of my chair and whispered in my ear. “Go for it, honey.” I glanced over my shoulder at her, but she was staring at Holt.

I wondered if she was telling me to go for a ride in the truck… or with the man driving it.

Holt held out his hand and gave me a look that dared me not to get up. Of course I had to take the challenge. I might be getting released from the hospital, but I was no wimp. I survived being tied up in a fire and tossed into a pool.

Holt splayed his hands around my waist, once again murmuring about my slight size, and lifted me into the cab of the truck like I weighed nothing more than a bag of Skittles.

Mmm. Skittles sounded good.

“Let me help you with that,” he said, pulling the seatbelt around me and clipping it in place over my lap. Then he adjusted it across my chest before pulling back to look at my face.

“You ready?”

It was a simple question.

Yet the weight behind it seemed to catch my breath and make me wary. I don’t know what kind of emotion came through my face, but he chuckled and shut the door to go around and get into the driver’s seat. When he pulled away from the curb, I spoke up.

“You can just take me to the motel that’s down near the library.”

The truck jerked to a halt and I went forward. Holt reached out casually and splayed his hand over my chest, keeping me from going forward any farther. Then he snatched his hand back and looked at me. “Motel?”

My eyes widened at the hardness in his tone. “I appreciate you telling the doctor you would look out for me, but you didn’t really think I would stay with you, did you?”

“I gave the doctor my word.”

I gaped at him. Was he serious? He couldn’t possibly want me at his house any more than I wanted to be there. “I won’t tell him you took me to a motel.”

“I’m not taking you to a motel,” he growled.

“Yes. You are.”

He completely ignored the fact that he was sitting in the center of the road and crossed his arms over his chest and regarded me with raised eyebrows. “How do you plan to pay for the room?”

“I have a bank account,” I snapped, but then I realized my bankcards, checkbook, and driver’s license burned in the fire. “Oh.”

He smirked.

“Was my car damaged?”

“I don’t think so.”

I blew out a breath. “I have my library ID for work in my glove compartment. I can use that at the bank.” Thank God I kept it there. I also kept a twenty in there with it because once I left my wallet at home and starved the entire day because I had no money to buy lunch.

“It’s after five,” he said, pointing at the clock on the dash. “Banks are closed.”

I leaned my head back against the seat. It was starting to hurt. “Look. No offense. I am grateful to you for saving my life. For checking on me in the hospital and for bringing me these really cute flip-flops, but I don’t know you. I can’t just come to your house.”

“You’re scared of me.” He said it like the words left a bad taste in his mouth.

“No.” I protested. I really wasn’t. He made me feel… safe. But that was the problem. I wasn’t safe. Someone tried to kill me. I couldn’t just go home with some stranger because I didn’t want to be alone.

“Someone tried to kill you.”

“I know.” I held up my wrist.

“I’m not taking you to a motel.”

“It’s not your decision.”

“I’m the one driving.”

“You’re stupid!” I yelled.

He laughed. A real laugh that started in his belly and burst out of his chest. I giggled. I just called him stupid like I was twelve.

A car sitting behind the truck beeped their horn loudly, then sped out around us, the driver sticking his very unfriendly finger out the window and waiving it wildly around.

“Well, I guess he told me,” Holt said and flashed his teeth.

I giggled some more.

He put the truck in drive and pulled away. His face turned serious. “Do you really have no one?”

I sighed. “I can take care of myself.”

“How is it that someone like you ended up all alone?”

His words caused a hollow feeling inside me. It kind of felt like a giant pocket of air that kept expanding until there was nothing left but the pressure of emptiness inside me. “It’s a long story.”

“I have time.”

“I’m tired,” I said. I leaned farther into the seat and looked out my window at the passing buildings. The sun was low in the sky and I knew in just a few hours, darkness would blanket the town, covering up all traces of sunlight. I wasn’t sure I was ready for the darkness.

The last time I went to sleep in the dark, I woke up tied to a chair in the middle of a raging fire.

“Look. Let me take you to my place tonight. In the morning, I can take you to the bank and to whatever motel you want. It’s only one night.”