Tornado Allie
Loose Id Titles by Shelly Bell
TORNADO ALLIE
Shelly Bell
www.loose-id.com
Tornado Allie
Copyright © January 2014 by Shelly Bell
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Image/art disclaimer: Licensed material is being used for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted in the licensed material is a model.
eISBN 9781623006150
Editor: Venessa Giunta
Cover Artist: Valerie Tibbs
Published in the United States of America
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This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Chapter One
Covering her mouth with her palm, Allie Schwartz rocked in her seat. If the minivan didn’t stop soon, she’d lose her lunch. Contrary to her best friend Taryn’s insistence her body would acclimate to the endless hours of driving up and down the highways of Oklahoma, her motion sickness had actually grown worse.
Thank goodness it was the last day of vacation.
On the other hand…
Staring at the back of the man behind the wheel, she almost regretted having to leave tomorrow. Five days of lusting over Drake Roberts, Taryn’s older brother and the leader of their storm-chasing tour, and she hadn’t made a single successful move on him.
Not that she hadn’t tried. Sure, they’d discussed the differences between supercell tornadoes and land spouts, and they’d laughed over how they both secretly loved the movie
Twister
despite its flaws, but when it came down to flirting with the sexy tour guide, she’d found her tongue tied in knots.
Sitting beside her in the second row, Taryn nudged her with an elbow to the ribs. “Great view, huh?”
Still looking at Drake, Allie sighed. “Amazing.”
Her friend laughed. “I meant the one outside this vehicle.” Dropping her voice to a whisper, she added, “He doesn’t do relationships, so he’s perfect for what you’ve got in mind. Are you finally going to get the nerve to ask him?”
Allie cringed, hating that her friend knew her so well. “Don’t you dare,” she said, narrowing her gaze at Taryn. “It would be weird to have sex with my best friend’s brother. Especially since you helped write my naughty list.”
Because Drake had moved away before Allie had known Taryn, they’d never had the chance to meet, but after she’d seen his picture, she’d developed a tiny crush on him.
Six months ago, Allie had beaten her cancer into remission only to almost die from pneumonia. Taryn, rather than cry at the injustice of it all like the rest of her visitors, had given her hope, helping her create two bucket lists.
The first detailed future activities the two of them would do together, including going on a storm-chasing tour with Drake’s company. The second spelled out all those naughty sexual fantasies Allie had always secretly wanted to try. Fantasies she’d pictured trying with a man who looked exactly like Drake.
As soon as she’d gotten out of the hospital, they’d made their reservations for the storm-chasing tour. But she still hadn’t crossed off a single item from her naughty list.
Forcing her attention away from Drake, she stared out her window at the dark clouds hovering over the open field in the distance. She leaned forward in her seat as far as her seat belt would allow. “Is that an anvil at the back of the cloud to the northeast of us?”
“Good spotting, Allie,” Drake said. “We’re going to get a little bit closer to the storm before we get out to take pictures. The radar’s showing a slight rotation, but nothing to indicate the formation of a tornado yet.”
He knew how much observing a tornado meant to her. When he’d asked their tour group why they’d each paid over two thousand dollars to drive in a cramped car for six hours a day on the slim chance they’d see a tornado, she’d parroted everyone else’s answer about experiencing the rush of the chase. Although Taryn hadn’t told him anything about Allie’s medical history, he hadn’t bought her reason and had pulled her aside a few minutes later to ask for the real one. So she’d told him the truth.
Surprising her, Drake hadn’t responded with an “I’m sorry,” as if he’d caused the cancer, a phrase she’d heard umpteen times this past year from everyone from her aunt to the mail man. Instead, he’d hugged her, called her “courageous,” and promised her a tornado.
Even after everything she’d been through, she hadn’t once felt courageous. Until then.
And that was when she’d fallen hard for Drake Roberts.
Their vehicle slowed and veered off the side of the road and then came to a complete stop next to a wheat field. She thanked the stars her lunch wouldn’t make a reappearance, because she may have been out of the dating scene for a while, but she didn’t think getting carsick was the way to impress a guy.
Drake unbuckled his seat belt and shifted in his seat to face them. “This seems like a good area. Why don’t you all take your cameras and get some pictures while I check NOAA for an update and check out the NEXRAD.”
If she hadn’t worked for two years as a scantily clad weather girl for a small television news station, she wouldn’t have had a clue that NOAA stood for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or that NEXRAD was a network of Doppler radars operated by the National Weather Service. Apparently, the embarrassment of the job had been worth it.
Thrilled for the chance to stretch her legs and stand on solid land, Allie slid the door open, hopped down to the gravel, and released the lever to drop her seat, allowing Mary and Eric, the older, married couple in the third row, to get out of the minivan.
Filled with nervous excitement, she inhaled the ozone scent of the approaching storm and searched the sky underneath the ominous wall cloud for a sign of a forming tornado.
The driver’s window rolled down, and Drake stuck his head out, catching her gaze with his pale blue eyes and a grin. “Allie, want to help me analyze the data?”
An opportunity to spend time alone with Drake and play with thousands of dollars’ worth of meteorological equipment?
Are tornadoes measured on the Enhanced Fujita Scale?
Hell, yes.
Taryn gave her a wink before she and everyone else vacated the van and crossed into the field to check out the developing storm. At the moment, Allie only had eyes for Drake as she climbed into the front seat and wiped her damp hands on her khaki shorts.
Nothing to be nervous about. They were just two weather enthusiasts hanging out together.
Yeah, if one of those weather enthusiasts wanted to rip the other’s clothes off and use her tongue to lick a trail from his neck to his—
“I have a good feeling about this storm.” Drake fiddled with the screen in front of him, enlarging the map of the area. “See this here?” He tapped the screen. “Even the crew outside might not see a tornado forming. The dual-pol radar can differentiate between precipitation and a debris ball, which shows up as purple on the reflectivity image. When the red outbound velocities meet the inbound velocities in green, we’ll have a strong rotating column of air, and when we see the signature hook, you’ll get your tornado.”
She didn’t completely understand, but she nodded anyway. “I noticed you said when and not if. How do you know it will happen?”
“Because I promised you a tornado,” he said, squeezing her naked thigh and letting his hand linger, the heat of it awakening the nerves of her male-touch-deprived skin. “And I never disappoint.”
Air rushed out of her lungs, leaving her breathless and dizzy. The innuendo in his comment begged for a flirtatious response, but as usual, her mind went utterly blank. By the time she’d come up with a snappy response about testing the veracity of his statement, the opportunity had passed, and Drake had removed his hand from her leg to play with the Doppler.
She made a living as a television news producer, for Pete’s sake. Verbal communication was as natural to her as breathing. And it wasn’t as if she were a virgin. She didn’t have a huge amount of experience, but she’d had a couple of long-term relationships.
Her throat grew dry, one of the mild side-effects of the condition Allie had contracted on day one of her vacation. Taryn had laughingly dubbed it “Drake-a-titis.”
Allie grabbed a cherry sucker from her purse, unwrapped it, and stuck it in her mouth. Because it had decreased her nausea, she’d spent months of chemo treatment sucking on the candy. At least this was one symptom she could treat.
Unfortunately, there was only one cure for the heavy ache in her breasts and the subtle tingling between her thighs, and there wasn’t a chance in hell she’d ever find the courage to ask Drake to help her with it.
He turned his head toward her and suddenly stilled, fixated on her mouth. It sent delicious shivers down her spine, and the subtle tingling morphed into a full throbbing. She swallowed and cleared her throat, breaking the eye contact to rummage through her purse again. When she pulled out another sucker, he continued to stare at her. “Here you go.” She awkwardly handed him the candy, immediately kicking herself for not using the opportunity to get him to kiss her.
A slow smile split his face as he took it from her trembling hand and then unwrapped the lollipop. “Right. That’s exactly what I need. Thanks.” He blew out a breath and muttered something she didn’t hear, returning his attention to the data in front of him before popping the candy between his lips.
She slouched in her seat and looked out the window, pretending to check out the sky. Gah, she was so out of practice on the flirting front. “So…” Maybe she should just straight-out tell him she was attracted to him and wanted to hook up for a one-night stand. That way if he rejected her, she’d be on a plane back to Chicago in twenty-four hours. “What got you into chasing storms?”
He leaned closer, and she caught his tantalizing scent beneath the cherry candy. It reminded her of the sweet smell in the air right after a rainstorm. “I’ll let you in on my secret. I used to be terrified of weather. Not only tornadoes. Thunder and lightning too. When the weather turned bad, I’d hide under my bed until my parents would slide me out by my ankles. I spent many nights asleep under that mattress. Ask my sister.”
She couldn’t imagine a strong man like Drake fearing anything. She admired the way he always moved and spoke with confidence. “What changed?”