Page 14 of Maliea's Hero
Maliea touched Nani’s shoulder. “It will be easier if I get in first, baby,” she said. “Then you can climb up onto my lap.”
Maliea slipped into the leather passenger seat of the Porsche, afraid to touch anything. She’d never been in a car this fancy.
Once she was in, Nani scrambled into her lap.
Reid closed the door and rounded the front of the car to the driver’s side.
As he bent to get into the driver’s side, he glanced over at Maliea and Nani.
The little girl stared out the front windshield, and a smile spread across her little face. “Is this a race car?” she asked as Reid folded his long legs and body into the driver’s seat and closed the door.
“I’m sorry to say it is not a race car,” Reid said and started the engine. It roared to life and then settled into a rumbling purr like a lion's.
Reid eased onto the beach highway and maintained a slow pace all the way to a small, shack-like building with the words Burger Bar written in bold black letters over the door.
“It doesn’t look like much, but the food is good,” Reid said as he parked the Porsche next to a dilapidated older model compact car with a dent in the door and its back bumper missing entirely.
If the Porshe were hers, Maliea would have reconsidered driving it to Burger Bar and walked instead. Sweet Jesus, it was a beautiful car that must have cost this man a fortune.
When Nani reached out to touch one of the buttons, Maliea snatched her hand back. “Don’t touch.”
Reid chuckled. “Relax. I got the car used. I could never have afforded a new one.”
“Still, it’s too...too...” She shook her head, looking for the right word and failing miserably. “I’d be afraid to take it anywhere like it would be a magnet for trouble.”
“That’s what insurance is for.” Reid got out of the car and came around to help Nani out of Maliea’s lap. He set her on her feet beside him. “Stay close,” he warned. “Some cars drive fast down this road.”
Nani’s eyes widened. “Like a race car?”
Reid nodded. “Like a race car.”
“I bet your car is faster,” Nani said in her little voice, which sounded too grown up for a child so small.
Reid extended a hand to Maliea.
She ignored it, braced her hand on the doorframe and pulled herself halfway out of the car. Her hand slipped. She would have fallen back into her seat had Reid not darted forward as fast as he did.
He looped his arm around her waist and helped her the rest of the way out of the sports car and into his arms.
For a long moment, Maliea’s hands rested against Reid’s chest. She couldn’t help but notice that the man was as solid and muscular as he looked in his black polo shirt, stretched tautly over bulging biceps.
Once Maliea had her feet firmly beneath her, she moved back, shocked at her immediate and visceral response to having this man’s arms wrapped around her.
She blamed her rapid pulse on having nearly fallen backward, not on being held by a man who could melt a girl’s panties with one look or one flex of those bulging biceps.
Had she just thought of bulging biceps twice already? Now, make that three times in as many seconds.
Heat filled her cheeks. She ducked her head, not wanting Reid to see how affected she was by having his hands and arms on her body.
He’d only saved her from falling backward. The embrace was nothing sexual or sensual. Just a way of helping her regain her balance. It didn’t mean anything.
Hell, they didn’t even know each other. She didn’t know him. And she was a new widow, having just lost her husband not too long ago.
A husband who’d been growing increasingly distant over the past year, the devil on her shoulder reminded her.
Still, he’d been her husband.
For all she knew, Reid was married.