"Listen to me. It's not what you think. I have some explaining to do if you're willing to listen."
He seemed sincere. I wanted to believe he was, more than I ever would have expected to. My feelings for him were already running deep. I hoped like hell they wouldn't bite me in the ass.
"I'm listening," I said carefully.
"There's some people you should meet," he said. "Back in the city. Do you feel well enough to travel?"
I looked down at my filthy clothes. "I feel fine, I'm just a mess."
"You're the definition of hot mess, though," he said with a smile. "You look adorable with drywall dust on your nose."
He wiped it off with the pad of his thumb before kissing the tip of my nose.
"We'll go back to your place so you can clean up. Then I'll get you and Woody the answers you need. After that, he can apologize to you."
I eyed Woody. "He doesn't look very sorry."
"He will be," Forrest said. "He better start thinking up some ways to make it up to you."
Woody grunted. He also didn't believe he was going to have to make anything up to me. If it wasn't for that rotten post, I'd be dead right now.
As if he read my mind, Forrest said, "We wouldn't have let you die. Would we, Woody?"
Woody smirked and pushed himself to his feet. "Text me the address," he said before stalking off to his car and climbing inside.
"That's it?" I asked. "He’s going to walk away from what he did?"
"Believe me," Forrest said, "he's going to be very, very sorry for it."
Excuse me if I was skeptical, but he didn't seem too sorry about another attempt to kill me.
"Woody would have pulled you out of there before the house went up," Leif said.
I wished I could be as sure of that as he was. Woody seemed quite comfortable watching me burn.
The strange thing was, he seemed to be as into that kiss as I was. I shouldn't even be thinking about it. My body certainly shouldn't be reacting the way it was. I shouldn't wonder how it would feel to kiss him again, to go further than that.
Ugh, I was as out of my mind as Woody. No one ever said physical attraction made sense. That was all it was though. No way in the world I'd ever fall for someone like him. The way my pulse raced when I was around him? That was an involuntary reaction, my body being crazy.
I had to get that under control before I made some very bad choices.
Forrest and Leif each took one of my hands and helped me to my feet and over to the car.
"You have bruises on your wrist," Leif said, rubbing at them gently.
"That happens when you have to pull down a house when you're handcuffed," I said.
"That is a blatant misuse of handcuffs," Leif said, clicking his tongue. "Handcuffs are supposed to be used with bedposts, not supporting columns."
He winked at me, then opened the car door and gestured for me to climb inside.
If I had had any sense, I'd turn and walk, find my own way back to the city.
Instead, I slid into the car between Leif and Forrest. There was no going back now until we got to my place, not nestled between them as I was.
Should I feel this safe with these men? I didn’t know, but in spite of my better judgment, I was.
I had a feeling, one way or another, these men were going to be the death of me.
