Storm Warning (2 page)
Authors: Kadi Dillon
What if this guy was only out looking for a thrill? What if he insisted on staying on the team?
With him manning the purse strings, he would hold
all
the power.
He would take over, completely leaving Tory out of the circle. How had control slipped so quickly away?
While Adam checked
the team
in, s
he thought of all the possible things that could go wrong while carrying a high-maintenance, sophisticated man like Gabe Wills
around
. A few minutes into her brood, Adam slid back into the truck
and handed a card key to Tory.
“In case
you change your mind,” h
e said with a
n irritating
grin.
“I won’t.” She put the card key in the glove compartment, shutting it with a
pop
.
Once e
veryo
ne had gone into their rooms,
she
lea
ned back in her seat. She wasn’
t being unreasonable, she told herself. She was grieving in a way. This was no longer going to be
her
team,
her
project. She’d lost—failed, and it was mortifying.
On a muttered oath,
she
slid into the driver
’
s seat and started the engine. She needed time to herself, she
thought
as she pulled out onto the highway.
She braked at a stop light and waited for it to turn green. Sh
e should be happy right now.
She was finally in Lincoln,
where
Vance
lived. They weren’t serious—Tory had no desire for serious—but they always had a blast when they could carve out a little time together.
S
he gunned the engine and switched lanes.
Restlessly, she glanced at the clock on the radio. It was
only
four o’clock. She grumbled something bad temperedly and forced her eyes away from the neon green numbers.
They could do an early dinner, she thought. Maybe go for a drive later.
After fumbling out her phone, she
dialed Vance’s number.
“Hello.”
“Hi. It’s Tory.”
“Tory.”
Since he said it like a question, she answ
e
red it in kind. “Yes. You know—
y
our
super-
hot
girlfriend slash rival storm chaser, Victoria Fairchild?”
“I know who you are, baby. You caught me in the middle of a nap.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you want to call me back?”
She fiddled with the air conditioner as she waited at a
crosswalk
.
“No, no it’s cool.” He coughed viciously into the phone.
Struggling with disappointment, s
he pr
etended it was a real cough al
though it sounded anything but genuine.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, baby. I’m real sick. I know you’re supposed to be in town today
,
but I’m afraid we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to be together.”
The idea of spending the entire night alone wasn’t an appealing one, but one more day wouldn’t kill her. Vance was more like a convenient friend with benefits. Only now wasn’t convenient. “All right, tomorrow
.
It’ll have to be early. We’re planning on heading out at nine,
but I can push it back a few hours.
”
“Great. We can go to that little
candy
shop you like. I can get a new tattoo—”
Tory listened to him rattle on about the new design he’d drawn for a tattoo on his chest—some kind of Viking helmet in honor of his
own storm chasing
team.
His brother—Charlie—was supposed to get one to match. She wanted to gag.
“Sounds hot,” she said, turning the truck into a gas station parking lot. “Listen, I’m going to run, but I’ll call you in the morning. Feel better, okay?”
She clicked the end button and tossed the phone onto the
floorboard
. With a moan of frustration, she turned the truck around and drove back to the hotel.
She had never counted on anyone for a good time, she thought angrily.
Why should she start now?
Surely there was something she could do in this town. Her team would be busy catering
to
Mr. Big Shot. They probably wouldn’t even notice she wasn’t there.
She w
ould make her own fun, she decided as she pulled the truck
into a space and slammed it in P
ark.
When she reached the stairs, she walked up them slowly. As petty as it was, it was a blow to her pride
to come here, to a hotel he paid for
.
“Finally get your head out of your ass?”
Adam asked when she knocked on his door.
He stepped aside,
holding
the door open for her. He had just stepped out of the shower and hadn’t
yet pulled his hair back in it
s stubby tail he kept in habitually. Unable
to resist, Tory tugged the wet strands.
“No, it’s still up in there. I just wanted to let you know I’m going to
go window shopping. I might try
the club on Fourth Street tonight.”
“Vance taking you?”
She felt a twinge of lon
ging deep within her. She couldn’t
quite call it loneliness
yet. “He’s
staying home. He’s
sick.”
“Sick,
” Adam scoff
ed
.
“So that guy’s here?” Tory asked, making herself comfortable on Adam’s double bed.
“If you mean Gabe, then yes. He’s here, he’s nice. You should go talk to him.” Adam finished drying his hair with a towel, then tied it back. “He asked about you.”
“Not interested. He can ride with Billy
all season
.” She jumped up off the bed. “
Don’t wait up for me
, okay?
” She
turned
to leave and almost smacked right into Billy’s chest.
“Where
do you think you’re going?”
“Wherev
er I want.
” She poked him in the arm.
“
Going to ground me?”
Chapter Two
Figuring T
ory out was going to be one hell of a ride, Gabe decided as he strolled into a smoke-filled bar on the strip. It would at least take his mind off his troubles. The club annoyed him. The noise annoyed him. The people in the
noisy
club annoyed him even more.
Adam would be showing up later to do “damage control.”
Everyone else had tak
en the night off. Jack and Joel—
the unstoppable twins—
still had numbers to
run and equipment to clean. Kar
y was staying in her room waiting for her hus
band’s phone call. And Frankie—
Gabe laughed
to himself
, picturing the balding
man with a full beard
—was no
where to be seen.
He spotted Tory instantl
y. Billy had shown him a wallet-
size photograph of her standing in a field with a tornado behind her in the distance. Well, Gabe mused as
he
made his way
to the bar,
it hadn’t been
distant enough.
He could almost feel the wind from the twister as he
’d
gazed at
her picture
. And the tornado wasn’
t the only thing that
’d
had his pulse jumping. Tory was beautiful. Her hair was up in a ponytail in the photo
, but
now
at the club
she wore it down
in beautiful tawny waves flowing everywhere. It looked as though she had just
run
her hands through i
t. Messy and bea
utiful chestnut, rich and thick
—t
he kind of hair that made a man want to run his
own
hands through
it
.
He sat down next to her at the bar and smiled lazily
. She didn’
t even seem to notice him. She sat nursing a beer and staring
blindly
at
the dance floor.
He
ordered
her another beer and one for himself.
“Hi, there.”
Her eyes snapped to his and he felt his heart rate increase. They were even more vivid in
person, he mused.
Velvet brown
. Her full sculpted mouth was unpainted and curved into a sorry attempt for a smile.
“Hi.”
Her voice was more lyrical with one syllable than most women’s in a
full
conversation. He mentally fumbled as he searched for something to say.
“Haven’t seen you around here,” he said,
attempting to
block
out the
audacious
images
her bedroom voice provoked
. He could photograph her
, he thought, studying her features
.
She would look perfect at any angle.
A nude.
Classy, with her long
dark hair
spread out over crisp
white sheets. Rose petals. He sh
ifted on the bar stool when the
image became a little too clear.
“That’s because I’m not from here.” She picked up the beer he had bought her
and tipped it toward him
. “Thanks.”
“You here with someone?”
She hesitated
,
then
sighed. “No, I’m here alone.”
“Why?”
She shrugged and tap
ped on the bar. The bartender se
t a shot in front of her
. S
he chugged it without a second thought
,
then went back to her beer.
“Boyfriend’s sick.”
“That’s rough.” Gabe thought that any man who’d give up a night with her was a sorry individual.
He looked down at her hands, pale and pretty against the roughly
scraped surface of the bar.
They were
small
with short
,
unpainted nails
gently rounded at the tips
. Her fingers were long and thin
, making them seem
delicate
.
From the information he’d already gathered about her, she was anything but. Right now,
her fingers
tapped restlessly on the wood, making Gabe want to still
them with his own.
She r
apped the bar for another shot.
He brought his gaze back up to her face.
“How many of those have you had
?” h
e asked
,
noticing the rosy shade of her cheeks against the pallor of her skin.
She
shrugged
. “Not enough.”
“Six. But who’s counting?
” t
he bartender wink
ed at her
.
“You enjoy all you want, Hun
.”
She smiled at him
,
then
turned back to Gabe
. “I don’t know him, but he’s so sweet.
”
Since her words were slurred, Gabe scooted the beer away from her.
“You may need to be cut off. I think you’ve probably had enough.”
“No, no. I really haven’t.” She tapped the bar again. “I can hold my liquor.”
The bartender smiled and se
t another shot down in front of her. Gabe snatched it up and
knocked
it
back
.
Her brows drew together and her mouth came to a beautiful pout. “That was
a really shitty thing to do,” s
he accused and signaled for another.
“Let’s dance,
” Gabe suggested
, rising from the stool
.
“I don’t like you.”
She frowned again. “
Know
. I meant
to say
I don’t
know
you.”
He had to smile.
Both were true, he knew.
If she didn’t like him now, he couldn’t wait to see her
reaction
when she
realized
who he was.