Meeting You

10. Auden

So things just became super interesting. Storm is here.

Storm.

Is.

Here.

I nearly ran off the second I saw his face. He’s so handsome and even better looking in the daylight. His green eyes are almost as bright as the grass. But last night was not my finest moment. He had this smirk on his face throughout lunch as if he wanted to talk about it. I don’t. I want to sweep it under the rug and forget it ever happened. But I also want it to happen again so badly.

I don’t even know how I feel about everything. There are parts of me that are so damn happy to see him again, knowing we had this inexplainable connection that the pleasurable side of my emotions wants to fulfill. Then there’s the logical side that I want to bury because it isn’t the first time today I’ve heard his family call him a womanizer.

And I’m the dumbass who fell for it.

“You didn’t have to help me clean, dear,” Stevie says, rinsing off a plate.

“It’s the least I can do,” I say, wiping my hands on the dish towel.

Lunch was exactly what I expected. It was my first family meal where I felt accepted, wanted. The first family meal where I felt understood. I can’t wait to go home and tell my parents all about them. And hopefully one day we can all be together for a big Thanksgiving feast.

She looks over her shoulder and lowers her voice. “I should warn you, Storm is not someone to mingle with.”

“He seems like a good guy.”

I slept with the freaking man three damn times. He better be a good guy.

No, it doesn’t matter.

We both knew what last night was.

“He has a reputation of sleeping with women. Using them.” She shakes her head. “He was hurt in the past and uses that break up as an excuse to use women by not speaking to them again after he gets what he wants.”

Another warning. I think Storm is just misunderstood. We all are at one point in our lives. I was there once. Rock bottom. Misunderstood. Maybe this is his downfall. I have to see the good in him. For Storm to be the best, according to his nephew, he has to have some redeeming factors—I shouldn’t care about this, but I do.

“People do things for a reason.”

She grunts softly, putting utensils away. What did he ever do to these people to make them hate him so much?

As if the man’s ears were ringing, Storm walks into the kitchen and gives me a once-over, nibbling his lower lip as he does. Gosh, why does trouble have to look so good?

“You hear the news? Denny is being released soon,” Stevie says, placing cookies she took out of the oven before we started the dishes on a plate. “How’re you handling that?”

He shrugs, leaning a hip on the counter and taking one of the cookies off the baking sheet. “The best I can, I guess.”

Not only does he have a bad reputation, but he comes with dangerous drama I don’t want to associate myself with. No, this can never work. It’s not like I gave it any thought, anyway. We live two separate lives. His is loose and mine is leveled. I do not need any drama to screw up my chances at this job. No, the less bullshit I bring into my life, the better it will be for my future.

Heath runs in as Storm takes a bite of the cookie, body-slamming him with a smile on his face. “Uncle Storm, I had the coolest idea.”

Storm holds the cookie between his teeth and picks up Heath, setting him on the counter. “Yeah? What’s that?”

Heath thrums his fingers together. “I think this Wednesday, we should try pineapple on our pizza.”

“Gross!” Storm says and fake gags. “Not happening, big guy. I already let you add olives to our pizzas last week. You’re not messing that up with pineapple.”

Stevie chuckles, handing a cookie to Heath. “Wednesdays are pizza night for Heath and Storm.”

Storm takes a lavish bite of the cookie at looks over at me. “Every Wednesday without fail is boy’s night.”

Heath giggles, putting his arms around Storm’s neck. “And this Wednesday is pineapple on pizza night.”

“No!” Storm says dramatically, melting onto his knees as Heath laughs maniacally.

Seeing him with his nephew does not define him as the womanizer his family perceives him to be. I see him for who he truly is, not the number of women he beds.

I clear my throat, biting my inner cheek so I don’t melt on the floor with them, and lay a fat one on Storm’s lips. “Bathroom?”

Stevie shakes her head with a smile as Storm and Heath are still laughing on the floor. “Right down the hall, to your right.”

Storm and I lock eyes for a split second before I head to the washroom, needing a breather away from him. That pull I felt last night comes crashing in again. And it’s sending mixed signals to my brain as my thighs clench together. Do I want this? Or were we nothing but a one-night stand?

I do what I have to do and crack my knuckles. Inhaling a sharp breath, I open the washroom door, and last night rushes back in. Storm rests a hand on either side of the doorframe and smirks at me. My stomach flips. No! No, I can’t do this again.

“Funny running into you here,” he says. His voice is so deep it’s killing me.

I fold my arms across my chest, trying to put up walls that he already broke down last night. “What’re the odds?”

He looks me up and down. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” His tongue darts out of his mouth, licking the corner of his lip. “Y’know, since you decided to leave my bed cold this morning after you promised you’d stay.”

I try to step around him but he closes in. My heart is racing, yet I have to hide how nervous he makes me. I can’t think straight around him. I gulp, staring at those green eyes. “I…I was scared. I don’t know you, either. And I don’t do things like this…it’s not like we knew we were going to see each other again.”

“Don’t say that.” He lowers his voice, taking in a shaky breath as he studies my face. “I really wanna kiss you.”

My head is spinning, my body throbbing, and my chest heaving. How is he doing this to me and not even touching me? This isn’t good. “What happened last night, isn’t me. So, I suggest you file that deep in your subconscious and forget it ever happened.”

He winks, licking up my neck, and sending a tingle up my spine. “I’ll never forget how you taste, babe.” His hand touches my thigh and slowly moves up my leg.

Oh, dear God, please stop before I pull you into this washroom.

I gasp, gripping his arm. “Storm.”

His kisses move up my neck and his lips hover just over mine. “Auden,” he whispers into my parted lips.

“Move,” I say before I fucking lose it.

He chuckles, his tongue tracing my lower lip, and backs away. He holds a hand out to let me pass but I don’t even think I can walk. His chest is heaving, he swallows thickly. He’s as nervous as I am.

I press on, forcing myself back outside. He’s trouble. Big fucking trouble.

***

The sun is starting to set, giving off this rose gold glow to the birth blue sky. Rick cracks open another beer, still sitting in the same spot he’s propped himself all afternoon. “How long are you here for?”

I fix my purse on my shoulder, pushing up from my seat at the table as the hot afternoon sun beats down on me. “Just a week, my best friend’s getting married soon so I gotta get back to New Jersey by Friday for her rehearsal dinner.”

“I can give you a ride into town,” Frank offers. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Oh, no. It’s okay. It’s a nice walk.” I tap my stomach. “I could use the walk to work off Stevie’s noodle salad. Thank you, though,” I say as he pulls me into a hug. “But I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Frank smiles, nodding quickly. “I’ll find the box of photos for you.”

Lloyd sets his sweet tea down and pulls me into a hug like his father, welcoming me as easily as everyone else has. “You’re leaving?”

“I am,” I reply, wrinkling my nose. “But I’ll be back.”

I wave at everyone as they watch me walk down the driveway to the end of the street. I head back to town with the plan of getting in the bath and telling Sean all about my afternoon. I think he’d love to hear about the brothers I have and all about my birth father.

I glance back over my shoulder when the dog barks and see Storm gulping from his beer can. I thought it would be easier to leave without saying goodbye to him. I don’t think I can control myself around that green-eyed man. All logical thinking goes out the window. Vanishes just like my common sense did when I lost a year of my life to stupidity.

I’ve never done drugs before but being around Storm must be like what doing heroin feels like. That high riding me to the brink of death. Floating in mid-air so that I can breathe freely. Exhilaration. Excitement. Release.

I get to the end of the road and take a left, thinking about the nerves that shot through me this morning when I took this same path. Now, I don’t have a single ounce of nervousness.

Today was interesting, to say the least. It felt nice to be in Frank’s presence and getting to know my brothers and his family. My brothers. It’s so weird to say that. I can’t wait to call my parents and tell them all about it—

A car pulls up beside me, startling me out of my happy thoughts. Yep, an olive-green Jeep. HIS fucking jeep.

Storm lowers his window, smirking. “Leave without saying goodbye? Seems to be your thing with me, huh?”

“Yep, and I like it that way,” I say, looking onward.

He clicks his tongue. “Get in the car, Auden.”

I bite my lip, trying to hide my smile. “No.”

“Get in the car.”

Biting my lip isn’t working, and a smile spreads to his face when he sees mine.

“No.”

“Get in the car, now.”

I narrow my eyes, slowly licking my lips. “No.”

He drives the Jeep in front of me and parks, getting out of the car with that smirk. Oh, this guy is bad news, but goddamn, the way this polo shirt is hugging his chest. The sun glistens off the chain around his neck. He is not the type of guy I go for, but he is something I’m about to ravish again.

“I said,” he starts, taking my wrist and spinning me, pushing my back onto the car. Throbbing bursts through me, that same urge I had last night. “Get. In. The. Car.”

I look up at him as his forehead rests on mine, my entire body responding to his. “And I said, no.”

“You feel this, don’t you?” he whispers.

Magnetic.

Drawn.

A pull.

“You drive me fucking crazy,” he says through gritted teeth, pushing himself into me.

My heart thumps wildly, drowning out the rustling of the fields around us. I want this, but I can’t have this. He’s all wrong, he’s not who I want him to be. He’s a hiccup. A one-night. A nobody. My life doesn’t have time for a project, I need stability. Someone with a plan.

But my body responds faster than my head does and my leg moves up his leg, showing him how badly I want this. But oh, God, I’m trying damn hard to push him away. No, you’re not. “All the more reason to leave me alone.”

He releases a shaky breath and backs away from me, his face blushing a soft rose. I don’t move for a second, taking him in. He appears stunned yet fascinated. I don’t think he can process the feelings flowing through us.

I push off his car and continue walking, looking over my shoulder at him standing there, staring at me. If I got into his Jeep, I’d be riding him within seconds. If I got into his Jeep, I’d let him moan my name all night long. If I let him into me, I don’t think I’d want to leave this town. I feel it, too, and I don’t know how to describe it.

Meant to be.

Destiny.

Written in the stars.

He’s different. I might need different.

He drives slowly beside me, going through a stop sign just to keep up with me. I keep telling myself not to get into his car. I keep telling myself it’s a bad idea. He’s everything I can’t have in my life. A player. A bartender. A man who loves his nephew so damn much that he takes him to pizza every Wednesday without fail. A sexy man who lives ten hours away. It’s a bad idea, but so is letting him follow me to the BnB.

I stop at the corner of the street in front of the garage, he stops at the corner. I point and start crossing the street. I think he knows where I’m going, this is his hometown after all. He follows, pulling into an empty spot, and jogs after me.

He looks at the BnB and grins. “You staying here?”

“I am, but you can’t come in.”

He doesn’t listen and follows me in, up the stairs, and to the room I was given. I don’t open the door yet; I just lean against it and stare at him. Those devilishly green eyes pierce into me as if knowing I want this as badly as he does.

“Open the door, Auden,” he says. I love the way he tells me what to do.

“Make me,” I say, biting my lower lip to stop myself from smiling. He smirks, cradling my face and going in for a kiss.

“Miss Summers?” Stacy, the owner of the BnB, interrupts us.

I push Storm away from me before his lips meet mine. “Hi.”

“Just wanted to let you know that if you don’t hear from my husband by eleven tomorrow, consider giving him a call about your car,” she says, eyeing Storm and nodding. “Evening, Storm.”

He puts his hands in his pockets. “Evening, Stacy.”

“Thank you,” I acknowledge and open my door, shutting it before Storm could enter.

“She’s a good one, don’t hurt her,” I hear Stacy say before she retreats to her room.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he says, opening my door and shutting it.

He wouldn’t dream of it?

My heart flutters. My mind races.

I’m making some bad decisions tonight and it’ll feel so damn good.

The room is very floral with wood-paneled walls. The bed has a blue, white, and yellow comforter with matching doilies on the side tables. I set up my luggage on the dresser that also houses the TV. It’s a cute room, I especially love the balcony with the fresh flowers Stacy asked me to water for her in the mornings.

I have one wedge sandal off and start undoing the other one when he walks in. He leans against the door, his hands behind his back and head tilted upward but his eyes are on me. They’re always on me. Even through lunch, I felt like he sat directly in front of me on purpose. His brother noticed the gawking, too. I’m conflicted because they talk so poorly of him. Yet everything is clear when I look at him.

This is happening, but I’ll tease him a little before I let it happen.

“Goodnight, Storm,” I say, putting my hands on my hips.

“Goodnight, Auden Summers,” he says but doesn’t move. “Or should I say Charlotte Summers?”

Look away. Don’t look at him. Don’t look at him. Don’t look at him.

Shit.

I’m looking at him.

He’s so damn attractive.

This. Is. Not. Good.

“You’re not leaving,” I point out.

He waggles his eyebrows. “Nope.”

“Why not?”

He lowers his head. “Because I’ve wanted to kiss you all fucking day.”

“Mm, okay. What if I don’t want to kiss you?”

“You wanna kiss me.”

I chuckle, keeping my fists on my hips. “Says who, you?”

“Yes.”

“This won’t end well.”

“Says who, you?”

“I’m bad news.”

He arches an eyebrow. “A Princeton graduate’s bad news?”

He doesn’t need to know my history for me to say this. “Yes.”

“How long are you here?”

“A week.”

He licks his lips slowly. “Then give me the week. Satisfy me for a week, then we’ll go our separate ways and never speak of this to anyone.”

I’m screaming on the inside.

YES. YES. YES.

But I have to keep my cool because truthfully, this shouldn’t happen. The only tie I should have to this town is Frank. Nothing but Frank.

“The way people talk about you, I’m sure you can find someone else to screw. I won’t be your flavor of the week.”

“It’s not like that. They don’t know the half of who I am.”

I scoff. “I find that hard to believe.”

“I’m not as much of a playboy as everyone thinks. I’ve been with ten people. That’s all.” He puffs out his lip. “Ten doesn’t come off as slutty, does it?”

The fists on my hips fall to my sides. “Why the warnings from everyone?”

“Because they think every woman I take home I sleep with. Half the time I bring them upstairs because they’re too drunk to drive and let them crash on my couch. Scouts honor,” he says, crossing his heart. Like the woman he helped into a chair and gave water to the night we met.

Yet I can’t stop the negative words from his family. “None of them make it to your bed?” I laugh. “I don’t believe that since I made it in your bed.”

“Only three women have been in my bed. My first, my ex, and you,” he says, tonguing his cheek. Why is he telling me this? He’s a womanizer like everyone said, I shouldn’t be falling for his explanations.

I pull the elastic from my ponytail. “What makes me so special?”

“You. Your eyes. Your smile. That laugh. Your fiery red hair,” he says, slowly making his way to me. “You’ve breathed air into me, Auden. You can’t take my air away.”

“Watch me,” I tease, letting my mouth quirk up.

He’s cradling my head again, looking down at my lips. He doesn’t close the gap between us, he just stares at them, waiting for me to reject him or give him some snarky remark. He’s like this magnet I can’t pull away from. This urge united us. This feeling I need to fulfill.

I don’t reject him. I grab the back of his neck and close the gap, he tastes like candy. I hate that he tastes like candy.

Our tongues dance as he lifts his polo over his head. Doesn’t take him long to get me naked, my lilac dress is on the floor by my feet as are my bra and my panties. My second night here and I’ve already spent both nights with him. He’s taking over. He’s making it hard to focus on my intentions. He’s a mistake. A really good fucking mistake.

“Thank God for birth control.” He sighs in satisfaction and rolls off me. “Wait, you are on birth control, right? Oh, shit. Please tell me you’re on birth control.”

“Yeah,” I say breathlessly, pushing my lips together.

I can’t believe I did that. I don’t bareback it ever. I’m always protected, always secured. The last thing I need is a surprise baby when my life hasn’t even started yet.

He takes in a rush of air. “Good, good.”

We sit up at the same time as if on cue, making us chuckle. He’s cute, I’ll give him that.

He reaches over and takes out his cigarettes, tapping one out and placing it between his teeth. I snag it, and he takes another one, thinking I want it for myself. I snag the second one, too, which makes him look up at me.

“No smoking.”

He pouts. “Why not?”

“I quit three years ago, the sight of it might trigger me.”

Might trigger more than cigarettes.

“Fair ’nuff,” he agrees, taking the two that I took from him and tossing them on the nightstand. “You a cuddler?”

“With boyfriends, yes,” I reply, holding the sheet to my chest and leaning on the headboard beside him. His short hair is a little messy, and it somehow looks better messy than it does styled. As much as my mind is telling me this is a bad idea, I want to do this again.

And again.

And again.

He smirks. “With me?”

“No.”

He kisses my cheek. “Oh, c’mon, I like cuddling and I know I’ll cuddle the shit outta you.”

“No,” I enunciate.

“Am I supposed to leave?”

“Yes.”

“How dare you use me!” he gasps playfully. “But I’m not leaving. I’m spending the night because you left my bed last night and left my apartment without so much as a goodbye.”

I chuckle and move closer to him, my lips pressed to his. “Goodbye.”

He laughs, tangling his fingers in my hair.

“Nope.”

He scoots down the bed, fixing the pillow under him, and waggles his eyebrows at me. He’s stupidly attractive when he does that.

This pull between us is indescribable. Unexplainable. It causes me to rest my head on his shoulder, getting comfortable beside him. My leg snakes onto his thigh and I focus on the movement of his fingers, digging softly onto my scalp and pulling out through my hair, brushing it. It’s calming. I’m not sure I should like this as much as I do.

There’s no way it would even work. A week of no strings attached.

It’s been a day and strings are attached.

He’s cute. Confident. So damn good in bed.

Saying goodbye now would be easier than at the end of the week.

I was never like this with exes, maybe my first. Sean and I are still close and I go to him after every breakup. I call him multiple times a day, he’s my crutch. A fix I never get tired of. My best friend.

I flick the stainless-steel loop pierced through Storm’s nipple. “Why the nipple ring?”

“Ow.” He flinches with a chuckle. “It was a dare in high school and I ended up piercing it myself, then decided to keep it.”

I flick it again, giggling. “Why just the one?”

“Want me to pierce your nipple so you can find out why?” he jeers, sticking his tongue between his teeth.

“No, thanks.” I’m still playing with it. He doesn’t seem to mind it. Little bumps rise around his nipple, spreading to his pectoral. The muscle ripples under my touch.

“You’re so straight edge.”

I take offense to that and sit up, letting the sheets fall. “No, I’m not.”

He stares at my breasts and rolls his eyes up to my face. “Nothing but your ears pierced, no tattoos, not a scar on your body. Straight edge.”

“I do have a tattoo,” I say, lifting my hair and turning around. “See, a star behind my ear.”

“Mostly straight edge.” He laughs, touching the tattoo and tracing it with his fingers. They stop and start tracing a scar on the back of my neck. “What happened here? I didn’t notice this scar before.”

“Long story,” I say, turning away from him to hide the scar. One of the reasons I’m sober now is because of it.

“You see this one.” He points to a white scar under his pierced pectoral, fixing the necklace around his neck as he does. “Bar fight I was trying to break up a couple years ago.”

“Jesus,” I say quietly, running my fingers over the scar.

He removes the blankets and bends his leg, showing me another scar on his inner thigh. “Motorcycle accident.” He lifts his arm to reveal another scar from his armpit to his back. “Shark attack.”

I gasp, I’ve never met anyone who was bitten by a shark. “What?”

“I’m kidding.” He laughs. “It looks like a shark attack but it’s really a metal fence I fell onto.”

I fell on a metal fence and nearly decapitated myself. I walked away with nothing but the scar on the back of my neck. Sobriety story at its finest. But he doesn’t need to know that…not yet.

His muscles ripple under my touch, making him chuckle. He lifts his other leg out of the blankets to show me another scar. It goes from just above his knee down his shin to his ankle.

I trace this scar, too. I trace all his scars, loving the sensation of his skin under my fingertips. “Lemme guess, motorcycle accident?”

“You guessed it.” He takes in a shaky breath. “I hit a semi during a storm. His lights were off. My lights were off. It was destined to happen. I’m lucky I got outta that one alive.”

“What would this town do without its slut?” I tease, making him laugh. He runs his hands through my hair, cupping the side of my face. That’s the look he gave me last night. The wanting. Needing. That pull. “Do you still ride a motorcycle?”

He shakes his head no. “Two for two on bad accidents, I decided to put it away when Heath was born.”

It’s admirable how much he loves his nephew. I guess there is a good guy buried deep within.

I start to get out of bed but he grabs my wrist, pulls me down, and climbs on top of me.

He licks the side of my face. “By the way, you can keep calling me a slut, but you’ve been sleeping with me last twenty-four hours.”

I raise my eyebrows. “I can stop.”

He pouts. “Please don’t.”

I laugh, pushing his shoulder. He thinks it’s so I can go on top, instead, I get off the bed and take my toothbrush.

“You should go home,” I say, hands on my hips again. He’s too distracted because I’m naked, but I don’t care.

He crosses his feet at the ankles and puts his hands behind his head. “No.”

I roll my eyes. “Go home, Storm.”

He sticks his tongue out. “Come to bed, Auden.”

“Not without protection,” I state, disappearing into the connected washroom.

Storm jumps from the bed and gets into his boxers, stuffing his feet into his slip-on shoes.

“Lock this door behind me and I’ll break it down,” he says, smirking, then slaps my ass.

“Wait, you don’t even have a change of clothes. Let’s just—”

“I have my gym clothes in my back seat, no sweat,” he interrupts me and taps the doorframe. “Look at you caring about me.”

I narrow my eyes. “Shut up.”

He runs out of the room with nothing on but his boxers and wallet in his hand. I knew this was a bad idea the first time I slept with him. Yet I continue to do it. His family warned me about him, yet I still do it. I’m ashamed to admit I like it. I like him, but I can’t like him. I have a future to think of. A future I almost lost because of my stupidity. Sean stuck his neck out to land me this job. I have to show I’m committed. I have to focus, and I should focus, but this week. This week I won’t focus. Five more days. That’s how much I’ll let myself let loose, after that, I focus.