Storm Warning

by Sydney Somers

  “Have you managed to track down your mystery source yet?”

  “No.” And she was getting a little worried. Kenny always returned her calls and she had more questions for him, namely whether he’d known Holson would be meeting with Watts. Kenny was rather fond of recalling more interesting tidbits after his initial tips. She had no doubt the man knew more than he let on, but he wasn’t returning her calls.

  “Maybe he realized he fed you bad information.”

  “Could be.” With her main source missing in action, she’d decided not to let on she was still hunting down leads, especially since Whitney continued to worry the story would come back to bite her in the ass. Kenny had certainly turned her onto the right path, but there were still other avenues to explore. Unfortunately, this week hadn’t been too productive in that area either.

  “You be sure to say hi to your brother for me.”

  Blair rolled her eyes. “I’m not kissing him for you, so don’t ask.”

  The sound of a pout came over the line. “Is an ass-grab totally out of the question then?”

  She laughed. “I’ll call you later,” she promised, and ended the call.

  At least she had the barbeque at Braxton’s to take her mind off everything. With no new leads on the connection between Holson and Watts panning out and third-rate assignments being dumped in her lap thanks to her brown-nosing colleague filling in for her regular editor, she needed a little downtime.

  By the time she pulled up in front of her brother’s place, her earlier frustration about work only simmered in the back of her mind instead of gnawed. She grabbed the wine she’d brought along and headed up the driveway.

  The front door was yanked open before she raised her hand to knock.

  “Blair, right?”

  She smiled and nodded at the attractive woman, admiring her long black hair threaded with streaks of blue. “And you must be the woman my brother can’t stop talking about.”

  Quinn grinned. “I won’t tell him you told me that.” She gestured for Blair to come in. “Everyone is out back.”

  She stepped inside, offering Quinn the bottle of wine. “Were you doing something in the kitchen?”

  “No, why?”

  “I hadn’t knocked yet. Just figured you must have spotted me through the window.”

  “Right,” Quinn said quickly. She closed the door, then glanced over her shoulder out the window. “Looks like he decided to make it after all,” she murmured. “Another one of the team,” Quinn added and started to lead the way out back.

  “Actually I’m going to slip into the bathroom first if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure. Help yourself to a beer in the fridge on your way out or you can grab one from the cooler on the deck.”

  “Thanks.” Blair had no trouble remembering where the bathroom was. As she walked through the house, the subtle signs that Braxton now shared his life with someone—a stack of DVDs of television shows she couldn’t imagine Brax watching, pictures she guessed to be of Quinn’s family side by side with Braxton’s, a goldfish swimming lazily in its bowl—made her feel guilty for not coming over more often. It seemed every time they’d tried to make dinner plans either she had a last-minute story to cover or Quinn or Braxton was called out of town for work.

  By the time she emerged from the bathroom, determined to spend more time with her brother from now on, she was really looking forward to that beer Quinn mentioned.

  Snagging one from the fridge, Blair turned around, the bottle halfway to her mouth when she spotted someone in the kitchen doorway.

  Drew.

  A tidal wave could have ripped the roof off the house and she wouldn’t have been more stunned at finding him less than ten feet away. What the hell was he doing here? Braxton had told her there would be just a few people he worked with coming. Did that mean he and Drew worked together? A girl could not be that unlucky.

  He leaned in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. His legs were encased in a pair of faded jeans, and a snug-fitting black T-shirt hid the smooth, strong planes of muscle that all but made her palms tingle with the memory of touching him.

  For the last week she’d half convinced herself her memory was too generous, that he couldn’t have been that good looking. Here he was with his mussed blond hair, piercing brown eyes and lethal smile, proving her memory and attention to detail were as sharp as ever.

  He pushed away from the doorway, but stopped halfway across the kitchen. A glimmer of uncertainty blinked across his face before it disappeared beneath the same mischievous expression he’d used to rope her into having dinner with him at the resort.

  His gaze locked on her face, and the same intensity that had been branded on her memory made it almost impossible to stand still. “Small world,” he mused.

  “What are you doing here?”

  He shrugged. “I was invited. You?”

  “This is my brother’s house.”

  Drew frowned. “Brother?” He closed his eyes and she thought she heard him mutter “fuck” under his breath. “One headache I really didn’t need today.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Come on.” He reached out and snared her wrist, tugging her after him.

  “Wait a second,” she ground out, ignoring the telltale warmth that spiraled up her arm the second his palm swallowed her hand.

  “Let’s talk outside.” He led her to the front door, sparing her another quick glance she couldn’t decipher.

  “Where are you two going?”

  “Shit,” Drew hissed, dropping her hand like it had caught fire.

  Blair spotted her brother in the doorway leading to the rear of the house. He couldn’t have noticed Drew had been holding her hand or he’d be scowling already. She couldn’t guess at what his and Drew’s work relationship was, but Drew wouldn’t be here unless they were friends. Which made it even more important not to breathe a word about their over-before-it-began history. She and her brother had shared an understanding since they’d been teenagers. They didn’t date each other’s friends. Ever. Braxton had insisted on it once his buddies had started looking a little too long at Blair and her sisters.

  Drew nodded toward the door. “Your sister was about to give me a hand with something at the car.”

  “Why?”

  She’d heard the protective edge in Braxton’s voice enough times to recognize it instantly.

  “I promise to keep my hands to myself unless she begs real nice.” Drew flattened his hand against her lower back, using his own body to hide the gesture, and propelled her out the door without waiting for Braxton’s approval.

  The last glimpse she caught of her brother, he stood motionless as Quinn joined him. Blair easily recalled all the nights he’d waited up when she’d hit her dating stride and didn’t doubt he’d be in the same place when she returned. She could only hope Quinn would distract him enough that he wouldn’t try watching her through the curtains.

  With the door shut soundly behind them, Drew led the way to the yellow Jeep Wrangler in need of a wash that was parked behind her car.

  He opened the driver’s side door and leaned inside to retrieve a case of beer. He set it on the ground between them and braced his hands on the Jeep’s roll bar. The pensive look on his face reminded her of the evening she saw him on the beach.

  He glanced up at the house. “Maybe we should go for a drive.”

  “No.” Being alone with him was not a good idea. Not when she felt the pull of him, some intrinsic need to get a little closer.

  “You’re right. That would only make him more curious.” He turned and, crossing his arms, leaned back against the vehicle. “My ass will be his for this.”

  “Braxton doesn’t need to know.” She wasn’t in the habit of sharing details of her sex life with her brother and saw no reason to start now.

  “It’s a lot more complicated than that.”

  “Only if one of us tells him.” She wasn’t interested in ruining her time with her brother by letting on she and Drew wer
en’t meeting for the first time.

  He snorted.

  She watched him closely. “Or are you just worried what Brax would think of you cheating on your girlfriend with his sister?”

  “What?”

  Blair shrugged. “So he doesn’t know you play the field while keeping a home team cheering for you?”

  He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I do not have a girlfriend.”

  She was certain her skepticism still showed on her face.

  “And I’m not, nor have I ever been, married.”

  “And Molly?” She couldn’t figure out why she bothered to press the issue—habit probably. Loose ends tended to dig at her until she could tie them all up. Still, Drew had made it clear a week ago that it wasn’t a subject he wanted to discuss and she doubted that had changed.

  He sighed. “We’re back to that?” He picked up the case of beer. “Go on in. Ask Quinn, Gage, hell, ask Braxton, and they’ll all tell you I’m not involved with anyone.”

  “For a man who claims to be single, you were pretty quick to see me go.”

  “I had a lot of stuff on my mind.”

  “Right,” she drawled. “Complicated stuff.” She turned away.

  “Don’t go yet.”

  She glanced at where his fingers curled around her wrist. He’d moved so quickly she hadn’t even seen him reach for her. Her heart sped up, and when she lifted her eyes to his, her stomach tugged.

  “I didn’t want you to leave. Not really.”

  Blair carefully extracted her hand and eased away from him. Was that the truth, or was he just looking to score again? She told herself she didn’t care, then said as much aloud. “Maybe we should just go inside and forget about last weekend.”

  He waited a beat, then two, and finally nodded.

  She squared her shoulders, extinguishing the flicker of hope that had sparked to life the second he’d grabbed her hand.

  “How good are you at hiding your feelings?”

  So he was worried about what Brax would think. She gave him her best nonchalant expression. “I have no plans of sharing anything, intentional or otherwise, with Braxton.”

  Blair could have sworn she heard Drew mutter, “You don’t know your brother very well,” as she walked away.

  If Drew believed in divine intervention, he would think it wasn’t a coincidence that his path had again crossed with Blair’s. And she just had to be Brax’s sister. If this was someone’s idea of a cosmic joke, they had a very fucked up sense of humor.

  He rubbed awkwardly at the knot that sprouted between his shoulder blades. He wasn’t sure what the best play should be—lingering out here by the car where he might keep Blair from thinking anything about the two of them that Braxton might pick up on, or in there trying to run interference. He knew from Braxton’s past complaints of how scary a place his sisters’ minds could be that he blocked them out far more often than he used his telepathic abilities. That didn’t mean he might not get curious if he caught a weird vibe from Blair, and Drew knew Braxton would find it impossible not to probe a little.

  The last thing he needed to deal with right now was Braxton. Not until he at least got things cleared up between him and Blair. Sleeping with his friend’s sister aside—and he wasn’t deluded enough to think that would stay off the radar indefinitely—he didn’t need to lose sleep over anything else right now. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her even without the added distraction of actually seeing her again, and he still wasn’t ready to talk about Molly. She was one topic not on the table for discussion with anyone.

  After two months he wasn’t any closer to wrapping his mind around his sudden fatherhood or letting go of his anger that his ex-girlfriend had kept his daughter’s existence from him for five years. Leanna had been killed in a car accident seven months ago, and only when Molly’s grandmother had been recently diagnosed with cancer had he been told he even had a daughter.

  He wondered when he’d get used to that—having a daughter. He’d always figured he’d have kids someday, but having one show up on his doorstep out of the blue had pretty much taken him out at the knees. He’d been used to looking out for himself for so long, and then to suddenly be responsible for someone else…

  Not that things had changed that much. Having Molly live with his parents had seemed like the perfect solution in the beginning. He was out of town a lot and a little girl who’d lost her mother needed stability he couldn’t give her. But the longer the arrangement lasted and the brighter she smiled when he went over to his parents’ house to see her, the more of an ass he felt like for handing her off for them to deal with.

  He knew he could be a selfish bastard, knew how to get what he wanted without hurting anyone, but even this felt like an all-time low for him. He couldn’t even keep telling himself it was about protecting Molly anymore. The more time he spent with her—forget that she shook his confidence more than any Shadow Demon ever could—the more he wanted to get to know the little girl who seemed to share his sense of humor and innate passion for basketball.

  Only he was clueless on how to be both a good father and a Destroyer. How long before Molly asked questions about what he did, why he had to leave all the time? How many times would he disappoint her by not being there when she needed him because he was helping to keep the world a little safer? Eventually she’d resent his constant absences, come to resent the job that made him miss out on more of her life than he already had. She deserved more than that, deserved to be happy, safe—protected, even if it meant him giving up being a Destroyer to make it happen.

  He just didn’t know how to walk away from this life or if he even could. Parents were supposed to make sacrifices for their kids, but giving up slaying demons meant giving up some of the best parts of himself. Although he grew more attached to Molly every day, he was far from ready to turn his back on the life and career he loved.

  And damned if that didn’t make him feel guilty as hell.

  Drew closed his eyes and shoved the familiar turmoil to the back of his mind. Not even the promise of an ice-cold beer and a grilled steak would help his mood now. He pushed away from the Jeep, case of beer in hand, and headed inside. He followed the sounds of music and conversation out back, cracking open a beer before stowing the rest in the large cooler on the back deck.

  Blair was halfway across the lawn talking to Gage, thankfully, and not subjecting her unshielded mind to her brother. Bracing himself for the possibility the mood this afternoon could change drastically, he stepped off the deck.

  “You work fast.”

  He looked away from Blair without being obvious about it.

  Quinn took a drink of her beer. “Even I didn’t think you would go there after Brax threatened to cut off your—”

  “Could we skip the visual imagery please?” He tried not to shift in place at the reminder.

  She grinned. “You spent, what, a whole two minutes with her, and already she’s got Gage talking about you?”

  “It’s not polite to eavesdrop.”

  “As if you weren’t. Spare me the denial,” she added when he started to shake his head.

  “She’s slick too,” Quinn continued. “I can’t imagine the circles she can talk around people when she’s working on a story.”

  “I can.”

  Quinn arched a brow, and he scowled at her. And here he thought dealing with Braxton would be the worst-case scenario. It was possible Quinn had overheard his and Blair’s entire conversation. He wouldn’t put it past her to hold on to the information until she needed something from him.

  As though she read his mind, she winked and strolled away.

  “Hey,” he said quietly, stopping her. “I’m not seeing anyone.”

  “Okay,” she said slowly, but the sharp look in her eyes warned him she’d already guessed at the reason he brought it up.

  He waited for her to pounce with the obvious or to warn him not to mess with Braxton’s sister. Not that he needed the reminder or had any in
tention of picking things up with Blair. His life was complicated enough without sleeping with his friend’s sister. Right now work was his only sanctuary and that kind of friction with another agent was the last thing he needed.

  Quinn’s lips curved knowingly, but she joined Braxton at the barbeque without further comment.

  Drew perched on the edge of the picnic table, watching Blair from the corner of his eye. The sound of Gage’s laughter rubbed him the wrong way, and he felt stupid for wishing the guy was on assignment like Jordan and Darcy. He wanted to be the one standing next to Blair, talking to her, laughing with her.

  Kissing her.

  And that kind of thinking would get his ass kicked. Blair was off limits.

  O-F-F.

  He chugged his beer, listening to Braxton curse under his breath when the grill didn’t seem to cooperate. Drew propped his chin in his hand, watched Quinn try to explain what Braxton was doing wrong. The other agent sighed and handed over the manning of the grill to Quinn. The minute Braxton turned his back, she thrust one of the utensils into the air like a victorious Olympian being passed the torch.

  Although tempted to join the other three, Drew kept his butt planted on the picnic table. Being antisocial would eventually draw attention to himself, attention he didn’t need, but he wasn’t in a hurry to test his reaction to getting within a few feet of her again. The second he’d found her in the kitchen, he’d been rooted in place. Hours of holding her, running his hands and mouth over every inch of her body, came rushing back. Standing next to her out by the car had only deepened the urge to remind himself how good her mouth felt under his.

  Had it not been for Braxton’s appearance when he had tried to lead Blair from the house, Drew might have been crazy enough to coax her into his backseat. Just last night he’d dreamed of the two of them camping and getting rained out. They’d quickly steamed up the windows on the Jeep, and drenched, he’d been eager to peel her clothes off one layer at a time. He’d come awake thinking she had really been astride him, her head back as she rolled her hips to a wild rhythm.