Loving Storm (Ashes & Embers Book 5)

by Carian Cole

  “All sex with you is awesome.”

  We slowly part, and I hunt around the room for something to clean myself up with. I settle on tissues from a box on the table where all my makeup is still spread out.

  “Everyone’s going to be wondering where we are,” I say nervously as we get dressed and try to make ourselves look like we didn’t just go at it like wild rabbits.

  He flashes me his wicked boyish grin. “Everyone knows exactly where we are.” He zips up my gown and plants a kiss on the back of my head. “It’s your day, baby. You can do whatever the hell you want.”

  I turn to smile up at him. “It’s our day.”

  Chapter Ten

  When we enter the reception hall, everyone claps and cheers—and I’m sure I turn red as a lobster—but Storm just pulls me into his arms and kisses me, making everyone cheer for us even more.

  Although we hired a band so Storm’s brothers and cousins could enjoy the night with their dates, Talon and Rayne are going to sing a duet, a love song they wrote for us, with Lukas playing violin. While we kiss, they go on stage together and Talon grabs the mic.

  “Ladies and gentlemen…Storm and Evelyn Valentine!”

  Storm pulls me to the center of the dance floor as the sweet sound of Lukas’s violin fills the room. After a few moments the band joins them and Talon starts to sing, and his voice is soulful and raw, singing a love song just for us. When Rayne crosses the stage to stand with Talon, she sings her part just as beautifully, and tears spring to my eyes.

  Storm peeks at me as our bodies move together. “Hey, no crying or I’ll pull them right off that stage.”

  I rest my head on his shoulder. “It’s just such a beautiful song,” I say tearfully. “They put so much heart into it for us. I love it. I love them.”

  “I love you.”

  I stare up into his eyes, feeling as if my heart will burst with adoration for him. “I love you, too. This is the happiest day of my life.”

  “Get ready, baby, because it’s going to be the first of many.”

  And I believe, with Storm, there’s no doubt at all that’s true.

  After our dance, we walk around the room, hand in hand, to greet all our guests. In lieu of a gift, we asked our guests to donate to our favorite local pet rescue and shelter, owned and operated by the Grace family, who are longtime friends of the Valentines.

  Finally, we’re able to sit down for dinner, and then we cut the cake, which as Gram mentioned a few weeks ago, is almost too pretty to cut and eat, with icing that looks like real snow. Sitting on the very top layer are a bride and a groom with long hair, standing next to a pickup truck, that Storm had custom made by the same girl who made the snow globe he gave me for Christmas after we first met. Gram carefully takes the ornaments and the tiny top layer from the cake and puts them in a gift box for us to take home.

  The night has been such a whirlwind of dancing, talking to guests, taking pictures, and kissing my husband, that I don’t even realize until after we have cake that I can’t remember the last time I saw Amy. I scan the room once again, but don’t see her anywhere. She’s not even at the bar flirting with the cute bartender.

  Next to me, Storm is in a conversation about the band with his brother, Asher and their friend, Tor. I lightly touch his arm. “I’m going to go look for Amy. I’ll be right back.”

  We kiss, and I head toward the other side of the room where I spot Ivy and Lukas standing by the door talking.

  As soon as I approach them, Ivy throws her arms around me. “Evelyn! We’re so happy for you two.” She beams. “You look gorgeous, this dress is amazing.”

  “Thank you. Asia did an amazing job.”

  “You look like an angel. The winter theme kicks ass,” Lukas says.

  “Your violin solo was beautiful. Thank you so much for doing that for us.”

  He raises his glass of champagne toward me. “Anything for you guys.”

  “Hey, have you seen Amy?” I ask them. “I can’t find her.”

  They shake their heads. “No,” Ivy says. “Not since right after the ceremony.”

  My brow creases. “Okay…I’m going to go hunt for her.”

  I leave the reception hall and head toward the ladies’ room, all sorts of worries circling through my mind. Maybe she got sick? Or maybe something happened and she had to leave? It’s not like her to just disappear. I thought for sure she’d be hovering over me all night, fixing my hair and telling me to stand up straight.

  Halfway down the hallway, I see her come out of a doorway on the left, with Mikah swaggering behind her with an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He heads in the other direction, toward the exit door on the far end of the hallway.

  “Amy…” My steps quicken as we approach each other. “I’ve been looking for you.” Close up, I realize my best friend, who always looks impeccable, is a bit of a mess. Her lipstick is smudged, her eyeliner is smeared, and her hair is ruffled up in the back. “Where have you been?” I ask.

  She fluffs up her hair with her hands. “I was dancing. It got really hot in there so I went to get some air.”

  I don’t recall seeing Amy dancing at all.

  “Dancing?” I repeat, raising an eyebrow. “On your face? What happened to your makeup?”

  She swipes the eyeliner remnants beneath her eyes with her fingertips. “I told you, it was hot.”

  Narrowing my eyes at her, I give her a thorough once-over. “What are you up to? You look all sorts of frazzled.”

  Refusing to meet my eyes, she continues to walk toward the reception hall with me following her. “Don’t you have a husband to dance with or kiss or get wall banged by?”

  “Oh my God, you heard us?”

  “The whole place heard it.”

  I shake my head. I’ll worry about that embarrassment later. Right now I want to know what she’s hiding.

  Grabbing her arm, I slow her down. I have no idea how she’s walking so fast in heels when I can barely keep up with my flats on. “Amy…I know when you’re not telling me something. What did you do?”

  “Not what…” A sly smile crosses her lips, showing off her perfect white teeth. “But who.”

  “Oh shit. Who?”

  “Mikah.”

  “Mikah! Are you kidding me?” I ask in a hushed tone.

  Turning to the right, she pushes the ladies’ room door open and I follow her inside. “What happened?” I demand after I check to make sure no one else is in here.

  “We hooked up,” she says simply, washing her hands.

  “Hooked up? What does that mean?”

  She stares at me like I have ten heads. “It means we had sex, Ev.”

  “What?! Where? And why?”

  She folds her arms over her chest. “Relax. It was in a closet. No one saw us.”

  “I can’t believe this. Why would you do that?”

  “Every time I’ve seen the band, I’ve always been so busy drooling over the bass player I never really noticed how hot Mikah is.”

  “Please tell me you didn’t have sex with my husband’s brother.”

  “Why are you freaking out? We’re adults. It was consensual.”

  “It was in a hallway closet. With my one hundred guests just down the hall! Including his mother and his grandmother. What’s wrong with you?”

  “Um, hello? Remember when you and Storm were going at it in a storage room in a club with hundreds of people milling around? I distinctly remember guarding the door to make sure Michael didn’t show up.”

  I rub my throbbing temple. “Okay. Point made. But Mikah? He’s a jerk, Amy. He’s not like Storm, Asher, and Talon. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him have an actual conversation. What happened to new hair, new Amy, new guy?”

  She reaches into the neckline of her dress and fixes her bra, adjusting her boobs. “I don’t care if he’s an asshole. He’s hot and he’s fucking wild. We’re going to meet up later, he has a room here at the hotel for the night.”

  I let out an
exasperated sigh, not surprised that Mikah has a room here. He obviously planned to hook up with someone. Anyone.

  “Please don’t, Amy. Nothing good will come of this.”

  “I’m not like you, Evelyn. I need to get the D on the regular or I go stir crazy.”

  “The D? What does that even mean? What language are you speaking?”

  “The dick. Cock. Meat puppet. Call it what you want. I need it. And Mikah’s definitely got it. If Storm is anything like him, damn…now I know why you couldn’t resist.”

  My jaw clenches. “Please don’t compare Storm to him. Storm has a heart of gold. I’m not sure what Mikah’s deal is, but he’s rude and obnoxious.”

  “I like him. I’m going to see him again. Tonight and maybe after, we’ll see how it goes.”

  “He doesn’t date, Amy. He just parties.”

  “I’m done dating. My last sixteen relationships have crashed and burned. Now I just want to have some fun. No strings. No heartache. Just great sex and the chance to be with a famous rock star, which not many of us get to do. Stop acting like my mother.”

  “I just don’t want to see you get hurt. Again.”

  She turns back to the mirror and pulls lipstick out of her clutch bag. “I can’t get hurt if I don’t care, Ev. That’s why he’s perfect. I’ll never care about someone like him.”

  My gut sinks, and I take a step back from her as she swipes the red tube over her lips. I don’t like this new attitude of hers at all. She thinks she’s protecting herself, but I know better. Despite her carefree, sassy attitude, Amy’s been looking for love for a long time.

  She turns away from her reflection in the mirror to face me. “Evelyn, you just married the love of your life. Go and enjoy your wedding and don’t worry about me.” Her voice softens. “You finally found your happiness, and hopefully someday I will too. Until then, I just want to have fun, and I want you to focus on you.”

  “All right. Just be careful. Mikah is a whole different kind of animal than what you’re used to.”

  We don’t say anything else as we walk back to the party together, and she makes a beeline for the bar as soon as we get there. Storm and I lock eyes from across the room, and my heart does that pitter-patter thing—only this time in overdrive—as reality sinks in. He’s my husband now. The man I’ll spend the rest of my days and nights with and will grow old with. It’s an overwhelmingly knee-weakening, breath-stealing feeling.

  Storm gives Tor a friendly slap on the back and rushes over to me.

  “Where’d you disappear to?”

  “I went to look for Amy.”

  “She’s at the bar.”

  “Now she is, but she was MIA for a while.”

  “Okay…so where was she?”

  “Screwing your brother in a coat closet, that’s where.”

  His eyes go wide and he rocks on his heels. “Which one?”

  “Which one? You only have one single brother.”

  He shrugs. “Hey, I’m just making sure.”

  “I don’t know what’s gotten into her.”

  “Weddings make people feel all love crazy.”

  I straighten his tie, which is crooked from our rush in getting dressed. “Love? This has nothing to do with love. This is Mikah.”

  He nods his head and grins. “Well, yeah. True. I got all the awesome love genes. Mikah got scraps.”

  “You have to talk to him.”

  “About what?”

  “I don’t want him screwing my best friend. He’ll hurt her.”

  “She might like it.”

  “I mean her heart, Storm.”

  “What do you want me to do, Evie? I can’t put his dick on a leash. He does what he wants. He gives zero fucks about anything.” He reaches out and caresses my cheek. “Stop worrying about everyone else, baby. I know what you’re doing and you better stop.”

  I turn my face to kiss his palm. “What am I doing?”

  “You have nothing to worry about in your own life right now, so you’re worrying about everyone else.”

  “I am not doing th—”

  He pulls me in for a kiss and smiles down at me. “Evie. Be happy. You don’t have to be worrying all the time. It’s okay to just relax, be happy, be loved.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Evie falls asleep snuggled up into my side in the back of the limo on the way to Maine, where we’ll be spending our week-long honeymoon.

  Sure, we could have flown to Paris or Hawaii or any number of exotic destinations, but that’s not us. Fuck all those hours of plane trips, jet lag, and food we can’t pronounce. Everything I need for a honeymoon is right next to me.

  Pulling the fleece blanket up around us, it reminds me of the first time we snuggled under Niko’s blanket in the back of my truck. The moment she lay against me—her curvy body fitting so perfectly against mine, our hands linked together—I was hooked.

  Done.

  Captured.

  She was oblivious to the fact that she had me, and in total denial that I had her too. Her cluelessness and resistance only made me love her and want her even more.

  It’s two a.m. when the limo pulls into the driveway of the inn, and I gently nudge her awake.

  “Evie, we’re here,” I say softly. Her eyes open and she smiles sleepily at me, exhausted from the wedding. Being in a relationship with someone who has social anxiety has been a real eye opener to how hard it is for her to be around people. Me? I’m used to being surrounded by people wanting attention because I grew up in a celebrity environment. It can be annoying at times, but it doesn’t freak me out. Crowds of people make Evie nervous, and her anxiety goes warp speed to the point of mentally exhausting her. I’ve accepted that this is a part of who she is, but that doesn’t mean I won’t continue to figure out fun and sometimes annoying ways to help ease her anxiety. Being in a relationship with someone like me and dealing with my career are huge-ass triggers for her.

  “I’m sorry I fell asleep on our wedding night,” she says, folding the blanket. “I suck as a wife already.”

  “Our wedding night hasn’t even started yet, baby.”

  We climb out of the limo, and the driver unloads our suitcases from the trunk. Evie and I each grab two and carry them up the front stairs to the wraparound porch of the Victorian inn. Katherine, the owner, opens the door when she hears us and steps out to hug us hello.

  “Congratulations on your big day!”

  “Thanks for waiting up for us to get here,” I say. “Katherine, this is Evelyn. Ev, this is Katherine, Asher’s sister-in-law. We’ve known each other since high school.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Evie says. “I’ve heard so many good things about your inn and your cooking.”

  We follow her into the foyer. “I want you two to have an amazing time. You’re our only guests for the entire week, so we’re going to spoil you both.”

  I grin at her. “You’ll probably hear us a lot more than you’ll see us.”

  “Storm…” Evie blushes beside me.

  Katherine laughs. “Trust me, I’m used to newlyweds. Just come out for air and food once in a while so I feel like I’m doing my job.” She picks up two of the suitcases. “Let’s go, I’ll take you to your suite.”

  On our way up the stairs, Asher’s daughter Kenzi appears at the top of the stairs. She hugs us as soon as we get to the top.

  “Uncle Storm, I’m sorry I couldn’t be at your wedding. I wanted to, but I knew Tor would be there and my Dad isn’t ready to see us together… yet. We’re trying to give him time to get his head together about everything. I didn’t want to cause any tension.”

  “It’s okay. We knew we’d get to see you here since you’re working with Katherine. And I talked to Tor at the wedding…he said to tell you he’s still wishing.”

  She smiles, her bottom lip quivering. “I am, too,” she says softly.

  When I found out my brother’s best friend and my niece had fallen in love, I was pissed at first, too. She’s fifteen years
younger than him. But they’re the real deal. They love each other. As long as they’re happy and he treats her right, that’s all I give a shit about.

  “I’ll bring you guys breakfast in the morning,” she says. “Just call when you’re ready.”

  Once the door clicks closed behind Katherine and Kenzi and I’ve finally got my wife all to myself, I pick her up and carry her to the king-sized bed, plop her down on the soft gray comforter, and crawl on top of her. Leaning on my elbow, I stare down into her sleepy, smiling face.

  “I told ya you were stuck with me forever. No turning back now, baby.”

  Her arms wrap around my neck. “I don’t ever, ever want to turn back.”

  I kiss her softly, tasting her lips and caressing her tongue with mine. I stretch her arm over her head, and my hand glides up her flesh until our fingers meet and curl around each other. We’re tired, but the last thing I’m wanting is sleep. The only thing I want is to make this night last forever.

  We move to the bathroom, where I slowly remove the yoga pants and sweater she changed into after the reception. I kneel in front of her and move my lips across her stomach and down to her thighs while my hands run up the back of her legs. I’ll never get enough of the softness of her skin and the hint of her perfume. She gazes down at me with that woozy love in her eyes that fucking rocks me every time.

  Standing, I keep my eyes riveted to hers as I yank off my own clothes, reach into the shower to turn the water on, and pull her in with me under the hot spray. We wash each other with almond-scented soap, and I get hard as a rock moving my hands over her slippery, soapy breasts. I kiss her hungrily, sliding my hands around to her back then down to cup her round ass cheeks, grinding my cock against her.

  “I want you so fuckin’ bad, Evie,” I groan when we break for air. Smiling seductively, she goes down on her knees in front of me, with the water raining down on her back, and wraps her lips around the head of my cock. I watch her, with my hand cradling the back of her head, as she takes me into her mouth with hot wet suction, her tongue flattening against my length and lapping the tip before she impales her mouth on my shaft again, deeper each time.