“That’s really not necessary,” she told him. “I can drive back to get them once the rental company brings me a replacement car.”
“Or I can send Jamal,” Phylicia suggested. “He’s at his office in New Orleans, but should be getting home soon.”
“I already know where the car is,” Matt said. He held his hand out to Tamryn. “Keys?”
“Are you sure?” she asked him.
“Very sure,” he answered. “Let me have your keys.”
His eyes were the only part of his face visible behind the helmet and lower face shield, but she could tell by the way they crinkled at the corners that he was smiling.
She pulled the single key from the pocket of her slim skirt and dropped it in his palm.
“I won’t be gone too long.” His voice did that sexy, deepening thing again, and her body responded in kind.
This was not good. It wasn’t even in the neighborhood of good.
She’d come to Gauthier in hopes of getting to know this man better…in aprofessionalway. There was nothing professional about the fireworks that went off in her belly whenever his voice dropped low.
Matt revved the bike’s engine and, with a brief nod and another of those inconceivably sexy grins, took off down the driveway. Tamryn continued to stare until he was nothing more than a small dot on the horizon.
“If you’d like, I can show you to your room, then you can come down to dinner,” Phylicia said, knocking her out of her daze.
Tamryn turned to her, embarrassed by the fact that she didn’t have a clue what the woman had just said. “I’m sorry, but what was that?”
Phylicia’s lips held a trace of a grin. “He has that effect on people,” she said. “Anyway, as I was saying, dinner is at seven. It’s communal and held in the large dining room, but if you’d like, I can bring your food to your room. Room service isn’t something we offer, but after the afternoon you’ve had, you’re probably not up for dining with a bunch of people you don’t know. You look as if you can use some rest.”
“Is it that bad?” Tamryn asked, running a self-conscious hand through her hair.
Phylicia’s lips twisted with chagrin. “Sorry, I’m still learning how to be a gracious hostess who doesn’t speak her mind all the time.”
“That’s okay.” Tamryn laughed. “I’d rather hear the truth.”
She’d checked in through Belle Maison’s online service before arriving, so Phylicia—who, she learned, was the fiancée of the bed-and-breakfast’s owner—showed her to her room. It was elegantly furnished, with a four-poster canopied bed, a tufted settee with delicate legs, and a cheval mirror in the corner. She’d chosen this room specifically for the balcony that overlooked the gazebo on the east lawn. She rarely got the chance to enjoy working outside, and Tamryn planned to spend most of her summer on the reclining patio chair she spotted out there.
As much as she wanted to explore where she would be residing for the next month and a half, the first thing Tamryn did once Phylicia left was go straight to the bathroom at the end of the hallway. She had been dying to wash off the bits of dirt that had glommed on to her legs during her motorcycle ride into town.
After cleaning up, she returned to her room and fished the number for the car rental company from her purse. Tamryn was standing outside on her balcony, trying to maintain her patience as she waited for the customer service representative to come back on the line, when she noticed a jet-black Mercedes-Benz turning into the driveway. It pulled closer to the house and out of her line of vision.
A few minutes later there was a knock on her door. She opened it to find Matt loaded down with her luggage.
“Where can I put these?” he asked.
Just as she was about to answer, the customer service rep came back on the line. Tamryn pointed to the area in front of the bed and held her finger up, asking him to wait.
“I already told you that the road where the car is located didn’t have any signs. It was just a dirt road,” she told the woman on the other end of the line.
Matt gestured for her to give him the phone. Her brows hitched, silently asking,Are you sure?He nodded and crooked his fingers. She handed him the phone and crossed her arms over her chest, eager to see if he would be able to make any progress.
“Hello,” he said into the phone. His voice was incredibly smooth and vastly different from the clipped tone he’d used when rushing her off the phone the few times she’d been able to get past the office manager at his law firm. “Do you have your own towing service, or do you contract out to the closest local company?” he asked the customer service rep. “I figured as much. If you’re going with Beauregard’s Towing, it’ll probably be Wayne who gets the call. Just tell him it’s the road off Highway 421 that leads to Ponderosa Pond. He’ll know where to find the car.” He nodded again. “I’m sure. Tell him to call this number if he has any problems.” He rattled off a phone number and handed the phone back to Tamryn.
“Uh…yeah,” Tamryn stammered. “Did you get all that?” The woman confirmed the directions and told her another rental car would be delivered by tomorrow morning. “Thank you,” Tamryn said before hanging up.
She turned to Matt. “And thankyou.I’ve spent the past twenty minutes trying to explain where I left the car. I don’t know if you were going for your merit badge, but you’ve definitely earned it today.”
He held three fingers above his brow in the Boy Scout salute. Then he smiled again. It was slow and easy, and just a little bit devastating.
For several moments they just stood there staring at each other. Normally, she would have felt awkward, but for some reason, she didn’t. Maybe because it was hard to feel anything past the excited charge rushing through her bloodstream.
