“I see headlights,” Lark states, unclipping her seatbelt.
Sure enough, a mile away, two shiny lights flicker, drawing the beast’s attention away from us. The moose begins a slow amble across the road and back into the forest beyond.
“Stay here.” I crack open my door, and my achy body makes all kinds of noise as I push out of my busted up bug. A foot of snow swallows my feet as I trudge through the ditch.
“Mom, the door!” It’s all the warning I get before Cooper, our skunk, launches himself out of the car and darts toward the moose, hissing and chirping at him.
“No!” I shout as this moment turns into a train wreck.
The car in the distance flashes its headlights. It’s going to hit Cooper, who’s trying to protect his humans from the big scary moose.
I dive for Cooper as the headlights swerve and tires squeal. There is ice everywhere, and the truck slides to the right just as my body covers Cooper, who chatters happily in my hair.
I swear I lose consciousness as the truck almost hits me and stops a few feet away, spraying me in a fine layer of snow.
I thought the experts said I’d see my life flash before my eyes, not a layer of white. At least the moose left, taking the threat of a seven-hundred-pound beast squishing us with her—not that getting run over is much different.
A car door slams, and our savior jumps down onto the snowy road.
“Lady, did you want to die today?” comes a rumbling voice of unrestrained anger.
All I can do is laugh.
CHAPTER 2
“Is that a skunk?”the voice questions as I roll onto my back, the snow cushioning my head. If it weren’t so cold, it would make the perfect pillow.
“Shh,” I hiss at the man, blocking out the sunlight. “Cooper likes to think he’s a cat. We don’t tell him he isn’t.”
“Did you hit your head?” He makes no move to help me up.
“How chivalrous of you.” I sit up, my body aching in ways that I didn’t think possible. I scoop up a purring Cooper and hold him to my chest.
“Lady, I’m no knight in shining armor.” He crouches down beside me, his grumpy voice coating me as snark calls to snark.
What I see is a set of baby blue eyes so bright, it’s a shame they belong to Mr. Grumpy. His red flannel does nothing to hide the muscles beneath the fabric, and he has a well-groomed beard that curves low into a fine point. Distracting and gorgeous, he looks at me with judgment while adjusting his thick brown beanie. With the way the droplets of snow fall on his thick eyelashes, I’m convinced he is the epitome of a redneck Prince Charming.
“Mom!” Lark doesn’t just pull me out of my ogle, she yanks me out and throws me back into reality, where I crash and burn just like my car.
That’s when I notice the tow truck rumbling behind him.
“It’s fate.” I give him a doe-eyed look and a smile.
Ignoring me, he looks at Lark, who stands beside my broken down sedan. “This one belong to you?”
“Depends. What did she say?”
The beast of a man chuckles, and I swear it’s that kind of rumble that lights a fire inside me. “Talking about fate.”
“She’s cold. She doesn’t function well in the cold without coffee and sugar,” Lark yells.
Mountain man glances down at me, the smile on his face fading as he takes me in. “Come on, lady.” Without waiting for me to give him a hand, he lifts me up and settles me on my feet.
Out of my fantasy coma, I dust the snow off of me one handed and wince at how wet my butt is. Lark walks over to grab Cooper from my arms and eyes both of us with scrutiny. “You’ll discuss the details, I’m sure.” With a raised red brow, she marches through the snow and climbs into the stranger’s truck, slamming the door shut.
“So much for teaching her stranger danger,” I mutter, falling back into myself with a shiver.
“What were you doing in the middle of the road? I almost killed you!” the red flannel beast—because I don’t know his actual name—yells.
