Blown Away (9 page)

Over the course of the next week, I found myself disappointed in the fair weather. Clear skies meant no storms, which made for some bored storm chasers. We went out several days, but ended up just driving and never getting anything more than rainfall.

On one of our days at the campground, I offered haircuts to anyone who needed one. I'd learned how to cut hair at the salon and I'd been dying to give Millie a cut that would flatter her. Her black curls were pretty, but too shaggy and heavy for her delicate face. She took me up on the offer, and Murph did, too.

The one person whose hair I was desperate to get my hands in said he didn't need a haircut. The stormy look in Aiden's eyes when he refused me and then left for a hike confirmed that it would've been a sensual experience for him, too. If I'd been able to stand between his legs while he sat, I was confident I could change his mind about touching me.

It was on our seventh non-stormy day in a row that I found myself spending several hours with Dot at her motorhome. She'd made chicken salad for lunch and we were working our way through a pitcher of sweet tea while I did her hair.

“Can you give me a nice curl helmet?” she asked me. “That's what the girl who does my hair at home calls it.”

I smiled. “I can. The cut turned out really nice.”

“Give me a nice big helmet,” she said. “And don't hold back on the hairspray.”

“Wouldn't dream of it.”

“So why aren't you having a lazy day in bed with G.I. Joe?”

“He doesn't think we should be in bed together.” I tested out my curling iron and started on Dot's hair, which was white and wild after being blow-dried.

“Huh. And you tried to persuade him?”

I shrugged. “Sort of. We talked about it.”

Dot gave a disgusted sigh. “Well, there's your problem. You need to shake your ass for him. Show him what he's missing.”

“I'm not much of an ass-shaker,” I said, laughing.

“If I had your ass, I'd be shaking it around the clock. Best enjoy it while you've got it, honey. My ass looks like cottage cheese these days.”

Being around Dot reminded me of the salon, where nothing was off-limits. I'd missed being part of these conversations.

“You'll have to shake it for your husband tonight,” I said. “With your sexy new hair and all.”

“We're old. We'll be in bed not long after the sun goes down.”

“Nothing wrong with that. I probably will be, too.”

Dot turned to look at me as soon as I finished one of her curls. “Try harder, Drew. You want him, don't you?”

I nodded.

“And he wants you, too. He said so, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I think you need each other.”

Her words hit me like a slap in the face. Maybe Aiden and I
did
need each other. We were both wounded and lonely. I needed to discover sex with a man other than the one I'd lost my virginity to. He needed to realize that feeling something during sex was actually a good thing.

Maybe we weren't meant to fall in love and be together forever. Maybe we were meant to heal each other during this trip and come out of it surer of ourselves.

There was no man I trusted like Aiden to take care of me. If I needed to go slow or changed my mind at the last minute, I knew he'd be okay with it. There was no better man to help me move on with my life by rediscovering sex.

“You may be onto something, Dot,” I murmured.

She hummed her agreement. “You don't live for seventy-one years without picking up a thing or two along the way.”

“I'll try shaking my ass,” I said, grinning. “Just a little.”

I'd finished Dot's hair and was reading in a lawn chair beneath the shade of the large oak tree on our lot when Aiden returned to camp, soaked from head to toe in sweat.

“Are you okay?” I asked, putting my book down and sitting up.

“Yeah. It's just hot. Did twelve miles.”

He slid his pack to the ground and sat down in a lawn chair across from me. A droplet of sweat fell from his hair onto his bristled cheek and I resisted the urge to jump out of my chair and onto his lap to wipe it away.

He did look like G.I. Joe right now. His sweaty olive-green shirt outlined the lines of muscles on his chest. The camo pants he had on were well-worn, as were his dark brown hiking boots.

“You look hungry,” he said, clearly trying not to smile.

He was teasing me for looking at him. I decided to just own it. “I am.”

“I'm gonna shower and then go get lunch. You want to join me?”

“For the shower or the lunch?”

He smiled and sighed deeply, reaching for his crotch to make a subtle adjustment.

“Lunch,” he said, his eyes locked on mine.

He was used to me jumping at his every offer. This time I'd give him a taste of his own medicine.

“Nah, I'm good,” I said, picking up my book.

He pressed his lips together and I wondered if that was his disappointed look.

“You want me to bring you something back?” he asked, getting up from his chair.

“No, thanks. I'm going out with Millie tonight and I think we'll eat there.”

Aiden arched his brows in question. “Out? Where?”

“I'm not sure. She just asked if I wanted to earlier and I said sure.”

“What, in the Funnel Finder?” His lopsided grin was so damn cute.

I shrugged. “Guess so.”

“We can take my truck.”

“What if it's girls' night out?”

“You guys can talk about tampons and shit all you want.”

I laughed at his serious expression. “What if we want to talk about men? Or pick some up?”

He narrowed his eyes. “It'll be hard to pick men up with me right next to you.”

I wanted to be indignant, but I couldn't. Instead I was warm from the thought of him being next to me all evening.

“Suit yourself,” I said, turning back to my book.

He picked up his pack, took it into his camper, and emerged a minute later with a mesh bag of shower supplies slung over his shoulder.

I read a few sentences in my book, but had to go back and read them again. And then again, because I couldn't seem to concentrate on anything but the thought of Aiden's sweaty, naked body beneath hot jets of shower water.

We went to Jack's, a low-key sports bar in the nearest town. The mostly male crowd was glued to two big-screen TVs showing baseball games.

Since I'd cut her hair, Millie had ditched the beret and was letting the world see her dark curls. She was petite and very pretty, but I sensed she didn't think men would find her worth a second glance.

I was giddy inside when a guy at the table next to us struck up a conversation with her.

Aiden leaned close and spoke to me in a low tone. “Good thing I came. You look so sexy tonight you would've been fighting guys off.”

I arched a brow in amusement. “Think so? My V-neck T-shirt and old jeans are that hot?”

“Fuck yeah they are. Your cleavage is enough to make a grown man cry, Drew. And you smell like you wanna get fucked.”

My nipples hardened and I crossed my arms to cover them. “Is that what perfume signifies, then?”

“That one, on you? Hell yes.”

I leaned in and spoke in his ear softly, making sure he could feel my breath on his skin. “At least tell me you're hard right now.”

“I'm surprised the table's not sticking up in the air from the force of my erection, baby.”

My mouth dropped open and my cheeks heated. Just hearing him call me “baby” was enough to create a pulse of arousal between my legs.

“You're a tease,” I said, leveling a glare at him.

He furrowed his brow. “You want me to stop?”

“No.”

His lips curved up in a satisfied smile. I leaned forward to speak in his ear, brushing my lips against it this time. “Did you think about me in the shower today?”

His deep, soft groan answered my question.

“Will you two just get it on already?” Millie snapped from across the table.

“What's it to you?” Aiden said, sounding amused.

“It's painful to watch you guys flirt so shamelessly and never take it all the way. We all know you'd be good for each other.”

Aiden cleared his throat nervously. Our waitress returned, saving him from having to respond.

We shared hot wings and nachos and made small talk about Millie's postgrad program and the forecast for the upcoming few days. There was a storm developing that looked promising for spawning a tornado. I was feeling an itch to see one again already.

The campground was quiet when we got back. Darkness had settled, and Millie headed into the brightly lit motorhome.

“You feel like hanging out?” Aiden asked. “We could watch a movie or something.”

“Sure.”

He opened the door to his camper and waited for me to step inside. My heart raced as I passed him.

When he stepped in, I thought of Dot's encouragement from this afternoon. I wasn't going to shake my ass unless I got desperate. I hoped it would take less than that to convince Aiden we should live in the moment on this trip and give in to what we both wanted.

Only the moonlight and the faint glow of an outside light mounted on a pole nearby illuminated the inside of the camper. I stared at the outline of Aiden's broad shoulders, my gaze shifting to his eyes as he stepped toward me.

“Aiden,” I said softly. “Touch me. Please.”

“One touch won't be enough.” His low tone made me consider closing the distance between us and physically throwing myself at him.

“I want your hands on me,” I said. “You say you want me, and here I am. Make me feel good, Aiden. You're the only one who can.”

“You're a nice girl, Drew.” His eyes were dark and sensual as he spoke in a low tone. “I don't think you want me slapping your ass and pulling your hair while I whisper dirty things in your ear.”

“Yes…I do.” I could barely get the words out, my cheeks burning as I said them.

It was exactly what I wanted—hard, sweaty sex that would satisfy the ache I felt every time I looked at him.

“Don't say things you don't mean,” he cautioned.

“Don't make me want things you aren't willing to do.”

He came closer, a predatory gleam in his narrowed eyes. I took a step back, feeling a tall kitchen cabinet against my back. He took another step, heat radiating from his powerful frame. When he put his palms on the cabinet next to my shoulders, effectively boxing me in, I sucked in a breath, waiting. And wanting.

My heart raced as he leaned in. I was desperate for him to touch me. Anywhere would do. I just wanted Aiden's hands on my skin.

“You're playing with fire,” he said, his lips just inches from mine. My face was turned up, giving him the universal “kiss me” signal.

“Aren't we both?” I managed.

He pushed forward on his hands and then moved back suddenly.

“Get out of here, Drew, before I do something crazy.”

“Why would it be crazy? Just because it's me?”

“Yes.”
He cupped the back of his neck with both hands and my gaze shot to the rippling muscles on his arms. “I'm not gonna fuck you up against a wall like you're some cheap whore, Drew. You're way too good for that.”

“I'm tired of being too good.”

He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. The outline of his erection was visible against the dark fabric of his jeans.

“Then tonight I'll be good for both of us,” he said. “Trust me, I'm saving you from feeling like shit later. You need to go.”

Anger and frustration coursed through me. I'd done everything in my power, but it wasn't enough. He didn't want me enough to give in.

“I'm going.” I stalked over to the door. “And I'm done with this. No more comments, no more innuendo. It's all storm chasing for you and me from here on out.”

I opened the door and left before he could respond. Tears of humiliation pricked at my eyes. Aiden was right—he wasn't the man for me. Anyone worth my time wouldn't leave me feeling this way over and over. It was time for me to move on.

Drew wouldn't even look at me today. We'd been on the road to Arkansas for more than an hour and she'd been buried in a book the whole time.

“You want to stop for coffee?” I asked, hoping to break the ice.

“I'm fine, thanks.” But her short tone said she was anything but fine.

“Breakfast?”

“No, I'm good.”

I exhaled deeply. “Don't be pissed at me. You know where I'm coming from on this.”

Silence.

I tried again. “Drew. Look at me.”

“I can check the forecast if you need me to,” she said, not looking up.

So she was playing it this way.

“Fine,” I said, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “You don't have to take part in the conversation, but I'll just say again that it's not that I don't want you.”

She sniffed and turned the page of her paperback.

“Damn it.” I shifted in my seat. “I'm dying here. I can't just sleep with you and then go about my life. It'll kill me. You need someone who can fall in love with you, and I'm just not made that way. But I still care, and it's easier for me to never have you than to get a taste and then lose it.”

She looked up from her book, eyes narrowed and lips pressed together in an angry line.

“What?” I asked. “What'd I say wrong?”

“A
taste
? That's crude, Aiden. You mean a taste of my—”

“No! Christ, that's
not
what I was saying. You see what I mean? I don't know shit about communicating with women outside the bedroom.”

“Well, we never even made it that far, did we?”

I shook my head. “This is why I've been single
forever
.”

She glared at me again. “So you've never had anything but one-night stands? Ever?”

“Mostly. I've had multiple one-night stands with women, but I was clear up front that it was only sex. We didn't date or snuggle or any of that shit.”

“How ironic that
only sex
is what I'm asking for.” The hurt in her tone created a tug in my chest.

“It wouldn't be that simple with us.”

“Are you worried about breaking my heart?”

I turned away and looked out the windshield at the gray pavement of the road. “Yeah. But I'm also selfishly worried about my own heart.”

She sighed softly. “Oh, Aiden.”

“I get hard when you say my name,” I said, shaking my head with disgust. “How fucked up is that? You're…I don't even know how to say it, but you're more than just a woman to me. So much more. If I was cut out to make something work with any woman, Drew, I'd want it to be you.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't apologize.”

She reached toward my arm but pulled back at the last second. “I have to apologize. I've been hoping we could at least have a just-sex thing since we're here together and there's obviously chemistry. I don't know what's next for me, but I'm not looking to fall in love and get married. I feel like that ship's sailed. I want to discover
me,
because I never got to do that. It was stupid of me to think there wouldn't be emotional fallout from us having sex. I care about you, too.”

The pleading in her sky blue eyes ripped a hole in my chest. She was telling me she cared, so why did it hurt so damn much?

Never in my wildest dreams had I thought I'd go from having Colby in my truck last year to having Drew next to me now while we discussed our attraction to each other. It was supposed to be the secret I kept buried deep inside forever. I was supposed to smile through the pain while I stood next to Colby as his best man at their wedding.

“In another life, you'd have been my girl,” I said softly. “I've wondered what might've happened if I'd been the one to run into you that day at the grocery store instead of Colby.”

Drew let out a soft exhale. “Even back then…when he was alive, you—”

“Yeah. I was a piece of shit who wanted my best friend's girl.”

Her low hum was sympathetic. “You'd only be a piece of shit if you'd acted on it. And, Aiden…I had no idea.”

I felt a sick churning in my stomach and decided on a whim to tell her something I'd never shared with anyone.

“It should've been me who died that night.”

“Don't say that. Don't ever say that.”

“No, I mean…I was gonna go back home with Colby. I'd have been right behind him that night. We both would've pulled over. And knowing him, he'd have been chatting up the driver of the car while I changed the tire. I decided not to go home because they needed cleanup help so bad and it wasn't like I had anything to get home to.”

“You can't think that way, Aiden.”

I glanced at her. “I usually don't. But occasionally it creeps in, you know?”

My phone buzzed from the cup holder with a new text.

“Will you check that for me?” I asked.

Drew grabbed my phone, swiped the screen, and read me the message.

“It's from Tex. He says ‘This storm is a monster. The radar gave me a boner.' ”

I smiled at Tex's unfiltered message. “Can you grab my iPad and look up the radar? I need to know what we're going into.”

We were all business after that, discussing the forecast and my plan to launch more probes if we saw a twister. When we were an hour out from the storm, we stopped for gas and I watched Drew run into the gas station to pick up some sandwiches.

A guy in a baseball cap and a Georgetown T-shirt held the door open for her when she was walking out. He made a comment and she smiled.

My reaction was the opposite. I had a strong urge to punch the guy when he moved closer to her and started up a conversation. His gaze roved up and down her body like a wolf eyeing its dinner. I jerked the gas nozzle out of my truck as soon as it was full of gas and shoved it back into the pump with more force than necessary.

Drew was walking toward the truck and waving at the college boy, who was still talking. He was also still looking, and my muscles tightened with tension.

“Hey,” she said, grinning as she approached the truck. “Chicken salad or ham and cheese?”

She held up the plastic-encased sandwiches and I cringed. “They look equally disgusting. I'll take whichever one you don't want.”

A breeze picked up her hair and blew it across her face. The sky was darkening fast. I got in the truck and headed for our destination, hoping to get there before shit turned bad.

“It's not the worst sandwich I've ever had,” Drew said.

“Yeah?” I took a bite of the chicken salad one she handed me. “What
was
the worst sandwich you ever had?”

“My mom once made us honey sandwiches. We were out of peanut butter and jelly. I think that was the worst. What about you?”

I thought about it. “I can't think of a sandwich any worse than some of the MREs I ate in the Middle East. The day I got home I ate several pounds of fresh fruit because I hadn't had it in so long.”

“My friend Dot calls you G.I. Joe.”

I furrowed my brow, confused. “Who's Dot?”

“She's staying at the campground with her husband, Herb. And she says if she was forty years younger she'd be all over you.”

“How old is she?”

“Seventy-one.”

“Damn. Tell her I'm flattered.”

A gust of wind whipped at the truck and I tightened my hold on the steering wheel as I held it steady. I hadn't seen winds this strong all season.

“You look nervous,” Drew said.

“Nah, I'm not.”

“That crease between your brows only comes out when you're nervous.”

I held back a smile. “Maybe a little. This wind's gonna be a bitch if it keeps up.”

Not only did it keep up, it was gusting even harder by the time we got to the rendezvous point where the others were waiting. Murph left me and Drew to keep an eye on our spot between an open field and a wooded area while he took his team up onto a bluff.

A light drizzle started and got heavier within a minute. The wind whipped it in sideways sheets, making it hard to see.

“Drew!” I called.

“Over here!”

Her voice was close but I couldn't see her. The rain was pouring down now, and my instincts kicked in. We weren't safe here.

“I left my purse over here, it's got to be soaked.” Her voice got farther away and my heart kicked up a notch.

“Drew, hold on. We need to be in the truck.”

I followed the direction her voice had gone, the wind blasting rain into my face and making it impossible to see.

“Drew! Talk to me!” I cupped my hands around my eyes so I could see.

Nothing. My heart pumped hard as I raced in the direction I'd last heard her.

“Aiden?”

I made her out through the rain and covered the twenty feet separating us. I had to yell over the powerful wind.

“In the truck!”

A deep cracking noise sounded and I felt the vibration of part of a tree hitting the ground. This storm was going bad fast. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face anymore. The wind howled around us and the rainfall was so heavy it was already pooling at my feet. My truck was more than fifty feet away now, and there was a huge tree next to where I'd parked it. We'd be safer in the drainage ditch running alongside the road.

“In the ditch,” I said, pointing.

Drew didn't hesitate. She dropped her purse and got in. The ditch was already filled with a couple inches of water.

“Lie on your back,” I said, stepping down behind her. A gust of wind hit my back as I got down and lay on top of her, wrapping my arms around her head.

The wind howled through the trees and I said a silent prayer.
Not her, too.

Drew's heart pounded rapid fire against my chest. She was scared, and damned if I wasn't, too. Not much did that to me, but feeling her fear warm and sure against my body and not being able to take it away…that was terrifying.

“It's gonna be okay,” I said in her ear. “Just hold on to me, Drew. I won't let anything happen to you.”

It was a promise I wasn't sure I could keep. I knew all too well that when Mother Nature wanted to exert her wrath, nothing could stop her. But I also knew I'd die before I let harm come to Drew, and that brought me a measure of peace.

She wrapped her arms around my back and held on. My cock twitched and firmed, oblivious to the natural disaster overhead. Having Drew warm and soft against my body was too powerful a turn-on to be denied. Considering I'd never even touched her, this was a hell of a place to be.

The wind died down and the rain let up a little.

“We can head for the truck now,” I said in her ear. “Stay close to me.”

She turned her face just an inch, enough for her cheek to brush against mine. Her skin was soft and tempting.

But we were still out in a hell of a storm, so I had to think with the head on my shoulders. I pushed myself up and reached for her hands to pull her up.

I dropped one of her hands and she squeezed my fingers with the other one. She was silently asking me not to let go. I squeezed back with a promise that I wouldn't.

How could I? Now that I'd felt her against me, how the hell could I ever go back?

She picked up her soggy purse and I led her back to the truck. When I reached for the handle to the passenger door, she pushed her back against it. I looked down at her upturned face. There was something in her eyes I'd never seen before.

Her chest rose and fell, her white T-shirt plastered to her skin. I didn't even want to breathe, because any movement would spoil the perfection of this moment.

When she raised our intertwined hands up to her face and put my hand on her skin, I groaned softly. I brushed my thumb over her wet cheek, my eyes never leaving hers.

No fucking way was I going back now. I wrapped my other hand around her waist and pressed it to the small of her back, pulling her against me. And then I lowered my mouth to hers, just tasting her soft, sweet lips for a couple seconds. After that, my primal urge for more took over.

I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her body flush against mine. Then I kissed her deeply, finally giving in to what I'd wanted for so long. She moaned into my mouth and I lost all sense of the wind and rain. There was nothing but us, and I'd never felt something so undeniably right.