Sidecar Crush

We came to a clearing and he slowed, finally bringing the four-wheeler to a stop.

Reluctantly, I let go and we both stood to take our helmets off, then put them on the seat. Jameson’s had left his hair messy, but it looked so adorable, I didn’t say anything.

“Trail gets narrow up ahead, so I reckon we should walk a bit,” he said. “But there’s a spot up there I’ve been meaning to scope out.”

“Okay, let’s do it.”

His mouth twitched in a grin. It was so tempting to step closer to him. Maybe slip my arms around his waist again—but standing face to face. What would he do?

I looked away. He’d probably pull back and wonder what the hell I was doing. But that shy smile of his was so adorable. I wanted to kiss those sweet lips. Feel his stubble against my face.

“You comin’?” he asked.

“Yeah, sorry.” I took a few quick steps to catch up with him. “Whose land is this? Does it belong to anyone?”

“Old Jefferson Waverly owns it now—been in his family for generations. He doesn’t mind if I come out here, especially if I’m hauling stuff people dumped.”

The trail did narrow, so much that I had to walk behind him. He glanced back at me a few times, as if making sure I was still there. Each time he gave me that little grin just before turning ahead again. It made my heart want to burst.

He stopped so suddenly, I almost ran into him.

“That’s what I’m talkin’ about,” he said.

Just past him, almost overgrown with plants, was a very old car. From what little I could see, it looked like it could have been from the fifties. Who knew how long it had been sitting out here.

Jameson pulled away some of the brush and ran his hand along the side. “Will you look at this…”

“How did this even get up here?”

“Not sure,” he said, moving more plants off the hood. “I think there might have been a dirt road that came up here, long time ago. It’d be overgrown now.”

I took slow steps along the old car. It was mottled with rust and dirt, but parts of it seemed to be in decent shape, considering.

“What will you do with it?” I asked.

He pulled a piece of ivy off the front fender and caressed the smooth metal. “I’ll pull apart whatever I can and bring it back to my shop. It’ll take a bunch of trips, but there’s so much here I can use.”

“You’ll sculpt with it?”

“Absolutely,” he said, and I couldn’t help but smile at the enthusiasm in his voice. He sounded like a kid at Christmas. “This is a great find. Poor thing’s been sitting up here for who knows how long, abandoned—its useful life long over. But I’ll take it back with me and make it into something new. Something beautiful.”

My breath caught in my throat. “That’s… that’s amazing.”

He met my eyes. “It’s my favorite thing to do—take something no one wanted and give it new life.”

“Do you know what you’ll make with this?”

He ran his hand along the metal again. “A lot of things, I reckon. I’ll have to see what I can bring back, and what it looks like in the shop.”

We started uncovering the old car—pulling back plants and vines and dusting off dirt. It was impossible to tell what its original color might have been. There was a lot of dirt and rust. Some of the metal had holes where rust had eaten through, but much of it was still smooth and strong.

Jameson stood next to me and our arms touched as we brushed dirt off the side door. It made my heart beat faster.

A branch snapped, and something rustled in the brush off to our right. Suddenly Jameson’s arms were around me. He yanked me toward the back end of the car and pulled me down into the bushes.

“What—”

“Shh.” He gently touched my lips.

I held my breath. We crouched low, leaves and branches all around us. Jameson was behind me, one arm locked firmly around my waist. His body was tense and with his face so close, I could feel the warmth of his breath on my cheek.

“Jonah and I saw a bear out here a while back,” he whispered, his voice soft in my ear.

I gasped, a surge of adrenaline making my limbs tingle. A bear? Oh my god. That wasn’t good.