Lucky in Love (Southern Bride 4)

Saryn

“YOU HAVE GOT to be kidding me.”

I stared down at the flat tire on my car and cursed inwardly. After I pulled out my phone and saw I had no signal, I debated what to do. It had been years since I changed a tire. At sixteen, my father and I were driving down the road and he yelled out, BANG! Then told me I had a flat tire and had to get out and change it. Of course, it wasn’t flat, but I still had to learn how to do it…just in case. It had been a nightmare then, and I knew this was going to be a repeat.

With a sigh, I pulled out my phone again and checked for a signal, just in case.

“Shit!” I was going to have to break down and send my brother a text. “I’ll never hear the end of this.”

Me: Ryan, I’m on highway 23 with a flat. If you get this text, please can you come change it for me?

The moment I hit send, I heard a truck coming down the road. I stood back and debated whether I wanted them to stop or keep driving. This wasn’t Dallas, but I knew dangerous people were also out in the country.

The Ford F-250 was headed in the opposite direction. He passed me, made a U-turn and then pulled up behind me and stopped. The driver’s side door opened, and my breath caught in my throat. My stomach did a somersault at the sight of the man I had once had a thing for.

Holy hell.

Truitt Carter shut his truck door and made his way over to me. I hadn’t seen him in a number of years, except for a few photos on Ryan’s Facebook page. Truitt was still…good looking. No, that wasn’t the word to describe him.

He smiled and tipped his cowboy hat as he said, “Howdy, looks like you need some help.”

My heart felt like it jumped in my chest at the sound of that voice.

Oh, Saryn. You are in so much trouble.

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. When he stopped in front of me, I had to blink a few times. His eyes were the bluest I’d ever seen. Bluer than the sky after a spring rain, and the black ring around them made the blue stand out even more.

He tilted his head and smiled even bigger. “Did you need me to change that flat tire for you?”

I shook my head and broke the strange trance the man had put me in. He hadn’t said my name, which led me to believe he didn’t even know who I was. The memory of that day came back in a rush and inflated the anger once again.

Lifting my chin, I took in a deep breath. “I’m fine. I’ve got this, but thank you.”

He glanced down at the tire, then back at me. I was suddenly aware of how I looked. I was dressed in white pants and a light pink top. I’d had an interview earlier, and was lucky enough to be offered a nursing position at the Methodist Hospital in town, working in the emergency room. The idea of working in the ER again wasn’t a thrill, but until they had an opening in the labor and delivery or NICU, it was back to the grind in the ER.

“You’ve got this?” Truitt asked, a bit of snark in his voice. I looked at him a bit more carefully. Did he really not remember me?

“Yes, I’ve got this,” I said, my own voice sounding not nearly as confident as I’d hoped.

Truitt slipped his hands into his pockets and looked at me. His piercing blue eyes made me feel hot. There was something about the way he stared that made me question every decision I’d ever made since that day he showed up on my front porch. I swallowed hard and forced a smile.

With a slight chuckle, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, then why are you just standing here? Shouldn’t you be changing the tire?”

My mouth dropped slightly open before I clenched my jaw together. “I was about to, thank you very much. Then you showed up and threw my plan of action all off.”

He simply stood there, looking at the flat tire and then at me. “Your plan of action?”

I nodded and we stared at each other once again. Was it just me, or was there a crackle of energy between us? I cleared my throat. “Are you actually going to wait for me to change the tire?”

He shrugged, and the way the right side of his mouth curved slightly made my insides do something they hadn’t done in a very long time.

Okay, clearly it had been awhile since my poor, neglected body had felt any sort of attraction. I couldn’t honestly blame her for reacting. Truitt was good looking. He was built, with a broad chest that filled out his button-down long sleeve shirt perfectly. His jeans showcased his thick muscular thighs in all the right ways, and to top it off, he had on a black cowboy hat that made those baby blues seem like they were bolts of light sent straight from heaven. The boy I remembered from high school was ten times better looking now and his body…Lord, his body.