Page 30 of Tempting Miles
“Penny? Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she exhales, and my chest loosens just a fraction. “But someone tried to pass me on the highway, I lost control, and now I’m stuck.”
I close my eyes, already picturing it. “Did your airbags deploy?”
There's silence. Too long for my liking.
“Penny? I need you to talk to me,” I say, my voice coming out sharper than I intended, already bracing for one of her smart remarks.
But it doesn’t come.
“No, the car is fine. I’m just stuck in a pile of snow, and after calling one too many towing companies and getting nowhere…” she trails off, leaving the rest unsaid.
“I was your last resort,” I say without a hint of bite in my tone.
“Can you share your location?” I ask as I turn off the stove and head for the door.
For her to call me instead of Gio or her parents means that she trusts me.
Or she doesn’t want to bother a family man and doesn’t want to hear shit from her dad.Get off your high horse, man.
“Done,” she says, releasing another long breath.
I look at my phone as her text comes through. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thank you, Miles. Truly.”
When I check her location on the map, she only made it about fifteen miles out of town. I can be there in fifteen minutes, tops. I take a couple of minutes to make something for her—I’m sure she’ll crash once the adrenaline wears off.
The roads get worse the farther out I drive.
Emergency lights blinking right at the fifteen-mile mark, and I slow down, pulling up next to her car. When I look tomy left, Penny’s head hangs down, her eyes closed. Is she really okay?
Instead of staying in my car and looking through my window like a creep, I get out and walk the short distance to hers. I knock on her window with my knuckles as I lean down.
Her back goes straight in one second, her hands flying to her chest the next. She rolls her window down, and it’s written all over her face.
She’s freaking the fuck out.
“Your knight in shining armor has arrived,” I tell her as I flash her a small smile.
“Thank you, Miles. I’m so sorry I had to call.” She sounds sincerely mortified.
If she were giving me shit, I’d tell her I charge by the minute or some shit like that. But tonight, all I want to do is to comfort her and take her home to warm up and rest.
“Why don’t you help me steer the car once I have it hooked to my truck? I’m sure we can take it out of this bank easily.”
She nods and places both of her hands on the steering wheel, squaring her shoulders as she looks forward.
I rap my gloved knuckles twice against her hood before heading back to my truck. Never thought I’d see the day Penny Levine—badass extraordinaire—would be shaken completely speechless.
Moving my truck only takes a minute, but the snowbank trapping her car is way too high to have formed naturally.There’s no chance we got three feet of snow in a couple of hours.
A shovel sits in my back seat, so I grab it and start digging a path toward her bumper to hook up a tow line. Once I’ve cleared enough space, I make my way back to her window.
“Ready?” I ask.
She nods again, her eyelids heavy.
