After the Rain (The Twisted Fate Series Book 1) (4 page)

5

She could do
with a sandwich

He didn’t need the toilet. He just needed to get away from her. Everything about her was driving him absolutely mad.

Her hair – the color, the length, the way it hung, the way she incessantly twirled it around her finger. Her whimsical hippie clothes, especially that eye-offending scarf, her old filthy handbag, the way she had attempted to turn their seats into a rockery garden. And especially the things she said: eating each other in the Andes? Normality killed the cat?

But more than anything, he hated the effect she was having on him, especially when she had gripped his leg. He had immediately felt a surge of something run up his thigh and into his… STOP! Stop, stop, stop. He berated himself as he splashed cool water on his face. But the truth was, he was struggling to control his feelings around her, and he didn’t like being out of control. He needed to be away from her right now, because when she’d looked at him with those green eyes – as corny as it sounded – he’d felt something surging through his body. And for a second or two, he’d wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anyone in his entire life.

Even though the feeling had been fleeting, it had been enough to completely unsettle him. On his way up the aisle, he’d even had the urge to run back to the chair, chuck her over his shoulder and drag her into the toilet with him. It was all so bizarre, especially because he didn’t even find her attractive. She was way, way too thin, for starters. She could do with a sandwich, or six for that matter. He liked a woman with a bit of meat on her bones. And let’s not even get started on the hair and those ridiculous tattoos – he’d noticed a burst of bright pink hearts at the base of her neck, too, for heaven’s sake. She reminded him of one of those My Little Pony toys that all the girls had at one stage.

His ex, Emily, was stunning. A real Jessica Rabbit, with long red hair and curves in all the right places. Stormy was her total opposite in looks, and yet when he thought about her, his pulse and temperature seemed to rise inexplicably. This feeling was making his jeans a little too tight for comfort. He shuffled uncomfortably around the tiny bathroom cubicle for a few minutes before deciding he’d better leave.

As he walked back to his seat, he was relieved to see that she seemed to have wandered off somewhere. But when he got closer, he saw that she was only bending down to scratch in her bag. He realized with shock that, standing directly above her, he could see all the way down the top of her dress – and she was not wearing a bra.
Who doesn’t wear bras?
He almost gasped out loud but quickly swallowed it down.

Her breasts were small, but perky and firm. Her skin was snow white, and had a kind of porcelain texture. She moved around as she searched though her bag, and they shook a little.

WOW!

He was… it was… she was…

What was happening?

And then Stormy looked up at him with those emerald eyes, and smiled knowingly as she met his gaze. He’d been busted in the worst kind of way possible – like some horny, gawking teenage boy. He’d been caught in the act.

Stormy never wore bras. She didn’t believe in them fundamentally. Why strap something down and away when it was just an innocent boob? She’d never been a prude when it came to her body. She wasn’t a flaunter, but she couldn’t care less if someone saw her topless on the beach or in a changing room. It was a body. Everyone had one. Why be embarrassed or ashamed?

Marcus had definitely been looking down her top when she’d bent over. She couldn’t really blame him – the dress was old and the neckline gaped, but she loved that dress and had chosen it especially for the flight. It reminded her of a field of bright sunny sunflowers, which was a happy thought she wanted to hold onto during this nerve-wracking journey.

She didn’t mind that he’d seen her boobs. But it looked like he
did
mind, because he had gone a bizarre shade of red.

“I… um, so sorry…” Marcus mumbled and stuttered, averting his eyes and turning even redder, if that was possible.

“Oh, it’s okay!” Stormy smiled breezily. “It’s not like you’ve never seen a breast before.”

“Shhh,” Marcus hissed, looking panicked now. His eyes darted around to see if anyone had overhead her. “Do you have to say such inappropriate things in public?”

Stormy giggled at him. She couldn’t care less who overheard them. “Does the word
breast
make you uncomfortable, Marcus?”

“Sssshhh.
Please
stop it.” Marcus slid sheepishly into his seat and looked around once more. But the other passengers were too absorbed in what they were doing to notice what was going on, so she decided to push him a little further.

“Breast, boob, boobies…” She teased playfully, almost laughing to see him squirming in his seat before turning to glare at her. She threw her hands up in resignation. “So I guess you wouldn’t like it if I said
ass
, either?”

“You are the most inappropriate person I have ever met, Stormy!” Marcus hissed under his breath.

“And you have the most blocked chakras I’ve ever seen.”

“Well it’s a good thing I don’t believe in chakras, then.” Marcus sounded like he was getting genuinely pissed off.

“Well they believe in you, Marcus,” Stormy countered. “They believe in you.”

“You know that statement of yours makes no sense at all?” His tone seemed to be getting a little nasty, and Stormy didn’t like that.

“Hey. No need to be a snapper-dragon.”

“SNAP!” The word came out a little too loudly. “It’s a
snap
dragon.” He was really angry now.

“Snip snap. Snipper, snapper. Snap, crackle, pop…
whatever.”
Stormy crossed her arms in a huff. She never fought with people, and she didn’t like it one little bit. Fighting was a waste of energy. But something about Marcus rubbed her up the wrong way. And he was clearly used to fighting with people – he did it for a living.

They stared angrily at each other for a moment, before breaking away at the same time and sitting in silence. Stormy was still holding the amber in her hand, and was turning it around in her palm while trying to figure out why she’d liked the feel of his eyes on her so much, when she didn’t like
him
one little bit. When she’d looked up at him, his pupils had been dilated, and his expression had thrilled her. It held the promise of something. Sex and—

Suddenly a perky airhostess appeared at her side and broke her train of thought.

“Hello there. Can I offer you chicken or beef?” she asked with a toothy, too-white smile.

“Do you have anything vegan?” Stormy asked.

“Um… we have a vegetarian option. A lovely vegetable lasagna.”

“Mmmm. It has cheese in it, doesn’t it?” Stormy tilted her head to the side and was about to launch into her
do-I-have-to-tell-you
-about-the-antibiotics-they-add-to-dairy-these-days
speech when the airhostess spoke again
.

“Unfortunately it does.” The toothy smile flickered and it was clear that the airhostess was irked. “I could remove the cheese and just pick out the veggies…?” she offered, slightly sourly, but trying her best to hide her irritation.

“That would be fabu-delish. Thanks so much.” Stormy heard Marcus sigh next to her and decided to ignore him.

The airhostess smiled politely and turned to Marcus. “And you, sir? Chicken or beef?

Marcus leaned over towards Stormy and raised his voice deliberately. “Beef, please. Big, bloody, chunky beef.”

Stormy cringed at the image and once the airhostess had disappeared with a swish of her crisp linen skirt, she turned to Marcus. “Do you know that when an animal is killed, they experience intense fear and produce a surge of adrenalin, which is still in the meat when you eat it? You are eating fear and distress. It’s basically like eating negative emotions!”

He blinked rapidly at her. She hated it when he did that, which seemed to be pretty often. But then, he did have nice eyes, she had to admit that. They were rather big and brown and had a kind of–

Stop it, Stormy. Get a grip. You don’t
even like this guy.
But something else deep inside her was screaming something very different, and those voices were getting screechier by the minute. She tried to silence them with the power of her usually strong mind, but not even that was working.
Oh Aphrodite
–
this was disasterville!

But all those terribly inappropriate feelings that Stormy was starting to experience soon passed when their meals were delivered. She turned to watch Marcus eat – the way he was slicing into his beef with that knife, the way the blood oozed out and the knife grated against the plate. They way he was savaging the flesh with his hungry mouth-beak and pummeling it between his molars was driving her nuts.

“That cow probably had a mother and someone that loved it, you know.” Stormy couldn’t keep silent on this issue anymore. Meat was murder. And Marcus needed to know that!

“What about that mushroom?” he countered smugly, pointing at her meal with his bloodied fork. “Maybe it also had someone that loved it.” His tone was snappy and sarcastic.

Stormy looked at Marcus for the longest time before speaking again. “I don’t like you. And I like most people.” She held Marcus’s mocking gaze while trying to hide her slight twinge of guilt as she crunched a carrot. Maybe vegetables
did
have loved ones?

“Well, I’m not exactly mad for you, either.” Marcus swallowed his last mouthful, pushed the dish aside and tossed his napkin down all rather dramatically.

“Then I guess we understand each other,” Stormy replied huffily.

“I guess we do.”

Stormy glared in the opposite direction for a few moments, stewing over Marcus’s rudeness and the possibility that mushrooms had feelings, when the plane suddenly started shuddering. “What was
that
?”

“Relax, it’s just turbulence.” She could practically hear him rolling his eyes. She hoped it was painful.

The plane bumped again and her stomach dropped. “Something’s wrong, something’s wrong,” she fretted out loud. And despite her current intense dislike of him, she found herself clutching onto Marcus tightly again. This was met with the same disproving look she’d received before.

“Nothing is wrong, trust me. There is always some turbulence on a flight.”

“Are you sure?” Stormy was petrified. The words from her horoscope were ringing in her ears, and she was more convinced than ever of her imminent and untimely demise. Death by airplane crash. She hoped it would be into the sea, at least – smashing into the ground would not be fun.

“I fly all the time, and have never been on a flight where there isn’t some turbulence. And we always land safely. It’s fine.” He was trying to reassure her, but his tone was dismissive and impatient.

Stormy looked around at the other passengers. No one else looked even vaguely perturbed, and the airhostesses were relaxing as they chatted up a storm. If there was something to worry about, surely they would be running around like mad cow diseased chickens, but they weren’t. She took a deep breath and steadied her nerves.

“Try get some rest, okay? We have a long flight ahead.” And with that, Marcus extricated himself from her grip, put his chair down into a full reclining position and lay back, pulling the covers over him.

Stormy
did
feel tired. The stress that she’d been experiencing over the last few days leading up to this flight had been exhausting. She jiggled the little lever that reclined her seat and pulled the soft blankets around her, and immediately nodded off to sleep.

But her pleasant sleep was plagued by a terrible, terrible dream. Terrible. It involved Marcus. And it involved his lips, his hands and various other body parts that she would rather not name at this point. It involved her hand on his big bare chest and a lot of sweat. It also involved his big, large and very attractive-looking…

The second Marcus drifted off, her emerald eyes came into focus. Other features soon joined them: her delicate nose and small, kissable mouth. Those little breasts that were definitely in need of fondling. In his mind’s eye she stood before him and let her dress drop to the ground; she was completely naked, and she was sexy as hell. The dream escalated very quickly and soon he was also naked, and she was on top of him and somehow knew how to give the kind of lap dance that only a seasoned exotic dancer would and then she…