by Reese Ryan
“No, you’re not. Your hands are shaking, and you’re pale.”
“Thank you for checking on me.” She wiped at the corners of her eyes. “I didn’t intend to be so much trouble tonight.”
“I’m glad you’re here.” Blake lifted her chin so their eyes met. “I’d hate to think of what might’ve happened if you’d been out there alone on that road tonight. Or home alone in this storm.” He dropped his hand from her face. “Do you always have these nightmares during a storm?”
“Not in a really long time.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Talking about what happened that night probably triggered it.” Savannah pressed a hand to her forehead.
“I shouldn’t have pushed you to talk about your family. I just wanted to...” Blake sighed, rubbing Benny’s ears.
“What were you going to say?” For the first time since he’d entered the room, her hands weren’t trembling. Instead of being preoccupied with the storm, she was focused on him.
“There’s this deep sadness behind those brown eyes.”
Savannah dropped her gaze from his.
“You try to mask it by throwing yourself into your work. And you ward off anyone who gets too close with that biting wit. But it’s there. Even when you laugh.”
“Let’s say you’re right.” She met his gaze. “Why do you care? I’m just another employee.”
“I would think that kiss earlier proved otherwise.”
“So what...are you my self-appointed guardian angel?” Savannah frowned.
“If that’s what you need.” He shrugged.
Silence stretched between them. Conflicting emotions played out on her face. There was something she was hesitant to say.
Blake recognized her turmoil. He’d been struggling with it all night. Wanting her, but knowing he shouldn’t. He struggled with it even now.
“Thank you, for everything, Blake. For coming to check on me.” She scanned his bare chest.
Blake was suddenly conscious that he was sitting on her bed. In nothing but his underwear.
Good thing he wore boxers.
“Sorry. You sounded like you were in distress, so I bolted down here after Benny woke me up.”
Savannah turned her attention to Benny’s wide brown eyes and smiled for the first time since Blake had entered the room. She kissed the top of the dog’s furry head.
“Were you worried about me, boy?” She laughed when Benny wagged his tail in response.
Blake chuckled softly. Benny was a sociable dog, but he’d never been as taken with anyone as he seemed to be with Savannah.
“You’ve earned at least one fan here.” Blake’s face grew hot when Savannah’s gaze met his.
“Thank you both.” She gave Benny one last kiss on his snout. “I won’t keep you two up any longer. Good night.”
“Good night.” Blake turned out the light.
Savannah flinched in response to the lightning that flashed outside the window.
“Look, why don’t Benny and I sleep in here tonight?”
“With me?” The pitch of her voice rose and her eyes widened.
“I’ll sleep in the chair by the window.”
She scanned the chair, then his large frame. “I don’t think you’d be very comfortable contorting yourself into that little chair all night. Don’t worry about me. Seriously, I’ll be fine.”
A bolt of lightning flashed through the sky, followed by a loud cracking sound.
Savannah screamed and Benny whimpered and howled, hiding underneath the bed.
“It’s all right.” Blake put a hand on Savannah’s trembling shoulder. He went to the window and surveyed the property.
Lightning had hit a tree just outside the bedroom window. A huge section had split off. The bark was charred, but the tree wasn’t on fire.
Blake turned back to Savannah. Her eyes were filled with tears, and she was shaking.
“It’s okay.” He sat beside her on the bed. “There was no real damage, and no one was hurt.”
Blake wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He pulled her to his chest, tucked her head beneath his chin and rocked her in his arms when she wouldn’t stop crying.
“You’re fine, honey. Nothing’s going to happen to you, I promise.”
“What if I want something to happen?” She lifted her head. Her eyes met his, and suddenly he was very conscious of the position of her hand on his bare chest.
The backs of her fingertips brushed lightly over his right nipple. “What if I want to finish what we started earlier?”
Electricity skittered along his skin and the muscles low in his abdomen tensed as his shaft tightened.
He let out a low groan, wishing he could just comply with her request and give in to their desire. He cradled her face in his hand.
“Honey, you’re just scared. Fear makes us do crazy things.”
“Wanting to sleep with you is crazy?” She frowned.
“No, but getting into a relationship with a member of the management team is ill-advised.”
“I’m not talking about a relationship.” She seemed perturbed by the suggestion. “I’m just talking about sex. We’re adults, and it’s what we both obviously want. I’m not looking for anything more with you.”
He grimaced at the indication that it was him specifically she didn’t want more with. For once in his life, he longed for a good It’s not you, it’s me.
“That won’t work for me.” He sighed heavily. “Not with you.”
They were way past the possibility of meaningless sex. He felt something for her. Something he hadn’t allowed himself to feel in so long.
“Why not with me? I’m here, and I’m willing.” She indicated his noticeable erection. “And unless you’re hiding a gun in your boxers, it’s what you want, too.”
“Savannah...” Blake gripped her wrists, holding her hands away from his body. “You aren’t making this easy for me.”
“I thought I was.” She grabbed the hem of the shirt and tugged it over her head, baring her perfect breasts. The brown peaks were stiff. Begging for his mouth. Her eyes twinkled. “Can’t get much easier than this.”
Blake’s heart raced as the storm raged around them. He wanted to take the high road. But right now, it wasn’t his moral compass that was pointing north.
* * *
Blake tightened his grip on Savannah’s neck and something about it sent a thrill down her spine. Her core pulsed like her heartbeat.
The cool air tightened the beaded tips of her breasts. His gaze drifted from the hardened peaks back to her.
“You’re scared. You’ve been drinking. You’re not thinking clearly right now. Neither am I.”
“We slept off the bourbon hours ago,” she reminded him, pressing a kiss to his jaw. His body stiffened in response. “Besides, you kissed me last night.” She kissed his neck, then whispered in his ear, “And don’t pretend you haven’t thought about us being together before tonight.”
Savannah relished Blake’s sharp intake of breath when she nipped at his neck. She wanted his strong, rough hands to caress her skin. And she longed to trail her hands over the hard muscles that rippled beneath his brown skin.
Adrenaline rushed through her veins, her body hummed with energy and her brain buzzed with all of the reasons she shouldn’t be here doing this.
Just for tonight, she wanted to let go of her fear and allow herself the thing she wanted so badly.
Blake Abbott.
Sleeping with him would complicate her plans, but weren’t things between them complicated anyway? Whether they slept together tonight or not, things would never be the same between them.
Maybe she didn’t want them to be.
If it turned out her grandfather was confused about what had transpired all those years ago, she need never tell Blake why she’d really c
ome to Magnolia Lake. And if her grandfather was right...and Blake’s family had used him cruelly...why should she feel the slightest ounce of guilt? The Abbotts certainly hadn’t.
Either way, she wanted him. And she had no intention of taking no for an answer when it was clear he wanted her, too.
Savannah wriggled her wrists free from Blake’s loose grip. She looped her arms around his neck, her eyes drifting shut, and kissed him.
Blake hesitated at first, but then he kissed her back. He held her in his arms, his fingertips pressed to her back.
The hair on his chest scraped against her sensitive nipples. She parted her lips and Blake slipped his tongue between them, gliding it along hers.
Savannah relished the strangled moan that escaped his mouth. The way it vibrated in her throat. That small sound made her feel in control in a moment when she’d normally have felt so powerless.
As helpless as she’d felt when she’d watched the building burn. Unable to save her parents.
Her parents. Her grandfather. Laney.
What would they think of what she was doing right now? Giving herself to the grandson of the man who had taken everything from them?
Savannah’s heart pounded in her chest as she tried to push the disquieting thoughts from her head.
They wouldn’t understand, but she did. She wasn’t giving herself to Blake Abbott. She was taking what she wanted...what she needed...from him.
She’d gotten lost in her thoughts. Blake was the one driving the kiss now. Both of them murmured with pleasure as his tongue danced with hers. Then he laid her back and deepened the kiss.
Savannah glided her hands down Blake’s back and gripped his firm, muscular bottom.
His length hardened against her belly and he groaned, his mouth moving against hers.
Savannah kept her eyes shut, blocking out the lightning that periodically illuminated the room, and the thunder that made poor Benny whimper. Instead, she focused on the beating of her own heart. The insistent throb and dampness between her thighs.
Savannah couldn’t control what was happening outside. But she could control this. How he felt. How he made her feel.
Powerful. Alive. In control.
She slipped a hand beneath his waistband and wrapped her fingers around the width of his thick shaft. Blake moaned against her open mouth, intensifying the heat spreading through her limbs. She circled the head with her thumb, spreading the wetness she found there, relishing the way his breathing became harder and faster in response.
He grabbed her wrist, halting her movement as she glided her fist up and down his erection.
“Neither of us is ready for what happens next if you keep doing that, sweetheart.” His voice was low and gruff.
“Then we should stop wasting time and get down to business.”
Blake shooed the dogs from the room and locked the door behind them before returning to bed. He cradled her cheek.
“Savannah, you know I want you. But I don’t want you to do this for the wrong reasons.”
“Does it matter why?”
“Yeah, baby. In this case, it does.” He swept her hair from her face. “Because this isn’t a typical one-night stand for me.”
“Why not? I’m sure you’ve done this lots of times before.” She tried to rein in her frustration. In her limited experience, it had never been this difficult to get a guy to have sex with her.
“Not with someone who works for me.”
Suddenly an Abbott is worried about being ethical?
“It’ll be our little secret. And it’ll be just this once.” She hated that an Abbott had reduced her to groveling.
“I can’t promise that, because I’m already addicted to your kiss.” He kissed her mouth. “Your taste.” He ran his tongue along the seam of her lips. “And if I get more...and make no mistake about this—I do want more...there is the definite risk of becoming addicted to having you in my bed.”
It was the sweetest, sexiest thing any man had ever said to her.
She wanted to hear more of it while Blake Abbott moved inside her, making her forget her worries and fears and replacing the tragic memory associated with thunderstorms with a pleasurable one.
“I can’t promise what’s going to happen tomorrow.” She kissed him again, trying to convince him to let go of his worries, too. “I can only tell you that this is what I want. It isn’t the liquor or my fear talking. It’s me. I want you. Period.”
His body tensed, and his eyes studied hers there in the dark. Then he claimed her mouth in a kiss that shot fireworks down her spine, exploding in her belly. Her core throbbed with a desire so intense she ached with the emptiness between her thighs.
An emptiness only he could fill.
Blake trailed kisses down her neck and ran his rough tongue over one sensitive nipple. He gripped the flesh there and sucked the hardened nub. Softly at first, then harder. She moaned as he licked and sucked, the sensation tugging at her core.
“Oh, Blake. Yes.” She arched her back, giving him better access. His eyes met hers and he smiled briefly before moving on to the other hardened peak, making it as swollen and distended as its counterpart.
He trailed kisses down her belly and along the edge of the waistband of her panties. Suddenly, he pulled aside the fabric soaked with her desire for him and tasted her there.
Gripping a handful of his short, dark curls, Savannah gasped and called out his name. She spread her thighs, allowing her knees to fall open and providing Blake with better access to her swollen folds and the hardened bundle of nerves he was assaulting with that heavenly tongue.
He reached up, pinching one of her nipples as she rode his tongue. Every muscle in her body tightened as a wave of pleasure rolled through her hard and fast.
She was shivering and trembling again. This time, it wasn’t because of the storm. It was because Blake Abbott had given her an orgasm that had struck her like a lightning bolt.
And left her wanting more.
Ten
Blake groaned as the sunlight filtered through the window of the guest bedroom. He peeked one eye open and lifted his arm, which had been draped across Savannah as she slept. He looked at his watch.
It was well after seven. Normally he would’ve worked out and walked the dogs by now. He was surprised Sam and Benny weren’t already...
His thoughts were interrupted by Benny’s moaning and scratching at the door.
Savannah sighed softly, her naked bottom nestled against the morning wood he was sporting.
Hell, his erection had probably never gone away after his night with Savannah. A night in which he’d brought her to pleasure with his mouth and fingers so many times that her throat was probably raw from calling his name.
He hadn’t made love to her, and he hadn’t allowed her to give him so much as a good hand job. A decision his body—strung tight as a piano wire—bemoaned. But he had to be sure her head was in the right place. That she wasn’t just acting out of fear.
Blake sucked in a deep breath, inhaling the scent of her hair. He wanted to run his fingers through the silky curls again, brush her hair back so he could see her lovely face.
But he didn’t want to wake her. He wasn’t ready to burst the bubble they’d been floating in.
He couldn’t bear for her to wake and regret their night together. A night he didn’t regret in the least.
Blake slipped out of the room, got dressed, fed the dogs and took them for their usual walk, avoiding all the waterlogged areas. He surveyed the damage to his property and the neighborhood. There were a few downed branches and lots of upended lawn furniture. A tree had fallen through one neighbor’s roof. Shingles littered their front lawn, and a yellow tarp, draped over the roof, billowed in the wind.
But for Blake, the storm hadn’t been a bad thing. It’d brought Savannah to his home and into his
bed.
Blake hoped she hadn’t been serious about making this a one-off. He liked her. A lot.
Dating Savannah would ruffle his family’s feathers. He wouldn’t tell them right away. Not until he knew whether this was serious. If it was, he’d just have to deal with the consequences of breaking their unwritten rule.
Blake opened the side garage door and let the dogs in, wiping their muddy paws on a rag. As they went back into the house, he paused to listen.
The house was silent. Savannah was evidently still sleeping. He washed his hands and checked the kitchen for breakfast food. He cursed under his breath for putting off grocery shopping.
Every Southerner knew you stocked up on basic goods when there was an impending storm of any kind.
Luckily, there were his mother’s and sister’s refrigerators to raid. Both of them kept their pantries and deep freezers well stocked. His mother’s deep freezer likely contained a side of beef and enough chicken to feed the entire company. Zora’s would be filled with frozen meals and store-bought goodies.
Right now, he’d settle for either. But since Zora lived closest, he’d start with her.
“You two be good.” He patted Sam’s and Benny’s heads. “I’ll be back before you know it. And don’t bother Savannah. She’s sleeping.” He headed back toward the garage. “That means you, Benny.”
Benny whimpered, dropping on the floor in the corner and resting his head on his paws.
Blake hopped in his truck and drove the five minutes to his sister’s home on the other side of the lake. She was outside gathering broken tree limbs.
“If you came to help, you’re too late. I’m just about done here.” Zora stepped on a long branch, snapping it in two. Then she snapped each piece in half again.
Blake hugged his sister. It didn’t surprise him that she hadn’t asked for assistance. Since she was a kid, Zora had been determined to prove her independence.
“Well, since you’ve already got everything under control, maybe you can help me out. I don’t have anything for breakfast back at the house. I was gonna go grocery shopping this weekend but the bridge is out.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, hoping to avoid his sister’s usual forty questions.
