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Jodi hammered the ignition. The engine made a single, feeble chug in place of a glorious purr, then silence. Goddammit! What was going on? It didn’t matter how hard she tried, there was no more juice in the system, and with the wipers out of action, it was blatantly obvious just how heavy the downpour was. Within seconds, the outside world was a hazy blur, and she was facing her own reflection staring back at her. Not the best time to have to abandon ship… well, bus.
“Stop fucking pissing about!”
The yell caused every hair on Jodi’s body to rise. The bus had been empty.
At least, she’d supposed it to be. She hadn’t exactly checked, but normally people called out if you got into their vehicle and they didn’t know you. Yet, there was a very definite shadow moving down the aisle towards her. If this were the owner – well, who else would it be? – they were going to be mighty, mighty pissed with her. Maybe the cry was simply her subconscious protesting her stupidity at having flooded the engine?
The white reflection filled up more of the windscreen. It was getting closer.
As there were no lights on anymore, it was hard to determine exactly what she was seeing, especially without turning her head to face it.Time to move, Jodi… Time to move. She swung open the driver’s side door, but that left her with a long black drop. The passenger entrance at least had steps down. Not that she especially wanted to pitch herself into the dark water, but it would beat spending the night in a police cell.
In her haste, she forgot to unclasp the seatbelt, flapped madly trying to find the release, only to succeed and lurch out of the seat right as the shape drew level with the driver’s cab.
“Cave Troll, quit messing about,” it bellowed.
Jump for the door. That’s all she had to do. Jump, and press, and dive. Then everything would be fine, except the signals from her brain must have got rerouted. Her feet stayed planted on the ground, the only thing her knees threatened to do was buckle, and her arm, instead of reaching for the door release, came up to her face and covered her mouth, which had dropped right open.
She was facing a giant; an angry, wet giant, with soap-bubbles in his hair. A fearsome dragon leered at her from the centre of his thickly muscled chest. Aw, hell. This was not how things were supposed to go. A nice countryside jaunt was what she’d planned. Cruise along a few lanes, catch some stars up on a hilltop, and abandon ship once she was back in town, ready to face the world again.
“What happened? Who are you?”
“I’m… Uh…” Her gaze fastened upon the tiny purple towel with which he was maintaining his modesty. It barely covered a damn thing. Not the impressive V-shaped lines that indented the sides of his abdomen, not the fact that the tail of his gorgeous dragon tattoo extended down and around the inside of his right thigh, or that there were a collection of thorns and roses inked across his left quad. The all too visceral impact of him hit her deep in her lady parts. Instant heat that no doubt turned her skin lobster red. It was the eternal curse of being so fair skinned. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice, focused, as he was, on the stalled vehicle.
Just as well, because while in other circumstances, she’d have liked to explore both designs with her tongue, any second now he was going to realise she had no business being here and that she hadn’t just stalled the bus, she’d killed it. “I’m… I’m not sure?”
“You’re not sure what happened, or who you are?”
“I know who I am,” she claimed with a gulp. “And actually, I think the engine might have flooded.”
“Move.” He didn’t wait for her to actually do that but pushed past her and tucked himself into the driver’s seat. “You have to be gentle with her. She likes to purr before she roars.” The bus didn’t oblige him with either, not even a whimper.
The guy patted the dashboard. “Ah, honey, that’s not good. We been working you too hard?”
Jodi took a step towards the exit. This would seem to be her chance, while he was distracted, and it hadn’t occurred to him she wasn’t supposed to be here, or that his bus had been hijacked.
“Where’s Cave Troll?” he barked at her, stilling her creep down the steps.
“Um, not sure. Don’t think I know him?”
His eyes narrowed. “That’s probably a good thing.”
“Oh, why is that?” She took another tentative backwards step.
“You’ve killed his lady.”
“Me?”
“You were driving her, right? I’m not seeing anyone else around.” He turned his head as if another person might suddenly materialise from the gloom. “And Bertha’s not purring for me.” He tried the ignition again, but nada…
Jodi licked her lips. She could do this. It was just a matter of hitting the door release and taking another couple of steps. She wasn’t exactly nippy, but the guy wasn’t dressed for sprinting either. By the time he’d launched himself out of the seat and figured out what he was doing with his towel, she’d be far enough away that the fact he could probably hold her aloft with one hand wouldn’t matter anymore.
She didn’t meet many men who looked like they could even lift her off her feet, let alone who could accomplish it with ease.
She reached out to hit the door release.
“Wait!” he barked again, with such force she actually stilled. “How can you be on this bus and not know who Cave Troll is? Where are the guys? Where are we exactly? Are they still grabbing something to eat?”
“Yes, I’ll go and fetch them.” She hit the button, turned. It had to be now. She had to leave now. The door inched open far too slowly. She supposed she ought to be grateful it was opening at all, considering all the lights on the dashboard were dead. “Wait here. I won’t be long.”
