I poked at the wiring, checked the connections, and tried a few tricks that had worked in the past. Nothing. The damn thing was definitely dead.
Had I been an ass?
Thinking through our initial conversation, an uncomfortable knot landed in my chest.
Fuck. Ihadbeen.
I’d seen the logo on her blazer, and any warmth inside me had curdled into something bitter.
HomeGuard Insurance. I knew that name.
They were the fuckers who’d denied Mrs. Andretti’s claim last spring after the ice storm tore her roof open, citing some bullshit about pre-existing damage being repaired incorrectly.
Andtheyhadn’t had to watch Mrs. Andretti cry at her kitchen table. That had landed on me. I’d ended up fixing it myself with salvaged materials because she couldn’t afford to fight them.
That’s what insurance companies did. They took your money for years, and then when you actually needed them, they found reasons to say no.
But for a claims adjuster, Rachel had kind eyes.
And soft hands. I’d noticed that when she’d clutched her overnight bag on my front porch. She had the kind of hands I imagined got slathered with fancy lotion every night.
Her manicured nails had been the same light pink as her lipstick. She had the hands of someone who worked at a desk, not with tools.
I’d never seen a claims adjuster as sexy as her before. They were usually old, grizzled ex-carpenters.
Stop thinking about the damn woman,I told myself angrily.
She wasn’t here to get laid. She was here to sleep the night through before going on to terrorize innocent victims’ lives.
But that snap judgment didn’t match the woman I’d met.
When she’d laughed at my couch, really laughed, her whole face had changed.
The professional mask had slipped, and for just a moment I’d seen something warm underneath. And someone who might be worth knowing.
Her eyes had turned all nostalgic talking about that old couch, and it had set something gentle stirring in my chest.
Could good people work for an evil corporation?
Maybe.
But it’s not like it mattered. She’d be out of here in the morning.
I spent another hour wrestling with the furnace, but it was no use. The motor was gone, and I wasn’t going to resurrect it with willpower and duct tape. I’d have to drive to Fernwoodtomorrow for parts, which meant tonight the house was going to get cold.
Really cold.
I sat back on my heels and wiped my hands on my jeans, thinking about the woman in my spare bedroom. The room at the back of the house was always the coldest, even when the furnace was working.
Without heat, it would be damn near freezing by morning.
There was nowhere else for Rachel to go. Shelly had said so herself. Every room on the mountain was booked.
Which meant I was going to have to offer her my bed.
The thought sent a jolt through me that I tried to ignore. I pictured her curled up in my sheets, all her soft curves inches away from me, her dark hair loose and spread across my pillow, and my body responded in a way it hadn’t responded to anyone in alongtime.
I shut that down fast.
