Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 111278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
“Good.”
Okay, that surprised her.
“Good?” she asked.
“Yes, I’m glad you have the means to defend yourself. However, you should’ve pulled further off the road and have been more aware of your surroundings. You didn’t see me park my truck behind you or hear me knock on the door. Are you all right? Do you need something? Medication? Do you want me to call an ambulance?”
A wave of dizziness washed through her.
Shit. She might not have had a full panic attack, but it was enough that she was now feeling exhausted and a bit spacey.
This was going to make driving interesting. Luckily, she had some energy drinks in a cooler bag in the trunk. They’d get her through the last few miles to her hotel. She just had to get rid of this weirdo.
“Why’d you have to be so cute?” she muttered.
“Sorry?” he asked.
“Why are you sorry?” she asked suspiciously. “What did you do? You didn’t slash my tires, did you? Did you touch my baby?”
If he had, she was going to castrate him. It was one thing to threaten her and quite another to touch her baby.
“Your baby?” Amusement filled his face.
“Yes, my baby. What? You think only guys can care about their cars?”
“What? No! Not at all.” He held both his hands up in surrender. “I would never say that.”
She peered up at him suspiciously. “Then why were you saying sorry?”
“I wasn’t apologizing for anything. I was just wondering if I’d heard you correctly.”
She gave him a confused look. Huh?
“When you asked why I had to be so cute.”
Oh. Dear. Lord.
Sometimes her mouth ran away from her. Hence why she’d been fired for telling her boss to suck her tits. Not her finest moment . . . well, actually, it was also one of the best moments of her life. Because she’d hated that job and detested that misogynistic, sexist asshole.
Still . . . that incident had kind of led to one of the worst days of her life. That had been a bit of a roller-coaster.
She really had to learn how to guard her tongue.
“Clearly, I didn’t say that.”
“Clearly.”
Yeah. Gwen got the feeling he didn’t believe a word she was saying.
Damn him.
“So, are you going to put down the tampon and tell me what was happening just before?” He drew back, crouching down by the open door.
“Nothing was happening. I was just feeling a bit tired, so I pulled over to rest. It’s better to have a break than cause an accident. Everyone knows that. I’m a responsible driver. So what if I get a few speeding tickets now and then . . . doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Shoot. She was rambling, and he wasn’t telling her to stop.
Exhaustion pulled at her as her adrenaline rush died away.
She just had to hold on a bit longer—she didn’t have far to go. Then she could collapse into her bed in her hotel room and forget that this little encounter had ever happened.
“Speeding tickets, huh? Just how many of those have you gotten lately?”
“Who told you about my speeding tickets?” What the heck was happening?
“Um, you just did.”
“Oh, right. Sorry. Sometimes, I ramble and don’t know what I’m saying.”
Embarrassing.
“I guess I don’t have the right to demand answers. But I do need to know whether you’re okay to keep driving.”
“Course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, for one thing, you’re as pale as a ghost and shaking like a leaf.”
Well, shit.
“Plus . . . there’s the whole tampon thing.”
Whole tampon thing?
She stared down at her hand, which was still holding up the tampon as though she was going to spray him with it.
Lord.
This was so embarrassing—even for her.
“There’s no tampon thing. That never happened. Erase that from your memory, cowboy.”
His lips twitched. “Not really a cowboy, but I’ll take it as a compliment.”
She huffed. She wouldn’t go that far.
Well, okay, he sort of had a sexy cowboy look about him.
Chill, Gwen.
You are not looking for a temporary fling.
“You have a bit of color back in your cheeks, at least. Mind if I check your pulse?”
“Um, yeah. Kind of.” She didn’t need him knowing that it was racing. He might think it was because of him.
Since it was definitely because of him.
But also some of it was the aftereffects of her panic attack.
He eyed her for a long moment. “I feel like I should insist on driving you to the hospital.”
Doctors. The smell of antiseptic and bleach. White walls.
Yep. There was her old friend once again . . . the panic attack.
“Whoa. Okay. You need to breathe nice and slow for me. You’re safe. I promise I won’t take you anywhere you don’t want to go. Unless you don’t start breathing better. Come on. In. Now out. In again. Now out.”
She stared at him, almost hypnotized by his voice. It was deep and husky. Full of command.