I looked down the shore and watched the surfers congregate. This was paradise to them. The highest waves of the year. They could ride for what seemed like miles.
“Baby, you’re not staying are you?” Alice had a suitcase in her hand.
“No, I’m helping Carl and Flo out before I hit the road.” I walked over and reached for her suitcase. “Let me get that for you.” She looked panic-stricken.
“Oh, thank you. I’m a bundle of nerves with the storm on the way. I hate to leave Pirate’s Booty like this.” She fiddled with her keys until she finally popped the trunk for me.
“I think you’ll be ok, Alice. You’ll make the ferry and you’ll be on your way to clear skies.” I smiled at her and shoved the bag into the car.
“These storms make me so nervous. What if Pirate’s Booty doesn’t make it? This entire beach could be wiped out.” A gust of wind blew her bleach blond hair across her face. “It’s time for me to go.” She threw her arms around my neck. “Don’t stay too much longer. Get on the ferry before tomorrow, ok?” She slid into the driver’s side and rolled down the window.
I didn’t want to give her false hope. There was no way to predict Campbell’s severity. This could be a devastating storm for such a small piece of land.
“I’ll be fine. You be safe.”
“If I don’t see you again, it was nice having you as a neighbor, Jake.”
I smiled. I had waited all summer for Alice to move on, but I had to admit I felt bad parting like this. She was clearly a nervous wreck. I tapped the top of her car and watched as my wacky summer neighbor rolled along the campground drive.
I had one last camper to secure, and then I would shower before packing my bag. The sky was dark but the rain held off. I still hoped that the storm would turn.
I grabbed the rope and attacked another tree.
***
My shoulders ached and my neck throbbed. I had pulled something. The football injuries had a way of resurfacing when my body wanted me to slow down. No time for that. Carl needed help getting the plywood on the office windows. It wasn’t something Flora could handle. I wondered if I would be pushing my luck by spending another night in the Sand Dollar. According to the latest projections, there was still another twenty-four hours before Hurricane Campbell was supposed to make landfall.
The campground was empty. Every one of my neighbors had made it onto one of the ferries. The vessels were all running in one direction, trying to deliver tourists to safer territory as quickly as possible.
I wondered if there was mass chaos at the store. Would Chelsea be there all night selling bottled water and batteries to the locals who stayed behind to face the storm? She was still stuck in my head, and I knew that part of my reluctance to leave the island was tied to her. But she had her parents, her family—she would be fine.
However, technically I was supposed to be at work on Sunday. I hadn’t called the store yet to tell her I was being evacuated. I owed her a phone call before I left.
I pulled up the number to the store and hit send.
“Davis,” Bertie answered on the other end.
“Hey, Bertie, it’s, uh, it’s Jake. Is Chelsea around?” I kicked himself for forgetting who I was supposed to be.
“Jake! We have been worried about you, honey. No one has your number—” She was cut off.
“Jake?” Chelsea must have grabbed the phone from the nosey clerk.
“Yeah. Thought I would check in. How are things going down there?” I leaned against the counter.
“We’re getting ready to close. What about you? I don’t have your number and I feel like an idiot for not having you fill out any paperwork.”
“Close?” I figured they would stay open until the power went out.
“Yeah, we’re cleaned out. The shelves are empty except for some gum and a few rafts.”
“Wow. I guess people take these storms seriously.” I tried to get a visual on an empty store.
“Yeah, it’s crazy. Now we just have to sit and wait for her to hit.” She lowered her voice. “Do you have somewhere to go?”
The question hit me in the center of my chest. It was the tone in her voice. “Uh, no, not really. I packed my bag. I was going to hop the next ferry, but—”
“No, don’t!” She paused. “I meant, don’t leave if you want to stay and feel like trying a hurricane.” She exhaled and her voice was even softer. I knew there had to be a ton of people near the register. It sounded noisy. “You can stay with me. I have room.”
I looked at the bag sitting on the checkered quilt, and then out to the sea that had turned a dark, murky shade.
She sounded remorseful. “Sorry, I thought you might want to stay. Just forget it. Be careful, and will you call when you get back?” She backtracked quickly, and I couldn’t handle disappointing her or the pang her words shot through my chest.
“I’ll meet you at your place.” I closed my eyes, knowing I had just lost it. But I couldn’t stand making a pretty girl sad, not this one.
I grabbed my bag, closed the door, and threw my belongings in the back of the Jeep. I jammed it in reverse before heading straight to Chelsea—before I had a chance to talk myself out of running toward a storm.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Chelsea
I gripped the steering wheel tightly. I would be home in thirty seconds. As soon as I heard his voice on the other end of the phone, I felt relief followed by instant panic. All day I had been trying to figure out when I could sneak out and drive by the campground. He didn’t know about storms, and I couldn’t remember if there was a TV in the Sand Dollar. The need to warn him and help him distracted me from the minute I knew the storm was going to hit Brees Island. How could I not have his phone number?
And now he was headed to my place to ride out the storm. I was going to have to call my mother and come up with some kind of excuse for not driving there tonight. I would figure out an excuse. This wasn’t something I was willing to undo.
I pulled the car in all the way under the house. There wasn’t much else I could do to protect it. Taking the steps as quickly as I could, I sprinted into my apartment and surveyed my room. Total disaster. My bed was unmade, half the week’s dirty clothes were on the floor, and there was music everywhere.
The music added charm, I thought. The clothes, however, were a mess. I raced around the room, picking up armfuls of T-shirts and sundresses. I shoved everything into the hamper and returned to make my bed. Had I really thought this through? I pulled the comforter tightly under the pillows. We had been working together for a couple of weeks. We had these moments that made me breathless, but should I harbor him during the storm?
I sat on the edge of the bed while my mind sorted through my reasons for inviting him to stay. There was the obvious—he was hot and I wanted to spend the night with him. Did I need to analyze it anymore? Deep down I knew there was a lot more to Jake than what everyone else could see on the outside. He was smart and creative. He might be the first guy who understood music the way I did. It didn’t seem to matter what was going on. He would stop and listen, like every word I said was as important as the sun in the sky. It was almost too good to be true that someone like him had washed up on the island this summer.
I headed into the kitchen. It was cleaner than the rest of the apartment, but there was an unwashed mug and last night’s pasta bowl.
I jumped when I heard the knock at the sliding door. I walked around the kitchen island and slid back the glass.
“Hey.”
I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and wondered if he could read my thoughts. I was ready to jump him on the porch. He held a duffle bag, filling the entire frame of the door with his broad shoulders. God, he was sexy.
“Hey.” He smiled and stepped in the kitchen. “Thanks for letting me stay. I didn’t really want to evacuate, but the campground is closed. Carl and Flora kicked me out.”
“Oh yeah, absolutely. You shouldn’t have to leave.” Suddenly, the ide
a of him leaving the island or my house seemed like the worst possible idea.
I flinched as something loud clanged against the side of the house.
Jake reached for my shoulder. “You ok? I think that was your hammock.”
“Yes.” I laughed. “I think I’ve been around too many anxious people all day. The hammock—I guess I need to take that down before the storm hits.”
“Let me help,” he offered. He placed his bag on the floor and walked to the porch. The wind had kicked up another notch.
I followed him. It was nice he was here. He helped store the loveseat, rocking chairs, and hammock in the storage shed under the house. Once the deck was cleared, he worked on the shutters that folded across the windows. There was an advantage to having an old beach house. I had built in shutters rather than plywood and a hammer to cover the windows.
“What about your neighbors? Are they going to secure their part of the house?” He eyed the apartment next to mine.
I hadn’t seen any of my neighbors. Most of them were temporary summer residents, and they rotated weekly.
“I don’t know. I’ll try them.”
I knocked on their doors, but it was possible they had evacuated for the mainland. Jake decided it was best to help everyone out and started hauling their deck furniture down below too.
By the time we finished securing the entire house, it was dark and the rain had started. Big heavy sheets fell on the roof and the beach.
My eyes widened when the lights flickered. “I guess I should get some candles ready.” Most of them were in my room. I walked past Jake and collected a couple to space out around the apartment.
“I didn’t think the storm was going to hit until tomorrow.” He watched me light the candles.
“I think it’s still on course, but if the wind is bad enough, it knocks the power lines down. We lose power all the time. It doesn’t have to be a hurricane.”
“Ok. So now what?” He arched his eyebrows.
I felt a rush of anticipation race through my veins. I reached for a bottle of wine. “How about a drink? A private hurricane party.” I smiled.
I had been surrounded by people on edge about the storm the entire day. Would it destroy homes and businesses? How long would the island be shut down? The locals knew the drill, but it didn’t make the potential impact any less stressful. Right now, I knew exactly how I wanted to release the building tension.
“A drink sounds good.” He took the bottle from me and fastened the corkscrew to the top while I pulled out two glasses from the cabinet.
He filled them over halfway and handed one to me. “To my first hurricane.” He winked.
I had to force myself to drink the wine and stop staring at his face. A face that looked perfect and symmetrical. He had a deeper tan than when he first started working, and his eyes looked relaxed. I wanted to reach up and run my fingers through his hair, but I kept my hands on the wine glass.
“To your first hurricane.” I grinned and took a bigger sip.
The wine tingled the back of my throat just like the excitement racing in my veins. We were utterly alone, and I knew what happened when we were alone—what always happened.
The wind shook the house and the lights flickered to darkness. The only glow came from the candles I had just lit.
“I guess that’s what you mean by a strong wind,” Jake teased and stepped closer. He placed his glass on the counter. His eyes flared in the candlelight. I recognized the look. It was the same one I was wearing.
I nodded, studying his expression. Each time the flame flickered, my heart pounded louder in my chest. I willed it to quiet, but I couldn’t control how I reacted under his stare.
There was nothing I wanted more than his lips on mine. He was so close that I could almost taste them. I had been waiting for another kiss since the last time he had touched me. It was almost all I could think about when he was around, and now he was here, locked in the dark with a wicked hurricane descending upon us.
“Jake,” I whispered.
His hand reached forward, brushing my jaw. His mouth was on mine, hungry and strong. His lips blistered my skin. I clutched at his back, digging into the muscles through his shirt.
I thought I heard a roll of thunder, but my thoughts were clouded with lust—the house might be collapsing—I wouldn’t know. There was another crash, but this time it was our wine glasses hitting the floor as Jake hurled me on the counter.
Enough about music and lyrics and small town stories. This was what we wanted. Taking each other until our world was tipped upside down like a swirling hurricane.
“I can’t stay away,” he groaned. He unsnapped my button and shirked the shorts off my hips. “I tried.”
“I don’t want you to.”
His thumbs hooked under my panties, yanking them over my thighs. My body hummed with urgency.
“But you’re too fucking sweet. So good. So pure.” His eyes were dark. “Like some kind of damn light, drawing me closer. When I know I should be on that ferry getting the hell away from this storm and you.”
“I don’t want you to go,” I whispered.
“I’m not going anywhere, darlin’.” He climbed on top of the island, pinning me under his body. “I’m not running tonight.”
My lips met his. I needed to touch him everywhere. He had to feel the same desperate ache I had. We needed to know each other this way. Whatever the darkness was. The sadness that filled him—I could take it away. I could heal him, if he would just let go.
I watched as he pulled a condom from his pocket before he released the buckle on his shorts and dropped them from his waist, kicking them to the floor below. I had honestly never seen a body like that. It was toned and athletic, and even in the candlelight, I could see where the lines met on his sculpted abs. If it wasn’t for the burning need consuming me, I might lie here all night and study the man inhaling me like his last breath of air.
He kissed my stomach and delivered hot breaths along the trail leading between my legs.
“Mmm.” I exhaled as he pressed my knees wider. “Ohh.”
He drew a line between my folds with his tongue, eyeing me with a kind of intensity I’d never seen in a man’s gaze.
“So sweet in so many ways,” he murmured, teasing me with his tongue. My clit throbbed for him. Everywhere he touched felt fiery and electric. I was afraid I couldn’t handle the scorching strokes even though I needed them.
I reached for his shirt and pulled it over his head, desperate to feel his chest. I unclasped my bra and watched Jake’s eyes fill with desire.
“You are so fucking sexy.” He breathed as his mouth claimed one and then the other nipple. I rocked back on the counter, ready to give this man anything and everything he asked of my body. He had control, and it felt good to let go and unravel into his arms.
“Darlin’, you have to tell me what you want.” He nuzzled my neck. My head tilted back, and everything was spinning inside me.
The storm raged around us as the thunder shook the chandelier overhead.
“Tell me,” he growled.
“What do you want to hear?” I asked, running my tongue along his neck, as if I could drink in part of him this way.
“Tell me what you want me to do to you,” he commanded.
His fingers pushed inside me and started a new motion with his thumb that would lead to toe-curling screams in a few minutes if he didn’t stop. I gasped at the sensation, my breath ragged.
This wasn’t a time to talk. This was a time to feel and let things happen. My throat clamped shut and I closed my eyes. Why was he torturing me like this? I wasn’t sure I could unleash my inner sex kitten like he wanted. All I knew to do was to let my body take over as he gave me pleasure one minute after the next. Wasn’t that enough?
He rested his forehead against mine. I fought for balance.
“Tell me,” he growled.
He kissed my neck, sending shockwaves down my spine. “Don’t tell me, and I can find a pac
k of playing cards and we can play war all night while we wait for the hurricane.”
Why was it so hard for me to say the words? I wrote my feelings down. I didn’t say them.
He ripped the corner off the foil packet lying on the counter and rolled the condom over his wide throbbing shaft. God, he was built.
“It’s just us. No one else. There’s no one to hear what you want, except me.” His voice was low and sexy. He held my chin with his thumb and forefinger, driving me wild with thirst for him.
The wind whipped the corner of the shutter, and it caught between the latch. His eyes sharpened.
I didn’t know if I could say what I wanted him to do, but it would be worse if I let him move one inch away without trying. I needed him. I needed this. My teeth sank into my bottom lip, and my heart almost pounded out of my chest.
Like the lightning outside, my eyes flashed to his. “Fuck me.”
No sooner were the words between us than our bodies melted together. He grabbed me around the waist. I wrapped my legs around him, pulling fistfuls of hair while his tongue explored my mouth.
It was as if a switch had been flipped, and all the slow and easy dance moves we had been stepping for weeks were gone. Everything about this was primal and raw.
“Ohh,” I whimpered. The tip of his cock pressed against my entrance.
“I want to hear you, baby. I want to hear you when I’m deep inside you.”
My breath caught. My chest seized. My arousal dripped over his cock. My pussy ached for release.
“Please,” I begged. “God, please Jake.”
He brushed his lips over mine, holding my waist. He leaned me backward. I looked into his eyes.
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