Prairie Storm (Cowboys of The Flint Hills #4)

by Tessa Layne

  “Wait,” Axel called. “You’re leaving with special breakfast?”

  Haley rifled through her saddlebag for the extra map she’d brought with her. Then she reached for the lone equipment box. Standing, she gave Axel a once-over. He was so damned cocky. He was wearing the fact that Gunnar had busted him like a freaking Boy Scout badge. She bit her cheek to keep from smiling. He did not need any encouragement from her. Even if the sight of his abs in the morning sunlight made her mouth go dry. “I worked up an appetite.”

  His gaze grew hot. “So you’re hungry?”

  Definitely hungry. A delightful shiver skittered down her spine “Must be all the fresh air.”

  Gunnar hollered from the ATV. “We’re burnin’ daylight, Coop. You comin’ or stayin’?”

  “Be right there,” she answered, not taking her eyes off Axe.

  “Stay?” Axel gave her a dirty grin and lifted his eyebrows.

  Dammit. He always knew how to make her laugh. She shook her head, rolling her eyes. “Be ready to intercept this afternoon. Storm’s a brewin’.” She couldn’t help but put a little extra sway in her step as she approached the ATV and climbed in.

  Gunnar looked like he was about to say something, but she held up her hand. “Zip it, cowboy. We’ve got work to do.”

  The ATV roared to life, and they left Axel standing outside the tent, grinning from ear to ear.

  CHAPTER 11

  Axel stepped out of the bunkhouse freshly showered with a little spring in his step. Coop had only been moderately pissed off when she discovered that they hadn’t exactly needed to take the horses out last evening. He still maintained it was a better form of transportation than the ATV. Better for the prairie grasses at least. ATVs tore things up and marred the natural beauty of the hills. Call him old-fashioned in that respect, but there was something soul-satisfying about being out on the hills much in the same way his ancestors were.

  It had taken him the better part of the morning to get the horses back and the chores done, and then he’d checked in on his interns. By the time he’d returned to the bunkhouse, he’d been a sweaty mess. Coop was right. There would be storms someplace this afternoon. He could feel it. But now that he was cleaned up, all he could think about was getting dirty with Coop again.

  So much for avoiding Coop’s crazy orbit. That had changed the second he’d kissed her at the Trading Post. All his feelings for her came rushing back with a vengeance. But he’d tried. A little bit, at least. He’d intended to respect her boundaries – let her call the shots. But then, last night, she’d knocked him sideways. He’d turned to putty when she’d gone and thrown herself into his arms and apologized for breaking him. How in the hell was he supposed to resist that? He couldn’t. He didn’t even try.

  And he was glad. Glad they’d begun to clear the air and start communicating. Glad that her cheeks had pinked up when he’d flirted with her this morning and she couldn’t hide that she wanted more, too. Maybe, just maybe, last night had been the beginning of something new. Something better.

  Coop’s voice called out behind him. “Glad I found you. Can you be ready to leave in fifteen?”

  He turned, surprised to see her in cargo pants and a long-sleeved shirt emblazoned with the CPARC logo. In this heat? Was she nuts? Before he could speak, she started shaking her head.

  “You’re going to need a long-sleeved shirt. Or a jacket.”

  “For what? It’s a million degrees out here.”

  “It’s only eighty-four, and you need it just in case.”

  He must have looked confused, because she continued before he had a chance to speak. “In case we have to hit a ditch.” She gave him an exasperated look when he didn’t answer. “It’s protocol, okay?”

  “Have you ever had to hit a ditch?” What the hell had he committed himself to? Crazy orbit, indeed.

  “Nope. Never have. We’re trained in evasive tactics. To get as close as possible for data gathering purposes. To deploy pods and data gathering equipment from a safe distance. It’s different than when you and I used to go out after storms.”

  A thread of relief wound through him. Not that he was scared. He wasn’t. But they’d been stupidly risky when they were younger. He realized that now. In spite of that, a knot of anticipation settled in his belly. Tornadoes were fearsome and captivating all at once.

  “Right. I’ll grab my jacket.”

  “Meet me at T-REX?”

  “You mean your Mad Max vehicle?” He grinned at her.

  “Move it, cowboy. Mother Nature waits for no one.”

  He met her at the vehicle a few minutes later, and she tossed him the key fob. “Ready?”

  He nodded and slipped into the driver’s seat.

  “A couple of things you need to know,” she said as she slipped in beside him and clipped on her seatbelt. “Wait. Axe?” Her voice held a note of wary surprise.

  He snuck a glance at her, warming as he saw her biting her lip in surpressed laughter.

  “What’s that?” She nodded at the mini T-Rex that now sported a cowboy hat he’d filched from Hope’s old Barbie collection in his parent’s attic.

  He shrugged, grinning shamelessly. “He needed a hat.”

  She shook her head, shoulders shaking in laughter.

  God, she was gorgeous when she laughed. The sound shot straight to his cock. But then she schooled her features and turned all business again. “I need you to trust me. Do exactly what I ask, okay? It’s critical for our safety and the protection of the equipment.”

  “You got it, boss,” he saluted.

  “I mean it Axe. No going caveman in the field. Or joking.” Her voice was dead serious.

  He put the car into reverse, wheeled it around, and headed down the drive to the main road. “You doubt me?”

  “Just being clear with my expectations. That’s all.”

  He chafed a bit at her implied reprimand. “You need to trust me too, Coop. Why’d you hire me as your driver if you didn’t?”

  That seemed to take her aback. “You’re right. I trust you. I just want to make sure everything goes smoothly. It’s really important we gather as much data as we can.”

  “You’ll get your data. Now, where are we going?”

  “About an hour southwest of here.”

  Huh. That was a surprise.

  “But that’s not where you set your equipment.”

  “CPARC has equipment all over the region. We need to gather data not only where the storms spin up, but where we think they’re headed. All of the data we’re working on this season will help us more accurately predict tornado formation in the future. And that saves lives.”

  He could hear the passion in her voice as she spoke. Seeing this side of her, the kick-ass professional, was an entirely different type of turn-on. “You really love what you do, don’t you?”

  She looked over at him, her face a mixture of surprise and appreciation. “I do.” The heartfelt sincerity in her voice hit him right in the gut. “It means a lot to me that I’m making a difference. At least I hope I am,” she amended.

  Before he could stop himself, he reached over and grabbed her hand. “Of course you are.”

  And there it was, again. The warm zing of arousal zig-zagging up his arm. She turned her palm up and briefly laced her fingers with his. “Thanks,” she finally said, giving his hand a squeeze before untangling their fingers. “About last night…”

  Uh-oh. Here it came. The it’s not you, it’s me speech. He kept his eyes on the road and his hands loose on the wheel, even though everything inside him braced for her impending rejection.

  “I… ah…” She took a deep breath. “I’m on the pill and you’retheonlypersonI’veeverhadunprotectedsexwith,” she rushed out all at once.

  He shook his head a fraction, trying to digest what she’d just said, and nearly drifted the car into a ditch.

  “Axe. Watch out.” she spoke sharply.

  Then it sunk in. Satisfaction roared to life in his chest as he cente
red the car. The only one, huh? Well, hot damn. He grew half hard just thinking about getting naked with her again. “Uh, yeah… okay. Great,” he stammered.

  Way to sound like a total dick. “Me either,” he added after a moment, sneaking a glance at her. The look of surprise followed by her own satisfaction only fanned the flames of his desire.

  “Really?”

  She might have squeaked. He nodded and shrugged, trying to pass it off as not a big deal.

  “But you’re so charming… too charming.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” What did she think he was, some kind of a manwhore?

  “I just figured–”

  “Well you figured wrong,” he said flatly, an edge of bitterness entering his voice. Sure, he’d had lots of girlfriends over the last ten years, and slept with most of them. Hell, Gunnar and the Sinclaire brothers teased him about having a new girlfriend every month. But he’d never considered dating any of them seriously, let alone putting himself in a situation where he might feel… vulnerable. In that way, Coop was in a class by herself.

  Silence settled between them.

  Great. This was awkward. And they still had another thirty miles to go. He should ask her a question. But something easy. Not something that would have her scooting back to her emotional cave and throwing up barriers left and right. Then he hit on it.

  He turned briefly to her, at the same time she shifted in her seat. They spoke in unison.

  “Tell me about your time at the TV Station.”

  “Tell me about your plans for the ranch.”

  She let out a low laugh, and the knot of anxiety that had been churning his gut dissipated. She gestured across the console. “You first.”

  “Okay. But there aren’t many. Too many hoops to jump through with Pops. Gunn can sometimes make headway.”

  “What would you do if you didn’t have the hoops?”

  “That’s easy. We need to get out of horse breeding entirely.” There. He’d said it to someone. He hadn’t even voiced that thought to Gunn. But he believed it deeply. There was no future in horse breeding. Not for a small operation like theirs. The last recession had hammered the industry, and the market had been flooded with horses no one could afford to keep. Too many of them met gruesome endings.

  “But isn’t that your bread and butter?”

  “At one time it was. But it hasn’t been for the last several years. Pops and Ma have been living off more and more of their nest-egg, and Gunn and I have been scrambling to diversify. Pops is…” He sighed heavily, searching for the right word. “Reluctant.” That was a nice way of putting it. Digging in and refusing to budge was more accurate. He was as stubborn and set in his ways as Uncle Warren.

  “How would you diversify?”

  I have a few ideas. “The Sinclaires have been really clever about diversification.”

  “Yeah?”

  He nodded. “Hope really lucked out with Ben. He’s damned clever. They switched from running cattle to bison a few years back, and their herd has been steadily growing. Then they built a hunting lodge, and the tree houses for the bird watchers. Brodie’s wife, Jamey, is a great cook and does fancy food things at the lodge. And then we went in together for a paintballish course.”

  “Paintballish?”

  Axe chuckled. “Yeah, sounds crazy, but it was another one of Ben’s ideas. Liability and cost are too high for real paintball. Instead, we went low-tech and use water based paint and super-soakers. Same fun, less effort, and it’s family friendly. We decided all the profits will go into little Henry’s college fund.”

  “And that’s Maddie and Blake’s son?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So you still haven’t said what you’d do.”

  His excitement grew as he laid out all the connections for Coop. “For starters, I’d lease some of our land to the Sinclaires if they want to keep growing their herd. We’re not using half of our property. I also want to learn more about what Hope’s doing with natural horse training. I think there could be real opportunity there, but I want to learn more.”

  “So why not ask her?”

  “It’s on my list, but between working for you and supervising the interns, my plate’s pretty full.”

  She made a funny noise in the back of her throat. “Sounds like you’ve diversified quite a bit.”

  “Yeah, I guess I have. But our margins are super-thin right now. One accident, one anything, and we could be in real trouble.”

  Coop shot him a look filled with admiration. “I like seeing this side of you, Axe.” She opened her mouth like she was going to say more, but quickly closed it, her face shuttering. “We need to look for a turn off. Preferably someplace with a good view to the southwest.”

  Just like that, she was back to business. Axel tried not to feel defeated. At least they were still talking. And she hadn’t told him to get lost. He’d take that small victory. He peeked over at her, and her face was screwed up studying the GPS screen and then looking out the window.

  “How about up that hill?” She pointed up ahead. “Can you take the next road going north?”

  “Yep.”

  After a few minutes, they crested a small rise. A cluster of trees stood up ahead, but where they were was clear enough they’d be able to see any cloud development. If there was any. Right now, the only thing in the sky was an intermittent hawk.

  He narrowed his gaze on Coop. “Are you sure we’re going to get storms? This isn’t some ploy to get me alone, is it?”

  She answered by lightly punching him in the arm. “Always the joker.”

  “Well, are you?”

  “Am I what? Sure we’re going to get storms?”

  “Trying to get me alone?”

  She grumbled something under her breath he didn’t quite catch, but he didn’t miss the way her mouth twitched. God, he loved cracking through her defenses and making her laugh. It was a total shot in the arm of confidence.

  “I’m getting out.” She unclipped and opened the door, walking around back and popping the hatch.

  “What do we do now?” he called back to her, catching her eye in the rear-view.

  “We wait.”

  Coop stalked past him on the driver’s side and perched on the hood, looking southwest and struggling with a small package.

  Axel exited the car, too, and came to stand beside her, curious. “What’s that?”

  She handed him the package. “Please?”

  Ah, of course. How had he forgotten? It seemed she was still shamelessly addicted to Gummi Bears. But she’d always struggled with the packaging.

  He tore it open, then peeled the top apart, just the way he remembered she’d always liked. But before he handed it back, he grabbed a small handful, making sure to put back the orange ones, which had always been her favorite. She popped a few in her mouth, then gasped.

  Instantly, he was on alert. “What? What is it?”

  She lifted her chin and gestured to the south. “Showtime.”

  Sure enough, white, puffy cotton balls had started to appear in the sky to their south. She darted around the car and hopped in the passenger side, immediately punching things into the laptop. Coop pulled out her phone, excitement shining in her face through the windshield. Axel couldn’t hear the conversation, but he watched in rapt fascination as her eyes darted from screen to screen. Finally, she looked up and gestured to him. “We need to reposition.”

  He hopped back into the car, a rush of adrenaline coursing through him. “Where to, boss lady?”

  “We need to head northeast about ten miles. The cap has broken, and we’re going to experience rapid cloud development. We don’t want that happening right on top of us.”

  He spun the car around and gunned the accelerator, grinning as the car growled to life beneath him. Holy smokes. No wonder she’d driven up that first day like a bat out of hell. “She runs like a sports car.”

  “She is a sports car. At least the engine. Forte doesn’t mess around.�
��

  “So what’s a cap?”

  “Right. Sorry. Inside baseball for meteorologists. I’ll give you the ten cent version, but can explain in more detail later. A cap is a layer of warm stable air in the middle atmosphere that prevents the colder air above from sinking. And it traps a layer of warmer, unstable moist air at the surface… more or less. When the heat and moisture build enough at the surface, they can bust through and break it. This leads to strong updrafts and rapid storm development. Strong updrafts are a necessary ingredient for tornado development. But you also need a vortex.”

  “Spinning?”

  “Sure, you can call it that. If there’s significant wind shear – crosswinds of different speeds at different elevations – as the column of air rises, you can get large-scale rotation within the storm, creating the conditions for a tornado.”

  Admiration for her coursed through him. She was so damned smart. But she never threw it in anyone’s face. She explained complex subjects with the same enthusiasm she brought to every aspect of her life.

  “Axe, turn right down that dirt road, and stop when you get to the rise.”

  He did as she asked and then glanced in the rear view. “Holy shit,” he muttered. In a matter of minutes a wall of dark clouds had sprung up behind them.

  “Okay, pull over.”

  He slowed to a stop, and she was out of the car before he’d pulled on the brake. “What are you doing?”

  “My job. Are you going to help me or not?”

  CHAPTER 12

  Haley was surprised at how excited she was. This was it. Her chance to prove herself and impress Forte and the rest of the team. She popped open the hatch and started to pull out the first wing on the drone.

  Axel appeared at her side. “What can I do?”

  “Pull that other wing out and set it down. We need to put the drone together and get it into the air.”

  “You’re going to fly a plane into a storm?” he asked incredulously as he laid the wing on the ground. The wind kicked up, swirling around them.

  “I’m going to get as close as I can to the leading edge, yes. Here, help me with this.” She gestured to the body. Loaded with cameras, sensors, and probes that could be deployed into the clouds, the body weighed over a hundred pounds. Together, they pulled it from the car and set it on the gravel.