She jumped into the car, soaked to the skin and shivering despite the warm temperature. She started the vehicle and pulled from the drive, recalling the way Brendan had pulled to a stop moments ago in front of her house.
“It’s pouring down rain. No sense in both of us getting drenched.”
She pulled onto the street. “No sense, indeed. Never mind that we just left a guy walking by the side of the road in this storm.”
She pressed on the accelerator, wanting to reach him more quickly. Turned up the windshield wipers, which squeaked and shuddered against the glass.
She recalled Gray’s strange reaction to the gift she’d left on his truck last week. He’d knocked the bag to the ground like he thought it might strike him dead. What other “gifts” had been left for him that he was so suspicious?
Maybe Gray could be irritating and arrogant. But those weren’t crimes. Knowing others had treated him so poorly hurt her heart.
According to his grandma, he’d been judged unfairly all his life. And of course his own grandmother would defend him. But Gram was a goodjudge of character, and she’d trusted him enough to hire him at the bookshop.
Through the years Shelby had heard plenty about Gray’s mean streak. About his laziness and his devil-may-care attitude. She’d always bought into it, at least to some degree. Heaven knew his dad’s actions had done nothing to recommend the family.
But gossip was often exaggerated or completely fictitious. And nothing she’d observed from Gray so far suggested any of it was true. He was hardly lazy. He’d worked hard at the store in the oppressive heat and even had another job at the hardware store. A troublemaker wouldn’t have ignored Brendan’s friends when they berated him at the Dairy Bar.
And she couldn’t forget the way he’d stared down at the book in his hands like he couldn’t believe someone had left him a gift. For the first time she wondered how it might feel to be him, raised motherless on the wrong side of town by an alcoholic dad who landed himself in prison. Taken in by his grandmother, looked down upon by his peers.
Was Gray the real victim here?
Her headlights caught sight of him just up ahead, walking toward her. She let off on the gas and slowed to a stop beside him.
He kept walking.
She put her window down an inch. “Gray! Hop in!”
“No thanks,” he called over the downpour.
Pressing her lips together she swung the car around in the middle of the deserted road. The poor turning radius required a three-point turn. Water dripped down the back of her dress, which clung to her like a second skin. Her wet sandal squeaked as it slipped on the gas pedal.
Gray’s long legs had eaten up quite a distance. She advanced till she came alongside him and lowered the passenger window. Rain poured in. “Don’t be so stubborn. You’re getting soaked.”
“Go to your party, Sunshine.”
“Do I look like I’m heading to a party?”
He spared her a glance as the car chugged along beside him. The wipers’ rhythmicsqueak-slapsounded over the rain.
“Guess I’ll just follow you home then. Might as well. Got nothing better to do.”
He kept walking.
Rain poured through the window. Lightning flashed. Thunder cracked. “Do you have a death wish?”
His white shirt was nearly transparent, his tanned skin showing through. The material clung to the curves of his biceps and the flat ridges of his stomach. Beads of water dripped down the thick column of his throat.
“You’re ruining the upholstery on my car. It’s Italian leather. Worth a fortune. Cost me a ton of money to replace it.”
At the bald-faced lies he stopped and regarded her with a mock scowl.
She applied the brakes and checked her rearview mirror to make sure a car wasn’t approaching. “Stop being so stubborn and get in already. I can have you in a warm shower in five minutes flat.”
He lifted a brow as a teasing light flickered in his eyes.
Her body temperature increased by ten degrees. “You know that’s not what I meant. Get in the car already, Grayson Briggs.”
After a long pause he opened the passenger door and slid inside. Then he closed it and put up the window, shutting out the storm’s noise.
