Free Hard to Handle by Lori Foster Page B

him from the cold? She shook her head. “No. Thank you.”
    â€œYou’re going to wear it, Stasia.” He softened that statement by adding, “I don’t want you to freeze.”
    Hearing him say her shortened name did funny things to her. Only family and a few past boyfriends called her that. “I don’t want you to freeze either.”
    â€œYou’ve seen me in my underwear.”
    At that, a few people glanced up, making Stasia feel conspicuous. “Yeah, so?”
    â€œSo you had to notice that I have a fair amount of meat on my bones, especially compared to you.”
    She shrugged. “I noticed.”
    â€œGood, then you’ll trust me when I say I’ll be warm enough.”
    God knew she had bigger concerns than who wore what coat, but still she heard herself say, “This is ridiculous. I really don’t think—”
    Suddenly the entire area died.
    All lights. All sounds. Gone.
    Inside and out.
    Even the people stopped talking, stopped in their tracks.
    Harley hauled Stasia behind him, and she could feel the abrupt fighting tension in him. He moved again, and her back bumped into the wall.
    How had he known the wall was there? The darkness was so encompassing, she couldn’t see her own hand in front of her face!
    Without so much as a second thought, he’d protected her back with the wall, and her front with himself.
    Obviously, Harley believed her about her brakes.
    â€œSheila,” he called out, “don’t you have a flashlight or something?”
    â€œI’m on it.” A glass broke, Sheila cursed, and after a few seconds more of rustling, a bright utility light flashed on. After scanning the crowd of blank faces, she announced, “Must be another power outage.”
    Everyone looked toward the windows but could see nothing in the black abyss.
    Stasia felt like weeping. Damn it, she’d wanted nothing more than to return to her cabin, take another hot shower, and then curl up beneath her warm blankets in bed. Unless she got back home quickly, her woodstove would die out, leaving the cabin cold. And without electricity, her meager water supply would provide only enough warm water for a flash shower.
    Thinking about a cold shower made her groan.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” Harley asked her.
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œYou made a sound.”
    â€œOf disappointment, Harley, that’s all. My cabin is going to get cold quick.”
    â€œYeah.”
    He kept her behind him, but she could practically feel him thinking. Probably trying to figure out a way to help her.
    Not in this lifetime.
    â€œHarley, stop. It’s not your problem. I’m a big girl, and I can take care of myself. And don’t forget, you promised your uncle you’d get on the road.”
    â€œAfter I took you home.”
    â€œI would appreciate the ride. But that’s all.”
    He turned to face her. In the darkness, Stasia could only see the glimmer of his eyes.
    â€œDo you have any enemies?”
    She laughed—but Harley didn’t. “Enemies who would cut the power to an entire town? No, Harley, I can’t think of anyone resourceful enough to do that. It’s just an outage, that’s all.”
    Still he didn’t relax. “Forget the outage and think about your truck. It’s possible that something just went wrong with your truck, right? A maintenance problem maybe? Have your brakes been scrubbing at all?”
    â€œNo. I would have had them checked if they did.” She put a hand to her forehead. “I maintain my truck, Harley. I have the oil changed every three thousand miles, and everything is checked over then. Any little dings, any lights that come on, I get the truck serviced.”
    Harley put a fist beneath her chin and tipped up her face. “That’s what I figured. You strike me as the type who takes care of her belongings.” His thumb brushed her bottom lip. “So, Stasia, who