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She swallowed and tears sprung to her eyes again. It really was him. And he’d just called herdarlin’. If her head wasn’t already swimming, she might have swooned at the sound of it.
She squinted up at him, only able to make out a blue shirt and the shape of his cowboy hat. “But how?” she whispered.
“Maisie, you’re bleeding.” His voice rose in alarm as he reached through the window and gently tilted her chin toward him. “Your head is cut—not too bad—but you could have a concussion. What happened? Where else are you hurt? Talk to me.”
His words broke through her haze, and she struggled to focus as she raised her right hand. “I think I might have broken my arm.”
“Anything else? Your back or neck? Should I call for an ambulance? I don’t want to risk moving you if I’m going to do more damage.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m okay. I don’t need an ambulance. I just need help getting out of this seatbelt. I can’t reach the latch.”
“Okay, hold on. I’ll get you out of there.” He lifted the handle and carefully eased the door open then filled the empty space with his body as he cradled her side against his broad chest. “I’m gonna reach around you and try to release the seat belt. Are you okay with that?”
She nodded. She was okay with anything as long as it meant she got to lean against him.
“All right. Here we go.” He reached around her, his forearm pressing against her belly, his bicep smooshing her breast.
Not that she minded. This was the closest she’d ever been to Dodge Lassiter. Heck, she normally got so flustered around him, that she could only utter a few words or make dismal or awkward attempts at small talk. The last time she’d seen him, she’d asked him how his cattle were enjoying the weather.
She’d had a crush on him since the tenth grade when she’d transferred to Woodland Hills High School and sat next to him in Sophomore English. Her mom had lost her battle to breast cancer the year before, and her dad made his living as a truck driver, which meant he was always on the road, so she’d come to live with her grandmother to finish out her last few years of high school.
She’d always been shy but losing her mother and moving to a new town had her escaping even more into the imaginary worlds of her books. And she couldn’t imagine a boy as cute as Dodge ever wanting to talk to a plain, boring girl like her—even if he did seem to like reading as much as she did. When she did occasionally talk to him, she usually got tongue-tied or couldn’t bear to look him in the eye.
They were older now. Both had left Woodland Hills to attend college then later come back to town. She had a little more confidence than she’d had in high school, and she could hold a mostly coherent conversation with him now, but her stomach still filled with butterflies whenever she was around him. And not the sweet fluttering kind, but the dive-bombing, kamikaze swirling that made her want to throw up, kind.
She swore, Dodge had only gottenmorehandsome—with his shaggy blond hair, scruff of whiskers, and cerulean blue eyes—but she’d stayed the same boring glasses-wearing, head-in-a-book girl. She hadn’t even changed her hairstyle in all those years. It was still the same shoulder-length mess of ordinary brown curls that ended up in a ponytail or a messy-bun more often than not. She’d tried to wear contacts, but they made her eyes dry and burn, and it was easier to stick with her glasses.
“Maisie. You okay?” Dodge asked, concern filling his voice. “I think you stopped breathing for a second there.”
“I’m fine,” she assured him, not wanting to admit that she might have been holding her breath—both at the feel of his body so close to hers and with the effort of trying to suck in her stomach, which had gone soft and squishy from too much pasta and nightly bowls of ice cream.
“Okay, I’ve got the latch, and I’m going to release you.” He had his knee wedged against the bottom edge of the door. “Don’t worry if you fall into me. I’ll catch you.”
Her heart pounded like a hammer against her chest. She’d fallenforhim years ago, but she wasn’t ready for her tall, curvy body to actually fallonhim. Her arm hurt and her head was bleeding, but her prayers were all focused on not knocking the wind out of him when he released the seat belt.
Chapter Two
With a click, the clasp released, and Maisie was finally free of the constricting seat belt. Her body slid sideways, colliding into Dodge. But as he’d promised, he caught her and they did not, as she’d feared, go toppling into the grass with her splatting on top of him.
In fact, he surprised her by pulling her against him in a tight hug.
“I got you,” he said softly into her hair. “You’re okay now.”
It almost felt as if he were reassuring himself as much as her, and his hands seemed to tremble as he clutched her back.
Letting out a long breath, he loosened his hold. Still holding onto her, he took a step back, carefully easing her out of the seat. “Keep your arm pressed against your chest, so you don’t bang it around,” he told her as he pulled her all the way out and tried to help her stand.
Her knees buckled as she tried to get her legs under her, and she grabbed onto him with her good hand. “Sorry,” she mumbled. At least part of her was. Her head was feeling completelyembarrassed, but her body was loving the contact and wasn’t sorry in the least.
“Don’t worry about it,” he told her, sliding his arm around her waist to steady her. “We’re gonna take it nice and slow and get you back up to the road.” He grabbed some spare napkins she had stuffed in the pocket of her door and held them up. “I don’t want to hurt you, but that cut on your head is bleeding pretty good, so I want you to hold this against the wound, okay?”
She nodded then winced as he pressed the napkins to her forehead. He guided her good hand up to hold them in place. “We need to get the books,” she told him. “They probably fell in the crash. I need my glasses. And my purse. My phone’s in it.”
“I’ll come back for them,” he said, keeping his arm securely around her waist. “Let’s get you up to my truck first, then I’ll grab whatever you need and drive you to the hospital.”
“Hospital?” She shook her head then winced at the pain that shot through it. “No, I’ve got to get up the mountain. I’ve got work to do. I promised Eli Danvers that I’d introduce him to Captain Underpants today. And Daisy Lambert has been waiting to hear more from Lemony Snicket.”
She couldn’t see his expression, but she could see the way he tilted his head and his tone sounded even more concerned. “Umm. I’m not sure how to respond to that, except to say that you might have hit your head harder than I thought. I don’t know anything about any Lieutenant Underpants or lemon-whatever, but I can tell you, you’renotgoing up the mountain today. You’re going to the hospital.”
