The Unexpected Storm

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  She ran her hand across Neil’s shirt, feeling the soft cotton as it slid over her skin, clung to her breasts, and draped to her thighs. She had seen this same shirt on Neil as it covered his pecs, his six-pack abs, his biceps. She’d felt every hard part of him pressed into her last night, and she wanted him so badly she ached. Just thinking of how much she wanted him had her face flaming. She needed to stop, as she was mortified, thinking of what she wanted him to do to her, to teach her, to show her. If Ambrose hadn’t interrupted this morning, she’d have been his.

  “Stop it.” She rubbed her face and then opened drawers, hoping to find a brush, but there was nothing until she got to the bottom drawer and found toothpaste, toothbrushes, combs, and a couple of hair brushes, too. Jackpot. She pulled out the large, round brush with the thick bristles and pulled it through her hair, which had dried in tangles. She felt as if she were ripping half her hair out, but she managed to have it looking halfway decent by the time she heard Neil’s heavy footsteps.

  He tapped on her door, and she couldn’t help how her stomach fluttered instantly as he took in all of her with a look that said he’d love to spend an hour or even a day, she hoped, getting to know every inch of her. He cleared his throat and then grinned that outrageously handsome smile that lit his face from ear to ear. “The worst is over, by the looks of it. The radio is giving accounts of the damage right now.”

  “Can we go find the horses at my place? Can we get there now?” She realized it was the first time she was looking to him for help, looking to him to keep her safe, and she struggled for a moment because she wanted it so badly, but at the same time she was afraid it wasn’t real. To depend on someone like Neil could be a foolish mistake. She didn’t want to go there even though her heart and her head were conflicted. It happened the instant the sun came out, as if their isolation from the storm was gone and everything had changed.

  His grin dissolved into something softer and more mysterious. He was so hard to read, and his expression narrowed as if he were studying her and had figured her out. “Whatever’s going on in your head, you’re over-thinking it. You frowned just now, and you’re worried about something. Your thoughts are probably going to some dark places. Don’t worry before you need to. Don’t do it.”

  She blinked because she realized he thought she was talking about the horses. She didn’t say anything.

  “Let me grab some rope for Ambrose. We can’t let him wander around loose—way too dangerous right now.” His gaze drifted down to her bare toes. “And some clothes for you.”

  Neil found her a long maxi-skirt one belonging to his mother. It was a beautiful light blue color, a little on the big side, and it went to mid-calf, but it worked for now. She left his t-shirt on and pulled on a pair of his socks and her rubber boots. Her coat was still wet, so Neil gave her his mother’s jacket to wear as well.

  Neil had Ambrose on a long rope at the back of the house. The rain had stopped, and that was the only reason he agreed for them to go out. Ambrose was grazing the grass, and Candy had been surprised how well he got along with Neil.

  “Neil, how are we going to get out of here?”

  Trees were down, and branches, leaves, and debris of all manner were scattered and piled everywhere. It was amazing, really, she thought as she glanced around the property, that nothing had come down on the house. The huge swimming pool was emptied, the concrete cracked, and part of a roof, wood, metal, and all kinds of things to be sifted through were piled in it.

  Neil’s once shiny SUV was scraped, scratched, and dented everywhere. The front end had been pushed against the house. Neil was pulling branches away from the back of the vehicle, clearing a path so they could get out. Candy started pulling at a long branch across the windshield, the glass now cracked, but it wouldn’t budge.

  Neil came around behind her, sliding his hands over her hips as if he had every right. “Stand back, honey. I’ll get it.”

  He said it in a way that was completely chauvinistic, possessive, and at any other time, she’d have kicked him. But she couldn’t. He reached around her and then moved her aside as if she were a china doll. She thought for a second about stomping her foot and yelling at him that she was capable, that she wouldn’t break and could help, but she stopped herself because there was something about that simple gesture of being treasured that was so new that she wanted to believe he’d always be there for her. She was almost embarrassed to admit how much she loved it. My God, now she understood what some of those other women had and what they meant when they said it was so special. But there was also a fine line between being looked after and losing who she was. As she watched Neil pull on that limb, his muscles flexing under his light t-shirt as he lifted it off with such ease, she imagined those same arms holding her safely every night, and for a moment she couldn’t breathe.

  “Okay, that should do it.” He opened the passenger door and sniffed. “Oh, man, that’s ripe.”

  Even Candy caught a whiff of the odor left by Ambrose, which had left the fancy SUV smelling more like a barn than the new clean leather smell it’d had before Ambrose relieved himself.

  “Let me wipe the seat down,” he said.

  “Neil, it’s okay.”

  He stepped back toward her and took her hand in his, lifting it to his mouth and pressing his lips to it. “No, it’s not okay. You’re not sitting on that. What kind of guy do you think I am, that I’d treat you like that?” He went back into the house and returned with a handful of towels, wiping her seat down first and then the floor. Then he dumped the towels in a pile at the back door. “Okay, in you go.” He slid his hands around her waist and lifted her in. “We’ll see how far we can get back to your place, but there’re probably trees down everywhere.”

  “Neil, what about Ambrose?”

  He slid his hands over her cheeks and pressed a hurried kiss to her lips, and she could taste his minty fresh breath. Yummy. She thought she could spend a day kissing him, tasting him, touching him, but then he was gone, calling Ambrose, who was bouncing around on the grass like a puppy wanting to play. Just watching Neil with the gangly, fuzzy baby donkey was the cutest thing, especially when Neil demanded that Ambrose stop playing around and come. The floppy-eared thing absolutely adored Neil, but then, so did Candy. With his strength, his love, this man would be an amazing father. For a second, she saw an image of him with dark-haired children running and tumbling on the grass in the yard, laughing and giggling, and Neil was rolling on the ground with them, tossing them, hugging and playing with them. Her throat hurt, and her nose and eyes misted so she had to blink to get that thought out of her head, because it brought a gigantic ache that tore her apart inside. She wanted it so much, but it was a dream she dared not hope for, not Candy McCrae.

  She jumped when Neil appeared in her door with Ambrose in his arms, along with the yellow rope he’d tied around him and the makeshift collar. Candy held out her arms to take him on her lap, and Neil’s deep amber gaze stared long and hard at her. She dropped her gaze to her skirt and her hands, too, because the man was so astute that he would read everything about her.

  Next, he opened the back door and set Ambrose on a towel in the backseat. “Lie down and stay down,” he said, as if the donkey understood and was going to listen to him. Candy scooted around in her seat and met Neil’s gaze, which took in her and the donkey, letting her know he was very much in charge. That had her swallowing and sitting back in her seat, and then he was leaning in so close, his arms on both sides of her, pinning her there. He was so close he could kiss her if he wanted, and her heart was hammering so hard in her chest that she was positive he could hear it. He said nothing, just ran his gaze down her, and then he leaned in and touched his lips to hers softly. It was Candy’s arms that slid up and over his shoulders to pull him close, and it was Neil who broke off the kiss.

  His tongue tasted her again before he said, “Don’t think I didn’t notice that totally freaked-out, deer-in-the-headlights look you had going on there, Candy
. I’m done with it. I’m not letting you run, slink back away from me, and hide. You’re not going there again. Do you understand?” He said it in a way that let her know, without a doubt, that he’d come for her in that caveman way of dragging her and tossing her over his shoulder, and she couldn’t wait for her first time to be with him.

  “Neil, I...” She couldn’t find the right words to speak without sounding like an idiot, so she gave up and just nodded. With one hand, he held both her cheeks and pressed another kiss to her lips, one that let her know very much that she was his.

  Ambrose took that moment to shift on the leather seat behind her and let out a sigh. Neil glanced over her shoulder and, like a good dad, said, “You’re just fine there. Lie down.” Then he closed her door, and she watched him walk around the front of the SUV, his butt one of the sexiest she’d ever seen, fitted in tight dark jeans, all muscle, with long legs. He had a body that sent everything fluttering inside her.

  Neil slid under the wheel and glanced back at the donkey, then smiled over at her. “See? He knows who’s in charge.” He turned the key, and the engine started.

  Candy was watching the arrogance, the self-confidence, of the alpha who’d rescued her, cared for her, and was now helping her find her horses. She wondered where she’d ever gotten the idea he was so horrible, that he was a user, a man who’d break her heart after he’d had everything he could take from her and then toss her away as if she were nothing. Her heart ached in that moment as she remembered how much her father, Randy McCrae, had hated Neil Friessen.

  Chapter 14

  The aftermath of the storm left downed trees, branches, wood, and pieces of houses, cars, broken plastic, trinkets, and even a garden gnome tossed everywhere along the driveway. Neil didn’t recognize any of the broken, twisted carnage, but then, after 150-mile an hour winds whipped through the miles of coastline, picking up everything that wasn’t tied down, he was surprised the scene wasn’t far worse. The driveway to the main road was long, thankfully, about a half mile, but a storm like this would change that mile to the coast to oceanfront property. Neil had just rounded the corner halfway down when he slammed on his brakes.

  “Neil, is that a...?”

  “Yeah, a thirty-foot cabin cruiser.” He glanced at Candy’s wide eyes as her mouth gaped, and Neil’s blood filled with what felt like ice water as he stared at the big boat parked between two of the biggest trees on their property. He realized how lucky they’d been, because if the storm hadn’t shifted, the chances of that boat being right on top of them would have been pretty damn high. Staring at Candy beside him, he wanted to turn around and hide, keep her safe a while longer as he tried to shake off the cold sweat beading up his spine. With the fact that the storm surge had come in this far, they would obviously need to rethink a whole bunch, especially when they started doing all the repairs.

  He heard Candy’s sharp breath, and he glanced over at her again and took in how white her face was.

  “Neil, are my horses okay? How could anything survive this?”

  The destruction was everywhere, piled as if an excavator had dug and shoved everything into piles. Neil had to drive around and over some smaller piles of debris and through some pretty tight spaces, the devastation scraping up the side of the vehicle. “Don’t start worrying, Candy. We’ve talked about this. They’re animals, honey, and smart. They could be a long way away, too. This is just stuff. They’ll come back home. Animals know how to find their way home,” he said, but, even to his own ears, he didn’t sound convincing, so he reached over and took her hand in his. The donkey then decided to lean his long head on Neil’s arm and sighed. He glanced down at the floppy-eared thing. “See? Ambrose agrees.”

  Candy leaned down and kissed Ambrose on top of the head. “You do, do you?” she asked him, and he sighed again.

  Neil glanced up just in time to slam on the brakes: A tree was down at the end of the driveway, and there was no way he could get around it this time. “Okay, we walk from here.” He rested his arm across the steering wheel and looked over at Candy. “I didn’t check your leg again. You up to walking?”

  She blushed a nice hint of pink on her cheeks and glanced down at her lap shyly. “I can walk. It’s fine.” She tossed her long hair, and he noticed it was free of the knots that had been in it earlier. It fell to her waist in lush heaps and waves, and she smiled at him effortlessly.

  “Let me have a look anyway before we go.” He was out his door before she could say another word. With him walking toward her, she felt so treasured, cared for. It was a light, fluffy feeling that had her melting in her seat. The clouds still lingered, but the sky was calm after a storm that had filled it with blue and brightness, as if something ugly hadn’t just ripped through.

  She opened her door and was about to climb out, but Neil grabbed the top of her door and filled the doorway with all of himself.

  “Back in.” He wrapped his hands around her waist and stepped so close that his legs, his hips, and every part of him were touching her. He smelled so good that she just wished, for a minute, that he would kiss her again. He was sliding his hand up her leg, lifting the skirt up, when she grabbed his wrists with both her hands to stop him.

  “Neil, stop. I’m not wearing underwear. I took it off because it was dirty, and if you lift this skirt up...” She was hot and stammering like a schoolgirl, and her face was showing all her discomfort.

  He couldn’t help smiling at the picture she’d just put in his mind. This wasn’t the tough-as-nails Candy he knew who wouldn’t hesitate to slap him, slug him, and yell and scream at him. This was a vulnerable, innocent, beautiful young Candy, a desirable, hot woman who was just beginning to show him a glimpse of what she’d hidden. He’d always wondered where she buried that sultry, sexy part of her. This was a daring woman who could be devoted to him, a lover who he’d never tire of, not ever, and she’d been hiding behind a tough exterior, like steel armor meant to scare him away. She was trusting him, he realized, in a way that had him considering the magnitude of what she had opened to him. It was a powerful trust from a woman who didn’t trust. She’d been hurt, damaged, and used, and he had a pretty good idea by whom. He touched her cheek with the palm of his hand, and he touched her lips with his and said, “I’m going to take care of you.”

  Her dark eyes, which shimmered like clear toffee, softened, and she said not a word as he realized she was letting him see her at her most vulnerable. He lifted her skirt and held it just so she wasn’t completely exposed. He pulled aside the bandage and noticed the yellow on the white gauze. He ripped it off and sniffed, but nothing smelled off. The puncture had a nice red scab overtop, and the sides weren’t puffy or oozing. “Let’s give it some air for now. I’ll clean it again later. It doesn’t look too bad.”

  He slid her skirt down and lifted her off the seat, sliding his hands down both her arms, and she looked at him in a way that made him feel she’d opened the door to her heart and she was letting him in. She touched his arm, holding on to him as she studied the disaster behind him, and he slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

  “It’s pretty bad, Candy, but let’s get going. Don’t know what we’re going to find.” Neil opened the back door and lifted out the donkey, with the rope still around him, then reached over the seat, grabbing a backpack and sliding it on. “Water, snacks, first aid kit. We’re not walking ten feet without this right now.” If he had a gun, he’d take that, too, but the rifles and ammunition were locked away in a cabinet in the basement, which was most likely under five feet of water. There was a second metal locker in the garage with two other rifles and some shells, but the key was up in his bedroom, and he wasn’t about to go back and get it.

  He grabbed Candy’s hand, linked his fingers with hers, and started walking. He lifted her over the tree and then picked up the donkey and carried him over. Hand in hand, they picked their way around the debris. Neil guided the floppy-eared donkey, who didn’t have a clue how to walk, with a lead rope. I
t would have been a challenge at the best of times, under ideal circumstances, but having Candy here with him, looking at him as if he were a pure hero, he wouldn’t consider for one second leaving her donkey behind. He’d keep her safe along with the damn donkey, a cute, adorable thing who was beginning to look at him the same way Candy did. He squeezed her hand, and she smiled up at him, and for the first time, he saw his future in her eyes.

  Chapter 15

  He was the most amazing man. She was at a loss with Mr. Wonderful holding her hand and caring for her donkey on his other side. Ambrose was, in all fairness, challenged with that rope, but Neil refused to take him off and let him wander. He was right that he’d get hurt. The fact that he cared had her tumbling off that cliff in a freefall she just didn’t know how to handle. She held his hand as they walked through what looked like a warzone. Tops were snapped off trees, with branches strewn across their narrow path. Neil picked their way through, helping first her, then Ambrose over and under the trees. The road he’d driven down to her place was now a mishmash of treetops and pieces of wood, and cars, trucks, and boats were sunk in the sand here and there.

  “Neil, that’s my truck!” She let go of his hand and raced over as fast as her leg would let her to her older-model pickup that was on its side, shoved in the sand as if it were a toy car in a little boy’s sandbox. The white paint was chipped and scraped off in places.

  “Candy!” Neil shouted, and he had his arm around her waist, lifting her and pulling her against him before she got halfway to the buried truck. “Stop! You’re going to get hurt. Look at everything. It’s just a truck. Leave it—we need to find the horses. I don’t know if we should be heading any closer to your place. Your house won’t be there, Candy, so you need to prepare yourself.”