wasn’t, Jernigan would be the last man she considered as an option. Sure, he had the looks, and the muscle. She darted another look at him. Those arms, that ass . . . just wow. But there was something about him that screamed danger, danger, like the screeching robot on that old TV show, and she knew she’d panic if he actually asked her out or even lightly flirted. It was a smart woman who knew when someone was more than she could handle.
Jernigan was usually quick and efficient in his shopping. He knew where everything was and walked straight to it, without fail. Today he seemed to browse, which was out of the ordinary for him. Hmm. He went up one aisle and down the other, then came to the counter with a full basket not to check out but to unload and go back.
He returned with another full basket, silently unloaded it, and nodded at her. For a fast, heart-stopping moment her gaze met his and that was all it took for the bottom to drop out of her stomach. His eyes were so striking, a predatory pale green, almost pretty in a face that wasn’t pretty at all but was so masculine and intriguing that pretty didn’t matter.
As always, she was the one who looked away. Silently she began picking up cans and scanning them.
She should say something, even if just “hello.” She knew she should. That was what a store clerk did, make the customers feel welcome, and especially so when the clerk was also the owner.
“Is there anything else?” was the best she could manage.
“Thirty bucks in gas.”
He normally just paid for his gas with a credit card, most of the time leaving without coming in. She nodded and keyed the computer to let the pump dispense thirty dollars’ worth of gas.
She gave him a total. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and withdrew a stack of bills while she finished bagging. There were a lot of bags, and if it had been anyone else she would have offered to help him to his truck, not that he would have any problem at all, but if he were any other man she’d still have offered. She made change, which he stuffed into his front pocket before he gathered all the bags and headed for the door.
Sela breathed out a silent sigh of relief as he reached the door. What was it about him that put her so on edge? She hoped she wasn’t so shallow that it was just his looks. Or his body.
Then he stopped at the door and for a split second she wondered if he was having trouble opening it; she started out from behind the counter, saying, “Let me get that door for you,” but he turned and looked at her and those laser eyes stopped her in her tracks.
“You might want to put a few things back for an emergency, just in case.”
Emergency? Startled, Sela looked out the windows, expecting to see storm clouds or something, but it was a typical September day, the sky blue against the green mountains, the weather still hot, no forecast of a hurricane roaring up the Gulf that would hammer the region with heavy rain. Snow was months away. So—?
“The news hasn’t hit yet,” he continued. His voice was deep, a little rough, as if he didn’t talk much and needed to clear his throat. “But it will, maybe in a few hours, maybe tomorrow, depending on how on the ball those responsible for the alert are.” Small muscles in his neck and jaw clenched a little. “They’re pretty much never on the ball, so—” He shrugged.
She still had no idea what he was talking about. “What news? What kind of alert?” she asked.
“There’s a solar storm headed our way. A CME.”
“A what?”
“Coronal mass ejection.” The words were clipped. “A big one. If it’s as bad as predicted, the power grid will go down.”
“We’ll have a power outage.” They lived in the mountains. Power outages were a fact of life, though their local utility was a good one.
A hint of impatience flared across his expression. He looked as if he already regretted stopping to talk. “A power outage that will likely last for months, if not a year or longer.”
She almost recoiled. And there it was, the big flaw, and one she hadn’t expected. Drink too much, financially irresponsible, smoke too much weed—those were things