Hell Without You Read Free Page A

Breathing a curse, she stopped, grabbed her purse and fished out her phone.
    Minutes ticked by as she stared at the screen, reality setting in. She had no one to call. This wasn’t New York City – Willow Heights’ only cab company had maybe three vehicles in its fleet, and it wasn’t like she could expect any of them to come out in the flash flood that had wrecked her car.
    As for friends … seven years had a way of making them disappear. And family was a definite no now that her cousin had moved out of the area.
    Stuffing her phone back into her purse along with her keys, she stepped out of the car, slamming the door behind herself. She’d just have to make it back to town on foot.
    What the hell did it matter, anyway? She was already soaked, already had liquid squishing inside her shoes. What difference could more rain make? Her car was stuck – that was the real problem. Teeth chattering, she walked as quickly as she could in the direction she’d come, kicking up a constant spray of dirty water as she went.
    Swearing helped a little. Completely alone and surrounded by the noise of pounding rain and rumbling thunder, she cussed up a storm that would’ve put a sailor to shame. It gave her a channel for her anger and kept her lips from going numb as cold water ran over them, getting in her mouth.
    Spitting out rainwater as she went, she made it all of a quarter of a mile before light cut through the premature twilight cast by storm clouds, harsh and yellow.
    Headlights. Her heart leapt, torn between hope and alarm. Should she try to flag the vehicle down, to stop the driver before they reached the flooded section? Maybe he or she would give her a ride back into town – she was desperate enough to ask. On the other hand, she didn’t want to be run over if the driver didn’t see her. Remembering how low visibility had been when she’d been driving, she stepped off the road, slogging through flooded underbrush at the edge of the woods.
    The vehicle crept along at a snail’s pace, gradually coming into view. She walked as far from the side of the road as possible until she could make out more than just headlights. Then she froze.
    It was a truck – a big black pick-up. She didn’t have to see the driver to know it was Donovan’s. Crossing her arms over her midsection and trying to retain some trace of body heat, she stood still as the truck stopped in the middle of the road.

CHAPTER 2
     
     
     
    “Clementine,” Donovan called, opening his door and settling his boots on rain-slicked pavement. “Are you hurt?”
     “I’m fine,” she called, hurrying toward his truck, embarrassingly grateful to have a perfectly rational reason to rush toward him.
    He walked around the truck, re-soaking his still-damp t-shirt as he opened the passenger door for her. “I was afraid you might be stuck in a ditch somewhere.” He arched one dark brow as she settled into the cab. “You get stuck in a ditch somewhere?”
    “Yes.” Her cheeks heated a little, fighting the chill. “I hydroplaned into a ditch. Couldn’t get my car out.”
    He shut the door and climbed into the driver’s side.
    “You can’t go this way,” she said as he drove forward, moving at a faster pace than he’d maintained while searching for her. “The road’s flooded just ahead, at the stream.” His house was in the opposite direction anyway. Or did he plan to drive her to her new place?
    He ignored her.
    “The road—”
    “Your car. I’m gonna see how stuck it really is.”
    A minute later, they stopped a few yards from where the stream had swollen up over the road. Donovan abandoned the cab to inspect her vehicle, wading through water so high it threatened to swallow the tops of his boots.
    “It’s stuck all right. I’ll have a truck tow it to my garage.”
    “The house doesn’t have a garage.”
    He shook his head as he turned the truck around. “My garage in town. You want me to turn the heat on?”
    “Yes.” Maybe then her