CHAPTER ELEVEN
Iggy jerked awake, Olive still sleeping in his arms on the porch swing. He looked at his watch and was shocked to see it was well past time to get up. Or at least it was according to his routine. He immediately knew why he’d slept so late.
One, was that he held the woman he’d been dreaming about for weeks in his arms. She was breathing softly, clutching his middle as if he were a life raft on the Titanic.
And two, was that the sky was dark and ominous, as if a storm were coming on fast. And it was.
“Mmmm,” hummed Olive. “Morning.”
“Morning,” said Iggy kissing her sweetly.
“That was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in years,” she smiled. “But I bet you’re sore from sitting like that all night.”
“I’m fine,” he said grinning. “Having you in my arms is exactly where I wanted to be.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better, you are the most comfortable pillow I’ve ever owned.” He laughed and she gasped. “Not owned! I didn’t mean that. I mean, I meant to say…”
“Stop,” he said kissing her again. “You own me, Olive. Whether you know it or not. You own me. Body and soul.”
“I’d rather own your heart,” she grinned.
“That too,” he chuckled. “Why don’t you shower and change and I’ll do the same. I’ll meet you back here in thirty minutes. We’ll grab some breakfast and then have a better idea of where we are today.”
“It looks like terrible weather,” frowned Olive. “Will this slow things down?”
“Probably not. The boys will have a better idea of how it effects everything.” He stood with her, kissing her more soundly this time. “That’s what I dreamed of. See you in a few.”
Olive touched her lips, smiling at his retreating back as he jogged toward his own cottage. By the time she’d showered, pulled her hair up and changed her clothes, Iggy was already sitting on the porch with two umbrellas.
“Wow, you were fast,” she laughed. He nodded opening one of the umbrellas.
“What about mine?” she grinned.
“I’ve rethought my idea for two umbrellas. Sharing is way more fun.” Olive couldn’t argue with that. It was just a light rain, nothing dramatic but the distance to the cafeteria definitely would have soaked her.
When they entered, they noticed that all of the flat screen televisions were on different channels of weather.
“What’s happening?” asked Iggy.
“Storms,” said Ham.
“Storms? As in plural?” he asked.
“Yep. We’ve got a tropical storm bringing heavy rain and wind. The problem is they think it will head back out into the gulf, where it’s going to meet another tropical storm head on and most likely form a very nasty hurricane,” frowned Ham.
“Wow, online dating for tropical storms is obviously not ideal,” laughed Rowe.
“Not funny, dude. If that thing comes up the big river, it will wipe out almost everything in its path,” said Grayson. Rowe stared at the screen, then back at Grayson and the others.
“What do we do?” he asked.
“Nothing right now except prepare sand bags. We’ve got an entire warehouse full of them for right now,” said Ham. “Olive? We need for you to work with Finley on the weather barriers she created. She’s struggling with one of them and we need to get it working before this shit hits.”
“I’m on it,” she said walking toward Finley. Iggy frowned, then Olive stopped, turning to walk back toward him. She bent down and kissed him soundly, holding his face in her hands. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Damn right you will,” he grinned. He watched as Finley and Olive ran toward the docks where Noah and Magnus were waiting for them. He saw AJ and Hiro walk in and waved them over.
“Anything?”
“Yes. Where’s Olive?” asked Hiro.
“She’s helping Finley with the weather barriers. What did you find?”
“We found her father,” said Hiro.
“You’re fucking kidding me, right?” asked Iggy. “Where?”
“Right under our noses,” said Hiro.