“I can help—”
“Julia.” The use of her name was forceful and final, and oddly intimate. “You don’t have gloves, you’re wet, and you’re freezing. I made this mess; I’ll fix it. Now get in the damn car. I’m not asking.”
By the time Noah dumped her duffle and backpack into his backseat, the inside of his SUV was as warm as a toaster. Before he slid into the driver’s seat, he pulled off his hat, gloves, and jacket, tossing them over Julia’s bags.
Behind the wheel, door closed, he heaved a breath. Disaster averted, at least for the moment. She was still here. Though he had substantial doubts she’d stay once the storm let up.
He’d never had a woman try to run from him so many times in the span of an hour. Maybe ever. This had to be a freaking record.
Julia turned and stretched to reach into the back, rummaging in one of her bags, and Noah’s gaze slid to the creamy skin exposed in the V of her fleece top, the way her breasts pushed together and created delicious curves.
“Thanks for breaking the brunt of that avalanche,” she said, her voice sincere. She pulled back with a bottle, uncapped it, and poured two tablets into her palm, then extended them toward him. “Tylenol. Your leg’s got to be killing you from those quick moves.”
He swallowed them dry before backing out of the parking spot. “Tylenol doesn’t even curb my headaches.”
“Take Excedrin for your headaches. And why do you have headaches?”
“Because my agent pulls shit like hiring the fourth freaking physical therapist I don’t need.”
Julia sat back with an exasperated huff. “Probably more likely you’ve thrown your hips and spine out of alignment from compensating for your ankle. Have you been to a chiropractor?”
“Chiropractors don’t fix ankles.”
She rolled her eyes and pulled the cuff of her long-sleeved fleece pullover open in front of the heater vent. Warm air blew down her sleeve, and she shivered with a moan of pleasure. A sound that tied a hot little knot in the pit of Noah’s belly.
“What happened to your other physical therapists?” she asked. “Can’t wait to hear how you scared them away after this morning.”
He backed out of the parking spot and turned onto the main street. Conditions had gone nearly
whiteout in the last hour. The streets were deserted but for plows, cops, and heavy-duty four-wheel-drive trucks.
“The first one, a guy, was more interested in getting snowboarding techniques from me than working on my leg. The second one’s fights with her boyfriend over text cut into my therapy. Kinda hard to manipulate a joint when your hands are busy on the phone. And the third one had a whole different kind of therapy in mind. She talked entirely too much about sexual healing.”
“And why, exactly, didn’t she work out?” Julia asked with overt innocence.
Noah snorted. “Guess I deserve that after this morning.”
“Can your pretty toy handle this weather? If we get stuck again, I can’t guarantee my mental state will remain intact.”
“If this is intact, I’m officially terrified of witnessing a break.” When she only shot him a sour smile, he said, “This baby’s a monster in the snow. I’d never have bought it otherwise. Nothing comes between me and my powder.”
She chuckled. “You sound like an addict.”
“Absolute. Completely incurable.”
She pulled her hand from the vent and yanked her fleece over her head, then leaned forward and put her body in front of the heat. Noah was faced with that skintight tank again and all the curves filling it. His groin tightened, and he shifted in his seat, glancing at the car’s control panel for the heat settings. He made an adjustment to funnel the heat toward her side of the car.
“Dying of heat stroke over here.” And not from external temperature. “You’re cold because there isn’t an ounce of fat on you.”
He scanned the toned curves of her shoulder and bicep, took a peek at her small waist and flat belly, then purposely focused on the road. He preferred Samantha-types in his bed, but Julia was turning up the heat in all sorts of new ways. If he could get her to stop running from him, he might put some serious effort behind a new type of fling, because the thought of all her bossy ways melting underneath him sent a surge of fire to his cock.
“Physical fitness is the cornerstone of my career,” she said. “I wouldn’t be very successful if I didn’t take care of myself, the same way you won’t be if you don’t.”
She pulled her fleece back over her head. Her hair touched her shoulders in a sleek, dark curtain. She dragged it from the collar of her shirt and relaxed into the seat with a heavy sigh. At a red light, Noah glanced over at her. Her profile was striking, her face softer and sweeter with her hair down, all rosy from the combination of heat and cold.
She caught his gaze and said, “What?”
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