Storm of Desire (2 page)

“Casey. Quincy. Come here, babies,” she crooned. “You’re safe. I won’t hurt you.” In the past five years, she’d been back once for a very short visit. The cats wouldn’t remember her. No wonder they were so scared.

Samantha tiptoed through the room, careful not to frighten the cats even more. She looked under the bed. No luck. They could be anywhere in the house. The next crack of thunder ratcheted her uneasiness up a notch. Aiden was right. They needed to make tracks. But they couldn’t leave the cats.

Her gaze traveled to the antique bureau. Two frightened pairs of eyes stared at her from underneath. Samantha moved slowly, trying to convey calm to the scared animals.

Instead she caught her foot on the area rug between the bed and bureau, nearly tripped, and threw her hands out to catch her fall against the dresser, making the mirror on top shake slightly. Two orange balls of fur shot out from beneath the bureau and darted under the bed. “Damn it, we don’t have time for this.”

Turning, she slipped on something and lost her balance again. Grabbing the bed post, she looked down to see what had caused her near-fall. A manila envelope lay on the hardwood floor. Had it had fallen from the bureau when she’d knocked into it?

Samantha picked up the envelope. The dried-up cellophane tape along the edges suggested it had been taped to the back of the bureau. Strange that her mother would tape something to a piece of furniture. She scanned the envelope. “Tom” was written across in her mother’s curling, girlish handwriting.

Was Tom another of her mother’s lovers? As if the thought burned her, Samantha threw the envelope on the bureau and returned her attention to the cats.

Aiden came in with the carriers, and together they managed to corral the cats and secure them.

The cats safe, Samantha stood and rubbed a hand down the side of her jeans. She raised her gaze to find Aiden staring at her, a muscle working in his jaw.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” he said, his voice steely.

She shot him a wry smile. This storm had her imagination going haywire, thinking Aiden Rourke still wanted her. If he ever truly had. “Let me grab my stuff,” she said.

At the front door, Aiden stopped and set down the carriers.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I just got a text.” He dug into his jeans pocket and pulled out his phone, turning toward the dim shaft of light filtering through the glass panes framing the door to read it.

Lightning lit the small space, allowing her a clear view of Aiden. God, but he had a great butt. He always had. In the five years since she’d seen him, he’d become more ruggedly handsome, his features more defined, his form more muscular. Warmth seeped into her belly. She clutched the handle of her suitcase as if by sheer will she could banish the lust that filled her when looking at him.

Aiden stuffed his phone in his pocket and turned to her.

She shifted her suitcase to her other hand. “What is it?”

“The storm’s gained momentum. We’re stuck here. The Coastal is closed.”

Samantha released her hold on the suitcase. Top heavy, it dropped on the wood floor with a loud thump, echoing the thumping of her heart. “Stuck here?”

He moved closer. His lips tilted in a wicked smile. “You can’t run away this time, Sam.”

“That’s in the past. We have other problems now.”

“The past has a way of coming back and biting you in the ass,” he said, a trace of bitterness in his voice. He turned and strode toward the living room. “But like you said, we’ve got other problems. And I got over you a long time ago, princess.”

He’d gotten over her? She hadn’t known there’d been anything to get over. Regret pulled at her. Maybe if she hadn’t run…?

The rumble of thunder tore her from the old memories and hurts. The cats howled in their carriers, mirroring the anxiety that coursed through her, an anxiety that had less to do with the storm and more to do with the man who could set her pulse racing with just a look.

“Oh, no, I’m not staying here. They can’t stop me from leaving.” Grabbing her suitcase and clutching her handbag, she hurried to the door and pulled it open. As soon as she stepped outside, she realized her mistake. The savage wind blew her backward, almost causing her to hit the front of the house. Rain pelted her face, sharp pinpricks that made her wince.

Determination overcame her fear. She couldn’t stay here, marooned for who-knew-how-long with Aiden Rourke. Head down, fighting the wind, she headed for her car, her high-heeled boots slipping on the icy walk.

“Samantha, get back here!” Aiden’s shouted words competed with the keening wind.

She’d almost reached her car when Aiden grabbed her arm, stopping her and forcing her around to face him.

“Are you crazy?” He gripped her arm tighter. “Get in the house. You’ll kill yourself if you try to leave.”

Guilt, anxiety, and desperation wrapped around her with the force of the storm. She couldn’t stay here. She’d take her chances on the road.

She pulled free. “I’m going.”

“No, you’re not.”

Thunder rumbled and the earth seemed to shake, firing her fear. Her hair whipped around her head. She brushed it away from her face with a shaky hand.

“Damn you,” she said. Dragging her suitcase, she walked on unsteady legs back toward the house.

Aiden followed her, slamming the door shut behind them. “You’re soaking wet again.”

“No thanks to you.”

“You are the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.”

Without another word, she dropped her suitcase and handbag and went into the living room. She needed to change out of her wet clothes. Again. But she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

When she got to the living room, she switched on the nearest lamp, then turned to him with arms folded. “So what now?”

With narrowed eyes, he scanned her. “First you need to get out of those wet clothes.”

“Yours are wet too.”

“I’ll be fine. And having grown up here, I’m sure you know the drill. After you get changed, we check the refrigerator and pantry for food and water, especially water. If we don’t have enough bottled water, we fill jugs with water before they cut us off.”

She chewed her lip. “This storm can’t last
that
long.”

“Sure it can.”

“But I have work to do. I—”

“I know, I know. You have places to go, people to see,” he interrupted. He stepped closer until only a whisper separated them. The scent of rain clung to him. And another scent—warm musk that teased her nostrils and her senses with memories as he touched her chin with his fingers and tilted her face toward his. E s

“What’s the matter, Sam? Still too busy to finish what we started all those years ago?”

CHAPTER THREE

“DROP DEAD.”

Her dark green eyes, with their gold flecks, flashed. He’d always loved her eyes. Slightly tilted at the corners, they were seductive cat eyes a man could lose himself in. But he didn’t like seeing the anger and hurt in them now. He was an idiot. The woman of his dreams walked back into his life and he acted like a jerk.

“Sam, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come on so strong. It’s a stressful time for us both. Hell, when I saw you standing there in that bedroom, the shock threw me for a loop.” He smiled, trying to diffuse the tension. “It didn’t help that you were practically naked.”

She flushed a pretty shade of pink, her soft, full lips parting slightly. God, he wanted to kiss her. Did she still taste as sweet as he remembered? With effort, he tamped down his raging libido. This wasn’t a romantic tryst. They were marooned here and she hadn’t come to him by choice.

She put a hand to her hip. “Aiden, stop it.”

Stop it? He’d seen desire spark in her eyes. Male pride surged through him. She might have run from him all those years ago, but she hadn’t forgotten him. Forcing a grin, he saluted. “Whatever you say, boss.”

Her lips quirked up, a little reluctantly, but still….
“Made you smile.” He leaned closer. “You’re even more beautiful, if that’s possible, when you smile.”

“I mean it, Aiden. This has to stop.”

She was right, but for a moment, she’d looked like the carefree Sam Greco who used to come into his family’s bar with her friends. That Sam had smiled a lot. The Sam he’d known in their high school years had been too intense and serious. Aiden preferred the carefree Sam.

He hoped the storm lasted long enough to coax more smiles from her.

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Aiden sat on the living room sofa, focused on the TV screen. The storm had stalled over the Delaware coast and gathered strength when it joined with a weaker storm coming from the west. They would be stranded here a few days, if not longer. He’d called his brothers to tell them not to worry. They’d promised to let the authorities know he and Sam were stuck here, but safe. There was nothing more to do now but wait for the storm to end.

It had taken him and Sam less than five minutes to check the pantry and refrigerator. The pantry was stocked with canned goods and there was some food in the refrigerator and freezer. Enough to feed them for a couple of days with power, not enough to worry about if the power went out. They also found several cases of bottled water and a full wine rack. Living on this narrow peninsula that jutted into the Atlantic Ocean, Lisa Greco would be used to storms and power outages.

So long as the electricity held out, they’d be fine, for a few days, at least. Too bad Lisa hadn’t had a generator installed like so many others on Fenwick.

Aiden glanced over to the small kitchen where Sam stood, her back pressed against the counter, sipping from a bottle of water. She’d been there for a while, as if afraid to come close to him. It was going to be a long couple of days.

Sam set her bottle on the counter and swept strands of long black hair away from her face, hooking her hair behind her ears. He wondered what she was thinking, if she’d forgotten that night they’d spent together. Was she thinking of it now?

He blinked, suddenly seeing her as she’d been that night, her silky hair spread over the pillow, then brushing his naked chest as she straddled him. He grew hard at the memories. He needed a cold shower. Maybe he should go outside and let the rain pelt him. That should cool him off.

Next to him, the cats slept curled around each other. He wanted to be curled around Sam, wanted to kiss her, feel her full breasts again.

Damn, she was right. He had to stop this. She’d run out on him, ignored his phone calls in the days following their wild lovemaking. No woman had done that to him, before or since.

Seeming to feel his stare, she looked at him. Their eyes met over the short distance that separated the living room from the kitchen. He could see she wasn’t immune to him. How could he keep his hands off her while the storm raged outside?

Angling for coolness, he said, “It’s bad out there.” Instead he sounded like some insecure teen talking about the weather.

As if Mother Nature wanted to confirm his statement, lightning lit the room, followed by a crack of thunder. The cats, startled awake, jumped from the sofa and ran off. Rain hit the windows hard, like shards of glass thrown at the house.

Her features tight, Sam pushed away from the counter. “What is that?”

“Sounds like sleet. The weather people said to expect the rain to change over. We may be here longer than we originally thought.”

“We’ll be here for a long time?” Anxiety laced her voice.

He leveled his gaze at her. “We’re adults, Sam. We can handle it.”

She chewed her lip. “Can we?”

He perked up, sat straighter. “What?”

She flushed prettily again. “Don’t get any ideas. That’s not what I meant. I have to call my office. I’m supposed to attend a conference in Philadelphia on Monday. They’ll need to send someone else.” She fumbled in the purse she’d set on the counter and pulled out her cell phone.

He muted the TV and waited for her to finish. “Come here,” he said gently when she ended the call. Despite her bravado, he knew she was scared. Although remnants of his anger at how she’d treated him still burned, he couldn’t stay angry with her, didn’t want to. The Sam who’d run from him wasn’t the Sam he’d known. There’d been something else going on that night. Maybe someday she’d trust him enough to tell him what it was.

She hesitated, then strode into the living room, moving with confident grace and sensuality. Slim and petite, with lush curves, she was any man’s dream. When she got close, he took her hands and pulled her down to sit next to him. She resisted at first before settling onto the sofa, sitting primly. Their thighs touched, and electricity shot up his leg. As if burned, she scooted away.

“Let’s call a truce,” he said. “What happened was a long time ago. We’ve moved on. Right now we’ve got to plan what we’re going to do if the electricity goes out.”

She relaxed visibly. “I’m glad you see it that way. We were friends once.” She gave him a wry smile. “Sort of friends.”

He shrugged. “I may have been a couple of years ahead of you in school, but I always thought we were friends.”

She gave him a dazzling smile, startling the shit out of him. “You did?”