TAKEN BY STORM
Tamara Mataya
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author makes no claims to, but instead acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the word marks mentioned in this work of fiction.
Copyright © 2014 by Tamara Mataya
TAKEN BY STORM by Tamara Mataya
All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America by Swoon Romance. Swoon Romance and its related logo are registered trademarks of Georgia McBride Media Group, LLC.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Published by Swoon Romance
Cover designed by Divine Michelle
Cover copyright by Swoon Romance
This book is dedicated to all the first responders, who bravely put their lives on hold to save others. Thank you for all you did and all you do.
TAKEN BY STORM
Tamara Mataya
CHAPTER ONE
A “heavenly flower” watched him from across the room. Ryan felt the weight of her gaze on him before checking her out more subtly in the mirror behind the small hotel bar. Was it really Leilani, though? By the time he turned to check for sure, she was gone. He shook his head and took another sip of his beer. He tugged at his collar and sent a little hatred at weddings in general. This one wasn’t terrible, less showy than most, though he still had to wear stiff, formal clothes.
Not that his turnouts were comfortable, but at least there was a point to his work gear; it protected him from fires. Nothing protected him from the small talk of the people around him. Yes, it was a nice wedding. Yes, it was amazing how they’d managed to make the room “their own” with only some crepe paper and balloons. No, he wasn’t seeing anyone. Yes, the cucumber sandwiches were delicious. Yes, Mildred’s hat was lovely. No, he wasn’t in a firefighter’s calendar. Yeah, he got the joke about his “pole.” Yes, he was single. No, he wasn’t interested in being set up on a blind date.
He didn’t begrudge good people good things, but it was like life was rubbing his face in the fact he hadn’t found anyone since Melanie had left him just over a year ago. He’d found a lot of someone’s since her, but a relationship wasn’t something for him. Hell, even Melanie had gotten married.
To the bastard she cheated on him with.
He took another swig of beer, wishing he was somewhere quieter.
He’d met Kyle “Spence” Spencer, four years ago at the twelve-week training program to be a firefighter, and they’d been buddies ever since. They’d saved each other’s lives a couple times, and he was the reason Ryan was sitting in dress pants, dress shirt, and a tie that felt like it was choking him. Ironically, Spence had left his dad’s wedding early to go back to the station, refusing Ryan’s offer to go for him, knowing Ryan had just come off working two twenty-four hour shifts with only ten hours in between. The flu going around was kicking their station in the teeth, and they couldn’t wait until they were only working fifty-six hours a week again.
So here he was at the Spencer wedding. And—duh—that “flower” he’d thought he’d seen. Yeah, it had to be Leilani. Spence’s little sister wouldn’t have missed her father’s nuptials. They just looked so different.
Kyle’s sister. His buddy Kyle’s little sister. His co-worker and buddy Kyle’s off-limits little sister. He hadn’t seen her since he graduated high school—two classes ahead of her—but oh, how she’d grown up.
Still, Spence’s sister was off-limits, even though he’d known her since she was a varsity cheerleader, and he’d been the star quarterback, adored by everyone. He’d played football because he was good at it and it was an easy ride—not because he really loved the game. He’d gotten a full scholarship to college, but had no interest in going pro. He’d wanted to do something with his life. Not like it had done him any good in the present. He was still going home to an empty house—unless he took someone warm and wild home with him. If Leilani wasn’t his best friend’s sister, they’d be in his truck now.
Instead, he sat watching happy couples do the chicken dance. It was definitely time to go. He hadn’t expected to have a family at this point, but he’d thought at twenty-six he’d have found the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. It certainly hadn’t been Melanie, no matter how badly he’d wanted it to be.
He slid from his stool. Hard work and hot sex were all he wanted. Screw marriage and commitment. They just complicated things. He was good at no strings. He was good at setting a woman’s senses on fire with pleasure and fine with the one-and-done kind of mindless sex.
And maybe that was all he was good for.
“Ryan!”
He turned to the retired carpenter standing next to him. “Hello, Sonny. How’s Jake?”
“Wonderful, thanks to you boys.”
“We were just doing our job, sir.” Two weeks before, Sonny’s house had caught fire with his Border Collie, Jake, inside. Ryan had been the one who found him, and carried him to safety. Sonny had lost his wife to a car accident the previous winter, and Jake was like the child they’d never had. Sonny’d been hysterical with worry, and more than a few eyes had gotten wet at the reunion on the front lawn between dog and master.
“I’ll never forget it. You guys need any cabinets made, you call me.”
“Thank you, Sonny.” They’d never take him up on it, but the offer was nice.
“No, thank you. Shit, I should go before I start bawling like a baby.”
“It’s perfectly normal. You’ve been through a lot.”
“You’re a good guy, Ryan. I hope you find someone as special as my Hilda.”
The earnestness in Sonny’s eyes squeezed Ryan’s heart. “I hope so too, sir.”
An elderly man ambled over, balancing two plates of pie, and Sonny left Ryan alone to his beer. I was leaving. But a flash of dark hair and a red and white dress caught his eye in the mirror. Leilani again. The way she was looking at him nailed his feet to the spot and made his mouth dry. Maybe he wouldn’t be getting much sleep after all.
***
She’d spent a good three minutes salivating over his body before she saw his face and realized she knew who he was. Ryan Benton. Two years her senior, his class was one of the wildest to tear through Silver Springs High. They’d banned hazing the year after because the seniors had been so brutal.
Leilani hadn’t been back to this drawn-out yawn of a town since graduation day six years ago. She’d thought nothing could make her return, but her dad managed to guilt her into coming for his wedding to his girlfriend, a lovely woman Leilani adored. It wasn’t the wedding she objected to—it was the location. She even offered, to no avail, to fly everyone to a beach somewhere—an option that looked better by the raindrop. It had been pouring off and on for the past four days, and the heavy rain had forced them to move the ceremony and picnic dinner from Phillip Street Park to the hotel.
The picnic dinner had been switched to a table of refreshments at the dance. Leilani was glad no one would stare at her sitting alone at the wedding party table, wondering why she didn’t have a date. Dad and her new stepmom had left half an hour ago, needing to make the flight Leilani and her older brother Kyle had gifted to the happy couple for their honeymoon. Kyle had made it for the ceremony but had to return to the station—a couple of the other firefighters had caught a vicious stomach bug going around. Leilani was alone.
Was Ryan alone? Was the high school hero
trolling her dad’s wedding for skank? He’d always been a big guy, but rangy, not built like he was now. He’d been the hottest jerk in school, and she’d done her best to ignore him. Not easy when she’d had to cheer for him at every football game, and was in the same social circle. Worse, he’d basically followed her around, stealing her thunder in everything from debate team to talent night.
She’d joined the school paper so she could write articles. The next week he’d come to school bragging about how one of his short stories had been published in a real magazine. The glossy evidence came a couple months later in April’s issue. Asshole. At least he’d been older and she wasn’t forced to suffer his presence for her whole high school experience.
Maybe he wasn’t as hot as he used to be. Some people aged horribly. She did a subtle eye sweep of the room, finding him at the bar. His long limbs and shaggy brown hair were pretty much the same as in high school. His back was to her, but the exact deep blue shade of his eyes was seared into her mind. He turned to the older man next to him and they smiled as they talked about something. Damn it. He was good looking. His nose was slightly too big, but matched the rest of his strong features and only made him look masculine and sexy.
Of course, it would be him. Treacherous subconscious must have known. The way he moved captured her attention right away—everything about him screamed man. He was tall, built, muscular, and hot. But Ryan Benton was off-limits. Completely.
Probably.
I should ask what the hell he’s doing here. He traced patterns in the condensation on his pint glass, and she imagined those strong, cool, damp fingertips on her skin. She licked her lips before noticing his gaze locked on hers in the reflection of the mirror behind the bar. Shit! She ducked through the closest door, heart pounding, and realized she was in the hallway leading to the washrooms. She pushed open the ladies' door, headed for the sink, and trickled cool water over her wrists, hoping to cool the fever racing beneath her skin.
Her family had moved to Silver Springs halfway through Leilani’s freshman year. The town was tiny, and multicultural diversity non-existent. She’d met Ryan and his friends her first day when they swarmed her table in the cafeteria.
“What’s your name?”
“Leilani.”
“I’m Sean. What are you?”
The curly-haired blond guy’s question threw Leilani off. “I don’t understand the question.” She looked to the rest of the group.
“Are you Chinese?” Sean bit into his apple. Though paler, Leilani favored her tiny Polynesian mother in stature and coloring. Her parents met in Hawaii, and her mother had returned to Kauai after their divorce four years ago.
The cute floppy-haired guy with the ocean blue eyes shook his head. “She’s Hawaiian, right? I’m Ryan.”
Leilani nodded. “Polynesian. How did you know?”
“A character in my favorite book’s name was Leilani. It means ‘heavenly flower.’”
Heavenly Lei, actually, but she could barely breathe his eyes were so—
“Polynesian? Like grass skirts and coconut bras?” Sean broke the moment. “I dub thee, Coco!”
One of the girls slung her arm around Leilani’s shoulders. “Coco, you look like one of us.” They were wearing the same shoes and Miss Me jeans. “Ever cheered? With your size, you’d be perfect for basket tosses and stunting. We just lost a girl.”
Leilani was annoyed that they’d begun calling her Coco, but decided it was better than them calling her Heavenly Lay. “Yeah, at my old school. JV.” She’d also done five years of gymnastics.
The brunette smiled. “If you’re as good as I bet you are you’ll be cheering varsity with us.”
She was that good and had infiltrated the popular clique just like that. Unfortunately, that sophomore brunette had become Leilani’s friend, and she’d had a vicious crush on Ryan. It was better for Leilani to find him annoying and stamp her attraction into the dirt. Easier, when he’d turned out to be such a competitive jerk, but also the right thing to do.
That was her to the core. Dependable. Responsible. Leilani dampened her hands and smoothed her curls. She always waited for good things to happen, never made the first move with a guy she liked, always played it safe, and maybe that’s why she was still single.
And she was feeling the tiniest bit awful that she resented the fact that her dad had found love twice, and she was still single. All in all, she was sick of the way she’d felt for the past week—and if she was brutally honest, for a whole lot longer. It depressed her to realize how little she’d experienced since she’d moved away.
God, and here she was again, hiding in the bathroom when everyone else was living it up just one room over. It was the perfect, awfully accurate metaphor for her life. Was this really who she was?
Maybe she wanted to be someone else for a change. Someone riskier, someone sexy instead of cute. Someone flirty and impulsive rather than boring and responsible. Someone who didn’t run away when a hot guy caught her looking at him. Why can’t I just be someone else, if only for the night?
She flung the swinging door open and rushed from the ladies' room—and slammed into Ryan.
“Ouch!” She grabbed his arms to right herself and gave them a quick squeeze. They were amazing. He was even bigger than she remembered, at least six foot three, but she was only five-two—five-six in heels.
“Coco?” His eyes lit up and his hands lingered a moment too long on her shoulders.
“Ryan!” She’d never let herself act on the attraction she’d always felt for him. What would happen if she let herself go? What would a bolder version of herself do? “How are you?”
“I’m good.” His thumbs stroked her bare skin and her legs trembled. “You’re back in town for a while, or just here for the wedding?”
A slow burn shuddered through her. “Just passing through for the wedding. Do you live in town?”
“Yes. A friend dragged me here, but I hate these kinds of things—no offense though, this one’s nice, as weddings go.” He pulled at his tie, and she briefly imagined tying him up with it, or him tying her up with it. He stood a little too close.
Not close enough.
Desire punched a hole in her memories and for a moment, she forgot she’d resented him in school. But damn if she didn’t remember just how much she’d always wanted him. “What kind of friend dragged you here?” Even she heard the interest in her voice.
Ryan’s eyebrows rose ever so slightly. “A best friend who’s already left the party.”
She wasn’t imagining the way he leaned closer to her and focused on her mouth. It had been months since she’d been with anyone. She was tired of waiting, hoping for the man to make the move, tired of waiting for life to happen to her. It was time to make some waves of her own, and she plunged ahead before she lost her nerve. “Come to my room.”
He smiled and nodded.
She was surprised how readily he’d agreed to go to her hotel room. Was it really this easy to pick up men? She’d never made the first move before. His hand was huge and swallowed hers as she led him down the hall, hoping her bravado lasted long enough to follow through with it.
Though her dad lived just across town, they’d booked rooms at the hotel anyway. Dad was a retired paramedic and Kyle was a firefighter, and they’d both scraped enough drunk driving casualties from the side of the road to err on the side of caution. Right then, Leilani was glad to return to the room she’d dressed in a couple hours before, and excited to try on the persona of a bolder woman.
“Coco—”
“I go by Leila now.” Tonight she did, anyway.
CHAPTER TWO
It was her, but she was so different, so warm and open, and her unabashed interest was irresistible. Ryan noticed the way she’d copped a cheap feel when she ran into him in the hallway, but it was endearing and she was even more gorgeous now that there was heat in her eyes. And she was just in town for the wedding—he wouldn’t have to worry about her getting attached. He’d jus
t decided to ask her for a drink when she told him to go to her room. She was his friend’s sister. He should say no.
He didn’t.
Her hand was small in his, but she pulled him with a speed and strength that made him feel wanted, and needed. It turned him on and completely obliterated his fatigue. All the times she’d screamed his name on the field came rushing back, every glance he’d caught her giving him across the cafeteria table before the interest left her eyes and she’d looked away. The times when her sharp tongue and flashing gaze had torn his arguments to shreds in a debate. He’d wanted to scream at her … and kiss her.
Maybe it was just high school hormones, but the thought of finally getting her alone and stilling her smart mouth with his was driving him wild. He made it until they were behind closed doors before he gave in to his body’s demands and kissed her. Her tongue stroked his. She was tiny but fierce, and he had the impression she’d have climbed him like a tree if he took too long to kiss her. Her lips curled into a smile and she pulled back. Her eyes were a rich, warm brown that melted his insides.
“No offense, but this—” she gestured from his chest to hers and back again, “is not going to go anywhere.”
“That’s perfect.”
“I don’t normally do this. But I’ve had the day from hell and need it to get better right now. Are you in? I want someone who can make me forget where I am. Make me forget my name. Do you want to do that with me? Can you do that?” Her mouth resumed its delicious nibbling and sucking, making it impossible for him to think.
Ryan had one major thing he wanted to forget about, even just for the night. He’d been trying to forget about her for months. Five foot seven, one hundred forty pounds, blue eyes, cheating heart … Leila’s coconut scented hair, and the way she pressed closer made his mouth water and his balls ache. Make them both forget? Yeah. He’d become good at that.
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