Storm(30)

I follow him down the hall to the dining room where he has the table already set and even adorned with a candle in the center. I swallow hard. I have seriously never had a dinner at home with candlelight, and it’s something I have always wished for. It just seems so romantic.

“Wow... so pretty,” I say as I take a seat.

“Water? Wine? Ginger ale?”

“Oooh, I would love a ginger ale.”

He comes to the table with a soda for me and a glass of red wine in his hand. He flops down in the chair across from me. “It feels so good to be out of that damn truck, doesn’t it?”

I nod to him as I sip my soda. “It does. I was really starting to worry.”

“I know that must have been really hard for you.” He starts to pile spaghetti onto my plate. “Being stuck in a truck with a stranger and all, but you really did good, Evie. I know I’m not exactly the easiest person to be around.”

I give him a sweet smile. “Neither am I.”

Eating warm food again is amazing. It’s funny the things we take for granted. “Storm, this is so good,” I say after a few bites. “Thanks for making dinner. I forgot what hot food was.”

“No problem. John dropped our stuff off. I put your bags in the living room.”

“Oh, cool. Maybe you can give me his address and I can send him a thank you card?”

He sips his wine and makes an uneasy face. “I can tell him for you.”

After we eat, I help Storm clean up and then he goes off to shower leaving me alone in the living room with Niko, who promptly jumps up on the couch with me. I’m actually going to miss this big fluffy dog. I pet him absently as I stare around the room hoping to find photographs of Storm and his family to give me a bit more insight into him, but there are no photos in this room.

“I see you two are best buds now.” Holy shit. He has nothing on, but a pair of black sweatpants that sit low on his hips. His top half is nothing but muscles and ink. His wet hair is slicked back and hanging a bit down his back. His shoulders and chest are broad and he has the perfect six-pack abs and a sexy V...

Wow. Just wow. I have never seen a man with such an amazing body in person.

I struggle to compose myself and not drool. “Storm, put a damn shirt on.”

Instead, he keeps coming closer until he’s standing just a few inches away. “Michael must be butt-ugly because you can’t seem to handle being anywhere near a man with a decent body without practically having a seizure.”

“Michael is not ugly. It’s just inappropriate for you to walk around half naked. I’m not used to looking at strange men who are barely dressed.”

He tosses his head a bit, his hair sending drops of water flying. “Hey, I ain’t that strange. And it’s my house, I can walk around naked or half naked or any other state of dress or undress I want to.”

I sigh. I probably should not have stayed here in his house. I really don’t know him at all, even though we just spent so much time locked up together. I have put myself right into his home field of treating me any way he wants to and forcing me to put up with his behavior.