Sapphire Falls: Going My Way? (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read online

  In her mind, she knew it made sense, but she was hating this turn of events. Why couldn’t something just go right for her? Was she destined to have bad luck forever?

  Dylan looked over at her when she didn’t respond. “I’m only doing it to protect your car.” His tone was slightly defensive.

  “I know, I know,” she said quickly. “And I appreciate it. Really, if we find a diner or something, you can take the car off the hitch and I’ll hang out here until your truck can come and get it. Or I’ll ask around and see if there’s a mechanic here. Believe me, I am so thankful that you stopped and helped, but I don’t expect you to give up any more of your time.”

  He didn’t respond, but he pulled off at the next exit and right there at the end was, indeed, a diner. Dylan parked along the far side of the building – no easy task with the Mustang trailing behind him – and cut the engine. When he turned and looked at Chloe, he looked more than a little pissed.

  “I realize you don’t know me,” he began mildly, his voice in complete contrast with the look on his face, “but I am not the type of person who would leave a woman at a rest stop with a broken down car and no way of knowing if she was going to be okay.”

  “Dylan…”

  He held up a hand to stop her. “Look, I’m sure we could go inside and ask around if there’s a mechanic here in town. Chances are there is. But I don’t know anything about them and neither do you.”

  “I don’t know anything about you as a mechanic either,” she argued softly.

  That stopped him for a minute. “Okay. Fine. You’re right. But…” He stopped and cursed again. “I know I can fix your car. I know I can not only fix it, but I can have it running better than it ever has.”

  She cocked a brow at his arrogance. “You have no idea how my car runs. For all you know…”

  “The engine is a mess and hasn’t had real maintenance for a while,” he interrupted.

  “Hey!”

  “Oil changes don’t count. I have been working on cars almost my entire life. People come from miles around to have me work on their cars, trucks, and motorcycles.” He pulled his phone off the dash and handed it to her. “Google it. Go on Yelp. You’ll see for yourself that I am one of the best in the business at what I do.”

  Chloe looked at the phone in his hand and then back to his face. She wanted to be angry, at the very least annoyed. And yet one look at his strong jaw and those sexy eyes and she’d almost be willing to just give him the damn car.

  “That car is a classic,” he went on. “I bet back in the day, it was a damn dream to drive. Most guys get a hard-on just thinking about driving a car like that. It’s a shame it’s in such a state of disrepair.”

  He let that one hang and Chloe had to admit, she kind of felt guilty about not babying the car more. When her father had given it to her, she had promised to love it like he had.

  But she hadn’t.

  She couldn’t.

  Why? Because she had rotten luck. Crappy job. Crappy boyfriend. She stopped herself right there. This was supposed to be the start of her new life, a promising life, and dammit, she wasn’t going to cry or…

  “Oh…oh, shit, Chloe,” Dylan said. “I’m sorry. Don’t cry.” His voice was laced with panic as he began looking around for…something. “I know I have napkins or tissues in here somewhere. Just…don’t cry!”

  She couldn’t believe she’d actually started getting emotional in front of a stranger! The thought of crying in front of anyone – even her closest friends – was beyond her own comprehension. She was just about to comment on it when a box of tissues appeared right in front of her face.

  “Here.”

  Taking it, she plucked out a tissue and glared at Dylan. “Thanks.”

  “I know I was being a little condescending, but…I really want to do this. I know it’s crazy, but I know I can do a better job than anyone else.”

  Slapping the box of tissues down, she stared at him. Hard. “Why is this so important to you? It’s beyond inconvenient! By now, you could be home in Silver Falls or wherever the hell it is you’re from!”

  “Sapphire,” he corrected. “It’s Sapphire Falls.”

  “Okay. Fine. Whatever. But you see my point, right? You could be home now. Out of the rain.”

  “I’m out of the rain now too,” he countered.

  Chloe rolled her eyes. “Yes. You’re sitting in your truck in some random diner’s parking lot out of the rain. Yay for you,” she added sarcastically.

  It was his turn to give her a dry look. “All I’m saying is that I don’t mind doing this for you. I don’t mind the waiting. I just really want a chance to work on the Mustang.”

  “Why?” she cried, although she had a sneaky suspicion she knew. It was the car. It was a guy magnet. Her ex had begged her constantly to let him drive it or to sell it to him, but she never would, which was probably one of the reasons he started screwing around on her. But the Mustang was more than just a car to her. It was a part of her family. It had been her dad’s first car and he restored it – not professionally – but he did it all himself and Chloe could still remember sitting in the yard on a Saturday and watching him work.

  It was the car she learned to drive on.

  It was the car she drove to college in.

  It was her last link to her dad.

  There was no way she could entrust it to just anyone. She slid a look at Dylan and saw the longing on his face and she wanted to tell him no – she really did – but there was something about him that she wanted to trust, to believe.

  And she seriously hoped she wasn’t making another huge mistake.

  ****

  Three hours, two cheeseburgers, four colas, two coffees and two slices of pie later, Dylan looked up to see one of his tow trucks pulling into the parking lot. Part of him wanted to sag with relief while the other part was damn near giddy that he had finally convinced Chloe to give him a chance.

  During their long break at the diner, he had managed to find out quite a few things about her. For starters, she didn’t trust easily and she certainly didn’t trust people with the Mustang.

  If he were in her shoes he’d feel the exact same way.

  She was driving west – most likely to Oregon – but had no real end destination in mind. She was just looking to start over. Behind her was a cheating ex-boyfriend, a crappy, dead-end job and not much else.

  He had a feeling everything she owned was in that Mustang and it just made him sad for her.

  For the life of him, Dylan couldn’t imagine packing up and leaving everything he knew behind. Sapphire Falls was his life – he was born and raised there and he planned on staying there. He could relate to the cheating ex thing. Yeah, it was a blow to the ego but in the end, she was better off. Which is exactly what he’d told her and she had quickly changed the subject. Which brought them back to the topic of the car. And fixing it. Sapphire Falls was a great town, but there wasn’t a whole lot there for Chloe to do while he worked on the Mustang. She was going to need a place to stay and – depending on what he found when he got the car up on the lift – she might need to stay for more than a day or two.

  “Surely there’s a hotel in town,” she said, interrupting his thoughts.

  “There’s a B&B. But we’re gearing up for the annual town festival and high school reunion so it fills up pretty fast.”

  Slouching in her seat, she looked over at him with a hint of despair. “So what am I supposed to do? Sleep in my car?”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll get your car hitched up and we’ll call the Rise & Shine and check availability.”

  “The Rise & Shine?”

  He chuckled and shrugged. “Hey, I didn’t name the place, so don’t blame me.” He looked up and saw Will coming through the door and waved him over.

  “Hey, boss! Sweet Mustang out there!”

  Dylan smiled and made the quick introductions. “Let me go and pay the check and we’ll get going.”

  Chloe was hot on his h
eels all the way to the register. “I got mine,” she said.

  “Uh-uh,” he replied. “I ate more than my share of the food so it’s on me.”

  “Oh, please. I ate just as much as you did and there’s no reason for you to pay for my meal. I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.”

  And Dylan had no doubt she could, but he just felt an overwhelming sense of wanting to take care of her, probably because he could tell it had been a long time since anyone else had. His mom had raised him to help those who were maybe a little less fortunate. But as much as he wanted to claim it was because of a proper upbringing, he had a feeling it had a little something to do with the fact that there was something about Chloe Holland he liked.

  Really liked.

  He looked over at her – and she was glaring at him again – and noticed how her long hair was finally starting to dry. It was wavy and the color of rich honey. But it was those green eyes that kept drawing him in.

  “Have a good night!” the cashier said with a big smile and it snapped Dylan out of his reverie.

  “You ready?” he asked Chloe and once she nodded, they walked outside and found Will waiting for them. It didn’t take long between the two of them to get the car onto the flatbed and secured. While they had worked on moving the car, Dylan had given Chloe his phone to secure herself a room for a couple of days.

  “I’ll meet you back at the shop,” Will called out as he got in the truck. Dylan watched him drive off before climbing into his own. Chloe was sitting in the passenger seat. “That was easy, right?”

  She nodded. “So it’s probably too late to look at it tonight, right?”

  It was his turn to nod. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be my top priority and I’ll start on it first thing in the morning.”

  “Thanks.”

  He motioned toward the phone. “Did you have any luck getting a room?”

  “Yup. Two nights. I’m hoping that’s all I’ll need.” Turning her head, she looked out the window. “It looks like the rain has finally moved on. The rest of the drive should be uneventful.”

  He agreed with her and slowly pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway. Within minutes they were back on the I-80 and heading toward home. When it became obvious that Chloe wasn’t in the mood to talk, Dylan turned on the radio and figured he’d just let her be. It all had to be overwhelming for her. And besides, they’d just talked for three hours straight. That was a personal record for him.

  An hour later, they pulled into the lot of Sapphire Falls Auto Care and just the sight of it filled Dylan with pride. This was his. He’d created this and he never seemed to get over the rush it gave him every time he pulled up to it.

  Will was already lowering the Mustang into a parking spot along the side of the building. Dylan parked and got out to help him. “Why not put it inside?” he asked as he walked over.

  “Margie Ferguson couldn’t get in to pick up her car today and she was having a fit about it being left in the parking lot overnight. I promised her we’d keep it inside until tomorrow morning.” He shrugged and gave Dylan an apologetic grin. “I told her we’d have to move it first thing and she was fine with that, but she was pretty adamant about it not being out all night. She babies that car.”

  Dylan wanted to argue that the Mustang needed to be babied but figured it was a pointless argument. Chloe walked over and looked more than a little exhausted.

  “I just need to grab a bag from the trunk,” she said quietly. “Um…how far is the B&B from here?”

  “Just two blocks over,” Will said. “I’d be more than happy to give you a lift.”

  Chloe smiled at him even as she shook her head. “Thanks but…I think I’ll just walk over. After spending so much time sitting today, it’ll feel good to stretch my legs a bit.”

  “Chloe…” Dylan began.

  “It’s okay. Really,” she said, effectively cutting him off. “Just point me in the right direction and I’ll be on my way.”

  “Go right up the block here,” Will began, pointing to his left and make your first left. It’s one block up. You can’t miss it.”

  Pulling a duffel bag from the trunk, Chloe carefully closed it, made sure the doors were locked, and thanked them. She looked at Dylan. “I guess I’ll check in with you tomorrow and see what you’ve found.”

  He nodded but didn’t say anything. His mouth was set in a grim line as he watched her walk away.

  ****

  An hour later, Chloe was crouching behind a bush cursing. “For the love of it, why won’t he just leave?”

  There had been no rooms available at the Rise & Shine and no rooms available anywhere within a twenty-mile radius, not that she was going to share that information with Dylan. Her plan had been to simply sleep in her car – how was that for irony? – and be up and out of it before he came in to work in the morning.

  Only he wouldn’t leave.

  She’d made a big scene out of walking away and making her way down the block and had even made it as far as the B&B just so she could say she had, but then had doubled back and hoped to slip into her car and sleep. She was exhausted – mentally and physically – and just wanted this day to end.

  Thinking she was going to have to camp in the bushes, a flash of headlights shone off in the distance and she realized it was Dylan finally leaving the shop.

  “Thank God,” she murmured, ready to weep with relief. Once the taillights were out of sight, she made her way toward her car. His lights were the only ones she’d seen since they arrived in town. Seriously, did people really live here? All she could see were some small businesses and farmland.

  “Hey, baby,” she cooed as she unlocked the door and tossed her bag onto the front seat. It wasn’t graceful, but she shimmied into the backseat and pulled the door closed and locked it. It certainly wasn’t ideal and it wasn’t all that comfortable, but there wasn’t any other choice. Lord knew it wasn’t the first time she’d slept in her car, but hopefully – after it was fixed – she wouldn’t have to do it again.

  Pulling the duffel bag into the back seat, she fashioned it into a pillow and curled up on her side and tried to relax. Her entire body ached with exhaustion. Falling asleep shouldn’t be a problem at all. Closing her eyes, Chloe said a silent prayer of thanks she wasn’t still sitting on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. And she even added a prayer of thanks for the man who came to her rescue.

  A small smile played at her lips. Dylan really did seem like a good man. Besides being incredibly handsome, he was just genuinely nice. And…she opened her eyes as a light came on. “What the…?”

  Sitting up, she let out a small scream.

  Dylan Maxwell was standing outside her car door, shining a flashlight right in her face. “Open the door, Chloe!”

  Well damn. She was this close to being able to go to sleep and now this. Shuffling around, she pushed the driver’s seat forward and unlocked the door. Dylan yanked it open and she braced herself for what was sure to be some kind of rant.

  “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.

  “I was trying to go to sleep,” she said sweetly, batting her eyelashes at him.

  He inhaled deeply and let it out slowly before responding. “Why are you sleeping in your car? I thought you had a room at the Rise & Shine?”

  What could she say? “They were booked.”

  “What about the other hotels? They’re not as close but…”

  “Booked,” she said dejectedly. “All booked. I tried them all. And I didn’t know the area well enough to keep calling around. The woman at the Rise & Shine gave me the numbers of all the places close by. When I couldn’t get a room at any of them, I didn’t know what else to do.”

  He crouched down next to the open door and studied her. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have helped you find something.”

  She wanted to scream and cry and stomp her foot in frustration. “You’ve already done enough! You’ve towed the car, bought me dinner and th
at was after being kind enough to stop and help me in the pouring rain in the middle of nowhere! I’m kind of done leaning on you for help today!”

  He chuckled.

  “What? What’s so funny now?”

  “Sweetheart, you have got to be the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.” He stood and held out his hand to her. “Come on. Grab your bag and let’s go.”

  She eyed him warily. “Go where?”

  “For tonight? Home with me. I’ve got a guest room you can stay in.”

  “Uh-uh,” she said defiantly, shaking her head. “No way. Not gonna happen. I don’t even know you! You could be…”

  “Are we back to the serial killer theory again?” he asked, sounding bored. “Because really, if I haven’t killed you already, I think you’re in the clear. No killer would go to this much trouble.”

  It was ridiculous to laugh and yet that’s exactly what she did. Exhaustion was making her loopy – that was the only reason she could possibly come up with for why she was putting her hand in his – and boy did that feel good! - and why she was letting him pull her from the car. Once she was standing beside him, Dylan reached in and grabbed her bag, locked the car and led her over to his truck – his hand firmly wrapped around hers.

  It wasn’t until they turned out of the parking lot that Chloe looked at him. “How did you know I was there?”

  “I called the Rise & Shine because I wanted to make sure you made it there all right. When they told me you didn’t have a room there or any reservation, I got suspicious. So I waited you out.”

  “Damn. Do you have any idea how long I waited for you to leave?”

  He nodded and chuckled. “Yup. Because I was sitting here waiting for you to show up. I finally realized you weren’t going to waltz up if you knew I was there, so I drove off and went around the block.”

  She shook her head and laughed with him. “What a pair we make, huh?”

  Dylan looked over at her and smiled and Chloe’s heart kicked hard in her chest. Dear Lord, the man had dimples.