FallFury

by Jaci Burton

  Kaitlyn lifted her chin and sniffed. “It’s not my time yet.”

  “Well, make it your time. Mother, I love you. Kaitlyn, you’re a pain in the ass. Lissa, mind your own business. I’ve had enough of this.” She tossed a roll of paper onto the counter and whirled around, storming through the kitchen.

  She skidded to an abrupt halt as she rounded the corner to find Max in the doorway. Her eyes widened, then narrowed.

  Oops.

  “Great. Just fucking great. Get out of my way!” Pushing him aside, she went out the back door, letting it slam behind her.

  Max craned his head around the corner to find the three women staring at him. He walked in and leaned against the counter, trying for a look of chagrin. “Sorry,” he shrugged. “I eavesdropped.”

  Angelina arched a brow and crossed her arms. “Didn’t your mother teach you it’s impolite to eavesdrop?”

  “She tried. Obviously, I didn’t listen. But yeah, she’d smack me in the back of the head if she’d caught me doing it.”

  Angelina’s stern look turned into a smile, then a giggle. “I like your mother already.”

  “She’d like you, too. You’re very much alike in a lot of ways.”

  “You miss your family,” Kaitlyn said, reaching across the counter for Max’s hand.

  “Yeah, I really do.”

  “Then why move here?”

  “Because it’s his destiny to be here,” Angelina said.

  “I know that feeling,” Lissa chimed in.

  “I don’t know about destiny, I just know it’s something I have to do. Besides, I’m plenty old enough to live away from home and survive.” He winked at Kaitlyn, who smiled brightly.

  “Good. I’d hate to worry about you getting all homesick on us.” Pushing away from the counter, Kaitlyn said, “I think I’ll go see what everyone else is up to.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Lissa said.

  He watched them leave, then turned his attention to Angelina. “Let me put that stuff away. You have all done enough today.”

  “Just about finished here anyway, and it was no trouble. I enjoyed it. We all did. You’re like a member of our family.”

  “I’m hoping I will be some day.” There, he’d put it out there. Might as well see how Angelina reacted.

  She paused and leaned against the sink, her arms crossed. “Are you in love with my daughter?”

  Love? What did love have to do with any of this? This was about primal urges, about the need to choose a mate. Wolves didn’t love. He didn’t love. “I want her.”

  She arched a brow. “Well, at least you’re honest about your feelings. But wanting someone and loving them enough to spend the rest of your life with them are two different things, Max. I know Shannon. She won’t settle for less than your heart.”

  He reached inside the box nearest him and unwrapped some glasses, placing them in the cabinet. This conversation had suddenly grown uncomfortable. Lying to Angelina about his feelings for Shannon wouldn’t have been appropriate, though, even if it would have been more convenient to just say he loved her.

  “Right now, your daughter can’t stand the sight of me. So I’m pretty sure she doesn’t love me, either.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. But if you’re not open to the possibility of love, it might pass you by. Are you willing to gamble on losing Shannon because you can’t feel enough for her?”

  “Angelina, I feel a lot for her. I just don’t know yet if it’s love.”

  She took the glassware from his hands and set it on the counter, then grasped his fingers in hers. “Fair enough. I feel what’s in your heart. I’m not a mind reader, and neither are my children. Shannon can read your emotions unless you’re very good at masking them. Sending her mixed signals will only make her back away from you. If you want her, you need to let her know in no uncertain terms how much.”

  He started to speak, intending to tell her that he wanted Shannon more than he’d ever wanted another woman, but she stopped him. “I don’t mean just physically, although that’s important, too. But you’ll have to give up your heart to win her, Max. You’ll have to do something monumental, something that will prove to her that she’s the only woman for you. Otherwise, you don’t stand a chance.”

  Moving away, he scrubbed his hand over the back of his neck and shook his head. “I won’t tell her something I don’t feel.”

  “Good. Because that girl has the best bullshit meter I’ve ever seen. She only wants your honesty. If you can give her that, it’s a good enough start.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  “Now, I think it’s time I round up my family and leave you and Shannon alone.” She turned and headed for the hallway, but then stopped and looked at him. “Max, remember what I said. I know you’re very powerful. So am I. Don’t hurt her.”

  He knew she’d back up what she said. “You have my word.”

  After she left, he stayed in the kitchen as the parade of Storms came by and wished him well. Shannon stayed outside, no doubt completely unaware that her family had abandoned her, leaving her alone with him.

  He glanced out the back door and saw her at the water’s edge, sitting on the dock and wiggling her feet in the water. The orange sun had begun to dip toward the trees, bathing her in its glow. Long shadows signaling the coming fall season drifted toward her from the overhanging trees.

  Soon it would be dark. He looked up at the sky, not yet seeing the silvery orb, but instinctively knowing what kind of night it would be. He felt it surging within him, the call to turn, to run free, to find others like himself.

  Or to make one like him.

  It was time to set thing straight between him and Shannon. Time to lay it on the line and tell her his thoughts and feelings. One way or another, their futures would be decided tonight.

  Tonight was the full moon.

  Determination firmly in place, he headed to the refrigerator, thankful he’d had that appliance delivered early. Grabbing a bottle of wine and a couple glasses, he filled a basket with cheese and slices of French bread.

  He opened the back door and stepped out on the porch, a mix of certainty and uncertainty racing through his mind and heart.

  Did he love her? Was he even capable of it? He was a cold, calculating, unemotional bastard in business. Arrogant, self-assured and damned successful.

  With women, though, he’d never had to prove himself. They flocked to him like moths to the only light for miles. Not once had he given his heart. It had never been necessary.

  Maybe it would be, this time. Shannon infuriated him. She was bossy, as arrogant in her business demeanor as he, and as alpha a female as he’d ever met.

  She was his match in more ways than just sexually.

  Sucking in a deep breath of courage, he pushed the screen door open and went to her.

  Chapter Nine

  Clouds gathered overhead and the wind shifted, coming in off the water. Shannon felt the change in the weather deep inside her, as she always did when her season came about.

  Sometimes she wondered if the elements reflected her moods. Other than the ones she conjured up, of course. But sometimes the overall weather patterns in the fall seemed to come from within her. She’d asked her mother about that once, but had only been given a vague “it depends” as an answer.

  She splashed water onto her legs, cooling her sun-heated skin, content to just sit here and brood.

  Something would happen soon. Something major. If she had a better handle on her emotions, she’d be able to get a clearer picture of what was on the way, but she was too mixed up right now to discern what it was that unsettled her—the weather or her feelings about Max.

  Try as she might, she couldn’t put that needed distance between them. And because she’d been so damn stubborn, all it did was cause friction between them. Maybe it was time that she just played out this game with him and see where it led.

  Down the road to disaster, no doubt. She’d walked that road before with a man she’d been h
ighly attracted to, and what she’d felt for him was nowhere near the jumbled sensations that electrified her whenever she was around Max. Given that even being near him threw her emotions in a state of chaos, giving in to her feelings and attraction for him couldn’t lead anywhere good.

  And yet, she couldn’t seem to separate from him. God knows she’d tried like hell the past couple weeks, to no avail. Even when he wasn’t physically present, she felt him. His earthy scent clung to her clothes and on her pillow when she laid down at night. Ridiculous, since he’d never been in her room. They had some weird psychic bond that defied explanation.

  Hell, considering her own inherent magic, who was she to deny that mystical forces surrounded them? Look at what she was capable of, and she thought herself an ordinary person.

  Maybe Max possessed some type of powers, and she was drawn to that part of him.

  “Thinking?”

  She shrieked at the unexpected sound of Max’s voice. She hadn’t even heard him come down the dock. Laying her palm against her breast to calm her speeding heart, she said, “You scared the shit out of me.”

  He squatted down next to her. “Sorry. You were deep in thought and obviously didn’t hear me. What are you doing?”

  “Thinking.”

  “About?”

  “Stuff.” Like you. And me. And us. And this infernal battle waging war in my brain right now.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “Not really.”

  He shifted and sat, resting on his left arm. Shannon took in the sight of him, admiring the way his jeans fit snug against his powerful thighs, the way his T-shirt hugged his chest. Damn he had broad shoulders, too. If she’d bothered to pay attention she’d have noticed that, but she was so busy picking the right words of denial out of her mind that she hadn’t focused on the gorgeous man who sat next to her now.

  “I brought us a snack.” He reached behind him and pulled out a basket containing a bottle of white wine and two glasses, a wedge of cheese and some bread. “Thought we’d have a little picnic and talk. If that’s all right.”

  She frowned and looked toward the house. “Where’s my family?”

  “They left.”

  She sniffed, more than a little bit irritated at the oh-so-obvious setup. “Still doing a bit of matchmaking, aren’t they?”

  “Apparently.” He smiled. She’d never noticed his dimples before on both his cheeks, so close to his curving mouth. A sudden desire to press her lips to one of those indentation made her lean back a bit, still unsure of where she wanted to go with all this.

  Max poured the wine and handed her a glass. He sliced a thin wedge of cheese and lifted his fingers to her mouth.

  She hesitated, the act seemingly so familiar. Still unsure how intimate she wanted to get with Max, she reached for the cheese, intending to feed herself.

  But Max snatched it out of her reach. “Uh uh. Let me.”

  Warily, she opened her mouth and he slid the cheese inside, his fingers lingering as she closed her lips over the slice of brie. She shuddered at the taste of fine cheese and the equally exotic flavor of Max’s finger.

  He popped a slice into his own mouth and washed it down with a swallow of wine. She watched the movement of his throat as he swallowed, then took a long drink of her wine to escape the sudden dryness in her mouth.

  When he lifted a piece of bread toward her mouth, she shook her head. “I can feed myself, Max.”

  The gold and green in his eyes danced like the flickering rays of sun filtering through the trees. “I know you can. This way is more fun.”

  She didn’t disagree with that, and allowed him to continue to feed her. A simple act, and yet so incredibly erotic that she wanted to try it out herself. She reached for a small wedge of cheese on the plate and lifted it to his lips.

  One corner of his mouth curled in a wry grin, and he opened, letting her slide the cheese onto his waiting tongue. Before she could snatch her fingers out, he captured her wrist and held it in place, then closed his lips around her fingers, sucking them into the moist heat of his mouth.

  Desire shot between her legs. Her panties dampened and the very air around them seemed to still and warm. When he slowly pulled her fingers from between his lips, she knew what it must feel like for a man to sink into heat like that.

  Damn near burned her alive, and that was just the play of his mouth on her fingers.

  Their gazes caught and held as Max leaned in. The musky scent that she attributed to him mixed with the wine tingeing his breath. A heady combination that she found near impossible to resist.

  But resist she would. At least for the moment. For someone who’d always been self-assured, she sure as hell felt torn between her desires and her common sense right now. And she didn’t know which one was the right one to follow. “I haven’t seen the inside of the house since it’s been set up. How about a tour?”

  Max paused, then tilted his head to the side, studying her. She turned away from his intense scrutiny to watch the last of the sun flitting behind the trees.

  “Okay, let’s go,” he said.

  He stood, picked up the basket and held out his hand to her, keeping his fingers entwined with hers as they walked into the house.

  She kind of liked the feel of her small hand in his much larger one.

  When they got inside the kitchen, he set the basket on the counter and turned to her. “Let’s take that tour.”

  He led her through the expansive kitchen and into a formal dining room that stood empty.

  “I lived in an apartment, so the set in the kitchen nook was all I had. No reason to have anything formal.”

  She smiled at his explanation, imagining his bachelor pad back in Boston.

  The furniture in the living room was lovely, though. Instead of manly leather, as most single men possessed, a warm beige sofa and matching loveseat graced the living area. Two high-backed Queen Anne chairs in a beautiful pattern of golden browns and rust complimented the couch, along with a few impressive antique end tables and a coffee table. A heavily scrolled pattern etched the rounded feet of the mahogany tables. They were breathtaking and obviously well preserved.

  “My grandmother’s tables,” he murmured, stopping at the doorway leading to the front hall. “My mother insisted that each of us had some of Grams’ furniture, and I always liked those pieces.”

  “They’re lovely.”

  “Thanks.”

  He waited while she approached the stairs, letting her walk up ahead of him. She was conscious of his eyes on her as she made the trek up the stairs, making her want to rush her pace, but she forced herself to take normal steps. She waited for him at the top, conscious of the way his gaze traveled over her as he made the last few steps.

  There were four bedrooms upstairs, and two full baths. She remembered the night she’d come in here with Max, and had fallen in love with the bath in the master bedroom. Gorgeous creamy marbleized tile, with a double vanity, a sunken whirlpool tub and a shower that several people could fit into made it every woman’s dream bathroom.

  “I won’t be using two of the bedrooms…yet,” he said as he led her down the hall. “One I’ve converted to my office since I do a lot of work at home, and until I get a main PR office in town somewhere, I’ll just set up here.”

  She nodded, admiring the enthusiasm in his voice. Maybe she was wrong about his motives for moving here. If she’d bothered to think about him as a businessman instead of just a guy trying to reach the top of the Storm dynasty by way of getting into her pants, then she’d have realized this sooner.

  And she’d accused him of having a huge ego? Hers was boundless. She’d thought he was really trying to get to her family’s money through her, when he didn’t need it at all.

  But that only left one reason he had been trying to get close to her since the day that they met. He wanted her. Just her. She found it less uncomfortable to think he was just after her money.

  “I think I like this room the best,” he s
aid, drawing her out of her musings by leading her into the master bedroom.

  Wow. Her gaze immediately went to the sliding glass door, which led out to an expansive balcony that overlooked the lake. A king size bed centered the long wall, decorated by a gray and cream bedspread in a satiny finish. Wide, thick pillows were piled on the bed. It was beautiful, but not garish. Inviting, warm, and sensual. “You could fit ten people on that bed!”

  “Two would be just fine,” he said with a wink.

  She swallowed past the nervous lump in her throat, although for the life of her she had no idea what she was nervous about. Yes, she felt something happening between them, but it wasn’t like they’d never had sex before. After all, the balcony episode remained first and foremost on her mind every single day.

  This felt different. More important, somehow, but she didn’t know why.

  Quit second guessing things and just go with it! Geez, woman, have you ever had a spontaneous moment in your entire life? Does everything have to be about control?

  “Come out here with me. I want to show you something.”

  She jumped at the feel of Max’s hand sliding into hers, yet she allowed him to lead her out the sliding door and onto the balcony.

  Her first whiff of the crisp air brought about a sensation of a brewing storm. Max had put some white wicker chairs on the oversized balcony, and even one of those chairs-for-two that slid back and forth like a rocker. Small tables were set next to each chair.

  “It’s lovely,” she said, stepping to the wood railing and leaning over, letting the wind whip strands of her hair from her ponytail. She closed her eyes and let the elements surround her, praying that the cooling breeze would extinguish the fire burning inside her.

  “Would you like a drink? I can go downstairs and get the wine.”

  Did she want to prolong the inevitable? She was at the now-or-never point, the place where she firmly denied him forever, or took a giant leap.

  Honestly, she didn’t know what to do. Instinctively, she knew that she’d have to give up some control to make love with Max. He wasn’t like the men she usually chose. There wasn’t a sit-and-obey bone in his entire body.