Demon Hunting with a Dixie Deb - Lexi George Page 0,96
deck with a screech of gears. Inside the cab, the driver wrestled with the out-of-control machine, his eyes bulging with fright. The long arm whipped around. The logs in the hook swayed, and the grapple opened and spilled its load.
“Watch out,” Houston shouted as tons of raw wood barreled down on them.
A log separated from the bundle and crashed, end over end, straight at Houston. Taryn threw her arms around the big man, and they disappeared.
Sassy turned to run. Her feet got tangled in the oversize coverall and she face-planted. She rolled over and screamed as the logs thundered toward her. No time to move. She would be crushed.
Something big and heavy landed on top of her. A log? No, something well-muscled with a subtle green musky scent. Looking up through the cradle of Grim’s powerful arms, she saw the logs bounce and roll harmlessly away.
Grim’s golden eyes blazed through the russet curtain of his hair. “Sassy, are you hurt?”
Sassy wanted to burst into tears and throw her arms around him. She wanted to bury her face against his broad chest and soak up his heat and strength. She wanted to kiss his firm, sensuous mouth and keep on kissing him.
Tasting Grim would be sweeter than all the desserts in Miss Vi’s bakery case; all the sweets in the world.
Instead, she allowed him to help her to her feet.
“I’m fine, thank you.” She gave him a trembling smile. “A little shook up, maybe.”
He put his hands on her shoulders. “You are certain?”
A tremor ran through Grim’s big body, and he was pale beneath his tan.
“Nothing bruised but my dignity.” Sassy searched his face for answers. Was he hurt? Had he exhausted his reserves of energy when he’d shielded her from harm? She knew so little about him and less about magic. “What about you? Are you all right?”
“No, by the sword. I am not. You were nearly killed. If I had not looked back—” Grim shook his head. “I was almost too late.”
“But you weren’t too late. You saved me.”
He brushed his thumb across her nose. His hand was shaking.
“You have dirt on your face,” he murmured.
“Do I?”
Sassy was covered in dirt and sawdust from head to toe. She was dressed in a shapeless bag and Trey’s grungy boots. For a gal whose custom was to be perfectly groomed and dressed to the nines, this was not her finest hour.
It didn’t matter. Grim looked at her as if she was beautiful and precious. She felt breathless, on the verge of something too wonderful to describe.
No designer dress or expensive pair of shoes could ever make her feel so desirable.
Grim reached for her. “Sassy—”
Men ran out of the buildings. Grim dropped his hands and stepped back. Fifty yards away, out of the path of the wooden avalanche, Houston was yelling at Taryn.
“Big as a minute and I weigh two hundred and thirty pounds. There is no way you pulled me clear, much less way over here.”
Taryn’s lips moved. Sassy couldn’t hear what she was saying. Houston went stock still and stared at the huntress.
The log load operator jumped out of the cab of the Cat.
“Is everybody all right?” The man stumbled around a fallen log, eyes wide in his stark face. “Jesus, that’s the most amazing thing I ever seen. Thought the lady was dead for sure. This big guy comes outta nowhere and the logs bounce right off ’em. Like they was surrounded by a force field or something.”
Mr. Houston shook himself as though waking from a trance.
He scowled. “What the hell, Burke? Are you on drugs? You almost killed me, you idiot. This woman, too, if I hadn’t yanked her out of the way.”
Sassy did a double take. Houston thought he’d saved Taryn? It had been the other way around.
Burke sputtered. “Drugs? You know me better’n that. It wasn’t my fault, I swear.”
“Shut up, Burke. You got any idea what you’ve done?” Houston spun the man around to face Sassy. “This here’s Sarah Peterson, Trey’s sister. The new owner. If those logs had rolled her way, you would have killed her.”
“Rolled her way? But, boss, the Cat—” Burke sputtered. “The logs—”
Burke was confused and he wasn’t alone. The logs had rolled her way. If Grim hadn’t shielded her, she’d have been squashed like a pancake. First the witch and now this; two near misses in one day.
Uncle Gaudy said things happened in threes. What would happen next?