She glared at the flat on the back tire, wondering why luck just wasn’t on her side. She’d had a rough go of it for a long time now, and she’d thought she was coming out on the other side at last. Now this.

“Kelsey, can you grab the lug wrench in the back? Just be careful not to knock over the candy. I’ll deal with checking out the spare once I see if I can even get the lug nuts off.” Assuming this old van even had a spare.

Kelsey, a pretty girl with brown hair and bangs, met Faith’s gaze, eyes wide. “You can change a tire?” the twenty-one-year-old asked.

Faith managed a laugh or else she might cry in frustration. “I’m going to try.”

When Faith was young, her dad, before abandoning Faith and her mother and older brother, had been a car fanatic. Always have a lug wrench in your car, baby girl. It’ll save you any time you have a flat. Not that a ten-year-old knew anything about changing tires, but Faith had hung on her daddy’s every word until one day he hadn’t come home. After that, Faith had given up on learning about cars, but she knew what she had to do from a class she’d taken in high school.

Accepting the lug wrench from Kelsey, she knelt down by the tire once more. When all her strength wouldn’t turn the nut and she tried all four of them, she groaned, rose to her feet, and kicked at the tire in annoyance.

“Pretty sure that won’t help,” Kelsey said, just as Faith muttered an obscene curse thanks to the pain shooting through her foot.

She was in so much agony, she barely registered the car stopping, then pulling into the open spot in front of her van until a large man approached them, making her aware they were two women alone on an empty street in the dark.

Using the wrench as her defense, she held it up in front of her. “Don’t come near us.”

“Relax.” He stepped to the side until he was underneath a streetlamp, the glow illuminating his features. “Do I look like a killer to you?”

She studied him, a handsome man with dark brown hair, in a wool coat with his tie visible. “Ted Bundy was handsome, too.”

He grinned and her heart skipped a beat. My God, he was good-looking. A dimple beside that amazing smile winked at her, and body parts she’d thought long dead came to life.

“Thank you … I think?” he said with a shake of his head. “Or not. Look, you obviously need help.” He strode past her, ignoring her weaponry, and knelt down by the tire. “What about roadside assistance? Did you call?”

She glanced at his obviously expensive coat, had noted his suit beneath and brand name shoes. “Umm, does this old hunk of junk look like it comes with roadside assistance?” She shot him a look of disbelief. “Some of us can’t afford luxuries and AAA is definitely a luxury.”