“When I mentioned a storm coming in earlier on the phone, your voice changed. As if something were bothering you, but you didn’t want to admit it.”
I released an exhale. “Am I that obvious?”
He chuckled. “Not always, but I’m learning.”
I shook my head as I ate. My gaze moved toward the door when the rain, which had decreased, started to pick up again. Only this time, a more substantial, pelting sound accompanied it.
“Hail.”
I looked to Micah but then dipped my eyes to my plate.
“Why are you scared of thunderstorms?”
I hated that he was able to read me so readily. Or maybe I disliked that I was so damn blatant with my fears. I didn’t know if it was being back in Texas and remembering how intense storms down here got, or if it were that there was a safety level that I felt with Micah, which made it easier to let my guard down.
“We got caught in a tornado once.”
He stopped chewing. “We?”
“My grandfather and I. I was eleven and down here for the summer. We’d driven up to Oklahoma because he was buying some construction stuff from a friend of his. It was such a long drive, but I loved going on adventures with him. The trip was supposed to be one day, but we ended up getting in late and staying overnight. As we were making our way out of town, the sky darkened, and in the distance, I could see the swirling clouds. My grandfather tried to outdrive the storm, but it caught us.”
I paused as a shiver ran through me, remembering those scary moments. I’d screamed my head off as my grandfather did his best to shield my body from the storm with his own.
“The truck we were in rolled, I don’t know how many times. I ended up walking away with a few scratches and bruises, but my grandfather injured his back. It was why he had back problems for the last two decades of his life. It kept getting worse and worse over the years.”
“That’s some scary shit to happen to an eleven year old.”
I nodded in agreement. “I don’t often have this much of a reaction to storms anymore.” I shrugged. “You kind of get used to ’em, you know? In the city, they’re not this bad, but being here, it brought everything back.”
I peered up from staring down at my plate and found Micah moving across the center of the blanket, his lips seeking out mine. The kiss was comforting and heated. It helped to wash away the awful memory of that storm from years ago.
“You know the good thing about storms?” he questioned.
I shook my head.
“They don’t last.”
His lips covered mine again.
It was a damn good thing we’d finished most of the food on our plates because dinner was over. I only wanted to comfort Jodi after she recounted the story of being caught in a tornado, but the expression on her face … it was as if it grabbed me and yanked me to her.
I moved away from her enough to remove the plate from her hands and set it on the coffee table. Then I did the same with my plate and the candle in the center of the blanket.
I captured Jodi’s lips again, and she groaned into my mouth, igniting a fire that burned much warmer than the candles surrounding us. Inching forward, I forced her to her back as I moved over top of her. I was relieved when I didn’t feel any pushback or resistance. We both became entranced in the kiss, and the more I kissed and touched her, the more I wanted to.
I let my hand glide down the length of her body while my lips eased down her chin and her neck. She turned her head, giving me better access to the soft, honey gold skin that resided there. I licked and suckled her skin, appreciating that it tasted even better than the meal I’d brought over.
My hand moved under the thin shirt she wore, my fingertips igniting with a warmth from the press of her bare skin against mine. My cock began to demand release, but I wouldn’t let it have its way. Right as I began to move down the length of Jodi’s body, I heard a murmuring sound.
“The hell?” I growled, looking up to see Hound watching us from only a foot away.
Jodi laughed. “I don’t think he likes being ignored.”
I shook my head. “Too damn bad. Go in the kitchen,” I ordered, jutting my head in the direction I wanted him to go. He stood still for a moment, cocking his head to the side before finally sauntering off.
Not wasting time looking after Hound, I inched farther down Jodi’s body, lifting her shirt to press a kiss to her stomach. I wasn’t surprised to find a belly button ring once I got there. I’d noticed the ring the first time I saw her in a crop top the other night when we had dinner together. I kissed the area above the ring’s location before sticking my tongue into her belly button.
“Mmm,” she moaned, her back arching slightly.
