Loving Storm (Ashes & Embers Book 5) Read online

  “You looked sexy bent over the hood of the car,” I whisper against her ear as I pull her blouse out of the waistband of her pants and slowly undo the tiny buttons, my fingers lingering in the valley of her breasts. Following my lead, she works the four buttons of my button-fly jeans. Fuck zippers. They’re way too quick and easy. I like feeling her tug at the brass buttons impatiently to get to me.

  I slip her blouse off her shoulders and throw it onto a nearby lawn chair. She shivers in the cool breeze, her nipples peak against the thin lace of her bra. I cover her mouth hungrily with mine as she grasps my cock, her palm pressing against the tip, her fingers stroking my hard shaft.

  The clasp of her bra unhooks easily, and I slide my hands from her waist to caress her breasts. She moans against my mouth and tightens her fingers around me as I quickly unzip her pants and push them down to her ankles. Still caught in our kissing frenzy, we step out of our clothes and I scoop her up in my arms to carry her to the hot tub, and I lean over the edge to lower her into the steaming water. She comes to me as soon as I climb in next to her, immediately wrapping her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. Our lips and bodies connect simultaneously, perfectly. My hands cup her ass cheeks, pulling her taut, wet body against mine as my cock sinks into her. Her soft moans and hums drive me totally wild. Every sound, every clench, every arch of her body fuels my fire for her, my mind abandoning any and every thought that isn’t Evie. All I want, all I need, all I think about is her.

  Evie didn’t fill a void; she made a place in my life that never would have existed without her.

  Under the star-filled sky, her thighs tighten around me, her fingers clench my shoulders urgently and, with a few deep thrusts, we’re coming together, our bodies shaking and shuddering in the steaming water.

  I back her up to the bench in the water and set her down on it, kissing her lips softly as she reaches up to hug me close, her limbs still trembling. After-sex Evie is always a subdued, sleepy-eyed, slow kissing bundle of adorableness.

  “I love you,” she whispers. “So, so, so, so much.”

  My heart swells as I stroke her cheek. “That sounds like a lot.” I touch my lips to her damp forehead.

  “It is.”

  “I love you a lot too.”

  After we’ve relaxed and stargazed, I help her into one of the thick gray robes we keep by the hot tub. I hold onto her hand as we go back inside the house, so she can’t run off and embark on one of her distraction projects.

  “I’ll get us some more wine.” I retrieve the wine bottle and two new glasses from the kitchen while she curls up on the couch. I’m hoping the mix of wine, a steamy hot-tub, and orgasms relaxes her enough to open up and doesn’t backfire on me and send her into a ten-hour nap. Evie’s a lightweight when it comes to alcohol—she’s not a drinker—and I only recently convinced her that we can enjoy a bottle of wine occasionally without her worrying I’m going to fall back into my old habits. Alcohol and drugs were things I once used to escape my own head, but I have no reason to do that shit anymore.

  My life is good.

  “Thank you for all this,” she says when I sit on the couch next to her, pulling her legs over my lap.

  “Things have been busy the past few weeks.” I run my hand under her robe and rest it on her thigh. “We need some us time to talk.”

  She swallows hard. “Talk?”

  With my other hand I grab hers and hold it up; the big diamond sparkles like a star, even in the dimness of the room.

  “I gave you this for a reason. Remember?”

  She smiles. “Of course I remember. It was one of the best days of my life.”

  “Then let’s set a date for what’s supposed to be the day to blow away all other best days - one with a cake with little people on top. And a dog and a cat too, if you want.”

  “Storm…”

  My gut sinks with her fading smile. “Do you still want to marry me? What’s the problem, babe?”

  I’ve gotten dozens of marriage proposals over the years. Most coming from fans that believed they were in love with me even though I’d never met them before. Some were random hookups that only lasted one night. I’ve even had men propose - good-looking ones with better hair than me and a lot of money. Now the one girl I actually want to marry and can’t imagine my life without is holding back, and I have no idea why.

  “Of course I want to marry you. I want that more than anything in the world, Storm.”

  “Then what’s got you all tweaked? Why aren’t you shoving invitations with swirly lettering in my face or turning into bridezilla?”

  Her eyes lower, and a tear slips out of the corner of her eye. That tiny glistening tear is a twenty-foot, neon-red warning sign in my head.

  Grabbing her chin, I gently lift her face. “Talk to me, baby. You can tell me anything that’s on your mind. You know that.”

  My voice might sound confident but, inside, I’m freaking the fuck out with worry about her. I’m not going to let her slip into an anxiety-ridden state of depression. I won’t let her sabotage what should be the happiest time of her life - of our life.

  I’ve been there and done that and have the T-shirt and the fucking scars to prove it.

  “I’m worried,” she says as she wipes the tear from her cheek.

  “That’s obvious, and you have to tell me why. Are you having doubts about me or us?”

  She shakes her head. “No…I mean, sometimes things are a little crazy with you traveling and the social media stuff is frustrating, but I know we’re okay as a couple.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “It’s…I don’t have anyone to come to the wedding.” Her voice cracks on the words. “I only have Amy—and I love her—but I don’t have any family or any other friends that aren’t part of your family.”

  “Hey, my family is your family, Evie.”

  “I know, and I love them all so much. It just makes me sad, not having my mom here to plan it with, or having my father here to walk me down the aisle. Even though I was in high school when they died, there were a few times when they talked about me getting married someday. My mom wanted me to wear her pearl and diamond earrings.” She sniffles and smiles weakly. “And my father wanted a live band that could play and sing some Sinatra songs for him and my mom to dance to. And he always said he was going to have a long talk with my future husband before he gave his blessing…and now we’ll never know what he wanted to say.” The trembling of her lower lip cracks my heart, and all I can do is pull her into my arms and hold her close to me.

  “You can still wear your mom’s special earrings. And I think I know what your dad would have said to me.” I press my lips to the top of her head. “He would have told me to love you, and take care of you, and be patient with you, and never hurt you. He would have told me I better always treat you like a princess. And I will. Always. He would have told me to kiss you every night and every morning. And he probably would have told me to cut my hair and get a real job.”

  She laughs and sobs at the same time and snuggles against my shoulder. “I think you’re right. I can picture him saying those things.”

  “I know you miss them, Evie. If there were a way to bring them back for you, I would do it in a heartbeat. But I’m sure they’re watching over you, and they wouldn’t want to see you sad about your wedding. They’d want you to be happy.”

  “You’re right.”

  “My father can’t wait to walk you down the aisle. He brings it up every time I talk to him. And you know my mom and Gram are itching to start planning and get all involved and spend as much money as possible. Look at Talon and Asia…Asia doesn’t have any family either, and she married a stranger in a roomful of even more strangers. I love you. My family loves you. You got this, babe.”

  A big sigh escapes her, and I can feel the tension leaving her as her body relaxes against me. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I think I’m feeling a little lost and lonely and overwhelmed. Sometimes things just hit me hard, and I miss my parents even more.”

  “It’s okay. I want you to talk to me when you feel like that. Don’t shut me out. You know I can’t deal with that. It makes me mental.”

  “I know. You like to be all up in my head,” she says teasingly, twirling a lock of my hair around her finger.

  “Actually, I like to be all up in your everything.”

  She giggles when I pull her closer and kiss her neck, and it’s music to my ears. She’ll never know how much seeing her sad or worried destroys me inside and how it opens doors for ghosts of the past to creep out. I never want her to see that side of me.

  Releasing her, I pour some wine into our glasses and hand one to her. “Why don’t we go in the bedroom and play bad cop arrests the naughty driver, and tomorrow we’ll pick a wedding date?”

  She almost spits out her wine as she giggles some more. “Do you have handcuffs, Officer Storm?”

  “You’re about to find out.”

  This is what I love and need so much—how she’s always willing to happily play along with any of my moods.

  Chapter Three

  I’m sitting on the floor in the living room of the cabin, with my laptop and a big printed calendar in front of me, trying to find a date that fits Storm’s schedule and also his mother’s. She is now going to be my boss and my mother-in-law. Thankfully, she and I have a great relationship and are able to keep our work and personal lives separate, or this could have disaster written all over it.

  Storm stabs his e-cig at a square on the calendar.

  “Here. Let’s get married on this day.”

  “That’s next weekend, hon.”

  He takes a drag off his e-cig and raises a pierced eyebrow at me. “And your point is?”

  “That’s too soon. There’s no time to plan.”

  “Evie, between my mom’s persuasiveness and the money we can spend, we can make it happen next weekend, trust me.”

  I frown at him and open my “Wedding Wish List” file, which I started a few months ago, on my laptop. “No. We’re not using money to bribe people to rush our wedding.”

  “Why not? People do it all the time.”

  “We’re not going to be like those people. We’re not snobs.”

  He shrugs and nods. “Okay…you’re right. Then soon. Not a hundred days away from the day I picked. I want to get married and honeymoon while the band’s on break so we can be together as much as possible before the crazy starts up again.”

  Leaning back against the couch, I pull my laptop onto my lap and eye him from behind the screen.

  “Do you want to know what I really, really want? Like my super-duper dream wedding?”

  “Lay it on me and I’ll make it happen. As long as it’s soon.”

  Has any man ever been this excited and impatient to get married? How did I get this lucky? I chew my lip, hoping he doesn’t think my idea is crazy or weird. “I would love a Christmas- and winter-themed wedding in December. I want to wear a white dress with white fur trim, with little glittery snowflakes in my hair, and carry a bouquet of red flowers. I want to give snow globes to our guests. And I’d love a cake that looks like it has icicles hanging off it. I know it sounds a little out there, but I have all these ideas and pictures I’ve been saving…and it would be sooo beautiful.”

  He crawls over to me, grabs my face in his hands, and kisses me to the point of making me breathless, knocking my laptop onto the floor.

  “Its fuckin’ awesome, babe,” he says, grinning. “Let’s do it. Then a honeymoon someplace quiet.”

  “Really? You’re okay with all that?”

  “I think it’s gonna rock. It’s cool as hell that it goes with how we met. My mom will lose her mind over it. It’s going to kill her that she didn’t think of it herself.”

  “December is two and a half months away though. Is that okay?”

  He sits back on his heels and sighs. “I can live with it. It has to be early December though.”

  “I’m good with that.”

  “I do have a requirement,” he adds.

  “I figured you would,” I reply with a smile as I pick up my laptop and put it on the coffee table. “Since you’re going along with my wedding theme, I’ll do whatever you want.” That comment gets me the adorable, sexy, and playful smile that I fell in love with.

  “I think it’s time you move out of your apartment and move in with me permanently.”

  “I’m at your place almost all the time though.”

  “I know, but we don’t need three places to live. Our shit is everywhere. We’re constantly bouncing back and forth between your place and my place. The cabin is supposed to be a getaway—I want us to have one real home that we’re living in together.”

  I love my apartment, and I’ve been reluctant to let it go for a few reasons. After I left Michael, having my own apartment was a big step for me, learning to live alone and just be comfortable with me. Jumping from living with Michael to living with Storm didn’t seem like a good idea. As much as I wanted to live with him, I still felt like it was best to give myself some time. I already felt like a horrible person for falling in love with Storm while I was in a relationship with Michael. And learning about Michael’s various affairs, on top of that, made me question everything in the entire relationship department. I was scared to trust anyone, including myself.

  Even though Storm is a great guy, he’s still a popular rock star who hasn’t been in a relationship in a long time and has women flirting with him all the time. Honestly, I was still trying to figure out what he saw in me, and I was afraid once the chase was over, he’d get bored and move on to a more exciting woman.

  But he didn’t. He committed a thousand percent of himself to our relationship. Being with him has brought me out of my boring, sheltered existence—even though I may have kicked and screamed a little (okay, a lot) along the way. He’s always been right there to reassure me and comfort me when I needed it. And for that, I love him more than words can say.

  He’s right, it’s time for me to let my safety net of an apartment go and commit to us in every way.

  “All right,” I finally say. “Let’s do it.”

  He lets out a whoop. “Damn. It’s about time. I was thinking maybe we’d buy a house closer to Talon and Asia.”

  I blink at him. “But you have a house.”

  “I know, but I’ve lived there for five years and I’d rather we get something that’s new for both of us. This way you can pick out how many closets you want and have an office with lots of windows, and I can have a bigger guitar room.”

  “You don’t have to do that…I don’t need a lot of closets. Your house is fine. I can set up an office in the basement.”

  “No. You’re not sitting in the basement all day. My mom drives you nuts. I want you to have windows and a view of the pool so you can watch me float around on a dolphin raft.”

  I burst out laughing at that visual. “I’m not sure I’ll get much work done if you’re outside taunting me.”

  “You can take a break every two hours and come join me.”

  “Seriously Storm, we don’t have to get a new house. I like your house.”

  He stands and stretches his arms over his head, making his jeans fall low around his hips. I have to drag my gaze off the delicious V of his lower torso.

  “I know we don’t have to. I want to. I’ll get in touch with the realtor on Monday so we can start looking right away, and you can talk to Mom and nail down the wedding date.”

  A wave of apprehension floods my senses, and my ears ring with the tune of anxiety. Smiling, I busy myself with folding up the calendar, hoping he doesn’t sense my nervousness. I don’t want him to think it’s doubt, because it’s not. Its just there’s so much to think about and so many details to cover. Over the next two months I’ll be moving to a new house, planning a wedding and a honeymoon, and becoming Mrs. Storm Valentine.

  Chapter Four

  I’m a pet sandwich. Niko is stretched out on top of the comforter, with his head resting on my hip, and Halo is curled up on my other side, his body pressed into the curve of my waist. This is what they do on the mornings when Storm gets up early to go for a run or spend a few hours at the gym—our fuzzy kids climb up on the bed and snuggle with me.

  I should get up and start my day, but the warmth and coziness of Storm’s bed, coupled with the contentment of our pets, is hard to leave. Instead I pet Niko’s head and stare up at the autographed poster of Storm on the ceiling above the bed. He put it there as a joke, months ago, after I teased him about how much he loves looking at himself. Now I won’t let him take it down because I like looking at it.

  Twenty minutes later I slowly creep out of bed, being careful not to disturb my two sleeping beauties. I’m meeting Amy for lunch at noon, and then we’re meeting my future sister-in-law, Asia, at a wedding boutique to look at wedding gowns. Asia is a sewing goddess and makes all the stage clothes for the band. Once I pick a gown, she’s going to customize it to match my winter theme. Aria wanted to join us but couldn’t make it, so I promised her Amy will text her pictures of me trying on dresses.

  My stomach flips. Wedding dresses!

  I spend the morning going through Storm’s house, making a list of what we need to pack and trying to figure out how many boxes we’re going to need for all our things, because we’re moving in four weeks.

  Four weeks!

  Yes, a month. Less than a week ago, at the cabin, we agreed to buy a house. Two days ago we found the perfect house—a mile away from where Storm’s youngest brother, Talon, lives. The homeowner immediately accepted our offer, so now we’re just waiting for paperwork to seal the deal.

  My stomach does a double flip. Everything is happening so fast.

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