Falling Hard (Colorado High Country #3)(2)

She wrapped his favorite blanket—a blue baby blanket—around him, then put the groceries in the trunk. She would have to scrape off the windshield, but she wanted to start the car first and get the heater going. She opened the driver’s side door, got into the front seat, turned the key in the ignition and…

Nothing.

She tried again, but the engine didn’t make a sound. “Damn it!”

She closed her eyes, fought an impulse to cry.

You can’t cry. You’re the adult, remember?

She had jumper cables in the back. If she popped the hood and took out her cables, someone would see and offer to give her a jump. This was Scarlet Springs, after all. People helped each other here.

She pulled on the hood release, opened the door, and stepped out into the cold, fighting a wave of dizziness that had her leaning against the vehicle. Slowly, she made her way to the trunk and retrieved her jumper cables.

“Need a hand, ma’am?”

She turned and found herself looking at a dark parka, the man who wore it towering over her. She looked up, recognized him. He was one of the volunteers with the Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team. Someone had told her that he’d served as an Army Ranger. She’d seen him around town a few times. She hadn’t been able to help but notice him—especially that time she’d seen him standing shirtless on the pier at the reservoir.

Pecs. An eight-pack. Obliques.

Hey, she could still tell a hot guy when she saw one.

“Thank you so much. My car won’t start. I’ve got my twins in the backseat. One of them is sick.”

He took the jumper cables from her. “Get back in the car where it’s warmer. I’ll give you a jump.”

Relief and gratitude washed through her. “Thank you.”

She sat in the driver’s seat and shut the door, looking over her shoulder at the kids, both of whom were quiet now. “We’ll be home soon. This nice man is going to help us get our car started.”

She watched as he strode through the snow to a dark SUV and climbed inside. He drove toward her and parked his vehicle nose-to-nose with hers. Then he climbed out again, raised her hood, and got to work connecting the cables.

When they were in place, he walked over and bent down next to her window, snowflakes on long eyelashes. “Try starting it now.”

He had a touch of a southern accent, though she couldn’t place it.

“Okay.” She turned the key.

Nothing.

How could that be?

The man fiddled with the jumper cables, then motioned for her to try again.

Still, the car wouldn’t start.

Ellie closed her eyes, fighting despair. She didn’t need an expensive car repair on top of everything else right now.

When she opened her eyes again, he was standing beside her window. “It’s not your battery, ma’am. If it weren’t dark, I’d poke around and try to figure out what’s wrong, but I can’t see much, especially not with snow falling like this. Why don’t I drive you and your kids home? You can worry about the car later.”

She shook her head, reaching into her handbag for her cell phone. “I’ll call my dad. He can be here in twenty minutes.”

“I’ll have you home in ten. You can take a photo of my license plate number and send it to your father if that makes you feel safer.”

“Oh, no. It’s not that.” She wasn’t afraid of him. He was on the Team, after all. He’d probably been through a dozen background checks. “My little boy and I are sick with strep throat, and I don’t want to get you sick, too.”

“All the more reason to get you home, ma’am.” He grinned, his teeth white in the darkness. “Besides, I have a monster immune system. I don’t get sick.”



*

Jesse Moretti stowed away the jumper cables and transferred the woman’s groceries from her trunk to the cargo hold of his Jeep, while she got both kids buckled into their car seats in the back. He climbed into the driver’s seat and turned up the heater, looking at the children in his rearview mirror.

He hadn’t had little kids in his vehicle since, well … ever.

The little boy whimpered. His sister sucked her thumb.

“We’ll get you home. Okay?” His gaze settled for a moment on the children’s mother. Beneath the fatigue and fever, she had a pretty face, with high cheekbones, a little upturned nose, and a full mouth. There was snow in her dark blond hair, which was pulled back in a ponytail. It was too dark to see the color of her eyes. “I’m Jesse Moretti.”

“Thanks for the help, Jesse.” She gave a forced smile, clearly feeling like shit. “I’m Ellie Meeks. That’s Daniel and Daisy in the back.”

Daniel and Daisy.

Cute.

He shifted his vehicle into drive, pulled out of the parking lot, and turned left onto the highway, rush hour and snow bringing traffic to a crawl through the center of town.

“I live on Snow Creek Road just beyond mile marker—”

“I know where you live.”

That didn’t sound creepy at all, dumbass.

Did he want her to think he was some kind of stalker?

He tried again. “We’re neighbors. We share a property line. I’ve seen you playing out back with your kids.”

The first time he’d seen her, he’d been standing on his back deck with his real estate agent just before buying the property. She’d been sitting on a blanket, playing with two babies too little to sit up or crawl. His realtor had told him her husband had been killed fighting in Iraq.