Fighting Fate (20 page)

“It’s not a problem. But I really should get moving with this. If I don’t, I’m going to eventually have to answer to Tom. And right now, I’d really like to keep him happy. I know I only work for him part-time. But I don’t want him to send out someone else only to find out I’ve held the whole project up.”

“Just look at you,” Sarah said.

“What?”

“Being all responsible,” she said with a laugh. “You used to hang out with the wild crowd that was going nowhere. You told me yourself you weren’t going to do anything with your life. You were supposed to go bald. You were supposed to end up with a horrendous case of plumber’s butt and grow a beer belly. Instead, you became freaking respectable! And you’re still hot as hell!” She slapped her hand over her mouth, wincing.

Cole couldn’t help it. He laughed at her. “I’m only twenty-six, Sarah. I have plenty of time to lose my hair and grow a gut.”

She folded her arms across her chest and pouted. “But you won’t.”

He shook his head. “I sure as hell hope not.”

A tiny smile tugged at her lips. “I hope not, too.”

Chapter Fourteen

Sarah clutched Penelope to her chest with one hand while she held the living room curtain back with the other. Usually, the little rascal didn’t like to snuggle unless it was on her terms. She was always far too busy for such nonsense. Tonight, however, she trembled against Sarah.

Lighting tore across the black sky. It was distorted as Sarah looked at it through the rain splattered window pane. The rainfall was so heavy that it streamed down in a gush over the glass, making it nearly impossible to see into the night.

The house vibrated under a clap of thunder a few moments later. Neither the lightning nor the thunder bothered her all that much. At least, not on their own.

It was the unmistakable, eerie sound of trees cracking, falling, and then slamming to the ground that had her concerned.

The lights had been flickering on and off since the start of the storm.

“…hail…straight line winds…fifty miles an hour possible…may produce tornadoes…shelter…”

Sarah made a disgusted face at the radio. A whole lot of good it was doing her if it was going to sputter like that in the middle of the storm warnings. She’d had a hunch this was coming. The hot weather that they had been experiencing had turned eerily cool. She had just hoped the storm wouldn’t be this bad.

The living room lamp gave one last, pathetic flicker and then it went out. A small battery operated lantern glowed from the center of the coffee table. Sarah had placed it there as a precaution. Now, she was glad she’d had the foresight to do so.

She knew it would be wise to head to the cellar. She just couldn’t bring herself to do it. It didn’t matter that it was the safest place in the house. It was damp, cold and spooky. For now, she was going to take her chances with the wind.

She was holding tightly to Penelope so that she couldn’t hide on her. If the weather proceeded to worsen and she had to descend to the cellar, she didn’t want to go without her kitten.

A loud crash caused her to shriek. For just a moment, she thought a tree had hit the house. Then the sound came again. She plucked up the lantern and slowly moved into the kitchen. Her heart was pounding and a sudden lump of fear clogged her throat. The sound came again and again. There was no mistaking it. Someone was pounding on the door.

“Sarah!” Her name was shouted from the other side.

“Cole?” She dropped the lantern on the table and darted to the door.

Penelop k="+ Shee was surprised by the sudden movement. Her claws dug into Sarah as she flung the door open. Another cacophonous rumble of thunder crashed overhead. The noise startled the kitten and she sprang from her grasp.

Cole, soaking wet, standing in the dark, lunged for the kitten. He missed but the movement was enough to startle Penelope into turning tail and darting back into the house.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. She grabbed him by the arm as she pulled him inside. The trees were swaying dizzily, lit up by the strobe light-like flashes.

“Checking on you,” he said. He carefully maneuvered out of his jacket, trying to keep most of the dripping water on the rug.

“I didn’t even see you drive up!”

His headlights probably blended in with the lightning flashes, making them unnoticeable on the other side of the house.

“I had to check on you. I’ve been calling but you haven’t answered. The tornado sirens are going off in town. It’s raining so hard, I could barely see out the windshield,” he said. “I had hoped you’d gone to your parents’ house but Gretchen said you were out here all alone.”

“My phone doesn’t have a signal in the storm. Wait,” she said, “how did you get my number?”

He gave her a sheepish smile. “I may or may not have taken it off the estimate Tom wrote up for you.”

“Cole!” she said as she playfully swatted his shoulder. She jumped back when water splattered off of the coat he was holding in that hand. “Here let me take that. I can hang it up until the dryer is working again,” she offered.

“Would you be offended if I got out of these wet jeans too?”

The driveway and yard must’ve been filled with puddles she realized. His boots were soaked and his jeans were drenched as water seeped up to his knees.

She shook her head.

“I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t go commando today,” he teased.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you usually?”

He grinned at her as if to say,
Wouldn’t you like to know?

She was not going to answer that unvoiced question. She shook her head, biting back a smile. “I’ll grab you a towel.”

When she returned, Cole had stripped down to his boxers and a t-shirt, which had remained somewhat dry under his coat. Without letting herself gawk too much, she handed him the towel. He scrubbed at his hair while Sarah hung up his jeans.

ustify">She could hear the storm raging outside. The house shuddered against the intensity of the wind. The small lantern provided inadequate lighting.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said as she crossed the kitchen to him.

“Me too. I hated the thought of you being out here alone in this storm. Really, you should be down in the cellar.”

“If I had gone down to the cellar, I wouldn’t have heard you. You’d still be standing outside,” she pointed out.

The house shook as another tree, this one closer than any before it, crashed to the ground.

“Well,” he said, “we’re going down there now. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and reached for the lantern with his free hand.

“I don’t know where Penelope went,” she fretted. “If we’re going down, she should too.”

The sound of hundreds of little pellets hitting the windows startled them both.

“Must be hail,” Cole said. He pulled the cellar door open and a pale glow emanated from within. He glanced over his shoulder at her, tossing her a questioning look.

“I set up a few things down there while the electricity was on,” she said as she moved past him, carefully taking the first step. She stopped. “I really should find Penelope before I go down.”

“Don’t worry about the cat,” Cole ordered.

Sarah let out a resigned sigh and descended into the safety below.

When she’d first heard bad weather was headed their way, she’d blown up her old air mattress. She’d tossed a few blankets over it and had brought down her spare lantern. She didn’t like being in the cellar but if she had to be there, then she wanted to be as comfortable as possible. That meant not having to sit on the cold, damp floor. The spare lantern was in case hers gave out. She would absolutely hate being trapped down below in the dark if she was forced to spend the night down there.

She turned one lantern off to save the battery. Then she knelt down so she could crawl across the mattress. It was either that or she’d have to stand or sit on the unappealing floor. Cole followed suit, the mattress bulging ominously under his weight.

“Now tell me when you talked to Gretchen?” she asked with raised eyebrows. She had positioned herself so she was sitting across from him. The lantern’s glow cast shadows across his face, making his cheekbones look even more defined. She realized she was staring at him and forced herself to look away.

He faltered for a moment before saying, “What?”

“Upstairs? When you got here you said that Gretchen told you I was here all alone. When did you talk to her?”

He crinkled his f krinI wace up a bit in hesitation. “I might have her phone number.”

“You might? Did you steal that too?” she scoffed good-naturedly.

He shook his head. “She might have given it to me.”

“What? When?
Why
?” she sputtered in surprise.

“Don’t be mad…”

“No promises here.” She doubted she’d be mad, not exactly, but no need to let him know that. Not yet.

“I went into Suzie’s one day. Gretchen was working. We chatted.”

“About me?”

“About you,” he agreed. He scraped a hand over his face and looked at her cautiously. “Last Friday night, she told me she would get you to Lucky’s.”

“Of course she did,” Sarah muttered. All of that talk about fate? Had it all been nothing but manipulation, by her dear, sweet sister? “All of those ‘chance’ meetings, they weren’t chance at all. They were set up by Gretchen?”

“No,” he was quick to say. “Just last Friday.” He frowned. “Well, I mean, as far as I know, just that one. But I can promise she had nothing to do with me working here. Or the time we ran into each other at the district office.”

“What about the hardware store?”

He shook his head. “When was that? I never saw you at the hardware store.”

“So she didn’t plan that?”

Cole shook his head. “I don’t know how she possibly could have.”

“What about the first time I saw you at the bar?”

He shrugged. “I guess I remember seeing her there a few times, when I didn’t know who she was. But no, I was definitely not planning on seeing you that day.”

Sarah felt her tension ease. Maybe she hadn’t been manipulated by Gretchen. At least, not completely.

“I only called her tonight because I couldn’t get a hold of you. I was worried.” He glanced around the dimly lit cellar.

Sarah looked around too. The place was about as unromantic as possible and yet, she felt the telltale flutters forming in her stomach. The feeling was something that she had become accustomed to when in Cole’s presence. It was just that she hadn’t felt them in a long, long while. The very idea that she was feeling that way now, in this dismal environment made her mentally roll her eyes at herself.

The room was gloomy and it was the last place any romantic thoughts had any business forming. A kss oom nd yet, with the lantern’s soft glow—

Cole cut into her thoughts. “It looks like you had everything under control. The mattress was a good idea. If the storm keeps up, it might be a good idea to just spend the night down here.”

Spending the night with Cole? She shivered at the thought.

“Come here,” he said as he tugged at a blanket. He held out his other hand to her.

She hesitated for only a moment. Where else was there to go? She could go racing upstairs, but she was sure that even then, she wouldn’t get far enough away from Cole to stop herself from feeling what she was feeling. If this had happened two weeks ago, she definitely would’ve been running. But now?

Gretchen’s words echoed in her head.
It’s fate, Sarah. Stop fighting it.

“Thank you for coming out here to check on me. I’m sure the drive was awful,” she said as she was pulled into the security of his arms. She helped readjust the blanket until they were cocooned in it. Her bare leg rested against his bare leg and she was reminded that he was only in boxers. She was in a pair of thin cotton pajamas.

This could be bad.

Or very, very good.

“It was worth it. I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be right now,” he said as he tightened his arms around her. “I tried to never let myself think about how much I missed you. But after I saw you again, that changed.”

She tilted her head to look up at him. The action brought her mouth tantalizingly close to his.

“Did you miss me? Even just a little?” His breath whispered across her cheek.

She nodded as she looked up into his questioning face. At first, she’d missed him with a passion she had not thought possible. That had faded over the years. She’d worked hard at burying those feelings because after she met Aaron, Cole had no place in her thoughts. But now Aaron was gone and Cole was here and despite herself, those feelings didn’t want to stay buried. They were climbing to the surface at an alarming rate.

When he lowered his mouth to hers, he did it slowly, giving her time to back away. A part of her wanted to stop him. He had hurt her in the past and his explanation had not been nearly enough to explain that hurt away. If anything, it had only confirmed to her what she’d suspected. He’d purposefully been trying to push her away. That realization should’ve been enough to make her stop him.

It should’ve been, but it wasn’t.

She found herself reaching upward, sliding her arms around his neck. His hands moved to her hips, pulling her into his lap. His mouth met hers with gentle urgency. It was as though he was afraid she was going to change her mind. His palms slid to the small of her back at first. Then they slid upward, beneath the lightweight pajama shirt, press k sh she wasing her body to his. She shifted in his lap, causing him to moan into the kiss.