of thunder.
He lifts to his knees and then hauls me up to stand as he does. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before it gets bad out there.” He turns toward the terrace. “Shit. The food.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Are you sure?”
“I know people who know people. Remember?”
His smile is a bloom of relief in my chest. I’m so messed up right now. I haven’t recovered from where my head was five minutes ago, and I might not ever. More relief comes when he takes my hand and leads us out of the building. Wordlessly we hurry toward the east trail—one that hopefully will get us down before the rain starts.
We make the descent quickly, but we’re not fast enough to outrun the rain. Drops begin pelting us just before we get to the bottom. The full deluge of the storm arrives as we make the last dash to his truck. We jump in and catch our breath. The rain creates a white noise around us and obscures the view out his windshield.
When I shiver, he turns on the engine and switches on the heat. I don’t miss the way his attention snags on my rain-drenched clothes. I’m just as guilty. He looks impossibly gorgeous with the fabric of his T-shirt clinging to his well-defined torso.
“Thank you,” I say, rubbing some warmth back into my arms.
“No problem.” He rests his head on the neck rest with a heavy sigh. “Thanks, Dad. Impeccable timing.”
I lift my eyebrows. “Dad?”
He turns to me with a smirk curling up the corner of his lips. “That’s just my personal joke. Pretending that the god of thunder is my dad.” He points his finger to the sky.
“Zeus?”
He laughs quietly. “It’s dumb. I guess it’s better than thinking about what happened with the real one, though.”
My brain rushes to catch up to what he’s saying. “What happened with the real one?”
“That’s an excellent question. I have no idea, and my mother refuses to tell me. Not ideal when you’re trying to figure out who you are, you know?”
I’m quiet for a long moment, struggling with how suddenly and deeply my heart aches for him. I’m also fighting to understand why someone would keep that information from their own grown child. My lineage is an ugly tree of betrayals and deceit, but at least I know what it looks like. Living in the dark would be so much worse. At least I think so.
“That seems unfair.”
He beams his stare forward like he can somehow see through the rain-drenched window. “I had to come to terms with unfair a long time ago.” He switches on the windshield wipers. “Speaking of unfair, let’s drive you home so you can get dry.”
I cover the top of his hand with mine as he puts the vehicle into gear. He pauses to look at me.
“I had a really nice time with you. I’m glad you said yes.”
“Me too.” His eyes are unreadable. They hold too much. Or maybe we’re both feeling too much of everything right now. I can’t figure him out.
Worried that he’s already regretting the whole night, I release some tension when he captures my hand. He keeps it tight in his during the rest of the drive home.
Almost an hour later, he pulls up to my house and idles behind Kell’s Bentley.
“I guess I’ll see you Wednesday,” I offer, even though I wish I could see him sooner.
Maybe he’ll want that too. But he’s not looking at me, and I hate it.
“See you Wednesday,” he utters quietly.
Despite his sudden coolness, I lean across the front seat and kiss his cheek. I pull back before the moment can turn into more and then run through the rain to the front gate.
Once I’m inside, I hurry to my room and take a hot shower. Chasing the chill from my bones is a relief. But my vision is flooded with Maximus. Our perfect dinner. His tender touches. His bold ones. I groan with frustration as I towel off and throw on a T-shirt and some comfortable sweats.
Kell is standing on the deck with a glass of wine. I grab one of my own and join her. The night has grown dark, but the rain has stopped. Not a cloud in the sky, actually.
“What are you doing out here? Everything’s wet,” I say, closing the sliding door behind me.
“The storm knocked the internet out. I’m bored as fuck. How about you? Where have you been?”
“Just stayed late at the library,” I lie.
She shoots me