Page 2 of Promised Adventure (Promises, Promises)

Chapter Two

JORDAN

By the time I’d finished reviewing the contract for our team’s next project, my phone clock proclaimed it to be way past working hours. It was a good thing that tomorrow was the one day I took off from work.

Maybe my brother, Jones, had a point when he’d called me a workaholic the other day. He’d claimed I had no hobbies other than work and I…couldn’t refute him. At least from the way my current life was going.

It wasn’t like I had no interests. I used to love going on hikes in the nearby mountain ranges or just exploring the woods that surrounded my cabin. Grabbing drinks with friends used to be a weekly thing as well, but at some point, those weekly meetups stopped, as did the hikes.

My life started revolving around work.

That was just how it was when you owned a business and had employees you had to think about. Especially now that my business had grown significantly, with even more people counting on me for a paycheck. Or maybe that was what I told myself to make myself feel better.

Instead of acknowledging how empty my life was, I pushed myself into work. It wasn’t like there was anyone waiting for me at home, anyway.

I wasn’t unhappy with my life. I had a good set of friends, and my family was a loud bunch who felt like they never gave me a moment of peace, but being a divorcé and workaholic wasn’t how I’d imagined my life at thirty-five.

My marriage ending was for the best, since Susan and I were disastrous together, especially toward the end of our relationship. And it wasn’t like I particularly wanted children either, but I still couldn’t help but feel like I was missing something .

What that thing was, I had no clue, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still a gaping void that I’d chosen to fill with work. At least working was more productive than brooding over this fictitious thing that I was supposedly missing.

Sighing, I turned off my computer and locked up the office, preparing to head home. I’d purchased a piece of land outside of Kither Springs a few years after starting my company.

The fifteen-minute drive was pretty peaceful considering it was the dead of the night, and there wasn’t a single car on these country roads. Which was why I was surprised to see the van parked on the side of the road right before the turn onto my property.

I slowly pulled to a stop behind the van in case whoever drove the car needed help. Help thy neighbors and all that jazz, though I’d never seen this van before, so it probably wasn’t someone from town.

Nevertheless, I still went to check out the vehicle in case someone needed help…and also to make sure it wasn’t some creeper who had bad intentions right by my property.

I used my phone to light the way, but all the windows were covered with something that blocked me from looking in. That was even more curious. Did someone abandon this van here? But what for?

“Hello? Is anyone in there?” I called out and knocked on the door just in case.

The sound of something crashing was heard, which meant someone was definitely inside, and I’d clearly startled them.

Silence followed, and when I didn’t hear anything after a minute, I called out again. “Are you okay in there? Do you need help?”

When no reply came, a tinge of fear that a bad guy could be inside and my calling out to them might have ruined whatever nefarious plans they were brewing. It was late, and this random van was parked in the middle of nowhere. It was a horror movie waiting to happen.

The sound of the door opening had me putting up my guard. I was a pretty big guy, and I could probably take on whoever was inside…probably.

I raised my arms in preparation for whoever might pop out, mostly because this was what I saw people in fighting movies do. I might have been strong from working construction all these years, though fighting was never my thing, but it was better to do something with my arms than nothing.

It felt like it took forever for the door to open, and I really didn’t know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t a face dotted with freckles and wide blue eyes on the tiny man who was currently glancing up at me with a wary expression.

He flinched, and I realized I was shining my phone light directly into his eyes. “Sorry,” I said and dropped both my arms. The light flashed toward the floor, and I heard the stranger let out air through his mouth.

“Are you okay? I was on my way home and saw your van here. Did it break down?” I asked and shone the light into the van in case someone else was hiding in there or something. The man didn’t look like he wanted to do harm, but one could never be too careful.

The inside of the van looked like it’d been converted into a portable living space with a twin-size bed tucked in the back and a small kitchenette where the other door should be. That made me wonder if this guy was living out of the van.

I frowned. He barely looked old enough to be out of school, much less living by himself on the road.

The small man nodded. “I’m okay. Marge, not so much,” he said with a sad sigh.

“Marge?” I flashed the light inside the vehicle again. I hadn’t seen anyone else in there earlier, but maybe they were injured and tucked away behind something.

“Marge,” he replied as he lovingly patted the side of the van. “She’s a reliable lady, but her engine seemed to have given up halfway through our trip. She might be throwing a fit ’cause I wasn’t able to squeeze in a spa day for her before this trip.”

My brows furrowed deeper. A spa day for a vehicle? What the hell was this guy talking about? What I could conclude was that he was having van issues.

“Is there anyone I can call to come get you? Your parents, maybe?” I asked.

Why he hadn’t called them himself in the first place, who knew, but I should at least offer. I hope I wasn’t dealing with some runaway kid…

He shook his head, and I wondered if I’d imagined the slight slump of his shoulders.

“It’s just me, but if you could help me call a tow truck or something, that would be awfully kind of you. My phone died, and I have no way of charging it.”

Well, that explained why he was sleeping on the side of the road instead of calling for help. It also made me wonder what he meant that it was just him. That he came on this trip alone, or if he’d meant it literally…

I might have an empty house, but I couldn’t imagine not living close to my loud, but loving family. I didn’t know this guy’s situation, but a tinge of sympathy washed over me.

“If you want, I have everything I need to tow your van in the back of my truck. Where do you want the van towed to?”

The stranger bit his bottom lip, and the action caught my attention. It was the first time I noticed how plump his lips were, and with him nibbling on it, the color came back to them, turning them into an alluring red.

In fact, the man himself was alluring. He was about a head shorter than me, with big, sparkly eyes and an innocent vibe that had my protective instincts rising.

And I blamed that damn innocent expression and his lack of a plan for the next words that came out of my mouth despite knowing the very real stranger danger and all that.

“If you want, my cabin and property are just down the road,” I said, pointing to the barely visible mailbox on this side of the road a couple of feet down.

The stranger looked surprised, probably at the fact that his van had broken down right in front of someone’s house. The lone box, as well as the pathway onto my property, were hard to notice if you didn’t know someone was living there, and that was just how I liked it.

“We can get your van off the side of the road, and I can take a look at it in the morning if you want. I’m not a professional, but I know a thing or two about vehicles. You can stay the night in my guest room, and we’ll get you all sorted out tomorrow morning.”

He hesitated, and the protective side of me was proud that he didn’t immediately accept a stranger’s offer. I didn’t have bad intentions toward him, but that couldn’t be said for the next stranger who extended him help.

I let him trust his gut and think it over.

A part of me wanted him to say no so I was reassured he wasn’t the type of guy who’d carelessly accept help from just anyone, but the other part of me hoped he’d agreed so I’d have the peace of mind knowing he wasn’t sleeping in his cold van right outside my property.

Based on how he was bundled up, I’d dare say he had no heating source inside his van, and the temperatures were pretty nippy tonight.

Those wide eyes peered up at me, probably trying to judge my character. I wondered what he saw. A gruff giant of a man who looked like shit from the lack of sleep and overwork these past few weeks from scrambling to secure this project?

I scratched my unkempt beard self-consciously. It’d grown out longer than I preferred, and the coarse, curly hair tickled my palm.

Finally, the man nodded and said, “If you’re sure it’s not an inconvenience?—”

“It’s not an inconvenience,” I immediately answered, though there were a hundred other things I should be doing tomorrow instead of agreeing to help a stranger with his van. Now, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do more.

“Okay, then. Thank you,” he said, his face lighting up with a smile that was almost too blinding in the darkness. It did something to my chest.

Stir up the heartburn from overworking, maybe?

“I’m Wren,” he said suddenly with his hand outstretched.

“Jordan,” I grumbled and accepted the handshake.

This man matched his name perfectly. His small frame and even the way he spoke carried a musical lilt that tickled my ears in a pleasant way.

As our hands touched and a tiny tingle of electricity flowed through me, I knew there was a lot more to this man than the eye could see.