scream tore its way out of Mia’s throat, and she threw herself out of the shower so violently she clipped her forehead on the edge of the fiberglass enclosure. With her adrenaline spiking and her head throbbing, she only barely managed to grab a towel in her mad rush to flee Shelob’s lair.
Once she was safely out of the bathroom, she wrapped the towel around her dripping torso, reached up to push back her soaking wet hair, and froze when her fingers touched something that was not her hair.
Something chitinous and creepy.
OHMYGOD, IT’S ON ME!
Mia screamed again and ran out of the apartment, clutching the bath towel around herself. She careened down the stairs in a blind panic, coming to an abrupt and unexpected stop when she collided with someone in the yard below.
Chapter Five
“What the hell?” a male voice grunted as Mia slammed into him. He grabbed onto her arm as she started to fall backward. “Are you okay?”
“Spider,” Mia gasped, shaking her head like a cartoon character. “There’s a spider in my hair!”
“Hang on. Be still.” Two hands grasped her head, tilting it from side to side as fingers threaded through her wet hair.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to calm her racing heart as she clutched her towel to avoid flashing the helpful stranger inspecting her for arachnids. She had no idea who he was, but she didn’t care as long as he got the fucking spider off her.
“As far as I can tell, you’re spider-free.” His voice was deep and slightly raspy, with a pronounced Texas drawl. “Your head’s bleeding though.”
Mia reached up to touch her forehead. “I must have hit it when I ran out of the shower.” Her fingers came away stained with blood.
“How hard?” The stranger’s tone sounded teasing.
Mia raised her head, looking into the man’s face for the first time. “It’s you!” she said, realizing he was the very same goat rustler she’d encountered on the way to her Bowman interview.
He seemed to flinch, his previously friendly expression shuttering. “Do I know you?”
“You’re the goat guy.” She crossed her arms to hold her towel more firmly in place. “You gave me directions to the university a few months ago when you were recapturing some runaway goats named after female authors. Agatha and Zora, if I remember right.”
“And Charlotte.” The corner of his mouth twitched, and he seemed to relax again. “You’re the Jane Eyre fan.”
Mia reddened at the reminder of her embarrassing attempt to make conversation, but she couldn’t help being pleased he remembered their encounter. She smiled, noticing for the first time how tall he was. His striking brown eyes were exactly level with hers.
“Did I hear screams?” Birdie burst out of the house and hurried toward them, her eyes widening as she took in Mia’s soaking wet, towel-clad appearance. “Oh my word! What happened? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Now that the initial spike of panic had receded, Mia felt foolish about her panicked reaction—not to mention her state of near nakedness. She hiked her towel up higher in an attempt to maintain a modicum of dignity. “There was a huge spider in my shower—the biggest I’ve ever seen. I thought it had jumped into my hair.” She darted a sheepish look at Goat Guy. “But I might have been wrong.”
Birdie’s face lit up, her concern shifting to excitement. “What kind of spider? What did it look like?”
“Yellow and black,” Mia said, wishing she didn’t have such a clear memory of the wretched thing. “It was almost as wide as my palm.”
“A banana spider, I’ll bet.” Birdie looked delighted. “Do you think it’s still inside your apartment?”
“I don’t know.” Mia shivered at the thought of it waiting upstairs for her. “I guess if it wasn’t on me when I ran outside, then it might be.” She snuck another glance at the man she assumed was Birdie’s cheesemaking nephew, hoping he’d offer to perform a search and destroy mission.
Either that or they could just burn the whole garage down with all her worldly possessions in it, because there was no way she’d be able to sleep up there until she was certain it was one hundred percent spider free.
It was Birdie who leaped into action, however, collecting a pair of gloves and an empty mason jar from her potting bench. “I’ll go see if I can catch it. She’ll make an excellent addition to my garden!”
As Birdie hastened upstairs, Mia cast a dubious look at the garden. As much as she