Storm Warning (9 page)

It left him dazed, confused, and aching. And he didn’t c
are for it in the least. It had taken every last ounce of
willpower
the
night
before
to make him leave
her room. Otherwise he knew he would have taken her then and there no matter what. The better part of the night after her rejection was spent in a cold shower. And now, it was the same grinding need for her that made him edgy.

They steered off the road
and joined the rest of the crew,
who were almost done setting up the equipment.

“Stats, please,
” Tory said after she climbed
out of the truck
.

While Jack and Joel ran things by her, Gabe made his way to the back of the SUV and unloaded his own equipment.

“National Weather Service’s already got an advisory out for a severe thunderstorm warning
an
d tornado watch for this county,
” Joel said between puffs
of his cigarette
.

“Effective until?”

“Four o’clock.”

Tory nodded.
“Sounds reasonable. It’s a big one.” She wiped her
hands on her jeans, looked at the sky.

Gabe sat back and watched her work. She was everywhere. Energy radiated from her little compact body and never seemed to settle.
Even when all the machines were set up and everyone was in their place, she paced.

Their view was spectacular, Gabe mused. He was going to get one hell of a shot whether this storm produced tornados or just rain
and lightning
.

“Let’s keep our eyes open, guys. I don’t want to end
up in the bear’s cage this time,
”
he heard
Tory
announce
.

“Bear’s cage?” Gabe asked her
,
only half expecting an answer.

He watched as she turned to him and he
saw
uneasiness creep over her face.
Her brown eyes were a little wide, but Gabe contributed it to her excitement. Her skin was also pale. Remembering how Adam had claimed she didn’t like storms, he wondered again why she did it.
With a waning sigh, she walked over to him.

“It’s when you’re in the part of the storm that’s all but hidden in rain and hail. It can be dangerous. Tornados are quick and that rain can mask them on radar
even when
they’re there. That’s why we stay right along the edge of the clouds. But sometimes, radars can be off or winds can
change
unexpectedly. You just never know.”

She gave up and sat down beside him on the grass.

“I
’ve been meaning to talk to you,” s
he said after a minute.

He looked over at her.
She’d left her hair down and it flowed silkily in the wind
behind her
. Her eyes were more
of a
deep amber today
rather
than chocolate and they were focused on
him
.

“Oh?”

“Yes, well. Last night before…” She trailed off and focused her gaze on her hands. She began to pick tiny blades of grass from the ground as she
struggled on
. “We seemed to be getting along. Then
that
happened and now it’s back to being…” She shrugged.

“Go on,” h
e urged, enjoying her while she was flustered.

She plucked her sunglasses from where they were clipped on her jeans and slipped them
back
on. “I want us to get along, Gabe.”

“And?”

She pulled her lips back over her teeth. He thought she might bite him in a minute.
“And I want us to forget what happened last night and just move on.”

“Forget what happened?”

She nodded, shrugged,
and went back to picking grass.

“Tory.” His voice was gentle again and she sat up straight, bracing herself.
He watched her shoulders stiffen and her chin shoot up, just as he knew it would.
“I don’t think either of us can forget about that. And I think we both know what’s going to happen from here.”

“It can’t.” It came out in a breath. “You don’t want me, Gabe. Please
just forget that ever happened.

“I don’t want you?” h
e asked with a sneer.
Was she trying to make him angry? No, he realized, watching her slim fingers pluck at the ground. Her lips were pressed
into
a prim line, as if she
was holding
something back. His patience and control were both wearing thin.

“Gabe, I—”

“You want to look at me when you’re talking to me instead of mowing the damn field?”

Tory’s gaze snapped back to his. “Why are you so angry with me?”

“Because you,” he said and yanked her toward him by her shirt collar, “are sitting here denying what you felt for me last night and
you’re
asking me to forget it when you know neither of us can.”

“I’m not denying anything,” she replied hotly. She jerked
back
and pulled herself from his grasp
. She lifted her chin
again
and looked at him right in the eye. “And I’m sorry you thought it was more than it was. I’ll be more careful in the future
so we won’t have
any more
misunderstandings
.”

He could scarcely believe what he was hearing. Was she actually trying to convince him she wasn’t attracted to him? Did she think that would make him back off?

“I understand,” he smiled easily. He understood he was just going to have to show her.

Tory let out a reli
eved breath. “I’m so glad you—”

She swallowed her words when he
pulled her into his arms. His lips covered hers and savagely demanded from her. He took and he took
—running his hands down to grip her hips—
until she was breathless and limp against him.

And right before her arms went around him
, he shoved her back onto the ground.

“
Understand
that
,” h
e bit out.

She could only stare at him and cover her swollen lips with trembling fingers. He felt like a brute, like an animal. She was so small and he forgot his strength sometimes.
He didn’t understand how she got under his skin so easily.

“Gabe,”
she whispered, shakily.

“Tory! We’
ve got one brewing on the radar,
”
Kary
shouted from the watch station.
He
hadn’t taken his eyes off her and he watched her hazy eyes go sharp and glassy. They darkened to the velvet brown he’d admired when he’d first met her. Her lips firmed and he could see the
shutters
close. She wouldn’t worry about the kiss, at least not until later.

“Get your camera ready, Wills.
It’s going to be a doozy.
”
She
scrambled up off the ground and ran to the watch station.

It certainly is
, he thought with a sigh.

Tornado sirens
roared
in the
distance.  Gabe was behind his
camera in a quick instant. After hooking up his
shutter
release, he stood beside the tripod and snapped a few shots of the murky clouds
in the e
ast
to test the lighting
.

Damn, but that girl infuriated him. He stole a look at Tory
where she
was crouched down watching the clouds. She clutched the binoculars in her hands and her fingers were white as bone.

She had a scowl sat on her face as she waited. Gabe tore his g
aze from the
crazy, beautiful, infuriating woman and concentrated on the clouds.
It looked like a black sea. He saw the rotation before Adam pointed to it. He clicked a few shots
.

The air still
ed
around him. He could even describe it as tranquil, that calm before the storm. He glanced over and saw Tory pointing and saying something to
Kary
. He followed where her finger indicated and could see it.

The sky wa
s barely beginning to dip down.
Gabe shot a picture of the phenomenon and zoomed in
for another
. It grew gradually and as it descended from the sky, it gained thickness and became darker and darke
r. It sounded like a freight train. The hairs on his arms stood like a frightened cat’s.

He glanced over to Tory again. Now, she held the binoculars to her face and
stood
in front
of the crew. She was trembling violently. He was just about to call ou
t to her when he heard Adam
whoop
from the other side of him
.

He turned back to see the tornado take shape and spin r
uthlessly
northeast
. He almost forgot about his camera, he grabbed hold of the
shutter
release and clicked repetitively
, adjusting the angle as he went
.

The twister
at
e
up the distance and crossed
the
field, still growing in bulk. He heard everyone gasp when they realized it
was headed
straight
toward a big white house
on the other side of the field
.
Sweat rolled down Gabe’s back and he watched the massive black, spinning monster consume the house through his viewfinder.

Then he heard her scream. He spun around to see Tory sprinting down the hill they occupied
. She ran
straight
toward the
tornado
and into the path of destruction.
His fingers flexed from the panic, his thumb struck the shutter release, capturing another picture by accident. He dropped it and tore down the hill after her.

Chapter Six

Tory flew. She didn’t know how she could run so quickly when her legs felt like jelly. All she knew
was
that she
had been
standing at the watch station one minute, then the next she saw a little girl on a blanket in the backyard.
And a massive, roaring monster coming right for her.

She knew it was herself she’d
been seeing, but what if there were people in that house?
The tornado got them,
was
all she could think. She had to help.

Her sides were aching fiercely,
but she didn’t
lose
speed.
Her sneakers lost traction several times on the wet grass.
She heard someone shouting her name behind her, b
ut she didn’
t break stride. It fueled her to
keep
run
ning
and
to
run faster.

Moments later, she cleared a white picket fence in the front yard of the house
. She saw
the tornado
dissolve
in the distance and cursed it with every step she took.
It had done
its damage
, she thought wildly, and now it was gone. Just like before.

She ran to the side of the house and a scream nearly tore from her
throat
. The roof was gone. The top
half of the house was destroyed and sunken in.
She tried to open the back door, but it didn’t budge.

“Is somebody in there?”
she shouted in a voice that was not her own.

She
rounded the house
,
stopped at a pil
e of debris and waited a beat. Then s
he heard someone crying.
Oh, God
, she thought as she slammed her body into a
full length
window, already partially broken from the storm.

G
lass broke all around her and
she kicked the rest of it down to gain access.

“Help my dad, please!” a woman shouted.

Tory looked up and saw her. S
he stood there with her blond hair in
wild
disarray and blood on her hands. Tory looked at the limp figure on the floor and was beside him in an instant.

With shaky fingers
she
felt for a pulse.