Taking Passion by Storm

by Ravenna Tate

  “Why did you stay at your job? That couldn’t have been easy.”

  “Because I love what I do and I wasn’t going to let him take that from me. Brenda told the staff what had happened, but it never made the news. I asked for my name to be kept out of the media. I didn’t want my father hearing about it because I knew he’d leave the Storm Troopers and track down the man. I never wanted him to go through that, or to have to leave the job he loved.”

  “Do you regret that now? Not telling him?”

  “No, but when we find him, I’m going to tell him. It’s the right thing to do, isn’t it?”

  “Only because he loves you so much and would want to help you in any way he could.”

  “I know. I realize that now. Addison, I’ve hidden from this for so long. Thank you. Thank you for listening.” The words were inadequate. She couldn’t describe what she felt. It was as if she’d been carrying around a large boulder all her life and suddenly it was gone.

  “I wish there was more I could do.”

  She shook her head. “I wish you knew what this felt like. You did more than you will ever realize.”

  “I’m here to listen anytime, Nadine. If that’s all I can do, I will keep doing it until you feel safe in your own skin again.”

  She swiped at the tears trickling down her cheek. Safe in my own skin. That was how she felt. That was exactly what she was experiencing. He’d nailed it, just like that. Who was this man?

  He couldn’t possibly understand the violation she’d experienced, not really, but yet he did understand the fear, the anger, and the way it had left a stain on her soul. He understood all that, and he was still here, looking at her like that.

  She swallowed hard as she stared into the depths of those chocolate brown eyes. He’d told her he’d always had a thing for her. That was a certainty despite what she’d just told him. He was her chance at a normal life. A life where she had intimacy with a man that didn’t leave her bleeding, in pain, and afraid. Four years was a long time to push down normal needs. Too long.

  The perfect man to change all that for her was sitting right in front of her. He always had been. Nadine knew that now, as sure as she knew they would find her father out there. All she had to do was take a chance on Addison. This was in her hands and no one else’s. He would wait for her to say or do something because she also recognized that he was a gentleman. He’d proven that ten times over in the last hour alone.

  She took a deep breath. “There is one thing you can do for me.”

  He wiped her tears gently. “Name it. Anything.”

  Don’t chicken out. “That kiss you started before lunch, the one Lee interrupted? You can finish it.”

  Chapter Seven

  Addison thought at first he’d imagined her words, but knew from the look on her face—part fear, part desperation—that he’d heard her correctly. The trust she’d shown him today blew him away. He didn’t deserve it, but he was grateful for it.

  Before he lost his nerve or she changed her mind, he bent his head and pressed his lips to hers. They were as soft and yielding as he’d always pictured, and her sigh as he deepened the kiss sent his hormones spiraling to the damn moon. The anger he’d felt listening to her story abated somewhat, but he still held onto a part of it. He wanted to. He would avenge her somehow. It mattered not that the bastard was in prison. She deserved closure on this, and prison was too good. It was too easy for what that asshole had done.

  When her arms came up and circled his shoulders, he nearly shoved his tongue into her mouth. Her touch was so tentative yet eager at the same time, and the effect was intoxicating. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her closer, the emotion welling up inside for all that man had taken from her.

  She’d never known what a truly fulfilling, beautiful thing an intimate relationship with a man could be. From what she’d told him, he doubted she’d ever had sex that hadn’t either hurt her or frightened her. Addison wanted to change all that for her. He wanted to show her what it could be like. He wanted to give everything back to her that she had been denied. He wanted to erase those horrible memories and replace them with lustful, exciting ones.

  She shocked the hell out of him by parting her lips, so he didn’t hesitate this time. He slid his tongue inside, not able to stop his long moan as her tongue found his. Addison moved his hands up and down her back, trying not to act like a dog in heat, but it was damn difficult. He needed to let her to set the pace. The last thing in the world he wanted was to scare her.

  She broke the kiss first, but it wasn’t fear he glimpsed in her big blue eyes. He cupped her face. “Are you all right?”“Yes. More than all right. You’re an incredible kisser.”

  “So are you.”

  “I want more.”

  “Oh God. So do I, but I don’t only want sex from you, Nadine. I want to date you. I want to court you, if you’ll forgive the use of such an old-fashioned word.”

  She smiled. “I’ll not only forgive it, I’ll thank you for using it. I’m overwhelmed by you, Addison, but in a good way.”

  “I feel the same about you. I should have acted on my feelings years ago.”

  She shook her head. “What’s done is done. We’re here now.”

  He brushed a finger along her face. “Exactly. The past can’t hurt us. Either of us.”

  “I know. This is crazy. I shouldn’t be afraid of sex.”

  Addison was dying inside. His dick was so hard it was actually painful. He’d never encountered a situation like this, but he wanted to help her. Sure, his motivation might appear selfish on the surface, but it was so much more than that. Every fantasy he’d had about her came crashing down now, all mixed up with the horrible secret she’d just entrusted to him. He wanted to change this beautiful girl’s life. He wanted to be the one to save her from the past.

  “I don’t think you are afraid of it. I think you are afraid of the memories of the rape. Real sex, sex with a man you care about and who cares about you, isn’t like that.”

  “I know that intellectually, but how do I block out the memories?”

  “Are they in your head now?”

  “Not as much as they were before.”

  He let go of her face and tried to harness the remaining brain cells that still had blood in them. “When I trained with the Storm Troopers before coming up here the first time, Merrill taught me visualization techniques to help with the fear. I don’t know if they’re similar to what you’ve been taught, but I’d be happy to share them with you.”

  “You trained with the Storm Troopers? I didn’t realize that.”

  He smiled. “Yes. All my procurement team members did. I didn’t want anyone up here who wasn’t physically or psychologically prepared, including myself.”

  “I misjudged you, Addison. You need to know that.”

  “What do you mean?” He believed he knew what she meant, but it was important to give her a chance to say it.

  “I thought of you as nothing but another billionaire womanizer, just like all your friends are.”

  “We get that all the time, and no I’m not offended. None of us are. When we were younger, we spent a lot of time acting like horny teens. We know that. Now we’re older and I hope wiser. Most of us are, anyway. Ace is married. Emmett, Dominic, Kane, and Damien are all engaged. We’re not like our younger selves any longer.”

  “Well, I still owe you an apology.”

  “No, you don’t. I was that man, but I’m not anymore.” He took her hands, and wasn’t surprised to find them a bit cool. He couldn’t imagine the emotions racing through her mind right now. “You mentioned you used visualization techniques, so I take it you’re familiar with them?”

  “Yes. I don’t use them as consistently as I should, though.”

  “It takes conscious effort, like anything. They helped me with my initial fear. So did verbalizing it, like you’ve just done in telling me the details of your rape. By owning what happened to you, you’re able to take bet
ter control of it.”

  “You have to be right about that. I want to live my life, not cower in fear.”

  “You’re here, Nadine. On the surface. That’s a huge step. Don’t you realize that?”

  As understanding dawned in her eyes, he resisted the urge to pump his fist in the air. “I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

  He placed a hand on each shoulder. “Tell me what else I can do to help you.”

  She smiled, and his heart skipped a beat. “You mean besides that lovely kiss?”

  “Yes, besides that. Or, in addition to it, is more what I meant.”

  She stared into his eyes for so long that time stopped. He was afraid to do so much as blink for fear this would disappear, or someone would knock on the damn door or barge inside, and break the spell. He was actually surprised no one had done that by now.

  Finally, he watched resolution fill her face. Whatever was going through her mind, he knew she’d just reached a momentous decision. She took a deep breath, and Addison braced himself for whatever she was about to say.

  ****

  Nadine didn’t think about his reaction. She knew he wouldn’t turn her down. “I want you to make love to me, Addison. I might not be able to handle it, or I might not be able to do everything you usually do, but I want to try. Can you do that? Can you give me a chance, knowing I might not be able to get through all of it?”

  The look on his face nearly stopped her heart. Tender, yet so full of lust she wanted to cry. This was what she’d waited for. Right here and now. He cupped her face again, and she drew strength from his warmth.

  “Oh, Nadine. Of course I will. I’d be honored to give you that chance, and as many chances as you want, but I meant it when I said that’s not all I want from you. It can wait until we’ve found your father and are back underground.”

  She shook her head. “No. I don’t want to wait. We might not find him. Not alive, anyway. We might not make it back underground. We could all die up here. I don’t want my last memories of having sex to be what that man did to me four years ago. I don’t want to die like that.”

  He brushed a finger along her lips again, and she moaned softly at his touch. “Are you sure?”

  “Very.”

  He kissed her again, and this time she parted her lips right away. She didn’t realize at first that the soft moans she heard were coming from her. Her pussy was wet, and her entire body tingled. Nadine wanted to cry again because she hadn’t even realized she could become that aroused anymore. He’d done this for her. This incredibly gorgeous, patient man who had been attracted to her for years. She’d never known the true depths of his desire for her, but she did now, and that’s all that mattered.

  The past would not ruin this for her. She would not allow that to happen. She would embrace everything Addison gave her, and she’d replace the fear and anger with new memories instead. He wouldn’t hurt her. She knew that as sure as she knew her own name.

  He released her mouth quickly as she heard the door open. Didn’t they lock? She certainly hoped so. Merrill stood there with a neutral expression on his face, for which she was very grateful. “George is here already. Thought you’d like to know.”

  “Really?” Addison stood, and her gaze shot straight to his crotch. She averted it quickly but not before she noticed his erection. Would Merrill see it? “Wow. He made great time. We’ll be right out.”

  “Okay, boss.” Just before Merrill turned to leave, she caught his grin spread, and her face burned with embarrassment again.

  She stood. “I’m sorry.”

  He pulled her into his arms. “Why? We haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “Don’t these damn doors lock?”

  Addison laughed, maybe a bit too loudly. Was that from nervousness or another reason? “Yes. Have no fear. We won’t be disturbed later.”

  “I hate to bring up something to clinical, but you should know I was tested for STDs afterward, and then again six months later, even though he used a condom.” She hadn’t wanted to ask him earlier about his own status, but knew she would have to eventually if this was going to happen, so she hoped he’d take the hint.

  “And?”

  “Oh, I’m all right. I have none.”

  “That’s good. I don’t either. I’ve always been very careful.”

  There was nothing standing in her way now. She stared into his eyes. “Is this really going to happen?”

  His expression grew serious. “I sure hope so, but you’re free to change your mind. I won’t be upset.”

  “I haven’t changed it, but you might.”

  He gave her a look of incredulity. “Why on earth would I do that?”

  “I don’t know. You might decide this is more work than you care to deal with.”

  He brushed her hair with one hand. “You’re not work. You’re a human being, and a woman I’ve wanted for a long time. No matter what it takes, or how long it takes, we will get you through this. We will get you past your fears. I will make love to you, Nadine, and you won’t be afraid or hurt. I promise you that.”

  His words reverberated in her brain as she listened to them both breathing softly. She almost forgot that George and the others were waiting for them. “Thank you,” she whispered. Nadine wanted desperately to believe him.

  She had to believe in something. Four years was a long time to hide in fear and anger. If she’d never come along on this trip, would they have reached this point eventually? Doubtful, considering he’d never acted on his feelings until now, and she’d never imagined something like this happening to her. This trip might turn out to be life-changing in more ways than one.

  Chapter Eight

  Nadine loved George Markus on sight. His weathered face and the way his gray eyes twinkled reminded her of her grandfather. Everyone seemed to know him, and they were all gathered around him, sitting on the floor in the main room at his feet, as though he was an ancient wizard about to impart the secret of life to them.

  Addison introduced her, and he shook her hand, his eyes narrowing. “You look so much like your father. Prettier, of course, but you have his eyes and his coloring.”

  The others laughed so she did, too, but hearing him mention her dad brought back why they were all here. Guilt washed over her as she heard her voice thanking George. She’d been about to make love to Addison when they all should be outside right now looking for her father. What the hell was wrong with her?

  “I hope you all don’t mind if I catch my breath for the rest of the day before we go in search of Dixon. I had to dodge a hurricane on the way here.” He shook his head. “Can you believe that? An inland hurricane.”

  Addison and Nadine took a spot on the floor next to Gina and Merrill. “Did you travel here all the way from your home in what used to be Tennessee?” she asked.

  “No, I was in a shelter near what used to be Salt Lake City when I heard from Addison that your dad went missing. I was there helping some of the Storm Troopers try to access one of the weather satellites that started sending signals again about two weeks ago.”

  “Oh?” Addison sat up straighter. “Was it the same situation as the one from which we collected conversation?”

  George shook his head. “I wish it was. This was something different. We’re not sure if someone tried to access it, or if it was simply a solar flare or something else. It’s non-functional again, so we may never find out what was going on.”

  When Lee asked George another question, Nadine leaned closer to Addison. “What did you mean when you said you had collected conversation from a satellite?”

  “Homeland Cyber Security and Barclay Hampton, the data mining expert among us, managed to snatch conversation between what we now believe are the hackers either responsible for the Tommy Twister virus, or close to them. They tried to use a weather satellite as a relay station but encrypted data on the hard drive instead. We imagine that bit was accidental. The satellite was either shut down by them or someone else, though, so that’s all
we recovered.”

  The others were engaged in conversation with George, so she scooted away from the group and Addison followed. “What did you do with the information?”

  “Nothing yet.” He grinned. “First, we need a laptop that friends of Viggo’s plan to procure from a home in NorthCentral on Saturday. Then we’ll have more answers.”

  She didn’t have the chance to ask him any further details because George took out a large map and unfolded it against the wall of the bunker. Suzanne produced a roll of two-sided sticky tape from her backpack, and George used pieces from it to pin the map to the wall.

  “Why would she carry that with her?” asked Nadine.

  “We use it to leave notes inside structures where we’ve recovered items. We record what storms we encountered on the way there, what day we encountered them, and where we traveled from. It’s a way to keep each other apprised of what’s going on in a small area. Then when we return underground, we give all the data on the storms to the Storm Troopers.”

  “Won’t the notes get destroyed eventually?”

  “Probably, but it’s not unusual to find a team someone else has employed searching in the same area, or even for the same item. The notes are primarily for the Storm Troopers. If there are any in the general area, they serve as an old-fashioned, unreliable form of communication, but up here that’s often all we have for the short term.”

  “Do you update your website with the items you’ve found?”

  “Not always. Most of our clients don’t want to advertise they have certain things in their possession, for obvious reasons. We specialize in secrecy.”

  She turned her attention to George when he mentioned her father’s name.

  “This is the area where Dixon was last seen.” He pointed toward an area about two miles from where they now were. “The Storm Troopers who were with him are searching the caves in what’s left of the North Cascades. We’re headed for the caves that now line the Pacific Ocean coastline and were formed by what’s left of the Olympic Mountains.”

  He gave them all a chilling gaze. “I don’t have to tell you how dangerous this will be. The coastline is constantly being eroded from flood waters. We not only have tornadoes to contend with in this area, but hurricanes now. Last week a group of Storm Troopers in what used to be New England swore there was a very powerful earthquake. Anything can happen to us up here.”