by Cass Sellars
Unexpected Lightning
For Sydney Hyatt and Parker Duncan, finding each other and falling in love wasn’t easy. All they want now is to build a life together, and things are just starting to head in that direction. But when they host a party for Parker's work colleagues, they unintentionally invite a dangerous stranger into their home. Obsessive letters of admiration escalate into promises of harm and threats of danger. Who is intent on harming them, and why? Sydney dedicates her every moment to finding answers, neglecting threats now aimed directly at her. When an unexpected twist places Syd at risk, Parker watches helplessly as she puts her life on the line once again. Will Sydney be able to stop the threat before it’s too late?
Praise for Cass Sellars
Lightning Chasers
Lightning Chasers “is a rewarding read, and Sellars ensures you feel the emotions in the story. It is a murder investigation, and whilst it is not too difficult to work out who is probably responsible, the investigation and the relationships amongst the friends are what sets this apart…The romance between Syd and Parker retains the fire from the first book, and our journey with them as their relationship continues to grow is one of the high points of the book.”—The Lesbian Review
Lightning Strikes
“Lightning Strikes is a really lovely story of two people arriving at a point in each of their lives when they need to make a change. Parker is fresh out of a disastrous marriage with no intention of being in a relationship any time soon. Syd is a player who has never considered monogamy her thing. But you can never predict the moment when Lightening Strikes…They made a perfect couple, and I felt invested in their story.”—Kitty Kat’s Book Review Blog
“Lightning Strikes is a butch/femme romance that is just so extraordinarily good…This is a beautifully written, scintillating, seriously hot book that is a real page turner and, I will say it again, is a ROMANCE! I have no hesitation in recommending this book, go and buy it. It is one of the best books I have read this year.”—The Lesbian Review
Unexpected Lightning
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Unexpected Lightning
© 2019 By Cass Sellars. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 13:978-1-63555-277-5
This Electronic Book is published by
Bold Strokes Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 249
Valley Falls, NY 12185
First Edition: February 2019
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product 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.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Editors: Victoria Villaseñor and Barbara Ann Wright
Production Design: Stacia Seaman
Cover Design by Melody Pond
By the Author
Lightning Strikes
Lightning Chasers
Unexpected Lightning
Acknowledgments
Ruth and Vic, thank you for making me better at the process.
Thank you, Rad and Sandy, for your insight and vision.
Thank you, Dee and Cara, for investing with me.
Thank you to the readers who genuinely wanted to read the next one.
One never knows how important the journey until the destination becomes imperative.
So thankful for the reminder that lightning often appears when the storm is the most silent.
Chapter One
Parker Duncan brushed eraser dust from the blueprints and used the dawning light to mark up the plans for the new office space overlooking Silver Lake. The challenges at Davidson Properties made the synapses fire. She was also using it as a distraction from thinking about Sydney, away far too long on a New York business trip. The past two years with the handsome, consummate ex-player was the best decision she never actually made. Sharing a home with Syd felt exciting and new and like something that had always been. She snapped herself out of her daydream when she caught movement in the hallway.
Since it was only seven a.m., she was mildly shocked when Quint Davidson, the CEO of DPI, strolled into her office. She was used to the cocoon of her solitary early mornings lasting until at least seven thirty.
“Morning, Parker, how’s it coming on the CacheTech expansion?” The ruddy-faced fifty-four-year-old fell into her guest chair and pulled an ankle over his knee.
She couldn’t help but chuckle at his socks, which were covered in magenta farm animals. “Surprisingly well. I think they’re so happy to be expanding instead of fighting the media, they’re fairly amenable to anything.”
Quint nodded approvingly and glanced over to Parker as if gauging her reaction to the uncomfortable recall. CacheTech Incorporated had been involved in a substantial scandal the prior year, one that nearly cost Parker’s partner her life. She flinched involuntarily at the memory of seeing Syd unconscious after a CTI truck ran her and their friend, Lieutenant Mack Foster, off the road. Quint gave her a reassuring smile.
“You do good work, Parker, but you probably know that already. You know how this place runs as well as I do.”
Parker relished being a key player, and his praise was always welcome since she hoped to move up in the company soon.
“Which makes the favor I’m about to ask even more audacious.” He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “I hate to ask this, but…”
“Give me the bad news. I can handle it, Quint.” She smiled genuinely and knitted her hands in front of her as he continued to verbally squirm.
“I know you can.” He inhaled deeply and started to speak. “Brenda is redoing the house…again. Consequently, there are more hard hats in my home than on our jobsites right now. I’m fairly sure someone’s erecting a tomb in the basement, but I don’t want to say anything in case I can use it to sleep in peace and quiet one day.”
He dragged his thumbs over his eyes, causing her to recall the last unannounced catastrophe his wife had made of their home, requiring a lengthy stay in a hotel and a visit from city inspectors who discovered their general contractor had received no permits.
Parker laughed and watched with genuine affection as he appeared to take a millisecond nap. “Does this mean that you want me to come over and pick wallpaper with you or that you want to hide at our house until it’s over?”
He looked relieved. “Well, since you’re feeling so charitable…maybe you won’t mind hosting the CTI launch party a few weekends from now?” Davidson crinkled his nose and continued when Parker didn’t flinch.
“They were promised a not-so-formal gathering for the key project stakeholders at my home—and now yours—if you agree. At the same time, they can meet and greet all the players from our office. It won’t be more than a hundred invitees, and you know that fifty won’t even show. We’ll pay for everything, and I’ll even get a service to come clean up after, if you want. I’d have it myself, but there’s just no way…”
Parker held up her hand. “Quint, it’s not a big deal. I’ll check with Syd, to be fair, but I can’t imagine it will be a problem. Don’t worry.”
He visibly deflated with relief as the words seemed to drain some of his stress.
“Jenny will host with me, and you can do the schmoozing part that we both hate, deal?”
He smiled brightly. “Deal. But we only have tw
o weeks. They’re hand-delivering the invites so we’ll be sure they’re in the right hands in time. Tess will get you the RSVP updates as they come in. The caterer is already locked in, and we can have them deliver the bar setup whenever you want. I’ll even give you the Monday off afterward so you can recover.”
“Appreciated but not necessary. As long as I can work from home when I need the quiet, the deal is more than fair.”
“You could show up here once a month, and I’d be fine.” He took a deep breath and reclined in his chair. “However, Frank Meyers would have no one to secretly drool over, so morale might take a plunge.” He offered a crooked smile as Parker shook her head. He slipped a folded list from his back pocket and handed it to her.
“I think he only pretends to be devoted to me to get to Jenny.” Parker took the list and placed it on her desk. “Actually, I think he just needs to find a woman to listen to his annoying line of bull without severing all hope of a carnal liaison.” Parker found the wormy account executive fairly harmless, and he bent her assistant director’s ear much more often than hers. Meyers had landed the CTI contract through sheer luck when the new operations manager at CTI, now a good friend of hers, had called Parker for advice on the office expansion.
Quint laughed as he unfolded from the chair. “I owe you big, Parker. Actually, Brenda owes you big. After she finishes paying off my therapy, I’ll get her to pay up.” He shook her hand warmly.
“Go! I have work to do, and the boss is a real hardass.” Parker laughed as he saluted and left.
Parker heard Jenny’s chirpy greeting as she passed Davidson in the hall and dropped her purse on the table in the waiting area. Her tiny blond best friend was as eternally chipper as she was incredibly efficient. They made a fabulous team, running the real estate and HR departments as if they had been at it for decades.
“Morning!” Jenny Foster beamed as she rounded the desk and hugged Parker.
“Hello, Mrs. Foster. How was your weekend with the family? We’ve missed seeing you lately.” For the mother of an eighteen-month-old little girl, she looked pretty good.
“She misses you and her Sy-ee.” The glint in her eye was evident as she repeated her child’s nickname for Syd. Jenny gushed as she opened her phone to display the latest picture of Olivia Grace gnawing on Mack’s cheek.
“You were born to be a mom, Jenny.” She took in the image of the two people Jenny loved more than anything on the planet.
“I think I was.” She took a last moment to smile at the photo before she put the phone in hibernation mode. “So, to what do we owe a visit from the boss of bosses?” She jerked her head toward the hallway.
“More work. The CTI reception slated for his house was derailed by Brenda’s latest remodel, so assuming Sydney agrees, you and I are hosting the soirée at the loft.” She sat back and waited for Jenny to process.
“Well, then. I assume someone else is paying, and we get to be creative?”
Parker could practically see the ideas sifting through Jenny’s mind. “Indeed. His new assistant will get us the final RSVP list while you and I convince Sydney that this is a fabulous idea.”
“Shall I assume you’re going to make her a fancy dinner and provide some sort of athletic sexual favors?” Jenny stood and straightened her skirt as if preparing for a royal visit.
“I have at least twenty-four hours before Syd comes home from Albany to devise that plan.” Parker jotted a few notes on a scrap of paper and shoved it into her purse. “I’ll just make her think it’s a great idea and then hit her with the sexual favors.” She rubbed her hands together with mock deviousness.
“I don’t think anyone wants to face you in battle, Park. I’m just going to tell whoever to roll over. It’s easier.” She laughed, looking back over her shoulder as she strolled to the door.
“You give me way too much credit, Jen. How is tomorrow at six for dinner?” She took out the red grease pencil and went back to marking up her plans with the furniture she had ordered.
“We wouldn’t dare miss that performance.” She picked her bag up and stopped to lean back into the office. “Three candidates for scheduling manager and four for the accounting clerk positions will be here starting at ten. Can you sit in? I’m guessing twenty-five minutes apiece, and we might be making offers to two schedulers, at least temporarily.”
“I’ll meet you in the conference room at five till, and we can split them up. You talk to them first? I’ll do the seconds and start them on paperwork.”
“Love ya, mean it.” Jenny blew Parker an exaggerated kiss as she stepped away and into her adjacent office.
Chapter Two
Sydney Hyatt had just finished emptying her overnight bag when the large oak sliding door creaked past the frame and admitted the woman who made her world turn. She abandoned the planned trip into her home gym in favor of Parker’s embrace.
“I missed you so much.”
The low, husky timbre of Syd’s voice seemed to seep into Parker’s skin. She dropped her purse and let her laptop bag fall against the floor next to it.
“Oh my God, I’m so happy to see you.” She threw her arms around Syd before accepting Sydney’s hungry mouth over hers.
Syd growled in response when Parker returned a harder kiss. She smoothed her hands over Parker’s back and lifted her to perch on the kitchen island. Parker locked her legs over her hips and squeezed Syd’s body into hers.
“I will take that greeting any day.” Syd breathed the words along Parker’s neck, stopping to nip at her earlobe.
“You’d better. People at work aren’t nearly as receptive when I do this to them.” Parker gave Sydney a wicked smile as she squeezed her thighs harder around Syd’s waist.
“I guess they should learn to take it when they can.” She continued feathering kisses along Parker’s shoulder. “Especially since their days would be numbered if I found out they touched you even once.” Sydney was only half kidding about the bodily injury she could do to someone who laid a finger on the woman she very completely considered hers.
“My personal bodyguard? I feel very privileged.” She issued the words playfully and tapped a series of kisses along Syd’s jaw.
“Come clean, now. Tell me why I’m supposed to be ready by six.” Syd fought the fluttering sensations brought on by Parker’s attentions so she could focus on whatever they were supposed to be doing.
“Well, Mack and Jen are coming for dinner, and you shouldn’t be all sweaty from a workout when Olivia uses you for a jungle gym.”
Sydney often waffled between enthusiastically embracing the child that habitually climbed all over her and retaining her determination not to be melted by it.
“Now, help me make a salad, and I’ll be back right after I change.” Parker peeled off her black silk suit jacket and began to walk down the hall as she unbuttoned her blouse.
She laughed when Sydney slid behind her on the hardwood floor and skated her hand around Parker’s rib cage. She ran her tongue over Parker’s skin and heard a moan escape in answer.
“How is it that you’re this hard to resist after two years?” Parker dropped her head back, and Syd caught the scent of her favorite perfume.
“My goal is fifty years, so I’m just getting warmed up.” She slid Parker onto the king mattress still unmade from the night before. She drew her hungry mouth over Parker’s skin as she tossed her blouse to the floor. Parker sighed and pressed her sensitive breasts against Syd.
“We should be making dinner, Syd.” Parked groaned into Sydney’s ear. “But I want you.”
The words woke her body from the slumber that came from being without her for too many days. “I thought about this all the way back from Albany.” Syd stripped away the rest of Parker’s clothes.
Parker straddled Syd’s hips and watched her hands skim across her flesh, multiplying the intoxicating sensations.
Syd met her eyes. “Kiss me, now.”
Parker smirked at the command, playfully turning her head. �
�Make me.” She saw the air of challenge overtake Syd, who playfully flipped Parker beneath her.
“I told you to kiss me.” Syd crushed her mouth to Parker’s.
“What do I get in return?” Parker’s eyes were heavy, and she prickled with the heat Sydney was creating within her.
“To feel me make you surrender.” Her touch was firm, her eyes intense. She slid her hand over Parker’s breast and then along the curve of her stomach.
“Very sure of yourself, aren’t you? We’ll see.” She had barely finished her sentence when a guttural moan escaped her throat in response to Sydney’s hand claiming her at her core. Her fingernails glanced over Syd’s back.
“I am. I’m even more sure that you need me to make you come.” The words were hungry and insistent and, for Parker, incredibly accurate. Sydney moved her hair, exposing Parker’s collarbone to Syd’s teeth.
“Yes, please.” Parker shifted abruptly and within moments felt the wave consume her. Parker recovered her focus and grinned at how pleased Syd looked with herself. Parker skimmed her teeth along Sydney’s neck, and she exhaled hot breathy edicts near her ear.
“So, now I get to remind you how much you miss what I can do for you.” The words were a reminder that her stronger, powerful girlfriend could be undone by her as much as the reverse was true.
“You know how I like that.”
Chapter Three
“So, to what do we owe this midweek honor?” Lieutenant Mack Foster looked over the fresh salad and basket of garlic bread. “Real homemade food even. Something has to be wrong.”
