Ryker opened his mouth to say something, but my phone ringing cut him off. I glanced at the screen: Unknown Number in Tampa.
Luke and Wysdom were in Avis County, nowhere near Tampa. Which meant it was probably someone calling about my car warranty. I tapped “ignore.”
I turned back to Ryker. My phone rang once again. Then stopped. Then rang once. Then stopped.
Shit. That’s not good.
The phone vibrated before the fourth ring. I accepted the call.
“Who is this?” I growled into the phone.
The sexiest woman on the planet responded, “Flint?”
My heart nearly stopped. “Celia?”
“Um, yeah. I, uh,” she cleared her throat. “Need some help.”
I had already left the conference room on the way to grab my keys. “Anything.”
???
Twenty-five minutes later, I screeched to a halt outside a gas station near Tampa. Celia perched on the edge of a bench, talking to herself. Grime covered her off-white skirt and red blouse. Her hands shook as they smoothed her windblown cinnamon-colored locks away from her face. She tried unsuccessfully to wipe the dirt off her skirt.
She was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
I stared at her like a lovestruck teenager for a beat longer than I intended. Her brown eyes raised to mine. She stood up and smiled. My heart stopped again for the second time that day.
Before I could open the SUV door to bea fucking gentleman, she was in the passenger seat. Her sweet and spicy fragrance filled the cab of the vehicle, short-circuiting my brain and all language functions.
She waved her hand in front of my face. “Earth to Mendota!”
I shook my head to clear the cobwebs. “Ceel, sorry. I’ve just… I never..”
“Never seen me dirty?”
My nostrils flared.Shit. Why did she have to go and say the worddirty? I thought I was having a hard enough time talking. Now, my cock decided he wanted some input in the whole situation.
“I… I…” I stammered.
Celia leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Thank you for coming. But, I told you just to call me a cab, and I’d pay you back.”
“No way I was going to do that. While we’re on the subject, why is it that you’re stuck at a gas station in the middle of nowhere?”
She massaged her temples. “My boys took off without me.”
My blood pressure spiked. Those fucking morons. Her twins leeched off her every chance they got. Always in one mess or another. And because Celia raised those boys on her own, never wanting them to know about their deadbeat father, she always rode in and saved the day.
“They left you at a gas station?” I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles were white.
She licked her lips. “Not the gas station. A nearby cooking school.”
I frowned. “Then, how did you get to the gas station?”
She shrugged. “I walked.”
"Why didn’t you stay at the cooking school and call for a ride?”
Celia glared at me. “What’s with the third-degree, Mendota?”
