Storm Warning (19 page)

Dust and gravel flew behind him as Cooper tore out of the driveway.

“Wonder what his problem is?” Ella Jane wondered out loud.

Hayden shrugged as if he had no idea. “Who knows.”

I
T
was nearly seven and his grandpa still hadn’t shown up to pick him up. Hayden was exhausted from working harder than he ever had in his entire life. Covered in dirt and sweat, he sat on the Masons’ front porch and sipped the glass of tea Ella Jane had brought him. Through the open door, he could hear her sweet voice placing orders for sod and fertilizer. She used her professional voice on the phone. He’d bet money the person on the other end couldn’t tell she was only sixteen.

A breeze blew and he watched the tall grass in the field across the road bend and sway with the wind. Finishing off his drink, he stood and took in the view from the Masons’ front porch once more. There was something about this place.

A peacefulness settled over him here. No so-called friends constantly up his ass about what the plans were that weekend, which girls they were hanging out with, or whatever. No dad hounding him about drumming up more business for whatever scheme he was currently involved in. Just long days, sunshine, cool breezes, and the most beautiful girl in the world.

Deep down he hoped summer would never end. Maybe he’d talk to his parents about moving in with Gran and Pops for real. They were getting older. Surely they’d be happy to have some help.

Before he had time to really formulate a proposal, Ella Jane burst out of the house. “Hayden, your grandpa just called.”

The panicked expression she wore made his head throb. “Okay. What’d he say? Where is he?”

She swallowed hard and turned her round, bright blue eyes up to his. “He’s at the hospital. He had to take your grandma to the emergency room.”

They may strike quickly, with little or no warning.

“I
don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Cami looked up into Kyle’s eyes, hoping he’d drop it. She smoothed her hand down his chest, trying to distract him from his new favorite subject—convincing her to go on a real date with him. He’d been tossing the idea around for a while now, but ever since the close call at Pinkberry, Cami was more committed to hiding out at home than ever.

“You really are ashamed of me, aren’t you?” he teased, grabbing her hand in his. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she still saw a trace of wounded concern in his beautiful blue eyes. “We’ve been seeing each other for what…” He squinted, calculating their time together. “Nearly two months now. And we’ve only been on one date.”

“I like having you all to myself back here in our little oasis.” She grinned, turning in his arms to face the pool. The deck-side lounge chair they’d claimed as theirs barely fit both of their bodies. Neither of them minded the close proximity it forced.

“Yeah, but I want you to meet my friends and my sister and my mom. What good is a beauty queen for a girlfriend if I can’t show her off?” He winked to let her know he was kidding but she sighed.

“It’s complicated.” She attempted to beg him to drop it with her gaze, hoping he wouldn’t ask her to explain. “Can we please just wait a little while longer to announce
us
to the world?”

Cami had yet to tell Kyle everything about herself. He knew that her mother had left her home while she gallivanted around a sandy beach in a swimsuit that was better suited for someone half her age. And she’d filled him in on her father’s extramarital affair.

The two of them had bonded over the fact that their fathers couldn’t keep it in their pants. The one detail she’d left out was that she had been lying to her friends all summer. She’d even gone as far as posting beach pics of St. Tropez she’d found online to her Instagram account.

At first she was worried that Kyle would see her online fibs, but when she checked his Facebook page and saw that his last status update was eight months ago, she knew he was not a social networker. Thank goodness.

While she really did want to go out in public with Kyle, the thought of running into someone she knew and having to come up with some excuse as to why she was home—or have them expose her for the kind of person she was in public—outweighed the excitement of announcing she’d finally found a guy who made her feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

She’d found a guy who wanted her just the way she was and was proud of her even when she wasn’t wearing a tiara or winning a title. One who she could actually be honest with. Well, minus the part about her pretending to be on vacation or that up until she met him she’d been a raging bitch.

All she wanted to do was make it through the next two weeks without anyone becoming wise to her white lie of being out the country.

“I promise you’d have a good time.” He twirled a piece of her hair around his finger. “I’m an excellent date planner. Remember how much fun we had on the Fourth?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

“Oh, I remember. I don’t doubt that.” She’d loved watching the fireworks on the Fourth from the back of his truck. Even if the night had gotten off to a rocky start, it had ended sweetly when he asked her to dance and twirled her around to the lyrics of a sappy love song in that field on the edge of town he’d picked out just for them.

She remembered the way he’d held her close to his chest and made her feel like every word of that song had been written for them. And the way he’d kissed her lips and let her know he felt the exact same way.

She tilted her head back to look at him again. She was a sucker for his blue eyes. He could have asked her to go to the moon at that moment and she would have packed a bag.

“I was thinking I’d show you what us country kids do for fun.”

“Go on.” She was intrigued. She’d confessed to him in an earlier conversation that she’d never even been on a farm, and once he’d stopped laughing, he promised he’d take her to one.

“Well for starters, I’d come over and you’d actually walk out the front door.”

“Ha-ha,” she deadpanned. He tightened his arms around her, forcing a giggle from her lips.

“Then, I’ll give you a big bouquet of flowers that my mom whipped together from her garden.”

“I’m partial to daisies,” she informed him. “You should probably write that down.”

He laughed. “Noted.” He pulled his hand up and brushed her hair from her face. “After I present you with the biggest display of fresh daisies you’ve ever seen, I’ll walk you over to my truck and open the door for you, because I’m a gentleman.” His lips found her forehead and she felt herself start to melt the way she always did when his lips were on her body.

“This is true,” she breathed.

“Well,” he chuckled. “Not a complete gentleman, because I’m going to totally check out your ass as you climb up into the truck. I might even cop a feel.” He let the hand resting on her thigh creep around to her backside and give her a little squeeze.

“Believe it or not, I’m pretty okay with the feel-copping,” she smirked.

“That’s good, because after we have a little moonlit picnic down by the water, we’re gonna go test out the new tires on my truck down at the bottoms, and I fully plan on getting stuck in the mud with you and copping quite a few of them.”

The excitement she felt coursing through her veins at what he was insinuating had her ready to climb up in his truck and direct him to the nearest mud hole. It didn’t even matter to her that she had no interest in tires or trucks or, especially, mud.

He lowered his lips to hers as he rolled her on top of him. Cami wiggled herself up to increase the friction between their lips. Kyle’s mouth welcomed hers as if they’d been waiting a lifetime to see each other again. She nipped his bottom lip between her teeth, and it was taking every ounce of control Cami had not to come undone at the seams. When her lungs finally forced her to take a break and inhale, she saw the cocky look of victory in Kyle’s eyes.

“So, I’ll pick you up next Saturday night at seven,” he stated confidently.

“What’s a girl supposed to wear on a country date?” she asked, still not agreeing to his terms, despite how fun it sounded.

“I’m a sucker for a girl in a sundress.” He winked at her. “Just throw on some boots and you’ll be set.”

“We might have a problem then.” She pushed off of the sides of the chair and sat up, straddling him. “I don’t have any boots.”

“You’re kidding me.” Judging by the serious look on his face, Cami could tell he didn’t believe her. “No way does a girl from Oklahoma not own a pair of cowboy boots.”

She shook her head. “Sorry to disappoint you.” She rocked back on her heels, causing Kyle to squirm in his seat. “I’ve never had a place or reason to wear them. I do have about twenty-two pairs of heels and a nice collection of flip-flops.”

“Well that’s just a damn shame.” Wrapping his hands around her tiny waist, Kyle pulled himself up so they were nose to nose. “Any girl with legs like yours needs to have a sexy pair of boots.”

“I guess we can’t go then,” Cami shrugged, hoping that would be the end of their discussion. Even though she knew that the chances of her running into someone she knew were slim, especially out in the middle of nowhere, she didn’t want to risk it. She couldn’t stand the thought of being embarrassed in front of Kyle.

Her
friends
were ruthless. She knew this because up until this summer she’d been the first one to call someone out on their bullshit. In fact, she used to get off on declaring her superiority. She expected the same bitchiness from the circle she ran with that she had delved out on a regular basis pre-Kyle. Now all of that seemed trivial. Now all she wanted was to be happy and worry about herself… and Kyle.

She’d hoped that they could keep their relationship on the down low until summer was over—or at least until she could surprise him with the early admissions letter she was expecting from Oklahoma State.

After that, she was going to tell the world that she was dating him. Including her parents. How could they not be impressed with a superstar rookie wide receiver? She knew she was.

E
LLA
Jane rolled over in bed and checked her phone once more. It was almost midnight and she hadn’t heard a word from Hayden since she’d dropped him off at the hospital hours ago. His grandma had been in the intensive care unit and it was family only so there’d been no point in her staying. Though she’d offered. Several times.

After typing out a text that said:
Please let me know something
.
Praying everything is okay
, she pressed send and stared at the screen until the glow made her eyes hurt.