Taken by Storm

by Heather MacAllister

  They stared at each other just as they had then. “That was the beer we moved out of the cooler to make room for the bike, wasn’t it?” Hiding the bike had been her idea.

  “Yes.”

  “The red-headed guy said it was okay.”

  “Gus probably forgot what happens to metal walls in the afternoon sun.”

  It had been cool and shady when she and Pam had moved the beer outside, which was why they’d chosen the spot. It had also been morning. “I don’t think he knew where we’d moved the beer.” And to be honest, she’d forgotten all about it once the party had started. Zoey closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. That was a big mess.”

  “It’s not your fault. Gus should have paid closer attention.”

  “Yes, it was my fault.” She exhaled heavily and opened her eyes. “Did you get into trouble because of it?”

  “No.” He denied it firmly but not before a telling hesitation.

  No one but Zoey would have noticed, and she noticed only because she’d become an expert at recognizing when people were hiding the true extent of her mistakes from her. Didn’t they realize it only made her feel worse?

  “But you had to pay for it, didn’t you? Don’t.” She held up a hand when he started to speak. “I know you’re not saying everything. People always do that when I mess up.” She had a horrible thought. “Did Gus get fired? Please tell me nobody got fired.”

  “Gus can’t get fired,” he assured her quickly. “He’s one of the owners. And so am I.”

  That was so not what she expected to hear. A name from the brewery’s website popped into her mind. He’d said his name was Cam. “You’re Cameron MacNeil!”

  “Yeah.” His smile flashed. “So it’s all good.”

  It was not all good, or he’d still be showing her those dimples. “Not until I reimburse you for the beer you lost that day.”

  He was shaking his head before she finished speaking. “That was two years ago. Forget it.”

  “A year and a half, but that’s not the point. I want to make it right. I can’t give you back your beer, or the time you spent cleaning it up, but I can pay for the damage.”

  “I appreciate the offer, but it’s not necessary.” Cam looked down at her and a little of the interest he’d shown earlier returned to his expression. “Gus should have moved the bottles or shown you where to put them,” he said. “We learned a lesson, nobody got hurt and it’s never happened again, so forget about it. Seriously.”

  But she couldn’t. “Why? You haven’t.”

  * * *

  CAM HAD TO ADMIT she was right. “Only because Gus tells that story a lot. He thinks it’s funny.” Cam’s jaw tightened as he remembered Gus had claimed that he’d had no idea how the beer ended up outside the cooler. And now here was Zoey, close to two years later, offering to reimburse him the moment she’d learned of her mistake. It was refreshing when people accepted responsibility for their mistakes. It spoke to a depth of character Cam found very appealing.

  He gazed at her determined face. Honestly, when he’d realized she was behind the Great Exploding Beer affair, he’d written her off as a pretty but thoughtless party girl. Cam met a lot of that type at the brewery, and they weren’t worth the bother.

  But glad as he was to know he’d been wrong about her, Zoey had become dangerously attractive.

  The original idea had been to enjoy flirting with her while they were stuck in the airport and then they’d both walk away afterward. The danger was that he wasn’t sure he’d want to walk away. He didn’t want to walk away now.

  “But you don’t think it’s funny. You’re still mad.”

  Cam realized he’d been frowning. “Not at you.” He smiled. “You apologized, so we’re good.” He suspected they could be great, though, and he wanted to find out.

  The timing? Horrible.

  The logistics? Impossible.

  The chances of a successful relationship? Not high. Especially when she should be looking at him with relief and gratitude.

  Except she was not looking at him with relief and gratitude. More like anger and something else. He couldn’t figure out what. Maybe it was just anger.

  Why was she angry?

  He’d expected her to say something like, “That’s really nice of you. At least let me buy you coffee.” Or dinner because what else was there to do while they waited?

  Instead, she said, “We are not good. If we were good, I’d be seeing your dimples right now. But you’re dimpleless.”

  He blinked. “Dimpleless?”

  “Yeah. As soon as you realized I was the one who broke your beer, you turned colder than that blizzard outside.” She gestured toward the doors and her hair whipped around, almost close enough to brush his arm. His skin tingled anyway.

  He couldn’t exactly tell her he was “dimpleless” because he’d felt a real connection with her and then was hugely disappointed when he’d thought she wasn’t worthy. But now he’d decided she was more than worthy and was mentally complaining to himself about the timing. No, he couldn’t say those things unless he wanted to sound like an arrogant jerk. A little arrogance never hurt anybody, but he wasn’t a jerk. “I’m over it. You apologized. I accepted.” He smiled until he felt his dimples. “See?”

  “I see fake dimples.”

  Cam’s smile became genuine. “Why are you mad?”

  “Because you won’t admit you’re mad!”

  “Because I’m not.”

  Her cheeks were flushed, but her eyes were a cool green that called him into their depths. Cam was so ready to answer that call. If she weren’t glaring at him, he would.

  The seconds ticked by without the heat fading from her cheeks. “How much?” she asked.

  “How much what?”

  Her arms stole around her middle and she hugged herself. “How much was the beer worth?”

  “I have no idea,” he said with exasperation. “But it doesn’t matter. Breakage, bad batches, faulty bottling—it’s all part of the cost of doing business.”

  And yet she was still glaring at him. “I don’t believe you. You are exactly the type of man who would know the loss to the penny. Not only that, I’ll bet you broke the damage down by actual cost and retail value.”

  “I wouldn’t be much of a business man if I hadn’t. But it’s been so long, I honestly don’t remember.” A movement behind her caught his eyes. Casper had raised his head. The dog probably sensed the tension between them.

  Zoey saw Cam glance behind her and followed his gaze. “Hey, Casper.”

  The dog thumped his bunched tail and laid his head down again. Zoey moved closer to Cam, close enough that he smelled the sweet, lemony scent of her skin. Like lemonade. “I want the retail value.” She nodded toward his jacket pocket. “If you really can’t remember, call and have somebody look it up. Right now.”

  Oh, for— “No.”

  She seemed momentarily startled before resolve settled on her features again. “I’m still going to send you money, so you may as well give me a figure.”

  This was about more than some exploding beer, Cam finally understood. People always do that when I mess up, he remembered her saying. “Why is it so important that you pay me back?”

  She exhaled and looked away. “People get weird when I don’t. They say it’s okay, but the way they act around me is never the same.” She met his eyes. “So I always cover the financial loss and hope for an opportunity to make up for any other wrongs.”

  Forget the money. Cam was more interested in the “other wrongs.” “Are you saying you’re accident prone?”

  She shook her head. “I make mistakes.”

  “We all make mistakes.”

  “Yeah, well I make a lot of them. Big ones. And I’m getting tired of it, I can tell you.”

  Cam
started to laugh but wisely reconsidered. “Don’t you learn from your mistakes?”

  “Of course. Don’t hide motorcycles in beer coolers. Lesson learned.”

  Now Cam did laugh. “It probably seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  She rolled her eyes. “That’s going on my tombstone.” She traced imaginary words in the air. “Zoey Archer. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  He laughed again as he mentally filed away her last name. Zoey briefly smiled before saying, “So give me your contact info—or I’ll just send payment to the brewery.”

  Cam heard a history of soured friendships and broken relationships in her voice. He was a complete stranger and she could easily avoid seeing him ever again, but she was insisting on reimbursing him anyway. He admired her for it, but he wasn’t going to take her money. They needed to get past this.

  She’d been waiting for his response and now gave a little shrug before turning toward the snoozing Casper. “The brewery it is.”

  “Wait.” If she walked away now, they’d never be more than two strangers who met at an airport.

  Zoey hesitated before looking up at him.

  As he met her eyes, Cam tried to come up with a way to convince her to spend time with him. “Rather than paying me back with money, you could help me instead.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “With what?”

  “I’ve got a box of samples that I’d rather have with me instead of trusting they won’t get frozen in the warehouse.” Cam was thinking on the fly. “It’s heavy, we’re going to be here for hours, and I don’t want to drag it around with me. Not only that, the MacNeil brewery logo is printed all over the box and this is an airport full of bored, stressed people.”

  “I can see how that would make you a target,” she said, and he wasn’t clear if she was being sarcastic or not. She was not encouraging him, that’s for sure.

  “Since we’re both going to Seattle, we should team up. We can take turns standing in lines and watching each others’ stuff.”

  Zoey gazed at him, apparently thinking it over. “My ‘stuff’ includes a dog.”

  “Casper. I know. We’re buds, aren’t we, Casper?” Cam glanced toward the dog, whose head rested on his paws as he watched them. Casper swished his tail once. “See? He’s all for it.”

  She gave a short, humorless laugh. “You’re a brave man.”

  “Because of Casper?”

  “No, because of your samples. You’d trust me with beer again?”

  Was that the problem? He grinned. “It’s packed in a crate inside a foam cooler inside a box. Completely Zoey-proof.”

  “Nothing is Zoey-proof. You hang around me, and eventually you’ll pay for it.” She spoke in a bleak tone of utter certainty.

  “It would be worth it.”

  “Yeah, you say that now, but—”

  “Still worth it,” he said firmly.

  Her eyes widened. “What makes you so sure?”

  “The chemistry.”

  “What?”

  “Between us.” Cam gestured back and forth. “You’ve felt it. I know you have.”

  “Oh, please.” She looked heavenward. “Does that line actually work for you?”

  “It’s not a line. It’s the truth.”

  “Next you’ll say you can prove it.”

  “I don’t have to. Do I?”

  Zoey froze. Asking her to admit to a mutual attraction was a gamble, but Cam needed to distract her from dwelling on past mistakes. He hoped he hadn’t scared her off. Right now, it appeared she could go either way.

  “You just met me,” she said.

  “That’s my point.” He gave her his most reassuring smile. “I want us to get to know each other.”

  She still stared at him, wide-eyed, and he really wished he could tell what she was thinking.

  “I’m also serious about teaming up.” He gestured toward the monitors, displaying that airline after airline was canceling flights. “This is going to get messy.”

  Her eyes flicked toward the monitors. She swallowed. Maybe he’d come on too strong and now he should back off. “Just consider it while I go get my box. We can talk when I—”

  “No. No, no, no.” Shaking her head, she backed away. Casper got to his feet and trotted over to her. “There’s not going to be any teaming up. I have to concentrate on getting Casper to Merriweather Kennels to breed with Alexandra of Thebes. That’s the plan and I’ve got to stick with the plan. I can’t add anything to the plan.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  “You’re looking at me as though I’m crazy.” Zoey exhaled. “But when I get an idea or want to take advantage of an opportunity—that’s when mistakes happen. Take the party. The goal was to get the motorcycle to the brewery, but then when we got there, I thought, wouldn’t it be great if we hid it so it would be a surprise?” She flung up her hands and Casper’s tags jingled as the leash moved. “And you remember what happened.”

  “Was getting stuck in Chicago part of your plan?” Cam asked.

  “No, and that’s why I have to be very careful. No distractions. So...it was nice meeting you and maybe I’ll see you around.” She stuck her hand out for him to shake.

  Cam stared a moment before grasping it. He heard a snap as static electricity shocked them. Zoey’s hand jerked.

  Cam laughed. “See? How can you walk away from that?”

  “Watch me.” Zoey turned around and walked off, taking Casper with her.

  “Zoey!” Cam eyed the empty crate she left behind and called, “I’m not a mistake. Walking away—that’s the mistake.”

  She kept going. He couldn’t believe she kept going. Couldn’t she accept that she’d need help eventually, unless she wanted to leave Casper unattended while she got food to eat and their flight rescheduled.

  Cam watched Zoey walk away and felt a sense of loss all out of proportion to the amount of time he’d known her. He could contact her once he was back in Texas, but he wouldn’t. Even if this trip succeeded and he got more help at the brewery, he still wouldn’t have time for a relationship. Especially one with Zoey. Carving out the hours to spend with past girlfriends had been a chore, just one more thing on a long list of things. But he sensed it would be different with Zoey because he’d resent the brewery for taking him away from her.

  She’s right. Getting together would be a mistake. But still, Cam stood there, unable to look away as Zoey and Casper wove through the crowd. And then she stopped abruptly and a man talking on a cell phone almost plowed into her.

  She stared down at the floor and stood for several seconds before wheeling Casper around and walking back.

  Caught watching her, Cam expected her to change course, but Zoey strode right up to him.

  “Prove it,” she said.

  “What?”

  “Prove we’ve got chemistry worth pursuing. Because now you’ve got me wondering, and that’s just as distracting as being around you, so why not find out? Maybe we don’t have any real chemistry and I’ll be worrying about nothing. So, I want to know. Give it your best sh—”

  Cam pulled her to him, lowered his head and locked his lips to hers. Yeah, he kissed her. Right there, right then, in the perishable-cargo area of one of the largest airports in the world, reliable, hard-working, you-need-to-loosen-up Cameron MacNeil kissed a woman he’d met less than an hour ago. Deeply, passionately kissed.

  Everything clicked for him in that moment. This was exactly where he was meant to be, at exactly the right time, doing exactly what he was doing, with exactly the right woman.

  And then his mind caught up with all the data his body had been sending it. He became aware of the lemonade scent, the feel of her shoulders beneath the coat and her lush mouth softly open against his. Especially her lush mouth softly open against his. Warm
th raced through him with desire close behind.

  Zoey gasped, drawing his breath from him. Cam was surprised he had any air left in his lungs for her to draw.

  Wow, did they have chemistry. Combustible, take-cover chemistry. At least on his part; maybe not so much for Zoey, judging by her lack of response. But he hadn’t given her anything to respond to, aside from the initial lip locking. He should fix that.

  Cam loosened his grip on her shoulders and when Zoey still remained immobile, he eased his arms around her, under Casper’s leash, and angled his head for a better fit.

  The perfect fit. He settled in and gently moved his lips against hers, teasing his tongue into her mouth even as he feared she might bite it.

  But she didn’t bite it. She moaned a little. Or maybe he moaned. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that Zoey was still in his arms. She’d even relaxed against him just a bit, which he took as wild encouragement.

  She felt good in his arms, tall enough so that he didn’t have to bend down too much. They were both wearing too many clothes for him to get a sense of her body, but she was neither bigger nor bonier than he’d guessed.

  She tasted amazing. A little minty from a recent breath mint. He’d been popping them, too. But beneath that was all Zoey. She was warm toasted malt and wheat without the bitterness of hops or a sour, weak finish. He also detected a little added unidentifiable spice, a secret Zoey spice that kept it interesting.

  If he could bottle her, he’d have a winner.

  Cam lost himself in the slow, thorough kiss. He was both relaxed and energized in a way he hadn’t been for many months. With Zoey in his arms, he could temporarily set aside the burden he carried as head of the family brewery. Besides, it just plain felt good to let desire pulse unchecked through his body.

  Gus was right again. Cam needed a woman—but not any woman. This woman.

  A whistle pierced his consciousness and she jerked.

  “Get a room!” a male voice called, recalling Cam to their surroundings once more.

  He abruptly ended the kiss at the same moment Zoey wrenched her mouth away.

  “Yeah, like they’re going to find a room anywhere,” grumbled another voice. “Everything’s full. And if it isn’t, you can’t get there ’cause of the snow.”