When Lightning Strikes (The Storm Inside Book 3)

by Alexis Anne

  “Nice.” Now that they were together, I could definitely see how these two would be friends. Marie and Eve were very different people, but they both had the same drive.

  “So, are we going to eat anytime today?” Eve asked slowly. She finally picked her head up off my shoulder and I let her go.

  “Give me five minutes.” Jake started pulling barbecue out of the fridge.

  “Where’s the kid?” I asked. I was willing to bet money Natalie was curled up in Eve’s library.

  “I’m right here,” Natalie replied from behind me. She had her head down in a book—no surprise there—as she leaned against the doorframe.

  “Whatcha reading?” Her book choice was usually a good reflection of her mood.

  “Mary Higgins Clark.”

  A mystery. That was interesting. “Well at least it’s something fun.”

  “Oh it is,” she finally looked up. “This one is really old. There aren’t any cell phones or computers or anything. It’s crazy how people used to live.”

  “Hey, I can actually remember those days.” I frowned at her.

  She grinned up at me. “Old man…”

  “Go read your book, kid. And eat a cookie.”

  She frowned. “No cookies before dinner. That’s why I came in here—I smelled food.” She pushed her way up to the counter. “Oh, I love barbecue.”

  That was when I realized everyone was staring at us. “What?”

  “Nothing,” Eve replied quickly and pretended the macaroni salad desperately needed mixing. “I just didn’t realize you knew Natalie so well.”

  I shrugged and, honestly, felt a little weird. So what if I knew Natalie?

  I wanted to deflect the attention so I scowled at Jake. That always worked. “So at the front door you said you told us almost everything. What else haven’t you told us?”

  Jake glanced at Eve and they had some sort of silent eyeball conversation that looked more like glaring than anything else. Finally Eve stuck her tongue out at Jake. “Fine. Natalie called me to make sure today happened.”

  Natalie dropped her fork and stared at Eve with her mouth hanging open. “Traitor!”

  Even the kid was in on it.

  “How did you know?” Marie asked. Her voice was really squeaky. Mine probably would be too if I tried to talk.

  She shrugged her little shoulders and looked at her mom. “Google. You should try it sometime, you can find out a lot on the internet.” Then she looked over at me. “I Googled him and realized he worked with Jake, so I called Eve. It’s not like I violated any international treaties. Anyone could do it.” She rolled her eyes for added affect.

  I had to give it to the kid, she was feisty—just like her mother.

  “So this is what you meant—” Marie suddenly snapped her mouth shut. “Never mind. We’ll talk about this later.”

  Natalie shrugged and went back to piling food on her plate. She sat at the little kitchen table with her book propped up while the rest of us took our plates out back to the porch. Jake and I talked about work, the girls talked about the Rays, and in general we all acted like we’d always been friends.

  In a way, it felt like we’d always been friends. It was so perfect it hurt. How had I missed meeting her for so long? And why did I let her slip through my fingers Monday afternoon?

  Jake looked across the table at Marie. “So how are things with Edward?”

  My ears perked up. I didn’t know who the hell Edward was, but I sure wanted to find out.

  Marie frowned. “Nothing’s changed. He’s still an asshole and I’m still hiding down here until he retires.”

  Whoever Edward was, I didn’t like him.

  “What’s going to happen when he retires?” Jake asked between bites.

  She shrugged. “Until he actually starts letting go, I’m not sure. I don’t want to move back to New York, but that is certainly a possibility.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Jake replied.

  Marie fidgeted and glanced at me. “Edward is my father,” she explained.

  So that was why Jake was asking. He was the king of dealing with crap hands from fathers and it seemed like the two of them had talked about this before.

  Now I really, really didn’t like Edward.

  “My hope is that once he retires I only have to see him at Christmas. He’s dropped hints that he plans on traveling extensively if he ever does, in fact, retire.”

  “Good.” Jake went back to drinking his beer.

  “And you?” she asked, throwing the question right back. The way she did that made me smile—it was exactly what attracted me to her.

  Jake stared at her for a minute before he answered. “Zero contact is the only way things work for me and that isn’t ever going to change.”

  She nodded and finally let the subject drop. Not that I wanted her to. I wanted to ask questions. I wanted to know her from the inside out.

  Something was taking over—something I had zero control over. I was angry at a man I’d never met, and this need to know more about Marie? It was intense. Like I had to know more.

  “How was the rest of your week?” I asked her quietly. “You know, after I scared the shit out of you?”

  A slow, sexy smile pulled up on her lips and it made my heart beat a little faster. Maybe I could make her laugh in a few minutes, too. Shit, I’d be done for if that happened.

  All these crazy things I was feeling, plus that laugh? Jake and Eve could just dig a hole and stick my body in it. I had a feeling it would be a beautiful death.

  “It was very boring in comparison. You?”

  “Worst week ever,” I breathed. I sounded like a fucking lovesick girl.

  Her eyebrows shot up. “I heard you skipped your café con leche. Natalie was disappointed.”

  Quitting my afternoon ritual had been hard, but necessary for survival. “Didn’t mean to hurt the kid. And the caffeine withdrawals were brutal.”

  She shook her head. “You’re your own worst enemy, you know that right?”

  Eve laughed and then covered her mouth. “She’s got you pegged.”

  I puffed out my chest. “I just didn’t want to dangle man-candy in front of you when you so clearly told me to stay out of your way.” I made a big deal of showing myself off. I wanted her to laugh, but instead her eyes darkened. She cocked her head and ran her eyes over my entire body.

  I was instantly hard.

  “Like what you see?” I asked, just like she had in my bedroom. Somehow, we’d suddenly fallen back into the same comfort zone we’d had last weekend.

  Her eyes darted back up to mine. Her voice was deep and husky when she responded the exact same way I had that night. “I think we both know how I feel about your body.”

  Jake choked on his beer and I grinned at him. It was nice to gross him out for a change. I’d been putting up with it for too long. “Yeah, buddy. Payback’s a bitch.”

  “Payback?” Marie asked.

  “Oh, yeah.” I leaned in close enough to smell her. It did things to me. Very dark and dirty things. “These two over here are like rabbits. And they have no problem doing it right in front of you, I might add.”

  “Like doing it, doing it?” Marie frowned.

  I nodded. “Oh, yeah. I’ve walked in on them, waited for them, covered the bathroom door for them, and unfortunately seen how often his hand is between her legs in public.”

  Eve grinned. “Jealousy looks good on you, Hamilton.”

  And that was one of the things I loved about Eve the most. She wasn’t shy at all. In fact, she was quite proud of her love life and wasn’t afraid to talk about it.

  “In fact, where are your hands now, Jake?” I asked.

  He put both hands up in the air. “They’re right here. One. Two.”

  Oh no, there was no way they weren’t fondling each other under the table. “Eve? Where’s your foot?”

  She grinned and slowly pulled her foot out of Jake’s lap, sitting up straighter. Jake frowned a little and
took a deep breath. “Ass.”

  “See?” I smiled at Marie wondering if she thought we’d all lost our damn minds, but instead, she was watching us with fascination.

  “I had no idea the rumors about you two at the New Year’s party were true…” she murmured.

  Eve grinned again as she leaned forward on the table. “Oh yeah…I forgot about that one.”

  “Which one was that?” Jake asked with a grin. He knew exactly which one it was, he just got off on hearing Eve talk about it. Kinky bastard.

  Lucky bastard.

  “Behind the planter on the rooftop.”

  “No, that’s not the rumor I heard,” Marie replied. “I heard about you two in the pool after the party.”

  “Oh yeah,” they both said in unison and then laughed. “I forgot we went for a swim in our clothes.”

  “In all fairness, we didn’t keep them all on.”

  “In all fairness,” he replied, “we didn’t really swim.”

  I watched Marie out of the corner of my eye while I pretended to be fascinated with the label on my beer bottle. She watched them with softness. She wasn’t disgusted or embarrassed. Instead she looked wistful. I wondered if she wished for stories like that. I know I sure did.

  “How about we let these two make out for a minute? We need to talk.” I pushed back my chair.

  She took my hand without another word and let me lead her inside to the living room. Natalie wasn’t at the table anymore, so I assumed she’d returned to the library. We were far enough away that our conversation should be private.

  Marie walked all the way across the room and stared up at a framed jersey on the wall. Her blonde hair hung down her back in waves and I really, really wanted to put my hands in it, pull her against me and grind until she moaned.

  I’d never reacted to a woman like this before. It was crazy and weird, but for the life of me, I didn’t want it to stop.

  “Do you want what they have?” she asked without turning.

  I stopped a couple of feet behind her and shoved my hands in my pockets so I wouldn’t do anything stupid with them. “Jake and Eve? Yeah.” Who wouldn’t want to be ridiculously happy? “If I had a choice, I’d take what they have in a heartbeat.”

  She turned. “You don’t have a choice?”

  And this was where shit got real. It was specifically what I’d been avoiding my entire life. To me it was simple math: I was a sorry shit, I’d already fallen in love once and failed as a human being, therefore I’d taken and lost my one shot at being ridiculously happy.

  But then I met Marie and was starting to realize everything I thought I knew might not be so simple. I was feeling things I never expected to feel again, and even more confusing, she seemed to be feeling them right back.

  And most confusing of all, I found myself wanting to give in to those feelings. Which made no sense whatsoever because it couldn’t possibly end well. But there was a little voice in the back of my head that kept asking me to give this one more minute.

  “Not really. No. Those two got lucky, not everyone gets lucky,” I said.

  “I agree.”

  Why did that sad, sad reply make my chest ache again? My heart twisted. I rubbed it quickly and shoved my hand back in my pocket. Marie watched the whole thing.

  I felt like I’d just shown her half my soul.

  She shook her head. “I’m sorry I was such an ass on Monday. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

  “Sweetheart, you had every right to run screaming in the other direction. I’m not exactly the kind of guy you bring home to meet your daughter.” God damn that ache hurt.

  She looked a little shocked by my comment. “What kind of guy are you, Greg?”

  Fuck if I knew that answer anymore. “You’re right to keep your distance, Marie. I ruin everything I touch.”

  “Jake and Eve don’t think so. They love you. They aren’t ruined.”

  The ache got worse. Maybe I was having a heart attack after all. “Not yet.”

  “Do you really believe that?” she whispered.

  Did I? I thought I did, but I didn’t want it to be true. “I don’t know.” I sat down on the coffee table because I couldn’t stand anymore. The world was getting a little fuzzy on me and my knees definitely didn’t feel up to the whole vertical thing anymore.

  Marie stood right in front of me. She started and stopped herself from saying something several times, then finally took a breath and let it out. “Do you like me? Like, me? Not my body, but…me.”

  The fuck kind of question was that? I stopped rubbing my chest and looked up at her. “Yes. I like you. I thought I made that pretty damn clear this weekend when I took you home.” I brought her into my house, I talked to her, I didn’t play any games. “This wasn’t just about getting laid. I could have done that anywhere. With anyone.”

  She smiled. “You’re really confident with your cock.”

  And she was constantly surprising me. “It is amazing.”

  “It is.” Then she squatted down in front of me and got serious again. “I ask because I was being really honest with you on Monday. I don’t have room for maybes in my life…but I realize that I was also being extreme. If this was just physical I’d say let’s get a hotel room and fuck our brains out. Get it out of our systems and move on. But if it’s more—even if neither of us know what that is—” her voice trailed off and she looked down as if there were a script written on the area rug.

  “I don’t think I can fuck you out of my system in a weekend,” I whispered. We’d already tried that, and all I wanted was more. More sex, more Marie, more everything.

  It was scaring the shit out of me.

  She swallowed—the pulse in her neck suddenly beating wildly again. “Me either.”

  Was I really about to say what I was about to say? “Then let me take you and Natalie to brunch tomorrow.” Scared or not, I sure as shit knew that little voice in the back of my head had a point: I had to have one more minute.

  “And then what?” she whispered.

  “And then,” I slid off the coffee table onto the floor in front of her. “We go from there.” I cupped her face until my fingers reached the back of her neck. I had her in the palm of my hand. “ I don’t want to hurt you, but I can’t make any promises.”

  “I don’t want promises.” Her breath was hot on my lips. “I just don’t want any lies.”

  “I can do that, I don’t do lies.” And then I finally got to kiss her again.

  She gasped and let out a little groan of pleasure, which made me smile because, damn. A kiss can do that to her?

  The kiss got deeper and our hands started roaming when she suddenly pushed back. “I need to get Natalie home.”

  “Is that code for ‘this kiss is too hot to handle?’ ”

  She leaned back and smiled. “Yep.”

  “Then I’ll allow it.” She’d agreed to brunch, I couldn’t be a completely greedy bastard. I was pushing my luck as it was. “I’ll pick you and the kid up at ten-thirty.” We exchanged phone numbers and she gave me her address before she left.

  I got one more kiss out of her on the doorstep while Natalie giggled her way to the car. I wanted to do a victory lap around the house, but knew I’d look like a total shit and probably lose all my cool points with Marie, so instead I quietly went back inside.

  Eve was waiting for me in the foyer. “So? Things went well…”

  “They did. Thank you.” I could give credit where credit was due.

  She shrugged. “Sometimes people need a little help getting together.”

  “This is true.”

  She led me back into the kitchen and I helped her finish cleaning up the food. Now that Marie was gone it really hit me: I had a date with her, she was friends with Eve, and most importantly, I wanted this.

  “Still in shock?” Eve asked.

  “Yep.”

  “About seeing her, getting another date, or that it’s happening at all?”

  Yeah, Eve knew what was up
. “Mostly? The last one.”

  She wiped down the countertop and tossed the paper towel in the trash. “It happens, you know? Sometimes people just…click.”

  “Not me,” I answered automatically.

  “Yes, you. You’re not broken or a curse, or whatever it is you think about yourself.”

  I wanted to tell Eve that she was wrong, but the last thing I wanted to do was get into an argument. Right now, I just wanted to enjoy feeling alive for a few minutes.

  “Let’s just see how brunch goes, okay?”

  Eve put her hand on my arm. “You’re not the only one with baggage. When Marie says that her life is complicated, she means it, Greg. Be respectful of that. I want you to be happy, but you’ve got to be smart, too. You’re going from zero to sixty right now.”

  “Worried about me?”

  “A little.”

  I hugged her. “Thanks for worrying about me.”

  “Always. And now, here.” She opened a cabinet and dug out a bottle of Knob Creek.

  “What’s this for?”

  “You owe Jake a bottle. I bought a case since you and I don’t seem to be able to stop saying ‘fuck.’ ”

  I laughed and kissed her on the top of the head. “That’s my girl.”

  We walked back outside to where Jake was smoking his cigar. I held out the bottle. “For all the fucks I’ve given tonight.” And it hit me how true that was. For the first time in years I had a lot of fucks to give.

  And it felt fucking nice.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “You really, really don’t need to stay the night. It’s just dinner. And it’s Sunday. You have school in the morning.” I stood in Natalie’s doorway watching her throw her uniform into a duffle bag.

  “It’s just easier this way. You two can stay up as late as you want without having to worry about little old me and my bedtime.”

  Brunch had gone spectacularly well. Greg and Natalie were quite the pair, plus he was incredibly good company and loved food. We tried everything on the enormous buffet. We were having so much fun I let him take us to a cute little bookstore Natalie loved. He bought her more books and made out with me when she wasn’t looking.