Forbidden Harmony (Harmony Falls #3) - Elizabeth Kelly Page 0,141
truck. She splashed ahead of him and opened the passenger door. The truck was high, and she felt like a little kid, stepping onto the running board and using the handles to help herself climb in before scooting over to the middle. The man eased the shivering, whimpering dog into the truck until his head was lying on Harper’s lap.
The dog cried out again when the man shifted his back leg into a more secure position before closing the door. He slid behind the wheel and slammed the door shut. Now that she was sitting right next to him, she was acutely aware of just how big Mr. Sexy Lips was.
He was lean but he was well over six feet and the hands gripping the steering wheel were twice the size of hers. She could feel every brush of his thigh against hers as he started the truck and drove down the road, peering through the windshield.
Both of them were shivering and he turned the heat to high. She enjoyed the warm air blasting against her body for a few seconds before reaching across and angling the vent so that it blew directly onto the trembling dog draped in her lap.
“Steady, boy. Steady.” She rubbed the thick, wet fur of his forehead and neck when he shifted and yelped.
“I’m Nathan.”
“Harper.” She peered out the windshield into the darkness. “You’re going to take your next right in about five minutes, it’s a long winding driveway. Try to go slow, there are lots of potholes.”
She glanced up at Nathan. “Can I use your cell phone? I left mine in my car.”
He pointed to the phone mounted on the dashboard and she grabbed it.
“Code is 175636,” Nathan said.
She punched it in and then dialed the number from memory, smiling a little as she held the phone to her ear. Her dad and Addie’s numbers were the only ones she actually knew.
Her father’s voice on the phone chased away some of the chill she felt. “Hey, it’s me. I’m about three minutes away and I have a dog that was just hit by a car. Maybe a broken hind leg, or some internal injuries. Can you meet me at the clinic?”
“Yes. See you soon, sweetheart.”
Her dad ended the call without asking any other questions, and her smile grew. God, she loved him.
She stuck the phone back in its holder on the dashboard. “Once you reach the top of the driveway take a left, you’ll see a brick building you can park in front of.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything. She petted the injured dog, her teeth clacking together and her body quaking from the cold. She was tempted to lean into Nathan to try and leech some of his body heat, but he was just as wet as she was and wouldn’t provide much warmth.
He turned right and drove slowly down the bumpy gravel driveway. Harper held the injured dog and tried to minimize his movements, breathing a sigh of relief when they parked in front of the clinic. It was already lit up with light and a sense of being home covered Harper like a warm blanket, chasing away some of the chill she felt.
Nathan jumped out and hurried around to the other side of the truck, opening the door and easing the dog out, doing his best not to bump the injured leg as he shifted him in his arms. Harper slid across the seat towards the door and jumped the considerable distance to the ground. She slammed the door shut as the door to the clinic opened.
Leaving Nathan and the injured dog behind, she ran over and hugged her father, burying her face in his shoulder. He smelled the same, a combination of antiseptic and coffee, and her throat started to burn as she blinked back tears. God, she’d missed him. She hadn’t been home at all in the last year and he’d only visited her once in the year she’d been gone.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
“Hi, Dad.” She kissed his cheek and scooted past him into the clinic, her sneakers making rubber squeaks on the tile floor with every step.
Harper crossed the foyer to the swinging door that separated the waiting area and exam rooms from the back of the clinic. She held the door open as Nathan and her father walked through. A green blanket was spread out on one of the steel examining tables and Nathan eased the dog down onto it as her father brought over a muzzle.