Playing to Win by Shelley Munro

Author:Shelley Munro [Munro, Shelley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: contemporary romantic suspense, sports romance
Publisher: Munro Press
Published: 2016-09-06T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Distanced from the barrage of catty comments, calm should have descended. Instead, fury swept through her anew. Kate switched on the ignition to her car and stomped on the accelerator. The engine roared, echoing her unrest. She glanced in the rear-vision mirror and huffed out a sigh that lifted her fringe off her forehead. Hindsight made her admit some—no most—of her anger was directed at herself.

There was nothing mature in the manner she’d handled the situation, running away like a scared child at a new school. Her only defense lay in the past and in particular, Steve. Both had featured in her mind lately. At eighteen, she’d made mistakes. She admitted it. Unfortunately, at times the emotional seesaw and second-guessing crept back to haunt and color her actions in the present.

Kate sighed again. After checking the road was clear, she swung on the wheel to make a U-turn. Her foot forced the accelerator to the floor but instead of moving smoothly forward, the car lurched to one side, barely missing the van parked in front. Realizing she’d cause an accident if she didn’t pay attention, she reached down to release the handbrake.

It was off.

Grimacing, she tried to pull from the parking space again. The same awkward list occurred.

“Oh, this is just great,” she muttered, briefly touching her forehead to the steering wheel in a gesture of peevishness. After a deep breath, Kate switched off the ignition and climbed from the car. She stalked round the hood to the passenger’s side.

“A flat tire.” Her groan emerged long and heartfelt. Okay, basic car maintenance—she could do that. Then her gaze traveled the length of the car. The soft hiss of escaping air indicated another rapidly deflating tire.

Irritation boiled over into temper and Kate kicked the front tire. The howl of pain that burst between her clenched teeth made passersby stare. Two teenage girls darted a quick look at Kate and crossed to the other side of the road. Kate didn’t know whether to laugh at the girls’ reaction or cry at her cursed bad luck. She sank to a heap on the sidewalk, placed her head in her hands and groaned.

“Do you need help, love?”

The gruff, masculine voice snapped her head up with a start. Kate’s gaze raced over massive tree-trunk legs to settle on the tattooed face of a fierce-looking man. Instinctively wary, she edged away until she noticed the sincere concern in his brown eyes. She jerked her head toward the pathetically listing Nissan. “Two flat tires. Only one spare,” she said.

The grin softened his fearsome face. “I could help you change one tire.”

Although he appeared amiable, too many strange things had happened to her recently for Kate to encourage chitchat. Lectures from her parents about stranger-danger flooded her mind. “Thanks, but I can manage.”

“It’s not a problem,” he insisted.

A taxi drove past. Two young men and a girl chatted outside an old villa. There were lots of people about, a mere holler away. Kate gave a stiff nod and accepted the beefy hand he extended to haul her to her feet.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.