Tempest's Paradise (Siren Publishing Allure)

by Amanda Kay

  “Where is your car?” She growled.

  “Just over there,” he said with that same cocky grin and nodded his head in the car’s general direction.

  Tempest followed Devin, but she couldn’t see a car that looked like it should have a driver. Her anger spiked again when Devin stopped next to a black sports car of some kind.

  “Did you call down and give your driver the day off?” she said dryly.

  “No, I lied about the driver,” he said with a grin and held the car door open for her.

  “Really! I never would’ve guessed,” she said sarcastically. “Asshole.”

  She gritted her teeth when she heard Devin chuckle. Her jaw was starting to hurt from all of the teeth gritting and grinding she had done and the day wasn’t even half over. She pinched the bridge of her nose as she thought about the headache that would be hitting her later in the day. She took one last glare at Devin, because it was all his fault. She decided that ignoring him all together was her best option. He started the car, and she shifted slightly and looked out her window.

  They were off post and on their way to his offices, and Tempest wanted to cry. The traffic was so thick it would probably take them at least an hour to make a thirty-minute trip. She couldn’t figure out what she had done to make God so angry at her as to punish her like this. She scrubbed her hand over her face in sheer frustration.

  They were slowly creeping their way down the road when Devin broke the silence.

  “You know you didn’t have to break into my offices. You could’ve just had the front desk call up to my office and I would’ve had them send you up,” Devin said with a little grin.

  Tempest didn’t look away from her window. “Stop talking to me,” she said.

  “You’re being unnecessarily mean, Temp.”

  Tempest let her forehead hit the passenger side window with a thunk. She could just scream. The man was absolutely infuriating.

  “I mean, I know you aren’t exactly happy with me right now, but you don’t have to be so mean. I’m sure your grandmother raised you to have better manners than that,” Devin went on undeterred.

  The man just wouldn’t shut up, and Tempest fought the urge to stick her fingers in her ears to drown out the sound of his voice. She wanted to shout in triumph when she remembered she had her iPod in her ACU pocket. Devin kept right on talking as she put the small earbuds in and turned on her favorite music. Her foot began immediately tapping to the beat of the music. She heard Devin’s muffled voice.

  “Well, that’s just rude.”

  She smiled as she looked out of the window. His voice was finally quiet. She was starting to think the drive wouldn’t be that bad, but then the jerk pulled one of the earbuds out. She just wanted to weep.

  “Seriously! Can’t you leave me alone? Haven’t you tortured me enough for one day! Can’t I just have quiet for a little while?” Tempest asked and hated how desperate she sounded.

  “I like you all wound up,” Devin said with that sexy half grin.

  Tempest let her head fall into the dash with a smack. “How is it that no one has killed you yet?” she grumbled, refusing to look at him.

  “Because I’m so sexy and good looking,” he said.

  Tempest could hear the smile in his voice. “You’re not that good looking.” She groaned. She just wanted to go back to her house and lock the door. She wanted to hide until this was all over. The man was a pain in the ass.

  She raised her head up from the dashboard when she felt them turning. Devin had turned into what looked like an abandoned gas station. She looked over at him and cocked a brow at him.

  “What are you doing?” she asked apprehensively as he threw the car in park and killed the engine.

  “We’re going to talk,” he said with a finality that annoyed the hell out of Tempest.

  “We don’t have anything to talk about,” she said angrily.

  “The hell we don’t. You’re being rude and a little mean,” Devin said with a little pout.

  “Are you serious?” Tempest screeched and stared at Devin with her mouth hanging open in utter shock and disbelief.

  It took her a second to shake off her shock. When she finally did, she threw open her door and got out of the car. Devin scrambled after her.

  “What the hell are you doing?” he shouted after her.

  “I’m going back to the base,” she said, not even bothering to look over her shoulder.

  “You can’t walk back to the base. We’re a mile away.”

  Tempest snorted. “I run further than that every morning,” she sneered.

  “You’re not leaving until we talk!” he shouted as he ran after her.

  “The fuck you say!” She came to an abrupt halt, and Devin slammed into her back, causing her to stumble forward.

  She probably would’ve landed flat on her face if he hadn’t grabbed her hips to halt her fall. Once she got her balance back, she whirled around and confronted him.

  “You’ve got some nerve! You realize that, don’t you? We were barely introduced and you start trying to boss me around. Then when you didn’t get your way, you called my boss and tattled on me like a little bitch. You get me taken off of deployment status so I can stay on rear D and babysit your sorry ass for no other reason besides the fact that you could. You could’ve caused some serious damage to my career and you’re going to stand there and tell me that I’m being rude and mean? And say it all with a straight face! You are un-fucking-believable!” she yelled and turned on her heels and headed back to base.

  She hadn’t walked ten feet before the sky went black. The forecast had called for possible rain showers, but the sky looked angry and violent. Her steps faltered for half a second, but she continued on her way back to base. She took two more steps and the sky opened up and the rain fell with a vengeance. Tempest could’ve screamed at the sky because of the injustice of it all. She stood in the torrential downpour for a second and then felt a hand wrap around her arm and jerk her back the way she had come. She found herself soaked and back in Devin’s stupid sports car.

  Devin was glaring at her, but she was too flabbergasted to speak. She sat in the car with her mouth hanging open but snapped it shut and slumped back in the seat. She didn’t have it in her to fight anymore. God obviously wasn’t on her side today, and she couldn’t understand why. She would grit her teeth, keep her mouth shut, and just get the day over with as quickly as possible. If it got bad enough, she might just go to General Westin and beg him to give the assignment to someone else, pride be damned.

  Devin drove for twenty more minutes in the torrential downpour and the crawling traffic and then turned off the main road. Tempest raised her head off the headrest and looked around. Nothing on the road looked familiar. She sat up straighter in her seat as suspicion raised its ugly head. Devin might be a pain in the ass, but she didn’t want to have to kill him for trying to go killer crazy on her.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

  “We’re going to my house.”

  Panic automatically moved to the forefront. “Why?” she asked, her voice quivering ever so slightly.

  “We won’t make it to the offices before they close, not in weather like this, and my house is closer.”

  “You own the company. One would think you have keys to the building.”

  Devin chuckled. “Of course I have keys to the building, but the employee who does the orientation training will be gone.”

  “Okay fine, so take me back to the base,” Tempest said and squirmed in her seat.

  “It isn’t safe, and I don’t want to risk us getting in an accident.”

  “So drive slow!” she said with exasperation. Her voice raised an octave in her panic.

  “You seem a little anxious, soldier. Are you scared to spend a little alone time with me?” he asked with a devious smile on his face.

  “No. I had plans for later this evening.” She growled.

  “Really and
what plans would those be?”

  “I have a date if you really must know.” She growled again and got a little bit of sick satisfaction when his hands tightened on the steering wheel and a scowl graced his handsome features.

  Now there was no way she was going to tell him her “date” was really a girl’s night, which consisted of pizza and action movies. Her best friend Elaine was going to be disappointed. Tempest had been gone most of last year on a deployment, and they hadn’t been able to spend a lot of time together due to their job obligations. This was supposed to be their first real weekend to spend some best friend time together. Tempest let her head fall back on a groan. She just couldn’t figure out why the universe was conspiring against her. At least the stupid man had stopped talking. She let the silence envelop her, and she let a blissful sigh slip past her lips. After having bombs explode around her for nearly a year, she really did enjoy silence.

  She checked her phone and was relieved she had plenty of battery power. She would call once they got to Devin’s house. She wasn’t going to risk him finding out that her “date” was really a girl and her best friend to boot. She stalled for a minute in her thinking. If Devin thought she was a lesbian, maybe he would leave her alone. The idea intrigued her, but she dismissed it quickly. Elaine was a little crazy and would probably have too much fun playing the part of lesbian lover. Tempest allowed herself a small chuckle as she looked out the window. No, she’d just let Devin think she had a date with a guy.

  They finally made it to what looked like a large house in the middle of the damn woods. It was hard to tell from behind the constantly falling curtain of rain. Devin pushed a button on a remote clipped to his visor, and they drove up into a multicar garage.

  Tempest looked around the garage as she got out of the car. There had to be at least ten other cars in the garage, each one looking more expensive than the next. There were some that looked like they had just come off the show room floor and some that looked to be about fifty years old and some older. It was an obscene display of his wealth. She rolled her eyes as she followed Devin into the big house.

  She walked in and found exactly what she expected…another mansion. It was too big and too full of things that were too expensive. She had always hated the show and display of wealth as she was growing up, and it hadn’t changed since she had grown up. She walked around a little and took in her surroundings. She came to the immediate conclusion that she couldn’t wait to get to her much small and much more modest home.

  She had bought it a couple of years ago with her some of her trust fund allowance that she had been saving up. It was the exact opposite of what she was raised in. It was a little cottage a little off the beaten path. It had a yard with grass that she kept mowed when she was home. It had a couple of big oak trees in the yard. It had flower beds that she like to take care of. She even planted a garden in the spring and summer months. Her cute little house had a white picket fence too.

  She turned to find Devin studying her, and she couldn’t help but feel irritated at his expression. He was upset at her about something, and it was probably the fact that she told him she had a date. Well, he could just go take a long walk off a short cliff. It wasn’t any of his business what she did in her free time.

  “Can I help you with something?” she asked.

  “You said you had a date tonight,” he said, his voice clipped and short.

  “I did,” Tempest said and crossed her arms over her ample chest.

  “You have a boyfriend and you let me finger you to an orgasm not too terribly long ago,” he said, and his scowl deepened, marring his handsome features further.

  “I never said I had a boyfriend. I said I had a date,” she countered, matching his scowl.

  Devin’s scowl was immediately replaced by an expression that contained entirely too much heat. Tempest couldn’t help but shift her feet nervously and prepared to run when he stalked toward her.

  “So you’re not seeing anyone seriously?” he asked, his voice taking on a deeper timbre.

  “Not at the moment but this one showed promise,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady and not fidget. Why did the damn man have to be so potent? She couldn’t stop the nervous swallow when his scowl returned.

  All of a sudden it hit her. She had already kicked his ass once, so it wasn’t like he could physically hurt her. Why in the hell was she so nervous? Hell, she had absolutely nothing to be nervous about. She didn’t owe the man a damn thing.

  With her thoughts finally in order, Tempest uncrossed her arms and placed them on her ample hips. She’d be damned if she let this jerk intimidate her. He was standing nearly toe-to-toe with her, and she just arched a brow at him. He was trying to intimidate her with sheer size, and it wasn’t going to work.

  “You won’t be seeing anyone seriously,” he said, his breathing heavy.

  “Really! What makes you say that? I thought this one had real promise. He was nice, thoughtful, funny, and very handsome, too. He seemed to have a lot of good qualities,” she said with a smile and studied him thoughtfully. “Unlike so many men that seem to wander around these days. If you’ll excuse me, I need to call my date and reschedule,” she finished, gave him a small bow, and turned to leave.

  She was stopped short when Devin’s hand wrapped around her forearm. She turned and looked pointedly at his hand and then up at him. His expression was dark and tinged with lust.

  “You won’t be rescheduling your date.” He growled.

  “Of course I will. It would be rude of me not to. Besides, I really want to see him,” she said with mock shock.

  “You won’t be seeing him again!” he nearly shouted.

  Tempest arched a brow at him. “You aren’t in any kind of position to tell me what I can and cannot do, Devin.”

  “I’m in the perfect position to tell you exactly what you can and cannot do, Tempest. You’re in my house and at my complete and total mercy,” he said hotly, leaning closer.

  Tempest suppressed her shiver. “I think you’re forgetting about the last time you overstepped your bounds where I was concerned. I would hate for there to be a repeat of what happened in your office the other day,” she said, giving him a sweet smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Because this time I wouldn’t stop at just embarrassing you. No, this time I wouldn’t stop until I drew a significant amount of blood,”

  Devin studied her for a while and released her arm. She took a step back and regarded him closely and with a lot of suspicion.

  “I need to make my phone call in private,” she said and fought her sigh of relief when he just gave her a sharp nod of his head.

  He stared at her a moment longer before he spoke. “You can use the office just through that door.”

  “Thank you.”

  She walked through the door and closed it behind her. She leaned her back against the door and small sigh of relief. She dialed Elaine and waited.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Elaine. It’s Tempest.”

  “Temp! How is everything? I have to tell you I am so excited about tonight. I can’t wait!” Elaine said excitedly.

  Tempest couldn’t hold in her sigh. “Elaine, I’m not sure how to say this, but I’m not going to be able to make it tonight,” she said and felt the tears prick at the back of her eyes.

  “What? Why not?” Elaine said almost desperately. “We’ve been planning this for a month.”

  “I know, but I got caught out in this storm and now I’m stuck at an asshole’s house,” she said with a little growl.

  “Asshole? What asshole?” Elaine asked, her curiosity piqued. “You don’t mean the guy whose ass you kicked. Do you?” “Yep, one and the same. He insisted that I go to his offices with him after our meeting with the general, some bullshit about orientation. Traffic was already moving at a snail’s pace, and then the bottom dropped out of the sky and traffic was moving even slower. It took us twenty minutes to drive two miles. He decided it was safer for us to wait out the storm at
his place,” Tempest said with resentment.

  Elaine laughed. “It would seem that your friend has designs on you,” Elaine said and then made kissing sounds into the phone.

  “Oh shut up! He isn’t my friend, and I don’t care if he has designs on me or not. I can’t stand the man. He keeps sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong, and he is pissing me off. So I took care of it.”

  “What did you do?” Elaine asked suspiciously.

  “I told him that I had a date tonight.”

  “Uh-huh and did you just forget to mention that said date was with your best friend who happens to be a girl?”

  “I left that part out and just let him assume what he wanted,” Tempest said with a devious smile and a shrug of her shoulders.

  “And exactly how did he take this news?” Elaine asked with a chuckle.

  “Oh, he started spouting off some bullshit about how I wasn’t going to be rescheduling my date and how I wasn’t going to be seeing anyone. I think there is really something wrong with this man.”

  “Ha! There isn’t a damn thing wrong with that man. He wants you and seems bound and determined to have you.”

  “Well, he can be bound and determined somewhere else because he is an utter ass and I can’t stand him.

  Elaine gave a snorting laugh. “Oh, Temp, I think you doth protest too much.”

  “What?” Tempest hissed.

  “Seriously? You like this guy and don’t even try to deny it.”

  “Have you lost what little bit of sanity you have left? The man is an utter asshat who doesn’t know how to mind his own damn business!” she whispered harshly. “I do not like him. He has acted like nothing but a jerk and he could’ve done some serious damage to my career with that stunt he pulled.”

  “Could have but didn’t. Maybe you should see where this can go.”

  “What?” Tempest screeched. “Have you lost your mind? Not only is the man eligible for the jerk of the year award, but from what I understand, he has some seriously twisted tastes.”

  “What do you mean by some seriously twisted tastes? Does he like anchovies and ice cream or something?”