20. Chasing the Storm
Chapter twenty
Chasing the Storm
Brody
The look on her face is priceless. She’s as shocked as I was when Chase, my pain in the ass little brother, waltzed into town, unannounced.
“ Brother? ”
Chase gets up, smirky and smooth like he always is.
He saunters over, hand outstretched like he’s about to sign an autograph.
I’d love to say he got that from me, but no, the guy’s had that easy charisma locked down since middle school.
Puberty handed him the VIP package while the rest us were still popping zits and awkward boners.
“Nice to meet you, Chloe.”
She doesn’t say a word, mouth shaped in a stunned “O.” Her hand shakes his, like she’s on autopilot.
I catch her mapping the contours of his face, probably trying to figure out how much of a copy-paste job genetics pulled on me and my youngest brother.
Same dark hair. Same blue eyes. He stands a little taller, which he never shuts up about.
That one-inch edge caused more brotherly brawls growing up than I care to count.
I slap him on the back, maybe a little harder than necessary, and pull him away before he can finish eye-fucking her. A twinge of jealousy curdles in my gut .
“Chloe runs the lodge here in town.” I force smile. “She’s also somewhat of a community ringleader.”
Her eyes narrow at me. Ringleader? That’ll win her over. Chase, though, looks impressed.
“You don’t say.” His interest in her spikes, and I swear, I see him puff up his chest. Calm down, Romeo.
“Maybe you’re the person I need to talk to about my latest venture,” he says, leaning in. Could he be any more fucking obvious? “I was telling Brody—”
“And I was telling you to save it for later,” I cut him off, trying to shift her attention away from the train wreck unfolding. “We have work to do, and I’m sure she has things to do.”
“What venture?” She’s being nosy, pulling back with her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Damn it.
“It’s nothing. He’s leaving,” I say, steering her toward my desk like that’ll actually work.
My brother folds his arms and digs in like the drama king he is. “I wasn’t leaving.”
“I want to know about the venture.” Her curiosity has a death grip on her, and there’s no prying it loose.
So much for avoiding more drama.
“The two of you are insufferable,” I mutter, flopping into my chair. “This is my office, my time, and I decide what’s a priority.”
“Is he always like this?” Her voice a quiet whisper to my brother, like I’m not sitting two feet away.
He stifles a laugh, clearly having the time of his damn life. “Oh, absolutely. Best to let him think he’s in charge. Saves time.”
“Chase.” My voice goes full warning growl. “Why don’t you go see what the design team’s up to? Mason can give you the tour.”
“Wait… are you two…?” He motions between us, eyebrows raised. “I should’ve guessed. My brother’s only weakness is a beautiful woman.”
He waggles his brows suggestively, a mischievous smile curling his lips. Chloe’s cheeks flare pink, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never wanted to kill my brother more.
“OUT!” I shout, pointing at the door like I’m sending a misbehaving dog to its crate.
He throws up his hands in mock surrender, laughing like the immature brat he is, as he finally leaves my office. I wait a beat, half expecting him to poke his head back in to tease me some more but thankfully, he doesn’t.
“Almost thirty, and he still thinks life’s one big joke.” I grumble, forcing a laugh.
But Chloe isn’t laughing.
“That’s a valid question, though,” she says quietly, her voice all tight and brittle in a way I’ve never heard before.
She keeps her focus on the floor. Won’t look at me.
“What is?” I ask, though part of me already knows.
“Are we?” She finally lifts her head, frustration flashing in her eyes. “What are we , Brody?”
Whoa.
“What?” I can’t help but laugh. She’s actually siding with my brother?
“Yes, Brody. What? That’s exactly it.”
I lean back in my chair, the leather creaking softly under my weight. “Okay, I can tell you’re upset about something, but you’re going to need to start making sense or I can’t help you. Sit down, and talk to me.”
“What are we, Brody? What is this? Is that enough sense for you?” She doesn’t sit. Doesn’t back off. She rounds the desk and plants herself right in front of me.
“Am I just another… weakness? Is that it? Is that why it’s so easy for you to use me and drop me?”
“Drop you? What are you talki—”
“I still had some of your come in my mouth.” Chloe’s last restraint wavers as she spells it out, seething. “You thought that was an appropriate time to bail on me?”
“Chloe—”
“I’m a grown ass woman,” she cuts in, tucking her hair behind her ears. “I’m not some fragile creature that’ll self-combust if you reject me.”
“I’m not rejecting you.” My jaw tightens. She has it so wrong. I hated walking out on her like that. She’s not wrong for being pissed—it was a dick move, even with the apology.
“Well, I wish you’d be more honest about what you’re doing.
” Her voice is tight, like she’s holding back a hell of a lot more than just that sentence.
“One minute, you’re all over me like I’m the only thing that matters, and the next?
You’re gone. Vanished. Leaving me in some hallway with a half-assed excuse about work. ”
“It wasn’t an excuse.”
My hands slam the desk, too loud, too sharp—and she jumps.
I fold forward, elbows digging into my knees, shame already burning a hole through my chest .
Fuck. I hate this. Hate being the guy who snaps. The guy who’s always wired too tight and trying to play it cool when everything’s riding on him not fucking it all up.
Not the job. Not the company.
The legacy.
And the guilt that comes with knowing my parent’s sacrifices will mean nothing if I fail.
Everything my parents bled for. Everything they gave up so I could be here, sitting at the top of a mountain no one tells you feels like a noose around your neck.
One bad move and it’s over. One misstep and I drag it all down with me.
No one tells you how lonely it is when you're the one expected to never miss.
“It’s lonely up here.”
The words crawl out of me, low and bitter. They taste awful.
Chloe kneels down in front of me. The compassion brimming in her eyes, as she looks up at me, is the sucker punch I wasn’t expecting. It nearly knocks the breath clean out of my lungs.
“It doesn’t have to be.”
Her hands settle on me like anchors. Not heavy, steady. Sure. She has this way of making chaos feel... quiet.
I lift my head, locking eyes with her. Still trying to believe she’s real. That someone like her exists in my life.
I’ve spent years treating women like escape routes. Take what I need, leave before it gets complicated. Cleaner that way. Easier.
Except it was never actually easy. Just empty.
But her ?
It’s different.
No games. No ego. No fucking pretenses.
And maybe for the first time, I don’t feel like I have to hold it all in.
“I meant what I said.” My voice is rough, words dragging. “You think I wanted to leave that night? You saw me. I wasn’t exactly walking out of there grinning.”
She nods. It’s small, quiet. But it counts. Her lips twitch into something that’s not quite a smile, but close enough to stop me from unraveling completely.
“Did you fix it?” she asks. “Whatever it was.”
I blow out a breath. Not dramatic. Real. “We’re still in it. One of our branches in India got hacked. Full breach.”
Her eyes stay on mine. She might not know the ins and outs of what that means, but she’s locked in. Present. Not interrupting. Not flinching.
“We’ve been building a classified project over there for months, something big—and now it’s all on the line. We still don’t know how far the leak goes. If this crashes, we’re talking billions lost. It could tank everything.”
Chloe doesn’t try to solve problems. Doesn’t say it’ll be okay.
Just gives me a soft, quiet: “I’m sorry.”
And somehow, that lands harder than anything else.
"I'm sorry." Two simple words, but damn if they don't hit me in the chest.
And suddenly, everything feels lighter. The weight on my shoulders loosens.
"I had to rush a team to India to get ahead of it. That’s why I left like I did." I continue, the words flowing easier now. "We needed boots on the ground ASAP."
She brushes her fingers across my lips, then pulls away like she touched something she wasn’t supposed to.
That tiny movement feels like space growing between us.
“If this was a mistake…”
I reach for her wrist before she can go any farther.
“Don’t.”
She stills, breath caught.
“You’re not some distraction I toss aside the second my phone rings.”
That flicker of doubt in her expression wavers. Not gone. But cracking.
She lowers herself to the floor again, and this time there’s intention behind every movement.
The static in my head dulls from being near her.
With a single touch, she peels back every layer of stress and self-doubt.
“I was acting like an idiot ,” she says with a small laugh. “Barging in here like that… I know you have a million things demanding your attention. You’re a CEO, for God’s sake. And me?" She shakes her head. "I’m a small-town nobody ..."
I push forward and kiss her mid-sentence.
Hard. The force of it nearly knocks her off her knees.
I slip on the smooth leather of my chair, but her hands slam to my chest, holding me steady.
I grip the edge of my desk, adjust, get my footing back—Chloe still glued to my mouth like she’s starved for it.
No more talking. No more explaining.
She rises higher on her knees and those hands drift lower. Then lower again.
I groan into her mouth when she strokes my cock through my pants.
Fuck, there’s nothing small-town about the way she touches me.
I kiss her harder. Deeper. She gives herself over like it’s that first night again, when it was nothing but heat and hunger and skin. A hell of a lot’s happened since then—but I still want her just the same.
“Chloe…”