Loving the Chase (Heart of the Storm #1)

by Sharla Lovelace

  “I went on a run with the Chases,” she said. “Not an organized one. I—was kind of stupid and acted on a whim, and instead of letting someone I love go do his job, I jumped out there like a lunatic and caused some problems.”

  Both the interviewer and Eli chuckled at this on-screen, but in Zach’s living room all eyes turned to him. Someone I love. She said it again. He was transfixed on her face on that screen, the only other outside thought being that he wished Eli would have told him to record it.

  “The experience humbled me, to say the least,” she said. “We all theoretically know there are these crazy people that do this. We see them on TV and in the movies, sensationalized as adrenaline junkies who risk life and limb just because it’s in their blood, as Eli said. But those movies don’t show the other part. The people they are, the people they help. That’s what we want to bring to viewers. This is a real family. Siblings that will do anything for one another. A mother and grandmother that lost a son and a husband to this life, that love and support their every move. This is a family that I know and love and care for beyond measure. And what they do out there while we sit at home and watch the weather and wait, is off the charts.” Maddi’s eyes misted, and Zach realized he was holding his breath. “What they do to keep us safe—people need to feel that.” She cleared her throat and nodded to someone off-camera.

  “We have a little teaser of the pilot trailer,” she said. “Including my contribution.” She laughed. “Rudy, my cameraman, not only risked his life to do this driving, but also donated his phone to the cause. Now, there’s a reason I’m a producer and not a cameraperson, but I think you’ll get the feel of being there.”

  The screen filled with images, lightning, dark clouds, flashing pictures dubbed with powerful stormy music over candid shots of each one of them doing their thing—serious, funny things they did as a family that Zach didn’t even realize had been caught on camera. The intensity between the family was obvious. The love was overwhelming. A moment of Eli watching over his siblings. Zach and Hannah hugging, Simon and Quinn high-fiving into a finger-lock. Beatrice, the old woman from the grocery store parking lot, reuniting with her husband and dog.

  A dead-on zoom into each one of the team’s eyes was dramatically emphasized, and then Maddi’s cell phone video took over. Bouncing around, the sight of the massive funnel on the ground and the high-pitched voices of both Maddi and Rudy, with plenty of bleeped out words accompanied by what sounded like tears and prayers.

  Zach’s eyes burned, watching it all again from a different perspective. It was rough and shaky and the phone seemed to fall a couple of times, but there it was. The tornado changing direction and the ominous sight of his own vehicle speeding past them. Maddi’s voice screaming at him as he swerved and stopped between them and the swirling wall of black on the other side.

  Rudy’s bleeped-out expletives of panic were nothing on Maddi’s whispers, as Zach saw his own face and Simon’s looking back at them. Looking absolutely terrified. Maddi’s voice crying, “Oh, my God. How do you do this?”

  The phone dropped again, and the camera went to black as the screen went back to Maddi’s face, smiling through tear-filled eyes as the guy handed her a tissue.

  “Well, you’re either really brave or really crazy,” he said, making her laugh.

  “Both, probably,” she said. “Just like they are. But they need it all out there. Each one of them brings something to the table. Knowledge, skill, instinct, education. The whole county was on alert because of them. That was just one funnel. Sometimes these storms spur multiples, so what they do to heighten awareness and gather data is vital.”

  “Mr. Chase, what’s it like watching that now? Seeing it from a viewer’s perspective?”

  Eli laughed on-screen and shook his head. “You know, we’re aware it’s a little insane when we’re out there. But that footage really brings it home.” He grimaced. “Of course, my mother is now going to realize just how much we’ve glossed over.”

  “You think?” their mom said, wiping at her eyes.

  Simon reached for her hand and she slapped it away, making him laugh and hug her anyway.

  The interviewer laughed. “Well, we’d love to have you back to talk about the behind-the-scenes details if you’re interested,” the man said. “I understand you have some real-life applications, safety measures and such to share.”

  “Yes, sir,” Eli said. “I’d love to.”

  Hannah clapped and then covered her mouth, squealing behind her hands.

  “Any last thoughts you’d like to leave our viewers with, Miss Hayes?” the man asked.

  She nodded and looked at the camera. Straight into Zach’s house. Into his eyes. “I asked a question why, on that video,” she said, pointing at the blank screen behind her. “That’s why. Because someone has to. The Chase family and all the other storm chasers out there that do it for the rest of us. The show will be called The Chase, and it will be raw and gritty and messy, just like the trailer.” She smiled. “The best stuff always is.”

  “Oh, that girl,” Miss Lou said tearfully from the couch. “I have to make her some lemon bars.”

  “So now that you’ve stood up to your fears,” the interviewer asked. “Would you do it again?”

  Maddi started to laugh as she swiped under her eyes.

  “Not in a million years,” she said. “I think I’ll just let the experts do their thing.” Glancing at the camera, she added, “And just be there when they come home.”

  It went to commercial.

  And the room blew up. Everyone talked at once, Eli was actually laughing, Simon was razzing him about selling out to the camera, Hannah and Quinn were buzzing about the different scenes and how the shots were done, and their mom was alternately slapping everyone upside the head and hugging them.

  “Zach,” Hannah said, pulling him from his thoughts. He was still staring at the blank screen. Still seeing her there. Still hearing—“Zach?”

  “Yeah,” he said, blinking as he focused on his sister.

  She smiled slowly, amusement dancing in her eyes.

  “Go.”

  Everyone miraculously stopped talking at the word, and all eyes landed on him.

  “You know what, little sister?” he said, getting up and kissing the top of her head. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard yet.” He grabbed his helmet and keys from a nearby table. “Y’all lock up.”

  “Be careful,” his mom said.

  He heard her. He heard their well wishes and the smirks and the chuckles and all of it, but he was looking at Eli. He walked back and looped an arm around his brother’s neck and pulled him in for a hug.

  “Thank you,” he whispered.

  Eli grabbed Zach’s head and gave it a swat.

  “I’ll figure out a way for you to owe me,” he said.

  Zach laughed on his way out the door. “I have no doubt.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Applause was way outside Maddi’s wheelhouse, and she felt herself turning five shades of red as the whole floor broke into hoots and yells after the segment—which Nicole made sure aired on every screen in the building. But that was okay. Because the click-through rate on the station’s website link was out of control.

  She’d jumped into a ring of fire and somehow hadn’t gotten burned in the process. Grabbing Eli by the hand two days earlier and tracking down that news guy with no prior approval or permission was ballsy and could have been career suicide. If it hadn’t worked. But knowing Eli and his need for something more substantial than cameras and lights, his need for getting real information out to people—that was her ace in the hole. That and a really good pilot episode that she gave him first viewing of so he could formally approve it. That was respect, and she owed him that.

  “You did it,” Nicole said under her breath. “Holy hell, girl, you actually did it. The link that Marketing set up
to go with that segment is flying through the roof.”

  “I think I might need a drink tonight,” Maddi said. “Possibly two.”

  “I will buy you anything you want,” Nicole said. “Especially if you talk Elijah Chase into meeting us.”

  Maddi laughed. “I think Eli has done his time.”

  “Girl, that man is just—mmm,” she said. “Did you see how the camera just sucked him in?”

  “Good genes in the family,” Maddi said, smiling. Yep. Good genes all around.

  She wondered if Zach had seen the segment. Eli said he was going to get them all to watch, that he was keeping it all under wraps to surprise them, but what if Zach wasn’t home? What if he’d seen and didn’t like it? What if he hadn’t caught what she was trying to say?

  What if it didn’t matter?

  After an hour, then another one went by, and no call, no text, not even from Eli—who she really expected to call saying something—Maddi felt the wind go right out of her sails. Did they all hate it? Even outspoken Hannah had nothing to say?

  Maddi bit her bottom lip as she sat at her desk, looking at her phone, turning it over and over in her hand. She could text Hannah. That would be the safe thing to do.

  “Good job, Madison.” Brown’s voice came from her doorway. He pointed at her and winked. “Way to dig deep.”

  Then he was gone, and she was staring at the door. She pointed back at it. “Way to be creepy,” she whispered.

  Her laptop dinged, and she moved the mouse to pull the screen up. A message at the bottom right from Blakely’s desk.

  Miss Hayes, Mr. Chase here to see you.

  Maddi sucked in a breath automatically and then laughed.

  “God, you’re such an easy mark,” she said under her breath. “Eli’s back, you fool.” She got up and straightened her skirt. “Well, I guess we find out how it went over.”

  Grabbing her phone, she walked out, fielded a few good job’s and way-to-go’s on the way down the hall, and rounded the corner to pick up Eli.

  Except the man standing there wasn’t Eli.

  Yes. There was that look of absolute shock and breathless anticipation that he was hoping for. He’d spent the whole ride there trying to think of what to say. Of how to tell her what she meant to him. Praying that what she’d said on that screen was real. And then she nearly tripped on her own shoes when she saw it was him, and those eyes went instantly dark in an impossibly good way before they went all shiny. God help him, she took his damn breath away. And suddenly he knew exactly what to say.

  “Zach.”

  “Hey, superstar,” he said, his voice cracking a little.

  She reddened and it was fucking adorable. He needed to touch her. Like now.

  “So I guess you saw the—the thing,” she said.

  “I did,” he said. “We all did.”

  Maddi took a deep breath. “And?”

  “Eli was quite the secret keeper.”

  “So—what did you—what did all of you think?” she asked, her hands fidgeting.

  “I think—”

  “By the way, I found out your grandmother is funding it,” she blurted out. “In case that changes anything.” Maddi held up a hand. “In the interest of clarity.”

  He blinked and chuckled nervously. “I know.”

  “You know?” Maddi asked, looking confused.

  Zach nodded. “She told me.”

  “Oh,” Maddi said, fidgeting. “Well I just thought you’d—”

  “I’m not here to talk about my grandmother,” he said.

  “Okay.”

  “Mr. Chase!” came a voice from his left, pulling his attention away from her. Something he very much did not want. It was Brown Broussard. “Congratulations on a stellar pilot,” he said, holding out a hand to Zach. “Did you see the trailer?”

  “I did,” Zach said with a grin. “It looks fantastic.”

  “Yes, our Madison did a phenomenal job,” Brown said.

  “Our Madison certainly did,” Zach said, moving toward her. “Will you excuse us a minute?”

  “What are you doing?” Maddi whispered as he took her hand.

  “I need a moment of your time,” he said, leading her toward the stairwell door.

  “Um—”

  “Way to go, Miss Hayes,” Blakely said under her breath, making Maddi look at her twice in stunned recoil.

  “Oh, my God—”

  “Roll with it, Maddi,” Zach said, opening the door and pulling her through it.

  “Zach,” she said, laughing, “I have to work with these people.”

  “I don’t care,” he said, pushing her up against the door with his body. The way she inhaled sharply and continued to breathe shallowly told him all he needed to know. He took her face in his hands. “You love me,” he said softly.

  He felt her hands come up his sides, and he moved his into her hair. Her mouth was just inches away and he could take it anytime he wanted, but he wanted something else. He wanted those words again.

  “Zach,” she whispered.

  “Tell me you love me,” he said.

  “I believe you’ve already heard it,” she said. “A couple of times now.”

  Ah, so she did know what she was doing.

  “So say it again,” he said, his lips brushing hers. God, he wasn’t going to be able to wait. “Please.”

  She sucked in a breath and pulled him to her. “I love you,” she said breathlessly.

  He covered her mouth with his, tasting her, claiming her, feeling her give a tiny moan in his mouth as his tongue moved over hers. Jesus Christ, he almost didn’t care about the cameras and the people on the other side of that door. He wanted his Maddi.

  With great difficulty, he pulled back. Not all the way. Just enough. Just enough to say the words against her mouth.

  “I love you, Maddi Hayes,” he said softly, relishing her quick little gasp. “I love you.”

  “Zach,” she cried against his mouth, pulling him against her so tightly that it was hard to know where one ended and the other began.

  “Forever,” he said, diving into her mouth again.

  He tasted her tears and pulled back, searching her eyes. “These are good tears, right?” he asked.

  She laughed and nodded. “These are good tears.”

  “I have something to say,” he said.

  “Okay,” she breathed.

  The doorknob turned and the door pushed open, but Zach pushed back.

  “What the hell?” came a female voice from the other side.

  Zach opened the door a few inches and smiled through the space. “We’re having a meeting.”

  “I need to go to lunch,” the girl said.

  “Use the elevator,” he said.

  “I take the stairs to—”

  “Seriously, lady, I’m trying to propose here,” he said. “Take the elevator. Eat a burger. Live a little.”

  He closed the door and looked into Maddi’s wide eyes, her mouth agape. He gently closed it with one finger under her chin.

  “Hey, love,” he whispered.

  Her eyes widened even more. “Hey.”

  A sense of calm came over him. Something very foreign in his chaotic world. His mom told him that he thrived in chaos, but he thrived in this woman, too. And she wasn’t chaos. She was his grounding force.

  “I love you,” he said slowly, not blinking, holding those incredible blue eyes hostage.

  “I love you too,” she whispered, blinking two tears free.

  He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. He had to say it right. He actually had the rare opportunity to propose to the same woman twice, and it had to be right.

  “Um—”

  “Shhh,” he said softly, holding a finger against her lips.

  “Okay,
” she whispered.

  He took a deep breath and let her eyes relax him.

  “You’re all I ever wanted, Maddi,” he said. “You’re all there’s ever been.” Zach swallowed hard, hoping the right words would find him. “I took that for granted once,” he said. “I never will again.”

  Tears flowed down her face freely now, but it looked like a good thing. God, he hoped it was a good thing.

  “Baby, I’m not a perfect man. I’m going to make lots of mistakes, including running off to storms at probably inopportune times—”

  Maddi laughed through her tears. “I know.”

  “But I can promise you this,” Zach continued. “I will love you forever, Maddi Hayes.”

  He lowered to one knee, grasping her left hand as she gasped and the other one covered her mouth.

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered, her voice hitching with tears.

  “I will always come back to you. And I will make it my mission that you know you come first with me every single day of our lives. I want to be your husband more than anything else in this world.”

  Zach took a steadying breath, chuckling to himself when he felt the shakiness. Only this woman could make him this nervous.

  “Maddi Hayes,” he began, “will you marry me—on a very, very sunny day?”

  She burst out laughing, closing her eyes and throwing her head back.

  “Completely cloudless day,” she said.

  “Done,” he said.

  “Done,” she echoed, laughing and crying at the same time.

  “Is that a yes?”

  “That’s a hell yes,” she said, yelping as Zach rose to his feet and took her with him, lifting her off her feet.

  “I love you, Maddi,” he said against her hair. She threw her arms around him as he held her, relief flooding through him as he realized he never had to let go.

  When he put her down, she wound her fingers into his hair. “I love you, Zach Chase,” she whispered, happy tears still flowing from those amazing eyes.

  Reaching under his collar, he pulled out the nail on the leather string and looked at it, blinking back the burn that it brought on.