Rock Me Slower (Licks of Leather #3) - Jenna Jacob Page 0,33

bent and sighed in relief before pulling a travel-sized hand sanitizer from my purse.

“Want some?” I offered.

“Sure.” He held out his hand. After squeezing a dollop in his palm, he rubbed them together. “Still a germaphobe, huh?”

“I am not a germaphobe,” I scoffed.

“Uh-huh,” he teased with a grin as he twisted the key, but the engine didn’t start. “What the…”

Unease swelled once more as I watched him pump the accelerator and turn the key again. Still nothing. I tried to tamp down the panic rising inside me but failed miserably. It had been nearly an hour since we’d passed any kind of town. Even longer since I’d seen another vehicle on the road.

“Why won’t it start?”

“I don’t have a clue. I can rewire a keyboard in a matter of minutes, but when it comes to auto mechanics, I don’t know jack.”

Stomach knotting, I swallowed tightly.

“No worries,” Ozzy assured, lifting his cell phone from the console. “I’ll just call a tow truck and… Shit. No service. Check your phone. See if you’ve got a signal.”

I pulled the device from my purse, fisting it like a lifeline. With a trembling finger, I tapped the screen. Dread pounded deep. “I don’t have any, either.”

“Great.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “All right. Sit tight. I’m going to lift the hood and see if a hose or wire or something’s come loose. I wish I’d brought a damn coat.”

As he reached for the door handle, my panic spiked. Blood thundered in my ears as the inky darkness began pressing in all around me. My heart rate tripled. My breath grew shallow. I squeezed my fingers together so tightly my nails bit into my flesh.

“Can you leave the dome light on?” It pained and embarrassed me to ask, but I knew if he left me alone again, I’d come undone. Especially now that I knew the truck wouldn’t start.

“Sure.” Ozzy narrowed his eyes and cocked his head, studying me intently, then flipped on the dome light. Relief washed through me and I sent him a grateful smile. “You all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied. I certainly couldn’t tell him I was petrified of the dark, or that as a grown woman of twenty-six I could only sleep with a light on. He’d ask questions or laugh in my face. “It’s a little spooky out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“Says the lady with the wicked knee.” He grinned, opened the door, and slipped out into the night. Cold air rushed in behind him, making me tremble even more.

When he raised the hood, I crouched down, watching him trail the flashlight app on his phone back and forth over the engine. Tugging and squeezing various hoses and wires, he paused frequently to hop around, warding off the cold.

“Try and see if it’ll start now,” he yelled.

Giving him the thumbs-up, I slid into the driver’s seat. As I turned the key, I sent up a silent prayer. But the gods must have been busy or sleeping, because the engine didn’t even growl.

“Shit,” I groused under my breath.

Ozzy twisted a few more hoses, then nodded for me to try again as he jogged in place to stay warm.

But when I turned the key and nothing happened, he scowled and slammed the hood. Then he raced to the passenger side of the truck and jumped in beside me.

“Looks like we’re stuck here, at least until morning, when it warms up. I can’t set out walking to find help without a coat, or I’ll freeze to death.”

“That would be a very bad idea.”

“Yeah, well, we can’t stay sitting here or we’ll freeze to death, too.”

“Where are we supposed to go?”

“You’ve got clothes and blankets boxed up in the back, right?” I nodded. “Then I suggest we pull out the bed on that heavy-as-fuck couch of yours, bundle up, and get some sleep. When morning comes and it warms up, I’ll start walking and find us some help.”

“Won’t we suffocate back there?”

“Not a chance. Those walls aren’t airtight but if it will make you feel better, we can roll the door up an inch or two for ventilation.”

“And let snakes and lizards and bats inside with us? No, thank you.”

He grinned. “The back box is a little too high off the ground for lizards.”

“What about snakes and bats?”

“We’ll keep the door closed if it’ll make you feel better.”

It was getting colder by the minute without the warmth from the heater. I knew we couldn’t stay where we were, but I