Rum and Raindrops: A Blueberry Springs Chick Lit Contemporary Romance by Jean Oram Page B

seat, wrapping her arms around herself. Why couldn’t Rob be someone else? Anyone else? She hadn’t had this much fun doing such a crappy thing in forever. She cut a glance at him, watching the way he commanded the truck, half naked, through town. The way he was coated in mud and soot and seemed just as happy and at home as when he was fully clothed. Actually, more at home. He was in his element. Like she was.
    She noticed he slowed as they passed her favorite house in Blueberry Springs. A pretty yellow home with a huge front porch and a garage out back. She pushed aside her wishes and fantasies of making its for-sale sign turn into sold as she and Rob moved into it together. Instead, she focused on the street, eyes peeled for an aging truck like the one she’d seen on her camping trip. It had to show up eventually, didn’t it?
    “Could you pull up as close as possible?” she asked as they got close to her apartment. “I don’t think the town is quite ready for The Jen Show.”
    He parallel parked on the quiet street, lining her up beside her apartment’s street door so her dash would be as short as possible. She waited while Mary Alice and her little dog passed by, Mary Alice’s lips curving into a smile as she took in the scene. Rob without a shirt. Jen in her bathing suit. Both of them covered in filth. Jen kept her window rolled up, avoiding eye contact.
    “Look away,” she hissed at Rob. “She’s the biggest gossip in town!”
    Rob chuckled. “I think Mary Alice is wonderful.”
    “Oh, my God, you know her?” Jen felt the urge to duck under the dashboard.
    “She’s told me all sorts of things about you.” Teasing, he pretended to reach for the window button on his door. “Shall we chat with her?”
    She slapped his arm and waited until Mary Alice was half a block away before reaching for her door handle. “Thank you for taking me out there. It was an…experience.”
    “That is officially the dirtiest I’ve ever gotten in the line of work.” He lifted his dirty hat and skittered a hand through his damp, grimy hair. “It was good to see the clearing and have you identify your fire pit.” His smoky gray eyes met hers, flecks of blue shining like blue sky after a storm. “I appreciate you taking the time to do that.”
    They were so business-like again that she began to wonder if their flirting had actually taken place. If the desire she’d felt had been real.
    She ran her eyes over him. Yep. The desire had been real and was still as present as ever.
    She sighed and exited the truck. “Hopefully, you can find something helpful.”
    “Um hmmm,” he rumbled and rubbed his chin, his gaze distant.
      She gave him a wide-eyed look when he stayed seated. “What? You’re not going to walk me to the door?”
    He jerked and fingered the towel around his hips, his mind obviously torn between being a gentleman and being seen in public in nothing more than a towel. His cheeks turned crimson as he reached for his door.
    Laughing, Jen let him off the hook. “See you around, Rob.” She shot him a playful wink and shut her door.
    God, he was hot.
    Too bad he’d be disappearing right around the time she’d be able to finally pursue him.
    Assuming she could actually make that kind of fantasy to reality leap. And that he’d like to make it with her.
    Hoping he wasn’t watching her butt, Jen scurried across the damp sidewalk.
    “Hey, Jen?”
    Jen turned back to the truck.
    “I’ll bring back your towel next time I’m in town, if that’s okay?”
    “Sure.”
    Trey, who worked in the hardware store next door, joined Jen on the sidewalk.
    She tried to hurry through her door, but Trey stopped her.
    “Went out to the site, huh?” He took in Jen in a way that told her she’d be the object of yet more rumors tomorrow. “Looks like you got caught in that rain.”
    Jen nodded politely and opened her door.
    “Got to watch out for this one,” Trey called to Rob. “She’s a real spitfire.” He