My chest tightened and I got out of the truck. I practically ran to the spot where Aiden was lying, looking up and down the country road.
“Who’s watching for traffic?” I demanded.
Murph glanced up from the trunk, where he was sifting through something. Aiden stuck his head out from beneath the car and looked at me. Tex seemed to be frozen.
“Who the hell is watching for traffic?” I yelled, waving my arms in the air. “He’s underneath the car and no one is looking out for him. Am I the only one who feels sick about that? Am I the only one who remembers?”
Hot tears spilled onto my cheeks. Tex hung his head.
“I’m sorry. You’re right, Drew.”
I was shaking as I looked up and down the road again. Aiden slid out from beneath the car, wiping his hands on his T-shirt.
“Finish the tire,” he said to Tex.
He pulled me into his arms and held me close. I cried against his chest, still shaking. I couldn’t stop now.
“Shh, Drew,” he said softly in my ear. “It’s okay.”
I wanted it to be okay, but I was still shaking. Seeing Aiden doing the same thing that had gotten Colby killed was just too much.
Aiden rubbed a hand up and down my back, holding me close until I stopped crying. I pulled my cheek away from his chest and he brushed a thumb beneath my eyes, wiping away my tears.
“I’m okay,” I said, sniffling. “I shouldn’t have yelled like that.”
“No, I wasn’t thinking. You were right.”
He kept his hand on my back, using it to guide me over to the shoulder of the road. We stood together in silence until Tex rose from the ground.
“Done,” he said, wiping a hand across his brow. “And, Drew, I’m sorry. Won’t happen again.”
I nodded and wrapped my arms around myself.
“You need a hot shower,” Aiden said. “We’ll head back to camp.”
“Yeah, we’re done for today, too.” Murph walked over, now wearing a floppy yellow rain hat that was tied beneath his chin. “If there was a twister it didn’t amount to much. And I need to get that tire looked at to see if it can be fixed.”
We all loaded back into our vehicles and started the long drive back. I was grateful for Aiden’s quiet nature, because I was emotionally worn out. He left me alone with my thoughts and I stared out the window as the countryside rolled by.
In just a couple of weeks, Aiden had become very important to me. The thought of losing him had brought back all the rawness I’d felt after Colby’s death.
Maybe Aiden was right not to let himself love anyone. He’d never end up sobbing on the bathroom floor of a hospital like I had.
Neither of us had said much by the time we got back to the campground. It was dark, and I saw the orange glow of a bonfire near the campground’s office.
When we got out of the truck, the campground manager came over and told us he was cooking out tonight for all campground guests. My stomach rumbled its approval, but first I had to get a shower.
Hot water had never felt so good. I just stood beneath the spray for ten minutes, letting it wash away my tension. After I’d washed every inch of dirty ditch from my body and hair, I dried off and dressed in clean jeans and a T-shirt.
I was blow-drying my hair when Millie walked into the large bathroom with her shower supplies in hand. She gave me a tentative look.
“You okay?” she asked.
I turned off my dryer and sighed. “Yeah. Just worn out.”
“There’s loads of food out there. Maybe that’ll help.”
Millie’s face was lined with discomfort. Being nurturing was not her thing, which made me appreciate her trying all the more.
“Thanks.” I smiled at her. “I’m sure it will.”
“There’s even alcohol. We could get drunk.”
Her eyes widened hopefully and I wondered why the idea was so appealing to her.
“I suppose,” I said. “If storm chasing while hungover tomorrow sounds like fun.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s a stupid idea. I’ve never been drunk, so what do I know?”
“You haven’t?”
Her fair cheeks turned pink. “I’m about what you’d expect from looking at me. I spend my Friday nights at the library.”
“Millie, I think you’re very pretty. And I say we go for it. I could use a drink or five after this afternoon.”
“Yeah, that was…a tense moment.”
I smiled and looked away. “I’m actually talking about something else. Can you keep a secret?”
“Yeah,” she said, her eyes lighting up.
“Aiden kissed me today.”
Her lips parted with surprise. “Oh. I was wondering…you know, if you guys were…”
“No, we weren’t.”
She broke out in a wide grin. “Well, good for you. And him.”
Was it good? I wanted to be happy about it, too, but I still had a gnawing worry about falling hard for Aiden and ending up heartbroken. He climbed mountains and rescued people from dangerous places. The chance of something happening to him was higher than average.
“I’ll get a quick shower,” Millie said. “We can walk over together when I’m done.”
As soon as we joined the crowd at the bonfire, I felt Aiden’s gaze on me. I snuck a glance at him when he was taking a drink of his beer. He was sitting on top of a picnic table next to Tex, dressed in dry jeans and a white T-shirt, his hair damp from the shower.
His gaze locked with mine and I looked away. I still wanted him. My desire was actually stronger than ever now that I’d felt his mouth on mine and his strong arms wrapped around me.
But now I realized what he’d meant when he said it wouldn’t be simple with us. That we couldn’t just have sex. My heart was already wrapped up in him. Seeing him beneath Murph’s car on the road today had shown me that.
“Is this okay?” Millie held up a fruity wine cooler, a half-finished one in her other hand.
“Perfect.”
Millie and I ate and drank wine coolers and shots until my worries faded and everything she said made me collapse in a fit of laughter.
Within an hour, nothing seemed funny anymore. I jumped up from my seat next to Millie and ran to the edge of a wooded clearing away from the gathering, barely making it before I vomited.
I stayed bent over, taking deep breaths in an effort to combat the nausea.
“Drew?” Aiden said from behind me.
I turned my face toward him and groaned. “Go away. I don’t want you to see me like this.”
He ignored me and came the rest of the way until he was beside me.
“What do you need?” he asked, laying a hand on my back.
I just groaned again, unable to think of an answer. My head felt like it was spinning in circles.
“You done throwing up?”
“Uh.” I tried to stand up but the spinning was too much. I bent back down again. “I need to lay down.”
I dropped down to the grass, planning to rest right there, but Aiden slid his hands around the backs of my legs and picked me up.
“You can stay with me tonight,” he said.
“No, I’m…fine. I think.”
He laughed softly. “Yeah. The best is yet to come, sweetheart. You ever drank that much before?”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “How much?”
“As much as you drank tonight.”
“Who knows?” I mumbled.
“You don’t even know how much you drank, do you? It was a hell of a lot.”
I curled my head against his chest, wishing my stomach would stop churning. When we got to his camper, he opened the door and turned me sideways to get me through the doorway.
“I’d like to know what the hell came over you tonight,” he said, laying me down on the bed. “But you need to sleep it off. We can talk tomorrow.”
I groaned my agreement. He took off my sandals and tossed them to the floor. I felt his weight on the bed as he l
ay down beside me.
“Crazy woman,” he muttered. “This is definitely not what I had in mind for us tonight.”
I gave in to the pull of sleep, hoping he’d still be beside me in the morning.
Chapter 16
Drew
I cut my morning run short. Knowing Drew was asleep in my bed made it impossible to think about anything else.
The camper was still and quiet when I went in. I pulled aside the curtain to the small bedroom and saw Drew still curled up on her side asleep.
Part of me wanted to leave her sleeping and ride with Murph if we went out today. But I had to find out if something was wrong. She’d gotten so wasted last night that I was worried about her now.
I went to a kitchen cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Tylenol, opening it and dumping two into my hand. Then I took a bottle of water from the fridge and walked into the bedroom.
“Drew,” I said softly, sitting down on the side of the bed. She stirred and groaned.
Her blond hair was pooled on the white pillowcase. I reached out and brushed a hand over it, finding it as soft as I’d expected. I’d slept with several dozen women over the years, but I’d never felt the intimacy that was tugging at my chest in this moment.
“Mmm…Aiden.” Her eyes slid open and she squinted as she focused on me. My cock responded to the sound of her saying my name in a sleepy tone and I shifted to adjust myself.
“Morning,” I said.
“My head,” she croaked.
I reached for her hand and dropped the pills into it. “Take those,” I said, opening the bottle of water for her.
She sat up and cringed. “I feel like…death.”
“Six drinks’ll have that effect.”
“Did I drink that much?”
I nodded.
She took the pills with a swallow of water and then reached for her temple. “Oh, God. I did. And then I puked in the woods. And you carried me.” She looked around, realizing where she was. Her eyes widened in horror.
“Don’t fucking ask me if we slept together, Drew,” I cautioned. “You know me better than that.”
Her expression relaxed. “Sorry.”
“You want to hang out here today instead of chasing? I can go out with the others.”
“No,” she said, sighing. “I need to get up and going. This’ll teach me not to drink like that again.”
I smiled, my gaze roaming over her messy hair and the black circles of makeup under her eyes. On her, the fresh-out-of-bed look was sexy.
“What’s going on with you?” I asked, leaning a hand on the mattress so I could get a little closer to her. “It’s not like you to drink that much. Was it because of what happened with us yesterday?”
Drew gave a hum of amusement. “You mean when we jumped into a ditch to avoid death? Or when you kissed me so well I almost orgasmed? Or when I flipped my shit because you were changing a tire?”
“Orgasmed?”
Fuck storm chasing. I wanted to climb on top of her and take yesterday’s kiss all the way.
She looked down at the bed. “I guess it was just everything. I rarely feel overwhelmed, but I did yesterday.”
I nodded, my stomach sinking. It was all over her face—she regretted the kiss. The role reversal would’ve been fucking ironic if it wasn’t so likely to ruin me.
I’d crossed a line I couldn’t uncross. Drew was more than under my skin now. I’d tasted her lips and felt her body against mine and now I wanted it all. It was more than just want; it was a deep, primal craving for her.
“I should take a shower,” she said, sliding off the side of the bed. The side across from where I was sitting.
She’d gone from begging me to touch her to avoiding me like the plague. My muscles tensed and my gut churned.
I grabbed my soap, shampoo, and towel and followed Drew out of the camper.
Tex was sitting in his lawn chair by the motorhome drinking coffee. He arched his brows and gave me a shit-eating grin. A comment about me and Drew was only a second away.
“You say a fucking word and it’s on,” I growled, giving him a murderous glare.
His smile faded.
I turned the hot water on and stood beneath its scalding spray. What a fucking mess. I didn’t have a chance in hell of talking this out with Drew. My communication skills were severely lacking. Grunting and silence were unlikely to make her feel any better.
The image of her in my bed this morning swam before my eyes. I’d gotten a night of her light honeysuckle scent and warm, firm body next to mine. She hadn’t chosen to sleep next to me and now I felt like I’d invaded her somehow just by discovering the smell of her hair and the way she hugged a pillow to her chest as she slept.
But those parts of her were woven into my deep longing for her now. I grabbed my treacherous cock, which was rock hard despite my raging emotions, and pumped it hard and fast, fantasizing about reaching under the covers and touching her. Hearing her moan my name and part her legs for me.
I wanted her so fucking bad. My whole body shuddered as I came, breathing hard into the swirl of steam in the shower.
It was the only relief I’d be getting.
Chapter 17
Drew
I considered switching with Tex or Millie so I wouldn’t have to be around Aiden, but then I’d be stuck in a car of talking people. I needed silence right now. Not just because of my merciless headache, but because my emotions were on the verge of spilling over at any second. I needed time to work through things in my head.
With Aiden, I’d have silence, even if it was awkward.
And it was. I couldn’t even look at him, but I felt the tension. Poor guy was probably so confused right now, and it was all my fault.
I’d been so stupid, letting my raging hormones take charge. Our kiss had shown me how deep I was already in with Aiden, and I had to stop while I still could. I wasn’t strong enough to do this again.
After my dad’s death, I’d grieved by throwing myself into supporting Daniel and Ashley. Work and school had kept me busy for years. Those years had taught me a lot about myself. Not only was I capable of standing on my own two feet, I could hold others up, too. Every bleary-eyed morning had been about finding my inner strength.
Then Colby had come along with his heart-stopping smile, promising he’d love me forever. I’d shifted some of the weight I held onto his shoulders, letting him help with money sometimes and telling him about my hopes and dreams for us. I’d been half of a team for the first time in my life.
And then he was gone. It was just like my dad—here one moment and gone forever the next. I’d spent the past year drawing on my well of inner strength. Work, clean, cook, sleep. Do it all again the next day.
I was a survivor. Always had been. The problem was when I let my stupid heart want more than that. Fairy tales were for women who had more to work with than me.
This storm-chasing trip had upset my routine. When I got back to Lipton and the salon, everything would fall back into place.
“Drew,” Aiden said. “Look at me.”
We’d been on the road for more than an hour and I hadn’t been expecting him to break the silence. A lump formed in my throat and I shook my head.
“Look at me now.”
His deep command made arousal swirl deep in my belly. I turned and locked eyes with him. He broke away after a couple seconds to look in the rearview mirror and pull over to the side of the road.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
His brow was furrowed and the corners of his mouth were drawn down slightly. The concern I saw in his eyes sent a wave of guilt through me.
Whatever Aiden felt for me, I didn’t deserve it.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I said, clearing my throat.
“You don’t look okay.”
“Just hungover.”
He narrowed his eyes a fraction. “Bullshit.”
I turned back to the windshield, aggravation replacing my arousal. I’d always been the kind o
f person who kept my feelings to myself. Not acknowledging things made them so much easier to deal with. I didn’t like being called on my white lie.
“Maybe you’re just a lousy kisser and I’m disappointed,” I said coldly.
Aiden laughed. “Or maybe you’re a lousy liar and you’d have let me fuck you up against the door of my truck yesterday if I’d wanted to.”
I turned to him. “You didn’t want to?”
His eyes glimmered with satisfaction. I glared and turned back to the windshield.
“Just drive,” I said. “I don’t feel like talking.”
“Don’t feel like talking, or don’t feel like talking to me? I saw you talking to Millie last night.”
I sighed and forced myself to stay silent. After a few seconds he put the truck in drive and pulled back onto the road.
“Don’t say I didn’t try,” he said, an edge of disgust in his tone.
“Wasn’t going to.”
“You frustrate the hell out of me,” he muttered.
I pressed my lips together.
Stop doing this, Drew. It’s only bringing on more emotion.
Aiden was finding out that his crush on the abstract me was better than the real thing. It made me feel even worse.
He turned up a baseball game on the radio, solidifying the silence between us. The game was the only sound in the truck during a long day of chasing after storms that never amounted to anything but light rain.
It was after dark when we pulled back into the campground. I got out and stretched my stiff muscles.
Murph came out of the motorhome and went right to Aiden.
“I was about to call you, man. I heard a call on the radio five minutes ago about a building collapse in a town near here. It’s a volunteer fire department and I don’t know if they’ve got technical-rescue resources.”
Aiden nodded and went into his camper, returning less than a minute later with a big green canvas duffel bag.
“Get me a location,” he said to Murph as he loaded the bag into the backseat of his truck.
“Will do.” Murph went back into the motorhome.
“Wait, what?” I said, my heart thudding nervously. “You’re going there? Is that a good idea?”
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