by Amelia Judd
Thanks to the step-by-step directions in her owner’s manual, she’d managed to locate the spare tire and figured out how to use the jack. It ticked her off that she’d gotten as far as lifting her tire six inches off the ground but couldn’t budge the damn lug nuts. And the realization that a big, brawny guy could probably do it in a few seconds really ticked her off.
Kat blew the mosquitos from her face, tightened her grip on the smooth tire iron, and braced her feet in the gravel. Redoubling her efforts, she threw every ounce of her one hundred and five pounds into the job. When she failed to budge the damn thing a fraction of an inch, she dropped to her butt and cursed vividly.
Yesterday, her car’s air conditioner had died. The day before that, she’d gotten a ticket for going a perfectly reasonable speed—in her opinion—and now this. Couldn’t the universe give her one frickin’ day without some sort of drama, complication, or issue?
She tensed at the sound of a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction. Sitting between her car and the grassy ditch, she couldn’t see the type of car, but the engine’s low purr suggested the sort of sports car usually favored by men. Her heart knocked in her chest when she heard its tires crunch over the gravel as it pulled onto the shoulder across the road.
“No, no, no,” she mumbled to herself. “Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.”
This was the first car to even slow down. Not that there’d been many cars. Few took the scenic route to Sheboygan, the nearest “big town” to Silver Bay. Most drivers opted for the highway a few miles to the west that ran parallel to the narrow, winding road she’d chosen on her trip home from one of the many responsibilities she’d unwittingly accumulated over the past few weeks.
In all fairness, she’d hidden from view the few times other cars had passed by, so the drivers had probably assumed there was no one stranded to help. Logically, she knew anyone who stopped would likely be a friendly Silver Bay resident. But she still felt trapped and vulnerable.
She used to be strong and fearless. Now she cowered.
God, that pissed her off.
She flipped from her butt to her hands and knees. Ignoring the bite of the gravel digging into her skin, she peered under her car. Her mouth went dry and her pulse beat heavy in her throat as a set of male feet stepped from a low-slung red car.
She needed to find a weapon in case the guy wasn’t a kind local. Scanning the ground, she spotted the tire iron. She snatched up the heavy rod and stood, holding her impromptu weapon along the length of her leg. No sense swinging for the bleachers if her visitor turned out to be friend rather than foe.
One look at him and the certainty of trouble slammed into her.
He stood well over six feet tall—his broad, muscular physique at least doubling her own weight. His surfer-boy blond hair, deep tan, and the stubble on his sculpted jaw made it clear he didn’t spend his time in an office. A smile played around his full mouth as she met his gorgeous blue eyes. He bordered on perfection. And dammit, for some inexplicable reason that pissed her off even more than her weakness had moments ago.
“Heard you were in town.” Kat kept her voice flat and her expression bored. No way would she let Logan McCabe realize how much he got to her.
“Arrived a week ago. Been hoping to see you around.” His eyes lit with good-natured humor. “Nice to see you again, darl. We miss you at La Vida.” His tantalizing Australian accent shot a hot jolt of awareness straight to her good parts.
Seriously? Why could her body never behave around this guy?
Last winter, she’d spent a month at La Vida de Ensueño, an environmentally friendly, socially responsible resort in Costa Rica that her brother, Paxton, owned. At first, Kat hadn’t wanted to leave the natural beauty, friendly people, and sense of purpose she’d found at La Vida. But her attraction to Logan, her brother’s best friend and the resort’s reigning Casanova, had eventually convinced her otherwise.
Too big, too flirty, too tempting, too much trouble. Within moments of meeting him, Kat had summed him up with those four too’s. She’d tried her damnedest to ignore him. Which worked about as well as trying to ignore a tornado hovering at the edge of her peripheral vision. Even when she managed to not look at him, she always knew he was there and could turn her world upside down without even noticing.
“It’s nice to hear I’ve been missed,” she said, “but I can’t imagine Pax and Sage coming up for air long enough to notice I’m gone.”
Logan grinned. “True. Those two are in their own little world. The rest of us miss you though. You lived there for five or six months before leaving, ay?”
“One,” she snarled, shoving back dark strands of hair that had escaped from her ponytail. Un-frickin’-believable. He’d haunted every day of her stay at La Vida, and the jerkface didn’t even have a clue how long she’d spent there.
“Huh.” He shrugged. “Seemed longer.”
She did a mental eye roll, then took in the low-riding black boardshorts and the stretchy blue swim shirt clinging so tightly that his chest resembled a detailed topographic map. His body had more hills, bluffs, and ridges than the Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge.
Too damn hot. Adding another “too” to her list, she resisted fanning herself with her own hand.
“Going surfing?” While his outfit made it obvious he was headed for a swim, the board strapped to the roof explained why he was on the road to Sheboygan.
“Yip. Heard the funny sounding town south of here is the ‘Malibu of the Midwest.’ Had to give it a go.” His gaze dropped to her flat tire. “Need a hand?”
“Nope. Almost done here.”
He shifted his baby blues from the flat tire still attached to her car and studied her with a look of skeptical intrigue. “Lug nuts stuck?”
“No.” Okay, maybe she’d snapped the reply a little too quickly in retrospect. But how the hell had he figured that out?
“Time for you to leave.” She motioned for him to go with a few backward flicks of her fingers. “Buh-bye.”
“Sorry, can’t leave until you do.” He gestured to the tire iron she was white-knuckling in her right hand. “Now are you going take a swing at me with that thing or use it to get your tire off?”
She glared for a long moment. “Not sure. Maybe both.”
“Fair enough. Let me know when you decide.” Logan began whistling a happy little tune and rocked back on his heels, looking around the tree-lined road with an expression of casual interest.
The bastard.
Kat grunted, spun on her heel, and shoved the end of the two-foot rod onto one of the stubborn lug nuts with a little more force than necessary. No way would she let him change the damn tire. She so did not need his help. She gripped the rod, scrunched her eyes closed, and started to compose a little mental prayer to Hercules.
“One time,” Logan said, interrupting her plea to the Greek hero, “I watched my mum change a tire when I was an ankle-biter. She angled the tire iron so that it came off the nut at about eleven o’clock, assuming the lug nut is the center of a clock. Then she turned around and stepped onto the rod with all her weight. It was an ace move.”
Damn. That might actually work.
Without looking back, Kat adjusted the wrench to the correct angle, straightened, took a deep breath, and stepped up and onto the lever with her right foot. In one smooth motion, the lever gently lowered to the ground. Yes! Flying high from success, she quickly loosened the other nuts, removed the flat tire, and slipped on the new one. Minutes later, she’d tightened the spare tire into place and lowered her car back to the ground.
While Logan watched the whole process, he never tried to take over. She had to give him credit. Her petite size usually made guys try to do everything for her. Which, of course, ticked her off.
She put the last tool into the trunk and slammed it shut in triumph. With a quick bubble of laughter, she turned to Logan. “I did it!” Her smile dropped at his look of sharp interest. “What?” she demanded.
/> “First time you’ve ever really smiled at me,” he said, his accent thicker than usual.
Locked in his intense gaze, she remained motionless, unsure if she wanted to remember, ruin, or ignore the moment.
A few heavy breaths later, he grinned and shook his head as if breaking from a trance. “Blinded me for a minute.”
His words sent an unwanted wave of warmth and desire through her. Ugh. She had to put an end to the weird connection that started building between them at La Vida. Time to slip back into her edgy ’tude.
“You’re full of shit, Logan. Now get the hell out of here before I change my mind and start beating you with that tire iron after all.”
He laughed and lifted is hands in a palms-out, no-harm-meant gesture. “I’m sensing some hostility.”
She crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow. “What tipped you off?”
“The repeated threats of violence mostly.” He tilted his head and studied her. “What is it about me that gets you so worked up, darl?”
Fighting back the growl building in her throat, Kat drew in a breath and narrowed her eyes. “Well, I won’t use the phrase ‘manwhore’ because—”
“Think you just did,” he interrupted.
“Because,” she repeated more firmly, “I’m sure there’s never been an exchange of money. But I can’t respect a guy who changes women more often than I change shoes.”
“It’s not like I sleep with a different woman every night.”
“Maybe. But you don’t stick. When’s the last time you dated anyone longer than a month?”
“Long-term isn’t my specialty.” Logan shrugged. “I’m sure you can relate.”
“Relate? How?” Kat demanded. “I don’t bounce from one bed to the next.”
“Sure of that? In the last year you’ve moved from DC to Silver Bay to Costa Rica where you stayed with Sage, then Pax, then Susanna before moving back to Silver Bay again. That’s a lot more beds than I’ve slept in.”
“I slept in those beds alone,” she said between clenched teeth. “You didn’t.”
“And that upsets you?”
“Of course not,” she snapped. “I couldn’t care less who you sleep with.”
“Doesn’t this entire conversation prove otherwise?”
Kat threw her arms in the air. “God, you’re exhausting!”
Logan flashed a boyish smile. “Thanks.”
She growled in frustration and pointed down the road. “We’re done here. Thanks for stopping. Now leave.”
He dipped his head in mock concession. “Alright, alright. I’ll go.” He crossed back to his car and opened the driver’s door. “You’re heading home, right?”
“Yep. Straight home. No problem. Got it covered. Buh-bye.”
He climbed into his car. “I’ll follow you to make sure that spare tire holds.” He slammed the door shut before she could respond.
No frickin’ way. She did not need him hovering over her like some paranoid helicopter parent on the playground.
“No thanks,” she yelled over the sound of his car’s engine purring to life. “Don’t follow me. Just go surfing.” She gestured dramatically in the direction of Sheboygan with both hands like an overenthusiastic ground’s crewman at the airport.
Logan revved the engine. “Can’t hear you,” he mouthed through the window, cupping a hand behind his ear. He added a wolfish smile capable of melting the panties off any mortal woman.
“Fine. Whatever,” she muttered, throwing her hands up in frustration. Logan always did whatever the hell he wanted anyway.
She stormed into her driver’s seat. It totally pissed her off that he was right about how his behavior could get her “so worked up.” Her last week in Costa Rica served as an excellent case in point. When a group of youngish women checked into La Vida itching to celebrate some sort of minor career accomplishment, Logan had taken it upon himself to make sure they had the frickin’ time of their lives. Kat had spent a teeth-grinding week watching him hit on anything with two legs and a pair of breasts. She’d managed to keep her irritation to herself—for the most part at least—until the night she saw him walking toward one of the villas with a drunk woman on each arm and an infuriating grin on his face.
That’s when she’d lost it. The details were thankfully a little fuzzy—blinding rage could apparently do that to a person—but Kat did remember storming to her villa, throwing her stuff into a suitcase, and booking a ticket back to Silver Bay. Sure, she had no claim on Logan, but she’d been instantly attracted to him in Costa Rica. Watching the asshole take two women to bed was more than she could stand.
Kat continued her mental rant about him for most of the drive home. At least her irritation with Logan kept her from thinking about the “talk” her parents wanted to have with her. She had a pretty good idea what the “talk” would be about, and she wasn’t looking forward to another grilling. Not that she had much of a choice. Except for the month at La Vida last winter, she’d been living with them at her childhood home since moving back from Washington DC almost a year ago.
Tonight would be another one of the heart-to-hearts her folks insisted on having every few months. Why did you quit your job? Why did you leave DC? What are you going to do with your life now? Why keep floating from job to job? Why have you been even more distracted since leaving Costa Rica? Blah. Blah. Blah.
No way in hell she’d tell anyone the real reason she’d quit her job and moved home to Silver Bay, least of all her overprotective parents.
Kat turned down the tree-lined drive to their estate and parked her car in one of the extra spaces beside the four-car garage on the left side of the sprawling lakefront house. She tipped her head from side to side and enjoyed the rewarding cracking of her neck. Then she blew out a breath and plastered on a smile.
Time to put on her game face.
She hopped out of her car, hoping to make it inside before Logan arrived. At least he hadn’t been tailing her that closely, but she knew he’d show up sooner or later. Even though he had his share of flaws, Logan genuinely liked to help people. Hopefully, once he saw her car parked by the garage he’d continue around the circular drive and head right back out on the road and away from her.
She hustled to the side door. The thick humid air clung to her and added another layer of yuck to her already filthy skin. She glanced at her phone and groaned. Her little tire-changing adventure had eaten into the time she’d allotted for showering before dinner. Guess hot-and-sweaty would be her look for this family meeting.
The moment she stepped into the mudroom her parents’ three-year-old golden retriever, Cosmo, bounded toward her with one of his many stuffed animals gripped in his mouth.
“Hey, buddy. Did you miss me today?” Kat kneeled to pet his head and received multiple licks to the face.
Cosmo’s whole body wagged with excitement. Every time she walked through the door, his jubilant, better-than-Christmas-morning reaction made her feel like a superstar. Sure would be nice if everyone greeted her with that kind of enthusiasm.
Kat dropped a quick kiss on his smooth head. “Sorry, boy. I have to clean up. I promise to give you some extra belly rubs later.”
She moved into the half bath attached to the mudroom, washed the grease from her hands, splashed cold water on her face, and redid her ponytail. “Good as it’s going to get,” she said into the mirror.
A moment before she rounded the corner into the kitchen, she heard her parents enter the room from the other side.
“She’s going to be furious,” her mom said.
“I’m aware of that, but she can’t live here any longer,” her dad replied, conviction filling his voice. “She walked away from a promising career in international affairs for no apparent reason. She’s twenty-eight years old, doesn’t have a job, and lives with her parents.”
Her mom sighed. “Maybe she needs a little more time.”
“It has been almost a year since she left DC and almost five months since she got back from
Costa Rica. I am happy to help our children when they are trying to make something of themselves, but Katherine isn’t even trying. We cannot enable this behavior any longer. It’s time for her to move forward with her life.” Her dad’s voice shook with frustration. “I don’t understand when she got so damn lazy!”
Kat’s gut clenched, and her heart pounded. Shame washed through her, flooding her eyes with tears. God, she wanted her old life back. She wanted to feel strong again even if it had only been a false sense of strength. Ignorance truly was bliss. One mistake had taught her the truth. She was weak. And even if she hid her cowardice from everyone else, that truth would always haunt her.
Pushing back the hurt, she tipped her chin up, and stepped into the kitchen doorway before she had to hear any more about the loser she’d become. “No worries,” she said in a neutral voice. “I’m happy to find somewhere else to live.”
Her parents flinched and turned to look at her.
“Kat, honey. We didn’t know you were there.” Her mom took a step forward, her face tight with concern.
Kat extended her hand to stop her. “It’s fine. Dad’s right. I am too old to live at home. Probably best if I look for somewhere else to stay tonight.”
She turned and stumbled out of the house, desperate to leave before they saw the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. She’d meant what she’d said—she was too old to live with her parents.
Problem was, she was too damn afraid to live alone.
I hope you enjoyed this excerpt from Crashing Together! If you’d like an email when it’s released, please sign up here.
About the Author
Award-winning author Amelia Judd writes fun and flirty contemporary romance. She loves to entertain her readers with memorable characters and fast-paced plots that blend humor, heart, and heat.
After receiving a degree in international affairs, Amelia lived and studied in Belgium for over three years. During her time in Europe, she traveled extensively, earned a master’s degree, and fell in love with writing contemporary romance.