Heat of the Storm (7 page)

She wouldn’t be attending the carnival this year, she decided as she unlocked the driver door of the old Chevy and sank into the seat. Not when she stil hadn’t spoken to Wil , not when she didn’t know if he would be there.

When she’d cal ed him this morning, she’d gotten beeped over to voice mail. She left a message asking him to cal her. He hadn’t. Cal ed an hour later, left another message. Cal ed a third time. A fourth.

And stil he hadn’t answered.

And each time she’d heard his voice on the message, her panic had escalated. What if he’d left the country? What if she was too late?

By the time afternoon rol ed around, she’d been ready to rip her own hair out. So she’d gotten in her car, driven into town to fil up the tank, and was now about to make the drive to Coronado. Screw his voice mail. She needed to see him. In person. She had to make sure he was okay

Gripping the steering wheel with icy fingers, she inhaled a calming breath. Tried to reassure herself that Wil was simply avoiding her cal s. He hadn’t left town. He wasn’t sitting on a chopper right now, and he was
not
dead.

The mere word—
dead
—sent panic soaring inside her body and brought tears to her eyes. No, she refused to think about the vision, or its frightening implication. Wil was fine. Of course he—

A loud honk drew her out of her anxiety, and when she turned her head in the direction of the intrusive noise, her anxiousness transformed into a pure jolt of relief.

An olive-green Jeep pul ed into the parking space in front of hers.

Wil ’s Jeep.

Before she could stop herself, she was out of her car and bounding toward the Jeep on shaky legs.

Unease, relief and excitement pounded in her veins.

She reached the driver’s door just as Wil was getting out.

The sight of him caused her bel y to do a funny little flip. God, he looked good. So unbelievably good in his faded jeans and close-fitting black T-shirt. But clothes didn’t make the man, and she knew from recent personal experience that Wil didn’t need a stitch of clothing to look good. In fact, the man was a female’s wet dream when he was naked. Her cheeks burned at the memory.

“You’re here,” she blurted out.

His dark eyes softened at the sight of her, but then his expression grew shuttered. “Couldn’t miss the carnival,” he said lightly.

“I…I cal ed you.” The twinge of desperation in her voice made her want to cringe. “I left a message.”

“Did you?” His tone was cool. “I haven’t checked my messages today.”

Okay, so he was stil angry with her. The stiffness of his impossibly broad shoulders and that distant look in his eyes confirmed it. And he hadn’t shaved in days, she noticed. Thick stubble dotted a jaw that was visibly tensed. She wished she knew how to make it better, how to bridge this awful distance between them.

“Wil ,” she murmured. “I’m…sorry.”

“Yeah, you said that last week.”

“I stil feel it.”

That dark gaze swept over her face. For a second she glimpsed a glimmer of regret there, a flash of desire, but then it snapped back to chil y and distant.

“So do I, Mac.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but whatever she’d been about to say—she wasn’t even sure what

—died a fiery death when a flicker of movement caught her eye. Shock barreled into her as she watched someone get out of the passenger side of Wil ’s Jeep.

Not someone.

A
woman
.

And not any woman, but a gorgeous one. A beautiful green-eyed brunette in Capris and a tank top, who marched over to Wil ’s side and top, who marched over to Wil ’s side and possessively linked her arm with his.

“Are you going to introduce me to your friend?” the woman asked with a teasing lilt to her voice.

Mac was frozen in place, unable to take her eyes off their interlocked arms. Wil had brought a woman with him? In al the years she’d known him, he’d never shown up in town with someone on his arm.
Never.

Something fierce and ugly reared up inside her.

She suspected that something was jealousy, but there was also a spark of resentment. He was
dating
someone? He’d had sex with her last weekend and now he was dating
someone else
?

“Hol y, this is Mackenzie,” Wil said gruffly. “Mac, Hol y.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” The lie flowed smoothly out of Mac’s mouth, while the anger flowed just as smoothly through her veins. Damn him for bringing a woman home. How could he do that after everything he’d said and done last week?

I want you, Mackenzie. Now. Always.

Ha!

“So you’re the friend Wil told me about,” Hol y replied with a warm smile.

A
genuinely
warm smile. Which meant that Wil hadn’t told his new girlfriend about that body-numbing sex he’d had with his
friend
.

Mac pressed her hands to the sides of her jeans, resisting the urge to use those hands to wring Wil ’s neck. “Wil and I have known each other for years,” she answered with forced casualness. “How do the two of you, uh, know each other?”

Hol y tightened her grip on Wil ’s arm, her green eyes twinkling as she got up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips over his stubble-covered cheek. Mac noticed how short the other woman was, and a pang of insecurity tugged at her gut. Compared to Hol y’s petite, pixie frame, Mac felt like a giant. Suddenly her height of five-eight seemed terribly enormous, al wrong for Wil . Wil and Hol y looked perfect together

—tal , muscular Wil and little, perfect Hol y.

It made her want to throw up.

“We actual y just met, um…” Hol y tilted her head thoughtful y, “…last Sunday. I work at a restaurant near the base, and Wil showed up for lunch. He came back to the kitchen after his meal and complimented my cooking.” Hol y’s cheeks flushed in an annoyingly cute way.

And she was a cook. How delightful. Mac couldn’t even make an omelet without burning something.

Before her confidence could take another hit, her brain stumbled on what Hol y had just said—last Sunday. Wil had met this girl the day after he’d rocked Mackenzie’s world during that storm. One day!

Was that al he’d needed to put the entire incident out of his mind? Was that why he hadn’t cal ed her this week, he’d been too busy rocking someone else’s world? And to think, she’d been frantic about his safety! Obviously he was quite safe with his new flame.

“Hol y just graduated from culinary col ege,” Wil said, shrugging his arm from Hol y’s and slinging it around her shoulder instead.

Mac tried not to stare at the careless way his fingers caressed Hol y’s bare shoulder. “That’s nice,” she said. “So…you two are in town for the carnival?”

“Yep,” he replied, expressionless.

“Wil was tel ing me al about it,” Hol y added as she snuggled closer to him. “I had the weekend off, so when he said he wanted to show me where he grew up, I couldn’t pass it up.” With a naughty smile, Hol y trailed one finger across Wil ’s chest. “I want to know
everything
about you, baby.” Okay, she was official y going to be sick.

Taking an awkward step back, Mac feigned a smile. “Wel , you’l have fun. The carnival is always, um, fun,” she said again. Another step backwards.

“I’ve gotta go. I left my car running.” Right, because

“I’ve gotta go. I left my car running.” Right, because there was actual y a chance one of the straight-laced Hunter Ridge residents might hop into her beat-up Chevy and commit grand theft auto.

“Wil you be at the carnival tonight?” Wil asked politely.

She continued inching away from the perfect couple. “Um, I’m not sure yet.”

“Oh, come!” Hol y said with another real-looking smile. “I’d love to get to know Wil ’s best friend.”

“Uh…”

“We’l save you a seat on the Ferris wheel,” Wil added.

She swal owed down a hysterical laugh. Yeah, like that would inspire her to show up. Sitting on a Ferris wheel with Wil and his new
girlfriend
was about as appealing as sticking pins in her eyes.

“Yeah, maybe,” she said noncommittal y. “If I decide to go, I’l find you guys. Anyway, um…bye.” Tearing her gaze from the two of them, she stumbled back to her car. As she slid into the driver’s seat, she was irritated to see that Wil and Hol y weren’t even paying attention to her anymore. Wil had planted his hands on Hol y’s slender hips, and the brunette’s arms were now locked around his strong, corded neck. Their bodies were pressed together, their faces inches apart. Mac averted her eyes before she could witness something she didn’t want to see—

Wil kissing another woman. But the mere thought of it sent waves of jealousy to her gut.

Damn him.

Clenching her teeth so hard her jaw ached, she pul ed out of the parking spot and drove away from Main Street as fast as she could.

Damn him.

Wil stared at the rear bumper of Mac’s car as she sped off. Satisfaction settled in his chest, along with a knot of pain that tightened his throat. He’d been so tempted to pul her into his arms when she’d hurried over to his Jeep. She’d looked so relieved, so happy to see him, and as annoyed as he was with her, he’d been happy to see her too. He always felt so empty when he was away from her.

But he’d restrained himself from embracing her, or planting a usual peck on her smooth, ivory-colored cheek. He’d brought Hol y here for a reason, and he wasn’t about to blow the charade in its first five minutes. Mac needed to see he wasn’t kidding around. He’d waited more than a
decade
for her. Any other man would’ve given up already, focused his attentions on a woman who actual y wanted to be with him. But Wil had exercised patience, waiting for Mackenzie to get over her unfounded fears, hoping she’d final y open her eyes and see that he was the only man for her.

Not even amazing sex had managed to sway her.

Even after he’d shown her the pleasure he had to offer, the love he was wil ing to give, she’d pushed him away. And the relief he’d glimpsed in her pale blue eyes when she’d walked up to him just now told him she assumed things could go back to normal, that he could put the sex out of his mind and go back to being her best bud. Wel , that wasn’t going to happen.

Mackenzie would either get al of him, or none of him, and hopeful y seeing him with another woman would be the kick in the butt she needed. The catalyst that pushed her to take that final step and admit she loved him.

“She is
pissed,
” Hol y said with a grin, dropping her hands from his neck.

He stepped back, his gaze stil on the now empty road. “Furious,” he agreed.

“Should we high-five?”

“Not yet,” he said with a laugh. “She’s stil not ready to make a move. I bet right now she’s probably trying to convince herself it didn’t bother her to see me with you.”

Hol y shook her head, looking frazzled. “If this was me and Carson, and I saw him with someone else, I’d bitch-slap the woman and claim my man.”

“She’s scared.”

“To be loved?”

“To be abandoned.” He swal owed. “Every guy she’s dated has dumped her when the visions got too scary for him. And this last break-up…it hurt her pretty badly. Dan—the guy she was with—said some seriously shitty things when he broke up with her.”

“Like what?”

“She didn’t give me al the details, but I got the feeling it was bad. The vision she had real y freaked him out.”

He frowned, wondering if maybe he ought to pay a visit to dear old Dan in the hardware store. Normal y he tended to avoid the men Mac dated, but Dan had always rubbed Wil the wrong way. And after Colin Garber died in that fire, Dan had definitely made Wil ’s shit list. Instead of comforting Mackenzie, the bastard had shoved her away like a piece of trash.

Then again, the break-up was the reason Mac had kissed him, and the reason he’d driven to her house last weekend, where they’d final y acted on the uncontrol able attraction between them. So maybe he should be thanking Dan.

He paused. Naah. He stil wanted to unleash a right hook in that creep’s jaw.

“Doesn’t she know you’re a Navy SEAL who doesn’t freak out easily?” Hol y asked.

“Al she knows is that I’m the only man who’s always stood by her. She thinks she’l lose me if she opens herself up ful y.”

“Wel , I think she’s sil y.” Hol y glanced around the quaint little street. “Is there anywhere good to eat around here?”

“There’s a bar around the corner. Serves some pretty decent chicken wings. But the diner is where I usual y go. Al -day breakfast.”

“Are you buying?”

“Of course.” He chuckled. “Don’t tel me Carson makes you guys go Dutch.”

“We don’t usual y go out to eat. The food I cook is better than anything you’l get in a restaurant.” She grinned. “Wel , my restaurant is the exception, but that’s because I’m the chef.” She slung her arm through his and pushed him toward the curb. “Come on, let’s go. I’m starved.”

“You are not going to the carnival,” Mackenzie muttered to herself, absently wandering around her kitchen looking for something to eat. Her pantry was stocked with canned food, her freezer loaded with homemade lasagnas that Paula brought over once a month, but nothing seemed appealing at the moment.

Hard as she tried, she couldn’t stop thinking about al the junk food she could have if she went to the carnival. Greasy hamburger, spicy fries from Walter Halton’s booth, cotton candy.