A Beautiful Mess

Chapter 6

Sydney stepped out into the fresh night air taking a deep breath, letting it sooth away the stress in her shoulders. Spending the day so close to Dr. Easton had been draining, and after he had helped her with the box the tension had only increased, but she had been determined to spend the entire day working so that she could skip the following day.

She climbed on her bicycle and started the long ride back to the hotel. She was glad that the bicycle had a light and reflector, it made the journey in the dark a little less dangerous. She had also learned a shortcut that kept her off of the highway as much as possible.

About twenty minutes into her journey, and only a few minutes away from the diner, she reached the highway. She was going along at a nice clip when she heard a horn blare from behind her. It frightened her so much that she fell off her bicycle and landed in scrub bush on the side of the road.

Sydney heard a screeching of wheels, and as the vehicle came to a sudden stop, and she lifted her head up in time to see Dr. Easton getting out of his truck and bearing down on her. He looked furious. With a heavy sigh, she lowered her head, closing her eyes. Maybe if she played dead he would go away.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" he yelled as he leaned over where her body lay sprawled in a bush.

"Apology accepted, Dr. Easton, and don't worry, I'm not hurt much," Sydney fired back without bothering to open her eyes. She could all but hear his teeth grinding as he stood silently above her.

Gathering up all the nerve she had, she peeked out at him from her lowered lashes, but it was hard to see him in the dark.

"Answer my question, please." He had done his best to rein in his anger but it was still there, she could sense it.

"I am going to get my dinner, and then I'm going back to the hotel."

Dr. Easton's hands reach out to pull her out of the bush with such force that she landed against him, forcing all of the air from her lungs once again. Sydney could feel every inch of him pressed against her.

"Are you trying to kill me!" she roughly asked a few moments later when she had regained her breath and had managed to push away from him. His arms had been far too warm and comforting as they had held her despite his anger.

He didn't answer as he turned his back to her and marched over to where her bicycle had landed. He picked it up as if it weighed nothing and threw it in the back of the truck. Then he marched back over to where she was standing, watching him, completely dumbfounded, and grabbed her arm pulling her towards the truck.

"And what the hell do you think you're doing!" she repeated his earlier question, digging her feet into the ground, fighting him as much as she could.

"I'm taking you to get some dinner then back to the hotel." This time it was Sydney's turn to grind her teeth. Easton must have had enough of fighting her because he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

She paused, completely shocked, and laid limply over his muscular shoulder. By the time she had regained her wits, he was dumping her into the passenger side of the truck then picking up her legs and shoving them in behind her. It wasn't very graceful, and Sydney had to take a minute to straighten herself out of the twist in which she had landed.

"Buckle your seat belt," he said as he climbed in next to her.

Again, Sydney could only stared at him, her eyes shooting him her best death glance.

Impatient and deciding to take care of it himself, he reached across her and pulled the seatbelt down and across her body clipping it into place. His face was only inches from hers as he completed the move, and she could tell that he was still irate as the muscle in his jaw jumped.