Just Jake: Reynolds Family, #5

By Kali Hart

Krystal
I've spent too much of my life relying on someone else.
This time, I'm determined to make it on my own.
But when my car breaks down on the side of the road, I'm forced to accept help.
My rescuer is hot enough to start a forest fire, but I can't afford to get attached.
No matter what Jake says, I have to find my own footing in this new city.

Jake
When I found her, broken down on the side of the road, I knew I had to look out for her.
She's new to town and oblivious to its dangers.
It's easy enough to protect her when her car is in my shop and she's staying in my house.
But convincing her to stick around might be the biggest challenge I've ever faced.

Sweet & steamy short story instalove romance with an alpha man and younger curvy woman with an HEA. NO cliffhangers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jackie M. Wallick
• Release date: May 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9798223766797

Book preview

1

KRYSTAL

I can’t believe this is happening to me.

I only have thirty minutes to make it to my interview, but my tire is flat as a pancake. And the smoke drifting from under the hood like thick fog can’t be good.

My older step sister Tanya would be laughing hysterically right now if she knew I was in this predicament. She told me not to leave. Told me I wouldn’t last one day without her. It’s why I absolutely cannot call her now. She’d waste no time rubbing in how right she was, despite how far from the truth that is.

I will make it on my own.

My high heels click and scrape against the pavement as I circle my car on the deserted road, wishing I knew the first thing about fixing a car. I might be able to YouTube my way through changing a flat tire. But whatever’s happening under the hood is an entirely different matter.

The outline of the city peeks over the top of the next hill. I’m unable to Google the number for a tow truck, as the data signal out here sucks. The only reason my GPS is connected is because I haven’t shut it off. It says I’m less than ten minutes away from my destination.

I contemplate walking for all of four seconds.

But the idea of showing up a couple of hours late all sweaty, hair windblown into oblivion, and feet riddled with blisters does not leave me optimistic in securing this job. I don’t think it would translate into dedication.

I need this job.

About to call Reynolds Inc. to beg them to reschedule my interview, the four bars on my phone drop down to one. At the same time, the low battery warning flashes. Ugh! I can march up the long, steep hill and hope the bars will return before the phone dies.

I scan around me. There doesn’t seem to be another option.

I’m a dozen steps beyond my car when I hear the roar of an engine. The road is hilly, and I can’t see too far in either direction. But whoever is driving is speeding like they’re in a NASCAR race.

Straddling the center line, I start waving my hands above my head. But when the enormous truck crests the hill, I’m forced to jump out of the way or be flattened like my tire. The maniac has to be driving a hundred miles an hour!

I’m barely to the shoulder