Blind Date Disasters & Eat Your Heart Out by Jill Shalvis Page B

silence.
    â€œIt’s sure quiet out here. Hope some ax murderer doesn’t find me, there’s no one to hear me scream.Although there are some very annoying birds circling over my head.”
    At that, Tanner dove for the phone, but just as he picked it up, she disconnected.
    The digital readout on her machine starting blinking the numeral one.
    He hit play, and once again Cami’s voice filled the room, from the beginning this time.
    â€œDimi, get your paws off my stuff and come rescue me from the date from hell,” she said, clearly annoyed.
    Who was Dimi?
    But then Tanner got sidetracked by the rest of the message, and he listened in growing concern. Dammit, it wasn’t a joke, he decided, listening past Cami’s light voice to the panic just beneath the surface.
    She really was stranded, alone, and had been all night.
    Swearing, he left the town house and headed toward his truck, because good God, if anyone stopped for her, she’d annoy the hell out of them, maybe even goad them into killing her just to shut her up.
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    A BIG RIG lumbered right past Cami’s raised thumb, and feeling decidedly unladylike, she senthim a hand gesture she’d never had the opportunity to use before.
    It felt so good she gave it to the next truck that passed her, as well.
    â€œOh, that’s the way to charm someone into a ride.”
    Whirling around, Cami faced Tanner, who’d pulled up behind her. She’d been so busy swearing and kicking dirt, she hadn’t even noticed.
    â€œYou,” she said brilliantly.
    â€œYep. Me.” He looked her over. “Are you all right?”
    The nerve of him to look so good in the mornings, all big, sexy male. She didn’t want to think about how she looked—rumpled and pathetic. “Of course I’m all right.”
    â€œYeah? So what are you doing?”
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œNothing?” He came closer and tucked his hands in his pockets. “That’s funny, I could have sworn you were enticing truckers to pick you up by flipping them off. Which doesn’t work, by the way. You have to give them some sugar.” He lifted a suggestive brow. “And I’m not talking the granulated kind.”
    Wasn’t this fun? Not only did she have to face his amusement over her misfortune, she had toface the fact that her entire body tingled in awareness of him simply because he’d played a small part in her dreams.
    Okay, a big part. Even more reason to be grumpy. “Go away.”
    â€œSo happy to see me.” He put a hand to his broad chest. “I’m touched.”
    â€œThis isn’t happening,” she said to the sky.
    â€œYep. It is.” He tugged off his dark sunglasses and studied her carefully.
    She studied him back. He wore Levi’s that had clearly seen better days. They were clean, for now, but worn white at all the stress points, of which he had many. She knew she was gawking, but she couldn’t help it. She was starving, sleep-deprived, and even worse, she was sleep-deprived because her fantasies had involved him. Heavily.
    Shrugging out of his untucked plaid shirt, he handed it to her. Now he wore only a plain white T-shirt.
    â€œI’m not cold.”
    â€œYou’re covered in goose bumps.” He set the shirt on her shoulders.
    Damn, it was warm and smelled like him. She hugged it closer to her body and glared at him.
    He smiled. “You’ve had problems?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œHmm. You’re just standing out here for your health, I suppose. Practicing hitchhiking for the day it might come in handy?”
    Pride was a terrible thing. And it had been a long night. Nothing had happened to her, but still, all that could have suddenly ran though her head.
    Tanner’s smile faded. “What’s going on, Cami?”
    God, that voice. It was low and husky and so sexy that, all on its own, her body leaned toward his.
    Definitely sleep-deprived.