The Rescue: A Valentine's Novella Read online

  The Rescue

  By Twyla Turner

  ©Copyright 2017 Twyla Turner

  Cover photo: Fotolia.com

  Copyright by ©Laurha

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events are purely coincidental.

  To all the Valentine’s hopefuls out there.

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Other Books by Twyla Turner

  Connect with Author

  Chapter 1

  “Dammit! Why do I let myself get talked into this crap?” Val scolded to herself.

  She frowned at the miles of brake lights in front of her. Well, what she could see of them through the deluge of rain slouching over her windshield as her wipers worked overtime on their highest setting.

  “What a mess!” She grumbled under her breath.

  Not even her old school jams blasting through her speakers could uplift her foul mood. She’d let her boss talk her into driving into Houston to do his job, because he was busy preparing a Valentine’s Day extravaganza for his fiancée. So now she was stuck in horrific traffic, in the middle of the storm of the century and she’d just left Houston on her way back to San Antonio. The drive was already three hours. With the rain and traffic from an apparent accident, it was going to take several hours longer.

  “Lord, let those involved in the accident be alright. And let me get home at a decent hour.” She prayed up to the churning gray clouds above.

  Val saw an exit up ahead and had every intention of using it, if she ever got that close. She’d rather use back roads than to just sit there twiddling her thumbs.

  “How did he know I didn’t have plans myself?” Val pouted, even though she knew the answer.

  She’d worked for Mark as his assistant for ten years and in all that time had never had a man for Valentine’s Day. So it would be pretty safe for him to assume that she wouldn’t have one now.

  Even though Val’s name was short for Valentine (she was conceived that day and her mother had to have been high on bath salts when she decided on the name), she never had any such luck with the holiday. It was almost as if the name itself had jinxed or cursed her.

  Val always found herself as someone’s seasonal girlfriend. Cuffing Season to be exact. When the summer festivities wound down and the air turned crisp, Val found herself in the arms of what seemed to be decent men. September and October were her best months. Her relationships came on hot and heavy and happy. Then Thanksgiving would approach and sometimes the guy would invite her over to meet his family. Or most times he’d beg off and say that he wasn’t ready just yet, or his family was crazy and he didn’t want her tainted by them, or he’d say, “Don’t you want to spend time with your family and then we can do something together for Christmas?” Then when Christmas came, he’d either be long gone, too cheap to pay for a gift or they would spend Christmas and bring in the New Year together but he’d be gone shortly thereafter. Never long enough to celebrate the day of love.

  A couple of times she even had some extra slick dogs who gave her the slip after New Year’s Eve, only to pop back up at St. Patty’s Day or Easter. Then they’d end it by Memorial Day so they could be free during the summer. Needless to say, she was always single on the Fourth of July too. She’d always imagined kissing under the fireworks display.

  She was named after a holiday and she swore her life could be measured by them as well. So it was no surprise that on this Valentine’s Day it was shaping up to be another stellar day. Even worse than normal. Which she attributed to her worse than normal Cuffing/Holiday Season. September and October, her favorite months, came and went with zero prospects. She hadn’t been with anyone in over a year, her longest dry spell to date. It was no wonder she was stuck in horrific traffic during the worst rainstorm in months, possibly years, on the day of love.

  It took thirty minutes to travel a quarter mile where the exit was. She tapped the detour button on the GPS of her car’s console. She eased onto a back road and wondered briefly why no one else was going that route.

  The gray rain clouds had darkened the sky even earlier than normal. It wasn’t pitch black out yet, but it was getting there. Val turned on her high-beams to try to see better through the heavy rain. She leaned forward and turned down the radio so that she could concentrate better. She squinted as she tried to see through the windshield. Subconsciously, her fingers gripped the steering wheel in a death grip. She was so focused on staying between the reflective lines on the road that she missed the yellow ‘Flash Flood Area’ warning sign as she passed it.

  Val had been on the two lane highway for about an hour when it started to get somewhat hilly. She could see lights off in the distance, but mainly tried to focus on the road. The road dipped down again and when she reached the bottom a scream of pure terror ripped from her throat as something smashed into the side of her compact SUV. The force of it pushed her car over into the left lane. Luckily and not so lucky, no other car was on the road. Lucky, because she didn’t crash into anyone. Unlucky, because there was no one to help her.

  She squinted through the windshield and saw what had hit her car. A muddy rushing river flowed rapidly past her headlights. Debris surged along with it.

  The water rose higher around her car and Val’s heart rate along with it. She tried to press on the gas, but her car wasn’t going anywhere. The force of the current was too strong. With shaky hands, Val grabbed her purse and threw the shoulder strap across her body, preparing to exit her vehicle. Or at least she tried to get up the courage to exit her car. She was terrified of being swept away with the flood waters.

  As the water inched closer to the windows a bright light flashed within her car. Val looked up and saw a huge pickup truck stop at the top of the incline off to the side of the road. The truck was huge and black with bright flood lights in a row on top of the cab. Val inwardly cringed. If there was ever a vehicle that struck fear into the hearts of Black Americans, it was the big pickup truck in rural America with ‘black people seeking flood lights’ above.

  “Oh dear, Lord! What’s worse? Being swept away with your car or being rescued by a good ol’ boy out in the middle of nowhere Texas?”

  The driver’s side door to the truck opened and a pair of rough, mud-caked work boots landed on the muddy ground. The door shut and Val looked through the rain at the man as he walked to the front of his truck.

  “Sweet baby, Jesus.” Val cringed.

  The man was a beast. He was beyond six feet and his physique was big and solid. The kind of guy with plenty of muscles, but with a few layers of fluff on top. He wore relaxed fit jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt, and a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes.

  He immediately got soaked through with rain as he came around to the front of his truck. In the front, he had some kind of wire rope on a metal spool with a hook on the end of it. He pulled several feet of the cord, unwinding it from the truck. He wrapped the cord around his waist and secured it with the hook. Then the large man started heading into the water.

  Towards her.

  “Please don’t let this man string me up to his truck and drag me down the road,” Val begged as she watched him warily.

  He waded into the water, trying to make his way
to her quickly but carefully.

  “Roll down your window!” The man instructed loudly, trying to be heard over the rain and rushing water. “Try to get out far enough to sit on the window ledge!”

  Val nodded and took a deep breath.

  “Shit! I’m so not dressed for this,” she groaned.

  For her day in Houston, she chose a black forming fitting pencil skirt, shining black patent-leather heels, and a blush pink sheer blouse with a matching camisole underneath. She didn’t know why she still dressed in colors celebrating the holiday. She guessed she was still hopeful, somewhere deep down.

  She hit the button and fortunately the electrical system in the car hadn’t stopped working yet. It rolled down smoothly. The bad part was that the water had risen high enough to start rushing into her car, along with the ice cold battering rain. She gasped as the cold water hit her, drenching her clothes and sleek, straight hair instantly. She quickly got her upper half out of the car and held onto the top of the door for dear life.

  The man reached her just a few seconds after.

  “Wrap your arms around my neck and I’ll get ya outta here,” he said calmly with a soft but deep Texan accent.

  Val sent up a silent prayer that the man wouldn’t harm her and then did as she was told. As he reached for her, she placed her purse between them to keep it and her phone inside from getting too wet. Her arms wrapped around his thick neck and she held on tight as he wrapped one burly arm around her back and the other cradling her legs.

  Unfortunately, holding onto him so tightly brought Val closer to him and she could smell his clean scent. It was a combination of freshly laundered clothes and man. Her face was close to his and he had a well groomed beard that looked soft to the touch. Though she didn’t dare test it to see.

  A surge of water sped by almost knocking Val out of the man’s arms. She cried out and he clasped her tighter to him. Stranger or not, she clutched his neck as if her life depended on it.

  “It’s okay. I gotcha,” he spoke against her ear.

  Surprisingly, he made his way back up to his truck without one stumble. The big man was strangely graceful and smooth on his feet. He walked to the passenger side of his truck and opened the door. He helped ease her into the cab of the truck and then shut the door.

  Val trembled violently, though she wasn’t sure if it was from the cold rain, fear of being alone with a strange man in the middle of nowhere, or from something else that had to do with being held in strong arms for the first time in over a year. It was probably a combination of all three.

  Her eyes followed him as he walked back to the front of his truck and wound the cord back up. Then he moved to the driver’s side, opened the door, and hopped in.

  Her eyes following him the whole time, trying to see his face under his cap.

  “Let’s get ya warmed up,” he said as he glanced at her.

  She looked away.

  He reached for the temperature controls and cranked the heat up. Then he reached over to Val’s side of the truck to adjust the vents. His arm brushed her bare knee in the process. She flinched slightly, and then cringed, hoping that the flinch wasn’t obvious, but he hesitated and then slowed his movements down.

  Dammit! He noticed.

  He finished adjusting the vents to aim at her body and legs. And then moved back slowly. Deliberately. So that he didn’t scare her.

  Well, now I just feel like a bitch.

  He cleared his throat awkwardly.

  “Uh…I’m Bo. Bo Montgomery,” he held out his massive, beefy hand.

  “H-Hey, I’m Val. Val Hart.”

  She reached out and let him clasp her hand in his.

  The moment their hands touched electricity shot up Val’s arm and across the sky.

  Chapter 2

  Bo felt the current run through his arm to his body as lightning lit up the sky when their hands touched.

  He had been driving the perimeter of his ranch, checking for any longhorns that may have been stuck in the mud or caught in a flash flood. He hadn’t expected to come across a car on the verge of being swallowed up in rushing water on the small highway that ran along the edge of his property. But he was glad that he was there to help. He had no doubt that the car would’ve been swept away with its passenger in it if he had not come along.

  Bo also hadn’t expected to find a beautiful woman inside. Her pretty brown eyes had been wide with fear. And when he’d held her in his arms, carrying her across the flood waters, she’d felt warm and soft and inviting.

  Under the dome light in the ceiling of his truck, her skin glowed golden, like honey. Her hair was jet black and stopped a few inches past her chin in a long bob. Water dripped from her tresses that were starting to draw up in waves around her face.

  Her body was plump. And he was sure that there were some men out there that wanted some slender woman who could run marathons and bounce quarters off of her abs. But a woman with soft curves like Val was what appealed to Bo. Maybe it was because he didn’t have to be as careful. He could lose himself without worries of hurting a woman with curves like hers. No worries of breaking her. He was a large man and he’d been with tiny little things before. They always told him to slow down, don’t grip too tight, don’t go so deep, and so on. He always felt like a bull in a china shop.

  He’d felt like that every day of his failed marriage to Lou Ann.

  His first love, Charlene had been a lot like Val. So much so, his heart had sped up the moment she rolled down her window and he got a clear view of her face. He'd never felt clumsy or too big with Char and he imagined he wouldn’t with Val either.

  But he was getting way ahead of himself. First, he had to put her at ease.

  She don’t know me from Adam and I’m over here staring at her like I’m a bull in heat.

  “So…” Bo said as he expelled a pent up breath. “Where were ya headed, Val?”

  “Home. To San Antonio,” she said softly, wound tighter than a top.

  “So ya don’t come to these parts very often,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Well, most people from around here know not to come down this road during a heavy rainstorm,” he glanced over at her.

  Val nodded to herself and sighed.

  “I was wondering why no one was exiting and heading down the back roads. I guess I was being a little impatient.”

  “That’s alright. It happens. I’m just glad you’re okay. But unfortunately, your car’s gone.” Bo looked out the window to where her vehicle used to be, now fully submerged, and then looked up at the sky. “And it doesn’t look like this rain is gonna let up, which means these flood waters aren’t gonna be receding anytime soon either.”

  “I was afraid you’d say that,” Val said and Bo could’ve sworn her voice trembled.

  “Look, Val.” Bo turned in his seat to face her. “You can stay at my ranch for the night or as long as you need, until we can figure out how to get you home. I have a couple of spare bedrooms you can stay in. I have some hot stew on the stove as we speak. The perfect meal to warm ya up. You can even take a hot bath or shower and borrow some of my sweats, if you’d like. Whatever you need. Just know that you’re safe. I promise I’d never do you any harm.” Bo finished, trying to interject as much sincerity as he possibly could to put her at ease.

  He watched as the tension in Val’s shoulders visibly lessened.

  Slightly.

  “Thank you, Bo. I’d really appreciate any help you can give.”

  ~~~

  Val breathed somewhat easier, but still slightly on edge nonetheless.

  A serial killer could tell you anything.

  She watched as Bo put the truck in reverse and backed away from the rising temporary river. His headlights flashed over the place where her car had been. It was uncertain if it had washed away or still there but just completely covered by the water. Either way, it was a goner. She sighed inwardly at the loss of her little SUV. She wondered if her
car insurance covered it being swept away by a flood. She knew it would probably be a fight when she called them to find out, but she had to also give thanks that she was still alive. And she reluctantly had to give most of the credit to the stranger beside her.

  He drove through a rolling field towards lights that were off in the distance. The same lights Val was sure she’d seen before she’d gotten stuck. She assumed it was his home. As they came closer in the waning light, Val could see that it was his house and stables. And it was lovely.

  The home was a sprawling ranch made of tan, brown, and cream stone with wood and stucco accents. The roof was a dark brown metal. Val imagined the sound of the rain had to be amazing from the inside.

  The place was pretty massive, so she couldn’t see him living there all alone. She prayed that it wouldn’t just be the two of them.

  “So do you have family?” Val broached, hopefully. “This place is enormous. I’d figure you’d have a whole gang of kids.”

  “Nope. It’s just me.”

  “Seriously?!”

  “Yep. Now, come on. Let’s get you inside so you can get dry and warm.” Bo offered kindly as he slipped out of his truck.

  Val opened the door and followed.

  “Seems like a waste of a perfectly good house for just one man, if you ask me,” she said under her breath, worrying about being alone with him in his home.

  “What was that?” Bo asked curiously, looking as if he was trying to hold back a smile.

  “Nothing.”

  Val trailed behind him through the garage and into a mud room. Bo took off his muddy boots and Val followed his lead. She quickly kicked off her now squishy black heels, amazed they hadn’t been swept off of her feet in the water. She couldn’t wait to remove the rest of her cold and saturated clothing. Val soon realized that her host couldn’t wait either.

  It had gotten a little too quiet in the room and she looked up at Bo to find him gazing longingly at the front of her blouse. Val looked down and realized that her soaked blouse and camisole under it clung to her skin like glue, revealing her lacy black bra and hardened nipples underneath. She quickly crossed her arms over her chest, which seemed to snap Bo out of his hypnotic state.