23
Darana
“Are you just going to stand there with your arms crossed, or are you going to get your butts moving before the sun melts our brain cells?” I bark at them from the truck window in the middle of Willow Creek Square.
I turn off the engine and hop out, pulling my hat down over my eyebrows.
The square looks like a damn tech clearance sale.
There are ladders leaning against the walls, rolls of cable that look like snakes taking a nap, and toolboxes in every corner.
And in the middle of all that mess is Camila’s equipment. Neat and spotless.
“Let’s split up,” Camila orders, climbing into the back of Viento wearing tight jeans that, much to my utter dismay, look absolutely amazing on her.
“Ethan, grab the sensors and come with me to the church. Kira, you and Ricky go to the community school to check the wiring. And Bert, for heaven’s sake, keep an eye on the radio repeater at the social club.
We’ve got to hurry; Geoscience Australia will want results soon! ”
I lean against the door of the Ford Ranger, crossing my arms over my chest and chewing on a blade of dry grass. You have to give her credit for one thing: she still knows how to handle the people around here.
“And where are you sending me, Bennet?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
Camila spins around. Her dark eyes—the ones that always seem on the verge of unleashing a Category 5 hurricane—lock onto mine. I feel an electric jolt run down my spine, and suddenly, I swear the car’s thermometer must have shot up ten degrees all at once. Either that, or it’s just me.
It’s definitely the latter.
“You can take care of making sure no one gets run over,” she says, curving the corners of her lips in a way that makes me want to kiss her. “We don’t want any workplace accidents on your turf.”
“Don’t worry, smarty-pants,” I fire back, slamming my fist down on the hood of the car. “People around here know where to step. You’d better worry about your screens; I’ll take care of the rest.”
“I hope so,” she replies, turning toward the church porch. But she pauses for a second, glancing at me over her shoulder out of the corner of her eye, as if she’d saved one more retort up her sleeve.
I watch her walk away. She strides purposefully, determined, as if this entire place were a geometric plan already etched into her memory.
And, in fact, it is. It really annoys me to feel this pang of admiration.
To admire her is to admit that she fits back into this town, and my pride won’t stand for that. Especially after our last conversation.
“Well, well, Darana,” says a voice beside me. It’s old man Henderson, leaning on his wooden cane as he adjusts his wide-brimmed hat. “What’s with all this equipment? Are you out here hunting UFOs?”
I put a hand on my hip, squinting against the sun’s glare.
“No aliens, Henderson. We’re just trying to make sure the next storm doesn’t cut us off from the outside world and cause all kinds of trouble. Camila brought a system to help us anticipate it.”
“Bah!” the old man snorts, spitting into the dust. “In my day, we didn’t need little screens to know when the sky was about to come crashing down. We’d look at the color of the clouds, smell the grass, and if the sheep started running, we’d take cover.”
“Back in your day, you didn’t have to get government weather alerts through broadband, and ranchers didn’t expect the city’s meat market to quote prices in real time,” I say with a smile, though my eyes drift toward the church roof, where Camila is already nimbly climbing the ladder.
The old man grumbles an affectionate curse, but before he can continue complaining, Mrs. Gable steps out of her shop, swatting flies with her apron.
“Darana, dear!” she exclaims, trotting over. “Ricky told me the storm wrecked most of your geraniums and part of the ranch. It breaks my heart, honestly. It’s so hard to make ends meet in Willow Creek.”
The memory makes my stomach churn.
“We’ve planted new seedlings, Mrs. Gable. Here at Birdsong Hills, we don’t scare easily. I’m sure that with all the gadgets Camila’s installing, the next storm will find us with our umbrellas open.”
“God willing, sweetie,” she murmurs, patting me on the shoulder with her flour-covered hands. “This town needs you to keep moving forward. You’re part of what keeps this place going, Darana—don’t forget that.”
I nod with a lump in my throat, because the fear remains just as strong, knowing that if we lose all the tourists, Willow Creek as a whole will suffer the consequences too. Luckily, Joyce comes to the rescue with a huge tray and her characteristic self-assurance.
“I’ve got lemonade!” our cook shouts, pushing her way through the crowd. “At a hundred and four degrees in the shade, I’m the only one who can think straight!”
I snatch a glass on the fly and drink it almost in one gulp, feeling the cold spread through my chest.
“You’re an angel, Joyce. I swear I was this close to shooting the sun.”
“I know, sweetheart.” She winks at me with a mischievous smile, lowering her voice. “But you’re not looking at the sun—you’re looking at the church roof. And not exactly to pray.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, Joyce,” I snap at her, losing my cool for a second as I feel the heat rise to my ears.
While she laughs out loud, I turn away to hide my embarrassment and fix my gaze upward.
Camila is crouched beside Ethan, running a cable.
Her tank top clings to her back with sweat, outlining every muscle as she stretches to adjust a bracket.
She’s tied her hair back, except for a few strands that cling damply to her face and neck.
She bites down on a screwdriver as she fiddles with the Geoscience receiver.
Damn it. It’s the least glamorous thing in the world, and yet I can already feel the heat between my legs.
When lunchtime rolls around, the social club’s wooden porch becomes our base camp. I drop the tools on the table and sit down to devour a beef sandwich, determined not to complicate my life.
But as always, disaster strikes. Because Maddie shows up as if she’s smelled blood—even though I’d sent her to check on the sheds. In a split second, she plops right down on the wooden bench, pressing her hip against Camila’s. Just like that, with no personal space and no holds barred.
“Well,” Maddie murmurs to Camila, leaning in so close that her lips almost brush Camila’s cheek. “You’re so wrapped up in your wires that you didn’t even say good morning to me today.”
Camila turns every shade of red. I can clearly see the blush creeping up her neck until it sets her cheeks ablaze, and the sandwich in my hand starts to suffer the consequences of my tight grip.
“I’m working, Maddie,” Camila murmurs, trying to wriggle out of the embrace with a subtle shrug, but Maddie doesn’t budge. “This isn’t a joke.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Maddie purrs, playfully slipping a finger down the neckline of Camila’s T-shirt. “But we had such a good time the other day at your cabin… We could do it again.”
The bread in my sandwich literally crumbles between my fingers. The other night? At her cabin? And she wants to do it again!
“Let’s see if we can have that second round you owe me tonight—but without any interruptions,” Maddie adds, shooting me a sidelong glance.
Ethan stares intently at his soda can as if it were the most interesting thing on the planet, Kira whistles softly while looking at the ceiling, and Bert wipes his mustache with unbearable slowness.
“You know what, Maddie?” I interject, slamming my glass down on the table. “Maybe you should let her finish connecting the sensors before you start planning your nighttime dates. This whole place depends on this, not on your desire to go out partying.”
Maddie raises an eyebrow, perfectly delighted that she’s gotten under my skin.
“You’ve become so protective of the scientist. I didn’t know you cared so much about what Camila does with her body… or with her nights.”
I jump to my feet, ready to give her a piece of my mind, but Ricky reacts immediately. He leaps up, slips behind the bench, and, with an exaggerated gesture, lifts Maddie’s arm off Camila’s shoulders.
“Hey, hey, Strong! Seriously, we’ve got work to do,” the kid blurts out with a contagious laugh. “And if you keep distracting her with your charms, she’s going to miscalibrate these gadgets, and the next storm is going to be insane. I’m sure you don’t want that on your conscience, do you?”
Ethan lets out a snort that nearly sends soda up his nose. Kira hides behind her napkin, and even Bert shakes his head. The tension in the room eases just enough to keep us from throwing punches.
Maddie raises her hands, though she gives Camila one last subtle caress on the forearm before stepping back. A caress that burns into my retinas. And so does the damn smile Camila gives her in return.
I sit back down and take a furious bite of what’s left of my meal, chewing as if my life depended on it.
· · ·
An hour later, the square begins to clear out.
Maddie has taken off with Ricky to pick up some hardware, and Camila’s team is loading the last boxes onto the trailers.
Camila has lingered by the railing of the social club, entering data into her tablet with a furrowed brow.
I approach slowly, my boots echoing against the wooden planks, until I’m right beside her.
I don’t say anything. I just stare at her, making no attempt to hide it, pouring all the anger, frustration, and damn attraction gnawing at me from the inside into my eyes.
Camila looks up from the screen and holds my gaze. There it is again. That magnetic spark, that intense tension that needs no mathematical charts.
“Are you okay?” she asks me.
“I have no idea,” I admit, taking a step toward her until I can smell the scent of her skin. “Seeing Maddie hanging all over you like she owns you… well, I’m not exactly thrilled about it.”
Camila swallows, biting her lower lip. Her eyes scan my face, lingering a second too long on my mouth.
“It’s not what you’re thinking,” she says, taking a step that almost brings the toes of her boots against mine. “As for Maddie… she’s intense, but it means absolutely nothing. And I plan to make that very clear to her.”
I feel a wild urge to grab her by the waist, to press my fingers against her jeans and see if that electric current burns us both equally.
“Well, watch out for her,” I murmur. “And especially watch out for me, Bennet. Because if I see her marking her territory again, I’ll put you both in your place. I’ve got enough to deal with from the town gossip. I don’t want this to cause a stir when you leave.”
Camila lets out a sigh, but her lips curve into a small smile.
“I’ll keep that in mind, Calloway.”
I break eye contact before I do something truly crazy right in the middle of the street.
I spin on my heel, stride toward the car, and leap into the driver’s seat.
My pulse is racing and my jaw is clenched, but as I shift into first gear, I realize that no matter how much Maddie tries to meddle and no matter how much I try to act tough, the only real, destructive storm about to break… is between Camila Bennet and me.
“And may lightning strike me if I even think about stopping it.”