Feeling This (16 page)

I’m so undecided. I don’t know him but I also don’t trust myself. It’s been a long time and he’s just so tempting. I look back at the car thinking that is my best choice but I turn to look at him again, he has already entered his room. The door is standing open as if calling to me. I take a step in the direction of the room and my feet start to move faster. The room is darkened when I peek around the door frame. My eyes adjust and I’m able to make out Jordan’s long body sprawled out on the couch already. His feet are bare and his shirt is gone. I can see the outlines of his muscular back. Looking away I glance around the room. It’s hard to make anything out in the shadows. I close the door quietly, locking it and stumble across the room to the bed. Jordan hasn’t moved. His breathing seems to have evened out. He’s definitely out. Unbuttoning and lowering my jeans, I hope he doesn’t take this moment to turn his head.

I slip into the bed and roll to my side. His smell from the pillow fills my nose. This man is something I’ve never encountered. Am I attracted to him because Andrew rejected me or is there something else? I’m not sure. I do know that he is enticing and I watched him tonight during the second half of my set. He didn’t take his eyes off of me. There’s some kind of connection between us. I just have to decide if I’m going to run away from it or embrace it.

***

A door closing wakes me up. I slowly open my eyes and realize where I am. The first thought I have is, Momma. I sit up quickly and look around. My eyes meet Jordan’s piercing stare. A lazy smile splayed over his lips and a blush colors my cheeks.

He stutters, “I uh, I went and got breakfast. I wasn’t sure what you like. I found bagels and coffee down the road.”

My stomach grumbles when he mentions the food. I start to lift the blanket to get out of the bed but remember I took my jeans off last night. I lower the blanket looking over to my jeans in a pile on the floor. He gets up and utters, “Sorry, I’ll just give you some privacy.”

He walks out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him. I scurry out of the bed, gathering my jeans and rush to the bathroom. Once in there I look at my reflection. My hair is in complete disarray sticking out everywhere. My cheeks are red with heat and my eyes are tired looking.
Damn, Kimber, you have definitely seen better days!

I splash cold water on my face and wash it, scrubbing away the grit from being at the bar last night. I really long for a shower but this will have to do. Somehow I have to find a way home to take care of Momma and some way to get my car fixed. My body turns tense at the thought of the car and Momma. How in the hell will I be able to afford fixing the car?

I slide my jeans up and fasten the button. I smell like bar, yuck. I open the door and take a deep breath. Somehow I have to get home and I’m not sure asking Jordan to take me is the right thing.

When I step into the room, I pause as he comes into view. He’s leaning back in a chair staring out the window where the curtains part. He looks so relaxed. I didn’t notice before that his hair is wet and tousled, making him look even sexier. He must have taken a shower while I was still asleep. He’s clothed in Jeans and a black t shirt that hugs him just right. He turns his head and meets my gaze. My eyes waver, looking to the floor embarrassed that he caught me gawking. I force my feet forward to the chair across from him.

I ask gesturing to the chair, “May I?”

He smiles nodding, “Please.”

I notice as I situate myself that he’s laid out a bagel and coffee for me with condiments all over the place, butter, cream cheese, jelly, creamer and sugar.

“I wasn’t sure what you like so I brought everything I could think of.”

That damn blush spreads again. What is it about this guy?

“Thank you.” I fix my coffee with just a packet of sugar and break my bagel apart, starting to eat it. He follows suit as soon as I start. I’m a little shocked that he waited for me. I watch as he puts the same in his coffee as me and he spreads cream cheese across his bagel. I bring my legs up and rest my feet on the edge of the chair grasping them in my arms as I slowly eat my bagel. I savor every bite, who knows when I’ll eat again, especially with the new expense of my car.

He asks softly, “You work at The Ugly Duckling?”

I nod while still chewing the bagel.

He continues, “Are the Bruins family?”

I smile around a bite and shake my head no. Once I’ve finished chewing I explain, “No, I work there too. I help Mrs. Bruin out with things around the house, the twins and stuff.”

He looks thoughtful but doesn’t respond. The silence spreads for a few minutes. I enjoy his company without complicated conversation. Once my bagel is gone, I wipe my hands on my jeans and shift in the chair. He’s been looking out the window for a few minutes, as if he’s deep in thought. He glances over at me and quietly says, “Thank you for last night.”

He continues before I can answer, “If I remember correctly your car isn’t currently in working condition so we need to go and take care of that.”

Alarms ring through my brain. He doesn’t need to be involved in the fixing of my car so I tell him, “If you could just give me a ride to the Duck, I’ll be good.”

He frowns and turns to look back out the window. When he meets my eyes again his expression is determined, “Kimber, it’s the least I can do after last night. I was pretty drunk and you don’t even know me, yet you still drove me here and cared enough to make sure I was okay.”

I shrug my shoulders and joke, “Well, I was kind of at your mercy, with the car situation and stuff.”

His mouth tilts in a half smile. It totally catches me off guard at how incredible he looks. I lower my feet to the floor and stand, averting my eyes to look for my shoes. How can I be so attracted to someone I don’t even know? He stands gathering our trash from the table.

Once my shoes are on, he opens the door gesturing me out first. I walk briskly to his car standing at the passenger door waiting for him to unlock the door. Instead of clicking the keypad he comes around the car and unlocks it when he reaches to open the door for me. I’m completely shocked at his manners. No one around here would be patient and courteous like this, whoever said chivalry was lost was sadly mistaken.

Once we are strapped in I decide to satisfy my curiosity and ask, “Where are you from?”

He maneuvers out onto Main Street in the direction of the Duck and answers, “Dallas.”

He’s definitely not a man of many words so I probe further, “Why are you here in Mount Vernon? I know it’s not our fine drinking establishment choices.”

He chuckles while watching the traffic in front of us, “No, I just needed to get away.”

Before I can ask any more questions he’s parked right next to my car and getting out. He comes around, grabbing the handle to open the door for me to climb out.

He nods toward my car, “Kimber ,why don’t you get in and try to start it again.”

The look on his face is serious and contemplative. I get into my sham of a vehicle, after being in his Infiniti, I’m just plain embarrassed. Instead of caressing the dash this time I lean forward and utter through clenched teeth, “You better start damn car.”

When I turn the key, a click echoes through the engine, the same sound as the previous night.
Stupid piece of metal.
He comes to the driver’s side door so I roll the window down as I wince at the squeaking each turn of the knob causes.

“Can you pop the hood so I can see what the battery looks like?”

I pull the lever and sit silently, trying to plan how I’m going to be able to afford this. I just paid all the bills for this week which left us with very little. I reach into my back pocket and pull out the crumpled bills from my tips last night. My count reveals seventy dollars. It should be enough if I do need to buy a new battery but I think Momma is about to run out of one of her meds. The insurance she has only goes so far. I rest my head in my hand and put my elbow on the edge of the window, closing my eyes for a minute.

Maybe I can ask Heidi. I have never asked Heidi for help. Her parents live on the other side of town on a two acre estate. The beauty of living in a small town, everyone regardless of which part you live in, goes to the same high school. We hit it off right away regardless of our different lives. It didn’t matter back then. Now though, I wish sometimes I had her options but then I would probably be floundering in a different way, just as she is.

“Um, Kimber?”

My eyes pop open. I forgot Jordan was there for a minute. He stands before my door, staring intently at me with amazing blue eyes. I lower my gaze to his hand which is holding the most disgusting looking thing I have ever seen. I open the door getting out and ask, “Is that my battery?”

“Yep, I’m guessing it’s pretty old.”

I shrug my shoulders and tell him, “Not sure. Mr. Bruin found the car for me when the last one died about three years ago. He was able to get a good deal for me.”

He smiles and says, “Well three years is good, it’s probably older than that though. Let’s go get a new one.”

He turns and walks toward his car. I roll the window back up and rush over to him. He is holding the passenger door open for me when I get there. I mumble as I get in, “You know you don’t have to do that.”

He closes the door and walks around the car. He turns to look at me once he’s in, “Do what?”

“Open and close the door for me, I’m pretty capable.”

A slow smile spreads and he agrees, “Yes, I know you are. It’s how I was raised; always open the door for a lady.”

I chuckle at his remark, no one has ever called me a lady. When I look back up he is serious and there’s something else in his look, pain or sorrow, I’m not sure.  He puts the car into drive and I take the opportunity to ask about his being raised as he put it.

“So you’re from Dallas and you needed to get away. Why here?”

I watch as a frown forms at his brow. He looks over momentarily asking, “Why not?”

“Well for one it’s a shit hole. Everyone here is trying to leave.”

He laughs and it’s an amazing sound. This is the first time I’ve heard it and I want more suddenly. How can a mere sound from someone affect me like this?

“I have heard the town described as a shit hole three times by three different people in the past two days. Why do you want to leave?”

“I could ask you the same thing about Dallas. Why did you leave there?”

He falls silent and so do I. Obviously we both have reasons that we aren’t willing to share.

I direct him to the auto parts store at the corner of town. When we trek through the store and find a matching battery, he insists on paying for it. He offers a sorry excuse about me having to take him back to the motel. Like that had anything to do with whether my car was going to break.

When we arrive back at the Duck, I try to call Momma but she doesn’t pick up. I knew she wouldn’t. I also know that it will be hell when I get home. With Jenna showing up yesterday, me staying out all night and pouring out her bottle, I will surely catch her wrath.

When he’s finished installing the battery and my car starts right up with no hesitation I thank the lord and of course the stunning Jordan Rhodes.

He hesitates by the window, “Well, I guess I’ll see you at the ranch, right?”

I can’t take my eyes away from his. I don’t want to leave but the nagging guilt of Momma makes me respond, “Yeah, I’m there on Monday after my classes.”

He raises his eyebrows in surprise, “You are taking classes in addition to two jobs.”

It’s not really a question, more of an acknowledgement so I don’t respond. It’s obvious that I am poor. My car speaks volumes as do my choice of jobs. This is probably why he insisted on buying the battery. He felt sorry for me. But I’m nobody’s charity case. I shift the car into reverse and meet his stare one last time. Something pulls me to him like a magnet. I’m not sure what it is but Jordan Rhodes could definitely be dangerous for me. The verdict is still out on whether I want to confront that danger.

Chapter Seventeen

Watching Kimber drive away brought feelings about that I don’t want to face. The whole fact that she took me back to my motel, a complete stranger, and stayed to make sure I was okay, puzzles me. This is completely foreign to me. Of course back home we take care of our own but not strangers.