Cloak

Chapter 2: Cold Day

I step out of my car and now have a full view of him. He is wearing a pair of dark washed jeans, and a light leather jacket undone exposing a white long sleeve shirt. I start to wonder how he can't be cold with only wearing what appears to be light layers. I glance up at his face, he is clean shaven with a strong chisled jaw. I glance up into his beautiful green eyes and notice he has been staring at me checking him out the whole time.

I blush a deep red and feel the heat build up into my ears. I break eye contact and stare down at the snow crunching beneath my boots. "Uhm.. I've been having trouble staring my car the last couple of days, I think it might be an issue with the car battery, maybe it's too cold, " I managed to get out with a mumble.

"Oh I can pull my jeep in front of your car and see if I can give you a boost," he offers.

"That would be great if you could.. of course you don't have to if you don't have time.." I finally managed to get out.

"Oh it's no trouble for me, I'm actually leaving the house earlier than normal for once," he laughed looking down at me. "My name is Jace by the way," he says extending his hand to me.

I reach out to grab his hand and suddenly I feel my fingertips start to tingle at the contact. His hand is so cold almost like ice, but I guess it makes sense since he's not wearing gloves. I break contact with his hands and glance down at my hand. What were those tingles? "I'm Dani, it's short for Danielle, it's nice to meet you," I managed to breathe out looking up into those stunning eyes again. I feel like a part of me melts everytime I stare into his captivating eyes.

Jace smiles, flashing perfect white teeth that contrast nicely against the light pink of his lips. I suddenly feel the urge to kiss those perfect lips but I quickly shake that thought out of my head feeling a blush creep across my face again. I barely know this man, he is an absolute stranger to me. But yet he is the most handsome man I've ever met in my life. I look back up at him again and feel my blush deepen as I realize he is staring at me again.

He turns on his heel and runs over to a new black jeep parked around the bend of my street. I find it odd that I've never seen his vehicle before. I must not have paid much attention to it before now. He gets in and starts his vehicle without an issue and drives it over to the front of my car so our front ends are about a foot apart.

He jumps out of his jeep and walks over to the front of his vehicle reaching under the hood and opening it up, I realize I should also open the hood of my car at this point. I quickly turn on my heel and walk to the driver side door I opening it and reach under the steering wheel to pull the hood release of my car. I walk to the front and reach between the gap and pull the lever opening my hood up and lifting the metal arm to hold it open.

"Do you have jumper cables?" he asks.

"Uh, yea I think they're in the trunk," I start to say.

He walks towards me until we are inches apart. I can smell the sweet scent of his clothes a magnificent blend of leather and cloves. I can feel the warmth of his breath dance on my face as he looks down on me. "I need your keys to get into your trunk," he laughs. He reaches toward my hand where I had forgotten I was holding my keys and as his fingers touch mine I feel tingles radiate up my arm and into my chest, causing butterflies to flutter in my stomach. I let go of the keys as he pulls his hand away from mine.

He walks to the trunk of my car, opening it with ease he digs around for a bit until he finds what he is looking for. He closes my trunk and walks back towards the front of my vehicle. "Found it," he whispers as he walks past me, sending shivers down my spine.

I watch as he connects the cables between our vehicles and climbs into my car, his large frame making it look like he is attempting to get into a clown car. I hear him attempt to start my car by the whir of the engine but it sputters and does not start. He tries a few more times but it seems there is no luck in her starting today.

He gets out of my car and combs his hair back with his fingers the sun picking this exact moment to peek out from the clouds casting its rays over his blonde hair. He is mesmerizing. I suddenly don't feel cold as I feel a heat rising inside of me as I imagine his large hands running over my naked body. What is wrong with me? I just met this man and yet he is able to do this to my body without touching me.

I snap back to reality as I realize I have been caught checking him out yet again. He chuckles as he asks, "how about I drive you to where you need to go? It's a cold day, and I wouldn't want you to have to walk to wherever you need to go. I don't mind and I can assure you I live in the neighborhood and won't harm you."

I ponder over his offer. I have never met or seen this man before. However, he was nice enough to try to help me start my car. Before the rational side of my brain can take over I hear myself say  "sure, i'll just need to let my roommate know that you're taking me."

"Ok, I'll wait for you in the jeep," he smiles.

I turn towards the house and walk up the driveway, climbing the creaky steps I glance back and see Jace wave at me already inside of his vehicle. I continue into the house as I hear the shower running upstairs. "Lisa?" I call.

"Yea?" I hear her reply, her voice carrying down the stairs.

"My car won't start again today and a neighbor offered to drive me to class, I'll send you a text when I'm at the school so you know I wasn't kidnapped ok?" I shout.

"Ok, be careful," I hear her call after.

I turn and head out the front door again. I go to lock the door again and realize Jace still has my keys. I walk down the steps and head toward his vehicle where I see him sitting. As I step down onto the pavement I feel my boot slip from under me and I feel myself fall back trying to regain  my balance but failing. I brace my body as I anticipate my spine hitting the steps behind me but instead of the sharp pain of the steps I feel strong arms catch me instead.

I glance up into Jace's beautiful green eyes looking down at me, "are you ok?" He asks, worry lacing his voice.

"Uh, yes.. but how did you.. I saw you in your vehicle.. how did you get here so quickly?" I asked confused.

"I was getting out of my jeep and I saw you about to slip so I ran to catch you and made it just in time," he said. 

"Oh," was all I managed to say.

"I figured you needed your keys to lock up your house and your car before we left," he said filling the silence.

"Uh, yea," I replied as I grabbed my keys from his hand. The metal cold to the touch as he placed them into my hand.

I turned around and locked my front door, then walked down to my car, Jace following closely behind to make sure I didn't slip again. I locked the door of my car testing it by pulling the handles to  make sure all the doors were locked. 

Jace opened the passenger door of his jeep for me and closed it behind me after I got in before walking around to the driver's side. I put my cold hands against the vents in his jeep as I felt the warm air warming my frozen body. "Where are we going," he asked looking over at me.

"To the university," I replied. "My first class is at 9."

"We better get there quick then if you don't want to be late," he said smiling at me as he pushed the shifter of his jeep into drive and pulled away from my driveway.