The dog whined near her rear door, and even with the engine running, Trudy’s happy yip of “Rot-co!” emergedloud and clear.
Gemma paused and tried not to notice how solid and strong the British professor looked in the dismally grayday. “Rot-co?”
“Roscoe,” Jethro said, opening the back door and allowing the dogto jump inside.
“Hey,” Gemma protested, releasing the tire to dash for the door, where the dog had already flattened himself across the back seat, his head on the blankets in Trudy’s lap, her little hands already petting him. “Is he, I mean, is…”
Jethro chuckled, eyeing the dog. “He’s great with kids.”
Gemma looked up at him, her mind spinning. “How has he already met my daughter?”
“We often drop by the day care during my lunch hour. The kids love dogs.” Jethro smoothly rolled the tire to the side and crouched, reaching for the jack. “You need new tires.”
No kidding. “I’ve been busy,” she said, trying to keep the defensiveness out of her tone. Shouldn’t the hottie professor be off finding one of his notorious one-night stands? Serena had been more than free with her gossip about the handsome man.
“I’m sure you’ve been very busy,” he said, his voice too level and even. “Yet you have a child in the back seat, and you need better tires. Her safety should come first.”
Heat exploded through her body, making her cold hands shake. “When I require parenting advice from you, Dr. Hanson, I’ll ask.” What a jerk. Of course he was right. Trudy came first, but Gemma needed money to buy tires. She could probably qualify for a credit card, but that would be just one more way to track her, so she’d avoided taking the risk so far.
Maybe she didn’t have a choice now.
Jethro looked up, snow falling on his too-long eyelashes. They were beautiful, and he didn’t deserve them. “I apologize. Didn’t mean to overstep.” His light brown eyes had flecks of gold throughout, and if they’d held an ounce of warmth in them, they’d be stunning. Right now, they were veiled.
“Well, you did,” Gemma said, pulling a bag as well as the silver thingy that loosened the lug nuts from the car and heading toward the jack. “Please take your dog out of my car and leave. I neither require nor want your assistance.” Even if she looked like a crappy parent right now, she was doing her best, and it was really pissing her off that she felt an urge to cry at his judgment. “Go away, Dr. Hanson. Go steal someone’s officeor something.”
His chuckle was a hint of warmth in a freezing day. “I didn’t steal Serena’s office, and I finally got the stubborn genius to admit it over coffee. It was a misunderstanding, and I offered her the corner office, but she said she liked her view better. But it’s nice to know she’s still giving me a hardtime over it.”
Gemma leaned back.“You miss her.”
He nodded easily. “Yes, I miss her. She’s a good friend, and she can argue game theory and philosophy better than anyone I’ve ever met. We’re good mates.”
So just friends. Gemma had wondered, although Serena was too smart to be anybody’s one-night stand. Not that it mattered. “I see. Well, she’ll be back for the summer session, so how about you go judge somebody else’s parenting skills while I change this tire and take care of my daughter? You can take care of your…dog.” Gemma pushed the jack beneath the car and dismissed him as coldly as she could.
“Fine.” The Brit stood, opened the door, and whistled for his dog.
Roscoe reluctantly shimmied out of the car the way a human would, not jumping up or turning around. He hit the ground and turned, running toward the entrance to the daycare building.
“Have a lovely day, Ms. Falls,” Jethro said, gracefully following his dog.
She waited until he’d entered the day care before scrabbling in the bag for the lever to use in jacking up the car. “‘Have a lovely day,’” she mimicked, rolling her eyes.
Whata complete ass.
Chapter Four
Jethro carried the three large tins of popcorn back into the storm, wondering how he’d been talked into buying three. He didn’t even like popcorn. Irritation clamped onto his neck as he saw the snow pelting the blonde struggling furiously with the lug nuts on her too-worn tire. Damn stubborn woman. He’d been inside the day care for at least fifteen minutes, and instead of asking for assistance, she’d left her toddler in the car while fighting the wheel.
“I can’t believe it,” he muttered beneath his breath, opening his passenger side door and dumping two of the containers. “Nowcan I help?”
She looked up, her eyes a brown matte color that showed no emotion in her pale face. Too pale. She glanced toward the back seat and her shoulders sagged just enough to be noticed. “The lug nutsare on tight.”
That was as good an invitation as he was likely to get. He opened the back door and slid a popcorn tin inside. “You good, Trude?”
Trudy looked up from munching on a cracker and eyed the tin. Her eyes were a happy blue and her chubby cheeks flushed with healthy color. “Yep. What’s that?”
“Popcorn for you.” He let Roscoe jump inside to entertain the kid and thenshut the door.
“No—” Gemma started to protest.
