Blame it on Texas (18 page)

She ran her hands up his back and kissed the side of his neck just below his ear. "You're not a fool, Logan. And you're not callous. You're hurting, but you're still alive. You still feel. Right now you need to feel something besides the pain."

With a groan, he kissed the hollow of her throat and ran his tongue up her neck until he claimed her mouth again. His tongue found hers and she met him thrust for thrust. His hands reached for her breasts and she moved closer as he smoothed his palm across a taut nipple, then ran his thumb across the tip.

Her hands moved down his back to grip his buttocks and pull him closer. He felt her soft stomach press against his erection and nearly lost it, then and there. "Not here, not like this." He picked her up, one hand behind her back and the other under her knees, and carried her from the water.

In the shelter of the trees, he set her on her feet. "Megan, if you're not sure this is what you want, tell me now."

Megan's only response was to pull her dress over her head and drape it over the branch of a nearby tree. Her gaze locked with his as she kicked off her shoes.

Logan didn't move, couldn't move. She was perfect, her body tight and trim, her breasts full beneath a lacy white bra. When she unhooked it and let it fall to the ground, his groin tightened painfully. Her panties followed as he stood mesmerized at his first sight of her without clothing to hide what he'd fantasized about for days.

Blue whined and lay down on the ground next to Megan's things. Logan said one word to the dog. "Stay." Then he picked her up and carried her a few feet away and laid her in the soft grass under the shade of a hundred-year-old oak.

He stripped out of his clothes and joined her on the ground. He wanted to wait, to make sure she was with him every step of the way, but his body wouldn't obey. He moved over her, and when she opened to him, he took what she offered.

Their soft sighs echoed around them, reverberating off of rocks and trees. The slip and slide of their wet bodies added to the bird song in a percussion beat. A moan--his or hers?--floated away on a quick exhalation of ragged breath.

When she shattered, he felt a sense of rightness fill his tortured soul. When he followed, he emptied himself inside her and felt some of the pain empty from his heart as well.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Afraid he'd hurt her if he let his body relax, he moved to the side and cradled her head against his chest. His heart pounded from the exertion, and from the feelings coursing through him. "Megan, I…."

"Shh.  Don't say anything. Just relax. Don't think."

Logan sighed and covered his eyes with his free arm. She'd stopped him before he'd made a mistake. The feelings he'd been about to voice were better left hidden deep in his heart, where he could pretend they didn't exist.

The sun moved and cast deeper shadows on the ground, reminding him he had guests in the house and chores left to do before darkness fell. He shifted and Megan raised her head to look at him.

"I guess we'd better go back." She sat up and brushed her hair back with both hands, lifting her breasts and making him want her all over again.

He stood and offered his hand to help her up. When he pulled her to her feet, he couldn't resist one last kiss. When the ground shook and a loud clap of thunder boomed across the pasture, it took him a minute to realize it hadn't been a result of that kiss.

***

Logan stepped out from under the cover of the trees and saw a huge wall cloud moving in from the southwest. "Get dressed as fast as you can. We're going to have to run for it."

The tense timbre of his voice sent Megan scurrying for her things, one eye on the clouds. She plucked her dress off the tree limb, threw on her underclothes, then yanked the dress over her head. She shoved her feet into her shoes as Logan finished tucking in his shirt.

Blue danced in circles, barking and whining. When no one paid any attention to him, he grabbed Logan's pants leg and pulled. "I know, boy. We're going." He took Megan's hand. "Ready?"

She nodded and they took off for the house, slowed by Megan's high heels and Blue's limping gait. Before they'd made it halfway across the pasture, the skies opened up and they were drenched within seconds.

Logan had to shout over the roar of the wind to make himself heard. "At least we don't have to worry about explaining why our clothes are wet."

Megan laughed in spite of her rising fear. The storm was moving swiftly toward them, the sky boiling with dark clouds, swirling and shifting. Just as they reached the backyard, the rain stopped suddenly, the wind died down, and the sky took on a strange shade of green. She breathed a sigh of relief. "That didn't last long, thank goodness."

Logan looked at Blue, who was crouched near the ground, his ears back against the sides of his head. "It's not over." He yanked the back door open and yelled for Carol as he stepped inside.

***

Two minutes later, twenty people huddled in the darkness of the storm shelter. Logan was thankful that most of the guests had left at the first sign of the approaching storm. The shelter had been designed to hold ten people comfortably, so they all stood huddled together as they listened to the wind howl outside the shelter. Blue waited at the top of the steps, his nose quivering and ears laid back.

Megan held one of Katie's hands while he held the other. He glanced over at Carol and saw that Jake had one arm protectively around her shoulders. Several older couples talked quietly about previous storms they'd experienced, their expressions revealing their anxiety.

Katie tugged on his hand and he bent down so he could hear her. "Daddy, how long do we have to stay down here?"

"I don't know, honey. Until I'm sure it's safe to leave. And from the way Blue's acting, I don't think it's safe yet."

A few seconds later the hail started, pounding on the top of the shelter, the roar deafening and making further conversation impossible. Blue barked until Logan ordered him to stop.

They waited until the hail stopped and Blue relaxed, his tail wagging as he walked down the steps and shoved his head under Katie's hand. Logan went up the steps first, opening the door a crack to look outside.

Rain fell and the wind was still strong, but the worst seemed to be over. He pushed the door back and stepped outside to look around. Tree limbs were strewn around the yard, but the house was intact. He couldn't say as much for the garden Megan had worked so hard to plant.

At his okay, the others climbed the steps into the rain. Logan, Jake, Danny, and some of the other young men helped the older folks into the house. Carol pulled dry towels from the linen closet so they could dry off. Megan went into the kitchen and started a fresh pot of coffee and put a pan of milk on the stove to heat for hot chocolate.

When everyone had settled in with a hot drink, Danny went out to his truck to listen to his scanner and see if there had been damage anywhere else. He came back into the house a few minutes later, his face white. "The town took a direct hit from a tornado. It went right down Main Street. I have to go see about my family."

There was stunned silence for a moment, then Logan galvanized the group into action. "Carol, y'all change into jeans and boots, then grab all the linens you can carry and put them in the Suburban. Megan, see what you can find in the way of first aid supplies. Jake, Katie, strip the blankets and comforters off the beds."

The guests streamed out to their cars and headed for town to see what they could do to help. Logan called Blue and put him in the back of Jake's truck, then they followed the line of cars heading to town.

To Logan, it was too reminiscent of the funeral procession to the cemetery. Had it only been that morning?

***

They couldn't drive the vehicles into the main part of town because of downed power lines and scattered vehicles, so they parked in the First Lutheran Church parking lot and walked the rest of the way, picking their way carefully through the piles of debris. Bricks and pieces of twisted metal cluttered the road and sidewalks, overturned cars and trucks littered the courthouse lawn and completely blocked the streets along the square.

All along Main Street, people stood looking dazed as they stared at what was left of Morris Springs. Others worked frantically to move piles of wood and brick, searching for survivors trapped in the rubble. Nurses and doctors from the nearby hospital were busy setting up a triage center in the library, one of the only buildings on the square left untouched.

Tommy saw the group standing in stunned silence at the corner of Main and First and waved them over. "I hope you guys came to help. We have people trapped in the Prairie Dog, and more in the diner. We could use help both places. Most of the people in the Courthouse are okay, we think. The south side of the street got the worst of the damage."

Logan put a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "You've got it. Whatever needs to be done, just let us know. I brought my cell phone if you need it."

"Good," Tommy said. "Call dispatch if you find someone who needs help. They'll get a message to me or one of the other deputies."

They split up, half the group going to the diner, and the other half to the Prairie Dog. For hours, Megan and Logan moved bricks and glass, following Blue's barks to locate people inside. As they pulled people from the café, others carried the injured to the library.

"This is the worst mess I've ever seen," Logan said as they tossed a broken table into the growing pile in the street. "I'm so afraid I'm going to pull out the body of someone I know."

"Don't think about it. The waitress said most of the diners ran to the bathrooms when they heard the sirens, so I'm sure we'll find them safe and sound when we get to that section of the cafe. Just pray we get there soon."

"I hope you're right. I've known these people my whole life. After what they did to help find Katie…."

Megan wiped a strand of wet hair from her face and arched her back. "This is your chance to pay them back. That's how it works."

As the news spread, more people came from the surrounding towns and countryside to help. Women and children served sandwiches and hot drinks to those working in the rubble, men and teenagers joined in moving pieces of roofs and walls and helped transport more people to the library. Strangers and friends worked side by side.

The rain continued to beat down on them as they worked, chilling them to the bone. As darkness settled in, portable lights were set up, and they kept working. News crews moved into town, then the Red Cross came in and set up temporary shelters for the residents who had lost their homes.

When Katie looked ready to collapse from exhaustion, one of the older couples took her home with them to spend the night, along with some of the other children of the volunteers.

Blue began to limp worse than before, so Megan made boots for his paws out of thick gauze pads and pieces of vinyl she tore from the destroyed booth seats that had been tossed into the trash pile. She attached them to his paws with adhesive tape from the first aid kit and sent him back to the search.

Shortly after three in the morning, they pulled the last survivor from the café. New volunteers took over and the ones who had worked nonstop for nearly twelve hours were encouraged to go home and rest.

Carol and Jake walked over to where Megan and Logan stood, too exhausted to move. Carol's shirt was torn and filthy, her hair was coated in mud, her face scratched and dirty. She leaned against Jake, who seemed to be holding her upright. "I'm going home with Jake for what's left of the night."

Logan raised his eyebrows, but didn't say a word.

"Don't look at me like that, Logan. I'm old enough that I don't need your permission. But Jake has a hot tub and he's promised to let me soak in it until I can move again. Then we're going to sleep. I doubt anyone in this town has enough energy for sex tonight."

Logan shrugged and lifted his hands in mock surrender. "Did I say anything? Go on. You deserve to be pampered for tonight. Tomorrow the real work begins."