“Not stranded or cursing at your phone?”
Oops. He’d heard that, hadn’t he?
“Tell me you know how to fix cars.”
He tilted his head slightly, giving me the perfect view of his chiseled jaw. “No. But I can get you somewhere warm.”
“You don’t happen to be going to Darlington, are you?”
“Also, no. I just came from there with supplies to last the big storm.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “If I drive back and drop you off, I’m not sure I'll get home in time before the blizzard hits.”
“Blizzard?” I asked incredulously.
“Yeah. Why are you out here anyway? It’s going to get bad.”
I held my phone up and brought up the screenshot I’d taken this morning that had clearly listed mild flurries as the forecast. “Thisis why the fuck I’m out here. Mild fucking flurries my ass.”
He chuckled, the sound warm and friendly.
“Come on. You can stay with me. I have enough food in my truck to feed us until this road becomes serviceable again.”
I hesitated. “I don’t even know your name.”
He stuck out a hand toward my window. “Axel.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s a ridiculously fake-sounding name.”
He burst out into laughter. “Yeah, I know. But I promise that’s my name.” He dug into his back pocket and produced his wallet. And sure enough, his driver’s license confirmed that his first name was indeed Axel.
“Are you sure you’re not Axel the Axe Murderer?”
“I have a lot of axes, but I’ve never murdered anything. Again, I promise. But I don’t have a not-an-axe-murderer ID to prove it this time.”
That had me grinning, but a sudden gust of wind smashing against the side of my car had me frowning again. He wasn’t joking when he said things were going to get bad. A blizzard really was coming.
I rolled down the window and shook his hand. “I’m Ella.”
His hands were so warm I didn’t want to let go. My vehicle was starting to feel like the inside of a freezer, and I was beginning to believe that risking possible axe murdering might be a better option than definitely freezing to death.
“Ella.” The sound of my name on his lips started a tickling in my belly. “Well, Ella. I’ve got a nice warm fireplace, and I just stocked up on hot chocolate, marshmallows, and all the lasagna you’d ever want. We’ll call the garage, and when the roads are cleared, they can send someone out. So, what do you say?”
As if to punctuate his words, another errant gust pelted the side of my car.
Sigh. “Just so we’re clear. If you murder me, I’m haunting you.”
He chuckled. “Understood. I’ll help you bring your stuff over to my truck.”
I grabbed my bag and stepped into the snow.
“Damn! You’re huge.” I craned my neck to look up at him. He had to be at least six and a half feet tall, maybe closer to seven.
“And you’re tiny.”
Tiny? I rolled my eyes. “Hardly.”
“You’re tiny compared to me.”
And to that, I had no counter.
