Maybe it would be sex, but she hoped not. Maybe it wouldn’t be him, it would be her. She’d always been so confident in the bedroom, but he had her mind all messed up. She’d never been here before. She’d never felt this way with anyone before. When she wanted it, she went for it—except, of course, with Brian, whom she’d set upon some unattainable pedestal long ago. So, so close, but so far away. Would the same thing happen here?
She and Jared had kissed, and there had been a promise in that kiss, there’d been words spoken in the heady heat of desire, but did any of it really mean anything? When she had feelings for someone, when she respected someone—a rarity for her—was she doomed to sabotage herself before she could even get started?
The whole stormy night was ahead of them. Just the two of them. She could take this opportunity, or she could watch it slip through her fingers out of stubbornness or fear. All at once, she realized her hands were trembling. The first fat splats of rain hit the windshield. Scooting across the seat to be by his side, she put one of those trembling hands lightly on his denim-clad thigh. Feeling the muscle strong and firm under her fingers, imagining touching the skin underneath the fabric. He looked at her, his eyes piercing and intense even in the darkness. Those eyes caught her, pulled her in, drowned her.
“I want you,” she said softly.
His breath caught. He had to look back at the road in front of him, but he slid an arm around her shoulders and hugged her close to his side. The entire world held its breath while she waited for him to say something, to do something, to stop the truck and take her right here on this lonely road if he had to. She could crawl on top of him. It would be so easy.
“You’ve had a lot to drink,” he said.
Her heart dropped to her stomach. “Don’t tell me that,” she said. “Don’t tell me I’ve ruined this, that something else is my fault—”
He put the brakes on. Stopped the truck right in the middle of the dirt road and threw it into Park. Looked at her so intensely, she wondered how her soul would survive being pierced so deeply. “You haven’t ruined anything. When it happens for us, Starla, you’re going to remember it for the rest of your life.”
Oh. Oh God.
The lightning slicing overhead had nothing on that which flickered through her body at his words. The thunder had nothing on her beating heart. “When it happens for us…”
When. Not if.
He kissed her, not the teasing exploration from last night, not a promise—promises could be broken. It was an assurance as definite as the sun rising tomorrow that he would make good on his words. Deep, thorough, his tongue meeting hers, sliding, causing her to whimper in her throat as his hands framed her face, his fingers sinking into her hair. No one to interrupt them now. Everything about him invaded her—the spice of his mouth, the rasp of his beard against her tender flesh, the sound of his shuddering breath. He smelled like heaven. She couldn’t describe the scent, but already she craved it like air. Her nipples hardened, tightening around her piercings, the tiny weights only accentuating their sensitivity. She throbbed. All over.
But his hands never strayed from her face. They didn’t stroke and soothe all the inflamed areas craving his touch. His mouth broke from hers, both of them panting raggedly, inhaling each other’s breath as they tried to get a grip and thunder growled overhead. His hands hadn’t strayed, no, but somehow she felt the effort it was costing him to leave them where they were, cradling her face as if it was precious to him.
It didn’t seem right. Less than twenty minutes ago, she’d broken down in front of him over another man. And he wanted her anyway. He’d admitted to the ruination of his marriage because of another woman. She wanted him anyway. Maybe they weren’t right for each other. Maybe they would tear each other to pieces before it was over. Having him just once, feeling this all the way to completion, would be worth the danger to her heart. She knew it somehow.
“Know what I like to do when it’s dark and stormy and I’m by myself?” she asked in the silence following that apocalyptic kiss, their noses and lips still only a breath apart.
“What?” His voice was lower and huskier than usual, dark and thrilling. She could imagine it saying all sorts of wicked things; she could imagine he was waiting for her to confess all sorts of wicked things.
“Huddle on the couch under a blanket with popcorn or ice cream and Netflix old black-and-white Twilight Zone episodes.”
He grinned, then chuckled, and finally gave an outright laugh, stroking her hair. “I have to say that wasn’t what I was expecting.”
“Didn’t think so. I just always thought it would be fun with a friend.”
Within the frame of that luscious beard, his lips curled. “That sounds like it would be amazing with a friend.”
Minutes later, though, after he’d turned on the windshield wipers and nudged his truck forward again, she feared it wasn’t to be. A sudden deluge made it hard to see beyond the initial glow of the headlights, but it was impossible to miss the sudden appearance of a large brown-and-white cow standing in the middle of the road, and a couple of others up ahead.
“Shit!” he cursed, slamming the truck back in Park. “My cows are loose.”
She almost wanted to laugh, but given his tone and the storm now raging outside, she knew it was no laughing matter. “What the hell do you do?”
Jared was already grabbing for his phone. “Round them up and repair the fence.”
“In this?”
“Can’t leave them out so that they get in other people’s yards.”
“But…” Her voice trailed off as he selected a contact and put the phone to his ear. She didn’t want to interrupt.
“It happens,” he told her as he waited for the other person to pick up. “The storm might have spooked them. If they get it in their heads to bust out, it’s hard for a fence to stop them.”
Starla jumped as lightning skittered through the clouds above, branching out like white veins at the same time a boom of thunder rattled the windows. Wind lashed the rain in sheets across the windshield, where the wipers worked furiously to clear it. The cows ahead bolted away up the road and Jared inched his truck along behind them. When the other party to his call apparently didn’t answer, he cursed and selected another. The road was quickly turning to mud in front of them.
She hoped there was some point to keeping these animals, because it all seemed like too much trouble to her. Finally, he got ahold of someone—his brother, he explained—to come and help him. Once the cows cleared the road in front of them, he drove up the long driveway to his house. The trees scattered around his property were practically bowing to the wind’s fury, but she could only see that as every flash of lightning cast them in a nightmarish silhouette. “This is crazy,” she yelled at him as they raced for his front porch and the shelter it provided. Even so, they were soaked by the time they reached it. He unlocked the door, preceded her inside, and hurriedly flipped on lights.
“Stay in,” he told her, rushing through the living room toward the hallway and presumably his bedroom.
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” she muttered, rubbing the water beaded on her arms. Gooseflesh prickled her skin. When Jared emerged from the hallway a minute later, he had on dark green mud boots, camo rain gear, and a very pissed-off expression. She stayed silent and out of his way as he headed toward the back door, listening as it banged closed behind him.
And she was alone in his house.
The desire to snoop was strong, and the need to crash on his couch and be useless stronger, as her head still swam from all the tequila she’d imbibed. But the man was braving savage elements for the sake of big dumb animals and the good of his neighbors, and while she felt utterly useless, surely there was something she could do to make him glad she was here.
She flipped on the TV to make sure he hadn’t just dashed out into an approaching tornado. No, so far there was only a severe thunderstorm warning. Lighting, straight-line winds sixty miles per hour and over. Possible hail. Jesus, that was bad enough. She felt chilled to the bone, and she was inside. She couldn’t imagine how he felt out there with that wind and rain whipping into his face.
But if she were out there, the first thing she would want upon returning was towels. And then coffee. So she found the bathroom off the hallway—presumably the one his twins used since it was stocked with every little-girl product imaginable—and raided a cabinet for a couple of towels to be waiting inside the mud room when he returned. Then she set coffee brewing in the kitchen, pausing as the lights flickered ominously…oh, no. If the storm knocked out the power, then her attempts at helpfulness would wink out with it. She had no idea where she would find candles. But even though the wind still raged and the lightning struck and the thunder crashed, the lights managed to stay on.
It seemed forever before the back door opened and multiple, laughing male voices boomed through the house. Starla, who’d been curled up on the couch watching TV and nearly dozing, bolted upright. Shit! She wasn’t ready to meet his people yet, half-drunk and still more than half-drenched. Her hair must look like a rat’s nest. Smoothing it down, she leapt to her feet and considered bolting for the girls’ bathroom to hide out. Too late—she heard one of the men comment that he smelled coffee, heard her name mentioned affectionately in Jared’s warm, welcome voice, and almost immediately she relaxed.