The Thrill of It All Read Free Page B

Physically,anyway, and she wanted to get away from him ASAP. “I’m ready to go now.”
    His only response was to stare at her.
    “Obviously my car isn’t drivable,” she went on, talking fast. “But yours appears indestructible. If you’d just take me someplace where I can make a phone call…”
    He still wasn’t saying anything.
    “Because there’s no cell coverage out here,” she explained further, his silence making her more nervous. “And I don’t think I can hope for another rescuer to come along until after daylight.” Surely he didn’t expect her to stay out here all night, all alone, with only the creepy crawlies for company?
    He slowly shook his head. “I hate to break this to you, dollface, but neither of us—our cars anyway—are going anywhere.”
    “Huh? What do you mean?” She was supposed to spend the rest of the night with the creepy crawlies and with him ? The idea was unsettling enough to send her stumbling through the sand to the shoulder of the road where their vehicles had come to rest. He was right behind her, his collision report matter-of-fact.
    “Looks like your two front tires blew, that’s why you lost control. Now, my Jeep is all right, but the problem is our bumpers are locked.” He lifted his foot and tried rocking them apart, but even Felicity could see it was useless.
    She could also see just exactly how much damage had been done to her beautiful, brand-new Thunderbird. And just how lucky she was to be alive. Herknees went soft as her gaze landed on the unlatched seat belt.
    Oh, God. Oh, God. She’d almost been fly-splat on her very own windshield, just like her parents. They’d died on their way home to Half Palm from Las Vegas when she was four years old. “I was—I was thrown from the car?”
    He shook his head. “I pulled you out. I needed to see how badly you were hurt.”
    He’d pulled her out.
    He’d pulled her out! The stomach-clenching realization of her close call eased a little. Finally, finally, things were beginning to make sense. No wonder she’d experienced that “instant” feeling of familiarity. No wonder she’d felt a spontaneous trust for a man who wasn’t remotely her type.
    “Mystery solved.” She had to look up a ways to find his face. “That explains why I remember you.” And remembered his arms around her and her head against his chest. “It’s from when you pulled me out.”
    One of Michael’s eyebrows lifted. “Yeah? Hard to believe you’d have any memory of it. When I got you out of the car, Lissie, you hadn’t just blacked out. You weren’t breathing.”
    “Not breathing.” Her stomach clenched again, and she locked her knees to keep them from wobbling. “Then how did I…?”
    “Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”
    “Mouth-to-mouth?” she repeated. Stupidly, but her excuse was that her brain was otherwise occupied. It was busy showing her images, like the replaying of atape. From somewhere above, she saw herself stretched out on the sand. Michael bent over her body. The back of his shirt was ripped, too, she could see that from her position overhead, and after every breath or two he’d beg God to make her breathe. To let her live. “Resuscitation?”
    “Yeah. You know.” His voice was dry. “They call it the Kiss of Life.”

Two
    “Y ou…”
    Nothing else made it past the woman’s lips, though she continued to stare up at Magee as if he’d just claimed kinship with Conan the Barbarian. Though that wasn’t far off—not in comparison to her, anyway. Even strapped onto tiptoe by a pair of silly high-heeled shoes, the top of her feathery hair couldn’t quite clear his chin.
    Damn, he thought, looking down into her wide eyes with a silent shake of his head. He supposed he should have found a prettier way to tell this bit of fancy-dressed fluff what had happened.
    But on the other hand, maybe it was only fair. She’d already stunned the hell out of him, after all.
    And then she did it again, by pointing a