Love Fast

Byron’s cabin is an exact replica of mine, but it still feels weird being here. With him. He’s my boss, but it doesn’t feel like he has all the power. It feels more like we’re at the end of a date—minus the tornado threat. That can’t be a good sign. I need to focus on the impending disaster rather than the guy who came down the mountain just in time to… rescue me?

“Help yourself to whatever you need,” Byron says, as if an incoming tornado is a regular occurrence. “There’s hot chocolate on the counter. Should I make us some?”

“You think we’re going to be safe?” I ask, glancing out the window. The rain sounds less like it’s falling and more like it’s attacking the cabin with pickaxes.

He catches my eye, holds my gaze and says, “You’re safe now. It’s going to be okay.”

My stomach lurches. Does he mean tonight or forever?

But of course, I know the answer.

I break eye contact. “I’ll make the drinks,” I say. The least I can do is make myself useful. “Thank you so much for helping me,” I call out as Byron heads into the bedroom. “And letting me stay here.”

He reappears in dry clothes with a towel in his hand. “It’s not a big deal. This is the pre-storm. It’s going to get worse.” He rubs a towel against his wet hair, leaving him looking adorably mussed.

“Of course it’s a big deal. I’d be completely on my own if you hadn’t shown up.”

“I didn’t expect the rain this early,” he says.

“I didn’t think I’d need to worry about tornadoes in Colorado.” I pour hot milk into mugs and try not to think about Byron’s worn gray joggers, or the way their low-slung position on his hips should carry an R rating.

“Was that part of your criteria when you were deciding where to come to after the wed— You know?”

I smile at him trying to say the right thing, which is impossible when talking about how I ran out of my wedding. My situation is so ridiculous. He’s not the one who should feel awkward.

“Honestly, I just got on the first plane out once I got to the airport. I didn’t care where I was headed. But Colorado… I don’t hate it. Star Falls, I mean. It’s not like I’ve seen anywhere else in the state other than the airport and whatever I caught through the bus window. But it’s beautiful here. It must have been nice growing up with the mountains in the background.”

“I guess,” he says, in a way that makes me think he doesn’t feel lucky about any aspect of his childhood. He scrapes his fingers through his hair, his biceps flexing as he does.

“Whereabouts in Star Falls was home for you?” I ask, glancing back at the milk in the pan so I don’t start drooling.

“The family farm was at the foot of the mountain.”

“Below the Club?” I ask, handing him a mug of hot chocolate. We both take a seat on the couch, the rain echoing determinedly off the roof.

“Yeah,” he says. “The outer perimeter of the Club’s land on the southeastern side was the boundary of the farm.”

My eyes widen and I lean against the counter. “Oh, so the farm doesn’t exist anymore?”

“The apple trees are still there. Mainly. We took the diseased ones out.”

“Oh, Byron, that’s amazing. So the farm’s stayed in the family in its own way.”

“It’s back in the family,” Byron says. “When my dad died, the farm was taken by his creditors. But I bought it back.” His eyes are hardened, the boyish smile I see from time to time disappears completely. This is businessman Byron—steely and determined.

“I bet you did.”

“No marshmallows?” he asks, in his least artful subject-change yet.

“Apologies, in the rush to escape the potentially collapsing cabin, I forgot to bring them.”

He puts his arm out toward me, and for a moment, I think he’s going to cup my face, lean in and kiss me, but when his gaze flits behind me, I realize he’s reaching for something on the table behind me.

Was I thinking about kissing this man?

My boss?

The really rich, powerful guy who is exactly the type I’m supposed to be staying away from?

I know all the reasons I shouldn’t—each one is categorized and stacked up neatly in my brain. The problem is, the reasons I want to kiss him are mounting up, too. The more I get to know him, the more I want to know.

He holds up a bag of mini marshmallows. “You used to get a lot of leaks where you lived?” he asks, as he shakes the packet of marshmallows into my mug, then his.

I stare into my mug, avoiding staring at him. Even though the rain is trying to break in and the wind has started to howl, I don’t know if I could put up any resistance to Byron if he touched me. And I know I need to.

“We lived in a thirty-year-old trailer,” I say, gazing into my mug. “We were used to leaks. Bits of the ceiling used to collapse every now and then, but I guess it wasn’t solid wood coming down on us like in this cabin.” All of a sudden, it feels like we’re sitting too close. I don’t know if it’s the sound of the storm, or the way he seems so comfortable, but it feels like this cabin is half the size of mine next door.

“Who is us? You said you have three sisters?”

“Yeah, three sisters. I’m the oldest. What about you? Is Mary older or younger?”

“Younger. She just finished college in California. Four siblings must have been…”

“A lot,” I finish for him. “There was a lack of everything except people in our family. Not enough money, or clothes that weren’t worn through, or food that was edible, hot water, privacy, respect. You name it.”

“You never wanted to escape? I mean, before…” he asks, his eyes searching mine like I’m the most interesting person he’s ever met.

“Sure. Ironically, that’s why I was getting married.” I can hear something outside—a tapping, scratching sound. I put my mug down and cock my ear. “Can you hear that? I think there’s someone outside.”

Byron stands and heads to the door. He pulls it wide and in jumps Athena, straight onto my lap. I don’t know where she’s been, but she looks bone dry, like she’s been hanging out in the pet spa all day.

“Athena! You’re back!” I ruffle under her chin and she closes her eyes, pushing her head against my fingers. “Are you hungry, kitty?” I ask. “Let’s get you some yummy food. You can stay here with us and keep dry, okay?”

I set about fixing her some food. She doesn’t wait until I’ve finished dishing it out before she starts eating. Wherever she’s been, she’s worked up an appetite.

“How worried do we need to be about the tornadoes?” I ask.

Byron pulls in a breath. “I have no idea. I would say usually in January you wouldn’t need to be worried at all, but here we are.”noveldrama

“Is there a town storm shelter?”

“Beth and Mike put one in on the other side of the drive,” he says. “We’ll get an alert if anything comes through. It will give us ten minutes or so to get inside.”

My heart begins to thud. This is starting to feel like a situation where I need to panic. But I don’t want to give it away. “Should we put some food and supplies in there?” I ask.

“I’ve got a box ready to go,” he says, nodding toward a crate by the door I didn’t notice before. “We can just take it with us.”

“And by us, you’re including Athena, right?” I grin and glance over at him, then wish I hadn’t as the room shrinks. I swear I can feel his body heat from here.

“I suppose I am.”

“It’s a bonding experience,” I say, trying to lighten the mood. “You two need to get to know each other if I have to move into staff housing before we find her owner.”

“As long as she keeps her claws to herself.”

He grins at me, his boyish smile back with a vengeance. I wonder if I’d be safer next door with a collapsed roof after all, rather than here, with Byron.