I don’t think Molly really loved him.” Natalie waved a hand. “Anyway, it all worked out when Adrian finally showed his true colors. Molly dumped him, and she wasn’t all that broken up about it, so I say good riddance.”
“What about your stepmother? Do you both like her?”
“Kathi.” She wrinkled her nose. “She’s perfect for my father. And I have to give her credit for trying to make us into some sort of family, as impossible as that seems.”
Jett hated how she said that, as if she’d almost given up on the idea of family.
In the next second, his thoughts shattered as a semi tried to pass them and lost control. Everything happened fast.
Horns blared as the semi swerved across the lanes, forcing two cars to crash into each other as another slid wildly and almost hit them. Jett had just winged past that collision when another car fishtailed in front of him.
For a split second, Jett lost control of the SUV and they went sliding sideways. Natalie never made a sound and neither did he. Then the tires gained traction in the thick snow on the perimeter of the lane and Jett again righted the vehicle. Ice and snow pelted the windshield, leaving him temporarily blind before the wipers managed to shove aside the slush.
And then he saw it, that damned semi now sideways in the road. When Jett touched his brakes, he slid over the icy roadway.
“Damn.” Squeezing the wheel in a death grip, he tapped the brakes again, more gently this time, and steered toward the berm. The truck’s trailer flipped over and dragged the cab toward the median.
Behind them, Jett heard the impact of steel on steel as two other cars reacted to the sight of the semi and lost control.
The semi flipped over into the median, finally out of Jett’s path but too late for him to continue on. The SUV made contact with a high pile of snow and ice on the side of the road.
The impact jarred them hard; Buddy yelped as he rolled out of his doggy bed.
Jett went still, his heart in his throat and fury burning his blood. For a heartbeat of time, he didn’t move. Buddy jarred him by barking and jumping up to look over the seat.
Jett glanced at Natalie. She had a death grip on the padded door handle, her other hand at her heart. Hand shaking, he reached over and touched her. “Natalie?”
“I’m fine.” She sounded calm. “Are you okay?”
No, he was not okay. In rapid succession a dozen scenarios had played out in his brain, all of them involving injury to her. Out of pure terror, he’d pictured the SUV wrecking, the semi crushing her, her soft flesh bleeding…
He was a man of control, but for one of the few times in his life, he knew he was rattled. God, the thought of anything happening to her left him devastated. Weak, shaken, sick.
What would he do without her?
That’s when it struck him.
“Jett?” She covered his hand with her own. “Say something.”
He locked gazes with her, and got blasted with reality. Oh hell.
Like a ton of bricks landing on his chest, crushing out all his air, he realized that he loved her.
Really loved her, like the forever kind. Like marriage, kids, picket fences and all the fanfare.
His eyes burned and his throat felt tight. He didn’t just want more time with Natalie. Hell no.
He wanted everything.
He turned his head to stare straight ahead. Less than a quarter of a mile up, an exit had been cleared. Jett put the SUV back in gear and, bless the fates, backed out of the snow and ice without a problem. “Buddy needs you.”
Natalie gave him another worried look, but she did comfort the dog as she looked out the rearview window. “Everyone looks okay.”
He didn’t want to look back. He couldn’t. “People are out of their cars?”
“Yes. The truck driver, too. There are at least…” She did a quick count. “Looks like six cars and the truck, all stopped, with the road blocked. Those poor people. They’ll be stuck for a while.”
Working his jaw, Jett took the exit, and right there, bludgeoned by the blizzard, a hotel came into view. “We’re going there.” Natalie didn’t reply, but that didn’t stop him from talking. “I’m getting us off the road, right now.”
In an attempt to calm him, she said, “Okay, Jett.”
He glanced at her with new awareness. Ah hell, now she wanted to placate him—because he was behaving like an