Why did I ask her to stay with me? Maybe because she was the most beautiful, unconventional woman I had ever seen or met. The moment my flashlight had lit up her face, I’d been instantly drawn to her. Even with Gabi being unconscious. Even before I saw her car wrecked on the side of the icy road. Something or someone had made me jump in my truck in the middle of an ice storm and set off without purpose.
That, and my mom had taught me to always help a woman in need.
“You’re not a serial killer, are you?”
I barked out a laugh. “Shouldn’t you have asked that before you got in my truck?”
“Probably, but at the time I didn’t have a choice. It was you or an ambulance, and there’s no way in hell I’m going to the hospital.”
Why was she so adamant about not going to the hospital? No one liked going, but if you needed to go, you went. Was she hiding from someone? Was she in trouble, and that’s why she had shown up here? Maybe I needed to stop reading mystery novels.
“You didn’t answer my question. Are you a serial killer, or are you planning to hurt me, Jax?”
“I will never hurt you,” I vowed.
Although I felt if anyone got hurt in this scenario, it would be Gabi hurting me. I knew she would only be here for a short amount of time, and I already didn’t like the thought of never seeing her again. I wasn’t sure how I would fight the pull I felt for her, but I knew it would be in my best interest if I did.
“There’s something about you that makes me believe you,” she said in an awed voice.
I liked hearing those words from her mouth more than I should.
“I had a fire going when I left, so the house will be warm when we get there, and I have a hot tub you can use that will help your sore muscles.”
“I might take you up on that. Do you have any alcohol at your place?”
“I’ve got beer and maybe a bottle of whiskey.” I didn’t drink a lot, especially at home. If she wanted anything girlie, she was out of luck.
“I'll take whatever you got. I'm not picky. I’ve been dreaming of having a drink since I landed and this whole mess started.”
Gabi shivered from her side of the truck, and I swore I heard her teeth chatter, even though they had stopped sometime before she’d fallen asleep.
“Do you want me to turn the heat up more?”
“I’m good, but thanks,” she replied before pulling the blanket up, tucking it under her chin.
Even though I was sweating like a cat in heat, I leaned forward to turn the heat up full blast on her side. I would have turned mine down, but I knew some cool air would have made its way over to her, and she needed to warm up more than I needed to cool down.
With the roads clear of cars except for a fair share of runoffs, it didn’t take too long before I was pulling into my driveway. Gabi slowly sat forward with a slight grimace of pain as she took in what little she could of my house in the dark. It was pitch black out except for the light coming from my headlights.
I was more than a little nervous of what she’d think after getting a glimpse of one of the houses in the neighborhood her friends lived in. She probably already thought less of me since I had assumed her friends were gay, but they both had guy names, and I hadn’t heard of them before.
Gabi had said she’d met them doing a guest spot on his show, but I didn’t get an actor vibe from her. Not that I knew what the actor vibe felt like. I wanted to ask what she did for a living, but I hesitated. All I knew was that Gabi was as badass as she was beautiful.
Jumping out of my truck, I made my way around to open the passenger door and helped Gabi out. It wouldn’t be good if she fell down now and ended up breaking something.
“Thanks,” she said after using my arm to help her down. “Are you the last gentleman on the planet?”
I shook my head and chuckled, “I doubt it. Sounds like you’ve been hanging around the wrong people.”
“No doubt about it,” she mumbled to herself.
I wasn’t sure if she meant for me to hear her or not.
“Actually, now that I’ve thought about it for a second,” she started as we made our way up the step to my door, “Luke is a gentleman. He's pretty fucking great.”
“At least you’ve got one in your life. Now watch your step. There are two, and then we’ll be on the landing, and it’s likely slick.”
Gabi clutched onto my arm as if her life depended on it, and we slowly made our way to the side door of the house.
As I opened the door, Gabi asked, “Why isn’t your garage attached to your house?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at how direct she was. “Because my house is ancient, and when it was built, it didn’t have a garage.”
“Did you build the garage? Holy shit, it's dark in here. I can’t even see my hand in front of my face.”
“Welcome to my humble abode. Make yourself at home.” I invited as we stepped inside.
“Can you direct me to a couch or to that fire you mentioned earlier?” her voice shook, either from being cold or not being comfortable with me yet.
“Follow me. There’s a chair right beside the fireplace, perfect for you to sit and warm up.”
She silently followed me into the living room. I could almost feel her trying to look around, but as she had mentioned, it was pitch dark in the house until we entered the living room.
“Take this,” I said as I handed her the blanket that was draped over the back of the recliner. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to find some candles and flashlights for us to use.”
As I started to walk away Gabi, called out, “Wait, Jax! I just wanted to say thank you for everything. You didn’t have to invite me into your home, or even stop to help me for that matter.”
“You're welcome, but you don’t have to keep thanking me. Let me find some light, and I’ll be right back.”
I knew I had some candles put away somewhere, but I wasn’t sure where. All I knew was that they were packed away in a box in one of the downstairs closets. If the power ever went out, I was fine to sit around with no light except from the fire. There were two headlamps in the garage that I knew would work best. Grabbing the small flashlight from a drawer in the kitchen, I went back outside to go out to the garage.
I knew where they were, but I wasn’t used to walking around in my shop in the pitch dark. Normally it was brightly lit, or I had the door open for natural light. Even in the dark, it didn’t take me long to find them. I only hoped that the batteries in them were good. It wouldn’t do us any good if their lights were weak or went dead on us by the end of the night.
Instead of using the side door to go in, I went around to the back to check on the temperature of the hot tub. It should have kept its temperature since the power had only been out for a couple of hours by then. The only problem would be once the cover was off it, it wouldn’t be able to reheat itself.
The cover reminded me of myself in a lot of ways – always a struggle to let people in.
“I found us each a headlamp to use. Now I’ll see if I can find the candles. While I was out, I checked the hot tub. It’s still hot if you want to use it. I think it’ll help your sore muscles. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to stay in it for very long. Even though it’s in the ground and well insulated around it, but once the top is off, the temperature will decline pretty quickly. I’d say you’ve got five to ten minutes of hot water. Maybe longer. I’ve never used it with the power off.” I called out.
Before I searched for the candles, I remembered to get Gabi some water and ibuprofen. I should have given it to her before I went out to the garage, but having her in my house had me preoccupied. I was sure she was sore. Once she started to move, it seemed to help, but anyone would be in pain after a wreck like she’d been in, and her head had to be killing her. Lucky for her, it had stopped bleeding, and the cut wasn’t bad. It wouldn't even need a bandage.
“Take these. They should help you feel better.” Our hands touched with a jolt of electricity as she took them both from me.
“Thanks, Jax,” she caught herself saying thank you again and bit her plump, pink lip between her teeth. My cock immediately jerked to attention and throbbed against the zipper of my jeans. Before I did something we’d both regret, I walked away to cool off and find those damn candles.
After searching two closets and finding nothing, I was afraid I had somehow thrown them out. I was at the point of giving up when, in the back corner, I spotted a box labeled Mom’s candles.
Even though I knew my mom would have wanted me to use what was left of her stuff, it was still hard. She would have wanted me to do everything within my power to make Gabi comfortable, and I needed to remember that. It was silly to keep everything of mom’s stuffed in a closet.
Pulling out half a dozen, I quickly put the box back and made my way to the living room where I had left Gabi alone for far too long.