Blown Away (4 page)

I ran a paintbrush coated with dark cherry stain down a post on my cabin's front porch. It was good to be working outside on a warm, sunny day like this. A breeze rustled the leaves on the big trees nearby.

I was getting down to the details on the outside of the house. Just staining the decks and railings and landscaping. I'd wondered if I'd feel any satisfaction when I got to this point.

I didn't. My satisfaction had come from knowing I could pour myself into this house for years, and I hated knowing it was coming to an end. I was already thinking of ways I could stretch it a little further. Maybe a nice big shed or a shelter on the lake where I could store fishing supplies.

Probably both.

A red pickup truck pulled onto the long gravel road that led back to the cabin. The driver parked and got out and I recognized Bob Nixon, the chief of Lipton's fire department. He was an old-timer and a veteran, and I thought a lot of him.

“Aiden,” he said, nodding at me.

“Bob.” I shook his hand and he gave the cabin an appreciative glance.

“She's lookin' good. You movin' in soon?”

I shrugged. “Still lots of interior work to do. And I'm booked 'til the end of the year between storm chasing and teaching classes.”

He folded his arms and looked away.

“You come out to see the cabin, or is there something else you needed?” I asked.

“Yeah.” He kicked the gravel beneath his feet. “We're looking hard for a new director for the county EMS.”

Emergency Medical Services would've been a good fit for me if I wanted to be tied to a job that kept me in one place, but I didn't.

“I appreciate you thinking of me, but I'm still not interested,” I said.

“I know you said that, but…” He took off his baseball hat and put it back on again. “Is it the salary? You tell me what you need and I'll tell the board to pay it. We really need a man like you, Aiden. You've got field expertise in technical rescue and great leadership skills. To be honest, we don't just need a man
like
you, we need…you. There's no one like you. We've searched.”

I sighed and looked out at the shining lake behind my cabin.

“I love what I'm doing too much, Bob. I teach when I want, where I want, and I still have time to lead mountain-climbing trips and storm chase.”

“We could work around that stuff.”

I shook my head. “I don't want to be tied down. I appreciate the offer, but it's an important job, and it needs to go to someone who really wants it.”

He nodded, his expression dropping with disappointment. “You know where to find me if you change your mind.”

He left, his truck kicking up a cloud of dust from the driveway. I went back to staining the porch, taking a break for a drink in my camper when I was done.

I scrolled through my contacts in search of a woman I could have no-strings sex with tonight. They were few and far between. Most women who said they didn't want more were lying. Sometimes they were even lying to themselves.

Molly? No, she talked constantly, even during sex. Fuck that noise. I scrolled on.

Jen? Eh…probably not. She was hot as hell, but she always wanted to cuddle afterward and I could tell she wanted more from the longing look in her eyes when we said goodbye.

Any woman who got with me should know better than to expect that. I didn't make love. I fucked women until they were moaning and desperate. I told them all the dirty things they denied loving outside the bedroom. Their bodies told a different story, though. They loved being told to deep-throat my cock. They came hard—and
loud
—when I spanked their asses and rewarded them for taking it afterward.

Sex and love were very different things. And I was only interested in one of them. Sex was distant and raw. Pretty much the polar opposite of love.

Shana. I stopped scrolling and stared at her name. Shana fucked with my head, because she looked so much like Drew. She had the same light blond hair and toned, sexy body. I still felt guilty about the time I'd fucked her from behind and pretended she
was
Drew.

I stood, stuck the phone in my pocket and headed back outside. Didn't look like I was getting laid before my storm-chasing trip. It was all the same. I'd work on the porch until sundown, catch a baseball game on TV in my camper, and go to sleep.

I'd have plenty of excitement starting tomorrow, anyway.

I drove my truck under a familiar canopy of trees at Red Road Campground before taking a turn down a gravel road to a large campsite that bordered a forest.

The worn-out red picnic table was still there. Tex was reclining in a lawn chair next to it, a can of cheap beer resting in the attached plastic cup holder. His trademark dark brown cowboy hat covered his face. Bastard was probably asleep right now. How the hell he could sleep alone, outdoors and exposed, I'd never understand. But that was the soldier in me.

That was typical Tex, though. It was eerie how much this storm-chasing season felt just like old times in so many ways, but off in a huge one.

Colby wasn't beside me right now. He usually chattered nonstop when we were driving to a chase. I'd always told him it annoyed the shit out of me, but today the truck had been too quiet. We'd cut last year's chasing trip short when he was killed, and nothing had felt right for me since.

When I parked and stepped out of the truck, Tex jumped at the sound of my door closing. He slid the hat up from his face and grinned at me.

“Aiden O'Neal. How are ya, brother?”

“Can't complain.”

He reached into the cooler and pulled out a can of beer, holding it out to me. “Take a load off, man.”

“I have to get my camper set up.”

“You want some help?”

I shook my head. “You keep working on that tan. I've got it.”

He finished the beer in his cup holder, crushed the can, and tossed it into a nearby trash can before popping the top on the one he'd offered me. He reclined and slid the hat back down over his face.

I moved my camper to its usual spot at the edge of the campsite and hooked up the water and electricity. As soon as I tested them and got shit for water pressure, I knew I had a water line leak.

Since it was May, the worst of the summer heat wasn't here yet. Still, I had to run my forearm across my brow to wipe away the sweat before sliding under my camper on my back.

Now, where the hell was that line again? I hadn't been underneath the camper since last year's storm-chasing season. I pulled my cellphone from my jeans pocket to get some light, but before I had time to turn it on, a stream of water hit my face and answered my question.

“Damm it,” I muttered.

I slid out, grabbed my toolbox from inside the camper and got to work splicing the line back together. I was almost done when I heard the sounds of an approaching engine, car doors closing, and voices.

Murph? Had to be. No one else camped near our site, which was one of the reasons we liked Red Road so much. We sometimes kept crazy hours when we were chasing.

I got out from underneath the camper and saw Murph's monstrous motorhome parked nearby. But as for no one but the crew being here, that didn't seem to be the case. A lithe blonde with her back to me caught my eye and I let my glance linger on her round, firm ass. She pulled her hair up with her hands and my pulse kicked up a notch at the familiarity I felt. It couldn't possibly be Drew. She had taken over my dreams a long time ago, and now she was apparently seeping into my consciousness as well. When I looked at this woman's long lines, I saw Drew.

And then she turned and her pale blue eyes locked with mine. Just the sight of her knocked the wind out of me. It
was
Drew. Her hair was shorter, just past her shoulders now, and it was a lighter blond, but the rest of her was unchanged. She was still hauntingly, achingly beautiful. My cock stiffened at the sight of my every sex dream standing just a few yards away.

Fuck.

Shit.

Fucking shit.

This was bad. She was my best friend's girl, and I was getting hard from making eye contact with her. And why was she here? I was unprepared for this. If I'd known she was coming I would've strapped my dick down or something.

Not really. If I'd known she was coming, I wouldn't be here. No one had ever made me lose my cool like she did.

“Aiden,” she said, her pretty smile making me back up a step as she approached.

“Hey, Drew.” I squeezed the shit out of the wrench in my hand until my fingers burned, needing a distraction. “Surprised to see you here.”

She stopped in front of me and I caught the signals of an oncoming hug. Any touch from Drew would give me visible wood, so I crossed my arms and looked away, hoping to shut her down.

“I'm kind of on the team now,” she said, an unmistakable note of happiness in her tone. “Probably on a probationary basis since I have no clue what I'm doing.”

I made a grunting sound. “Okay. Well, good to have you.”

It wasn't good at all. It was
bad
. Very fucking bad. My forbidden fantasy woman was just a few feet away, and she wasn't leaving anytime soon. How would I be able to sleep knowing she was so close?

After giving Drew a dismissive nod, I crawled back under the camper. I had nothing left to fix, but damned if I could look at her for another second. She was more beautiful than ever. The gleam in her eye said it all.

Losing Colby hadn't broken her. I already knew she was strong, but it gave me an even deeper admiration for her.

Drew was a fighter. She'd had it rough as a kid; everyone in Lipton knew that. Her dad had died when she was in junior high, and her mom had withdrawn from everything after that. The family hadn't had much to begin with, but Drew had been left with almost no means of supporting herself and her two younger siblings.

But true to form, she'd risen to the occasion, doing odd jobs until she turned sixteen and could get a real job. Once I'd even seen her out collecting aluminum cans at the stadium when I was headed there for an early-morning run as a sophomore in high school, but I'd detoured so she wouldn't see me and feel embarrassed.

She hadn't caught my eye back then, something I'd gone over in my head hundreds of times over the years. What if I'd been the one to ask her out instead of Colby? Would she have said yes?

Not when she was a teenager, for sure. Everyone knew Drew didn't date. Working, studying, and her home life had consumed all her time. But once she finished college, she apparently changed. She was twenty-two and Colby was twenty-four when he told me over the phone that he'd found The One at the grocery store and that I'd already met her.

I hadn't had a chance. I was twenty-four then, too, but I was a sophomore in college. I'd done four years in the Army right after high school and then four years of college. When Colby asked Drew out, I was hours away at the University of Illinois.

The first time I saw them together when I was home on winter break, though, I knew I'd missed out. Drew was more than just beautiful. She had an aura about her.

“You gonna come out and say hi or what?” Murph's voice called out next to me.

I slid out from under my camper and scowled up at him. “Hi. You wanna hug and rub noses, too?”

He grinned and I realized I'd missed the little fucker. Yeah, he was older than me, but Murph was maybe a hundred and thirty pounds soaking wet. He was also a potent mix of smart and intuitive when it came to chasing. Being on Murph's team meant working hard and never missing a good storm.

“We're heading out to chase in the morning,” he said. “I'm pairing Drew with you.”

There was no way that would work. I wouldn't be able to think with Drew just a couple feet away. “I think Tex or Millie would be a better fit with me.”

“It needs to be you. You're my most experienced team member.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Actually,
you're
your most experienced team member. Why don't you put her with you?”

“I'm sponsoring Millie's graduate work this summer so I have to work directly with her. It was going to be me and her and you and Tex, but since Drew's here, I could use some muscle in my vehicle. What's your issue with her, anyway?”

I blew out a breath, trying to come up with an excuse. I sure as hell wasn't telling Murph I couldn't think straight around Drew because of my feelings for her.

“You know how women are,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “With the talking, and always wanting to stop to pee…”

“Huh,” Murph said, eyeing me skeptically. “In all our summers together, I've never known you to have an aversion to women.”

“A couple hours in the sack is a different story.”

“So you don't want Drew riding in the passenger seat of your truck, but you'd be comfortable taking her to bed?”

“Christ, Murph,” I muttered, looking around to be sure no one had overheard. “Don't say shit like that. She's Colby's fianceé.”

“Was.”

I felt my frustration swelling into anger. “I'm not trying to bag my dead buddy's girl, you asshole.”

He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Fine. Whatever. I'm here to chase storms. And these are the teams for now. You'll just have to deal with the talking and the peeing, Aiden.”

I swore under my breath as he turned and walked away. I'd figured I wouldn't be able to get Colby off my mind as I started my first season of chasing without him, but now my thoughts were crowded with the beautiful woman he'd loved.

Murph pointed to the satellite radar image on the screen of his laptop, making a circular motion. He was talking about cells and directions and other stuff that was way over my head. I listened anyway, hoping to pick up something.

My heart pounded with nervous anticipation. Was I out of my mind for thinking I could do this?

I turned to Aiden and blurted out my worries. “I have no idea what I'm doing. If you need me to understand those radar images, I don't.”

A corner of his mouth quirked up in a smile. “Don't worry about it. I'll teach you.”

“But…while we're in a storm? Are you sure?”

He shrugged. “I work well under pressure. You probably will, too.”

“Not that kind of pressure.” My voice betrayed my panic.

“We'll be all right, Drew. Seriously. I've been through worse than storms.”

I gave him a questioning look.

“Army,” he answered. “Rangers. I've been in the middle of a sandstorm getting my ass shot at after being awake for four days straight. And I'm still in one piece.”

“Maybe that was just crazy luck.”

He furrowed his brow. “Rangers don't get lucky.”

“Aiden, Tex is with you guys,” Murph called out.

“No, you take him. I've got it.”

“I just want Drew to ride along for her first day. Tex is with you.”

Tex looked back and forth between the two men. “The fuck? You guys are making me feel unwanted.”

“I definitely don't want you,” Millie said, pulling on a beret over her dark curls.

“Liar. Your nips are hard right now.”

Millie gave him a disgusted scowl. “Go away. A day without your nonstop commentary sounds like a dream come true.”

“What's that about me and your dreams, darlin'?” Tex winked at her.

“Enjoy your testosterone-filled day,” Millie said to me, looking back and forth between Aiden and Tex.

She got into the passenger seat of Murph's old station wagon bearing a bright red paint job with the words
FUNNEL FINDER
painted across the side of the car in white. He'd towed his storm-chasing vehicle to camp behind his motorhome.

Aiden threw a green canvas backpack over one shoulder. “Let's go chase some tornadoes. Tex, you're in the backseat and I swear to Christ if you run your mouth I'll put you in the bed of the truck.”

Tex gave me a playful grin. “He loves me. He really does.”

Aiden rolled his eyes and walked over to his large black pickup truck, opening the passenger door and nodding at me to get in. When I did, he pushed the door closed and went around to the driver's side. He put the backpack in the back next to Tex.

“First aid kit,” he said to no one in particular. “And water, food and flares.”

“You know where you're headed, chief?” Tex asked from the backseat. I turned to see him looking at the screen of a tablet.

“Yep. For the next couple hours anyway,” Aiden said.

We rode in silence, Aiden's gaze never leaving the road. I snuck glances at his profile, trying to figure out his mood.

I'd never paid attention to how attractive he was, but it struck me now. With broad shoulders, defined muscles, and a well-chiseled jawline, he was very easy on the eyes. His short, thick, dark brown hair looked neat even though it was tousled and his unshaven scruff had the same deliberately overlooked appearance. Like he'd just rolled out of bed. But in truth, he'd gone out running this morning. I'd seen him jogging back into camp as I was walking to the indoor showers near our campsite. He'd given me a nod of acknowledgment, not even meeting my gaze.

If he'd give me a chance to look at his eyes for a few seconds, I thought I'd have a shot at figuring out his mood. Aiden had always been the quiet, brooding type, but now he was more withdrawn than I'd ever known him to be.

He turned to me and I met his warm hazel eyes. I still couldn't decipher his feelings.

“Need anything?” he asked. “We can stop if you want.”

“I'm good, thanks.”

“You nervous about gettin' your storm-chasing cherry popped?” Tex asked.

Aiden gave him a look in the rearview mirror. “Jesus, Tex, do you ever censor the shit that comes out of your mouth?”

“No,” Tex said. It was clear from his tone that the thought had never occurred to him.

I smiled. “It doesn't bother me. I hear worse at the salon.”

Aiden turned his attention on me. “Oh yeah?”

“I was shampooing a client not long ago and she told me not to mind the crunchy section of her hair because her husband had jizzed in it the night before.”

“No!” Tex cried. “Un-fucking-cool, man.”

“I wear rubber gloves,” I said.

“No, I meant her husband. What kind of guy creams in his lady's hair?”

I couldn't help laughing at Tex's outraged tone. Aiden just shook his head, but I saw a repressed smile on his lips.

We drove for a couple hours, the skies getting darker the farther along we went.

“We're tracking a thunderstorm today,” Aiden said. “No tornadoes in the forecast. They tend to happen in late afternoon or evening. This storm's got some heavy winds in the forecast, so it's likely to end up a warning. We call what we see into the National Weather Service to help with that stuff.”

I nodded. “But you do research, too, right? Murph was telling me about it on the way here.”

“It's all his research. The rest of us just help him in the field. But I did come up with something new for launching probes that I'll try if I can get close enough to a twister.”

“Sounds exciting. I still can't even believe I'm here.”

Aiden glanced at me, his brows lowered with concern. He looked like he was going to say something, but he turned back to the road instead.

The rain started in fat droplets against the windshield, soon becoming a downpour. Tex reported conditions to Aiden from the backseat and told him which direction to go to get into the heart of the storm. He was all business now, which reminded me what a serious situation we were in. There was almost no visibility through the windshield with the rain pouring down so hard.

The gray sky was lost in the merciless storm. Raindrops pinged hard against the truck and the windshield wipers swished back and forth rapidly, unable to keep up with the deluge.

“NWS just issued a thunderstorm warning,” Tex murmured. “Covers this whole area.”

“Seems prudent,” Aiden said dryly.

“Tornado watch,” Tex added.

Aiden turned to me. “That means—”

I cut him off. “I know. Conditions are favorable for a tornado.”

He nodded.

“Sorry,” I said, feeling contrite. “I'd just feel better if you were looking at the road.”

His lips twitched slightly. Surely he wasn't smiling right now? In the middle of this monsoon?

“Deep breath, Drew,” he said. “You're white as a sheet.”

“Well,
yeah
.”

“It's gonna be okay. Promise.”

I nodded, still gripping the armrest of his truck for all I was worth. I wasn't sure how long we drove through the storm, but my hand ached by the time I relaxed my hold.

I tried to take it all in, but I still felt out of my element when we rolled back into camp late that afternoon. Tex and Aiden picked up pizza for dinner and then Millie and I sat with Murph in the motorhome while he studied forecasts and radar on his many computer screens. He was a patient teacher, stopping to explain things to us as he worked.

By the time I crawled into my bunk nestled high on a wall of the motorhome, I was ready to turn my mind off for the day. I was more than just out of my element. I didn't belong here. These people all had experience and filled roles here. I was just a fifth wheel, tagging along for reasons I still didn't completely understand. I wanted to find out why this had meant so much to Colby, sure, but there was also something more. Part of me wanted to see if I was brave enough to do it. After today, I doubted it more than ever.

And tomorrow, without Tex in the truck, things would be worse. There was no way I could handle the things he'd done today.

I was a pro at worrying. My mind told me I needed to break this worry up into several sections and beat each one to death. But I didn't have the energy. Instead, I fell into a deep sleep.