Stormy Surrender - By Nicole Andrews Moore Page 0,82
right who was eyeing her with more interest than Joey was comfortable with. As soon as that mug had left her hands, he whirled her into his arms and buried his face in her hair.
“What was that for?” She asked as she slowly extricated herself from his grasp so she could see his face.
“You saved me,” he said simply. “If I had been there, I would have more than likely died from the lightening igniting the gas explosion.” He hauled her back against him. “And I’d like to point out to you that now we have one more thing in common.”
She giggled. “Oh really? And what is that?”
“Now we both own homes we can’t live in.” He shrugged. He had been through worse. At least this wasn’t so bad, knowing that he had someone like Marti to depend on in this situation. Without asking, he knew that about her. He just knew her.
“You can come stay with me at Hope House. I will be leaving bright and early for Vermont with your crew. You can have my room while I’m gone. You can stay as long as you need to or until one of us has a house to live in. How about that?” She hugged him back.
Setting his chin on top of her head, he responded, “I’d like that very much.”
While everyone else slowly went to their respective homes, Joey and Marti cleaned up her house before hopping in their vehicles and driving to Hope House. News traveled fast enough in town without word getting out about the blanket in the front room, the wet panties balled up in the bathroom, and the towels scattered about the floor. The drive was long enough for both of them, bone tired as they were.
Hope House was dark and quiet when they entered and snuck up the stairs. While Keely had heard that he would be staying in her room, she really didn’t need the situation to feel any more awkward than it already was. When they reached her room, they found a fire lit in the fireplace, a bottle of Moscato chilling on a tray and next to it what can only be described as a slab of chocolate cake…along with two forks and two glasses.
They smiled at each other. Joey started to uncork the wine while she walked into the bathroom to clean up from the fire. She stopped in the doorway. “You have got to see this,” she called to him.
Walking over, he peered into the room. There were numerous candles lit, a bubble bath drawn, and on the counter was a note.
Marti picked it up and read it aloud. “Thought you two could use a bath after the fire. Relax and try to salvage the night. Love, Keely and Laurel”
“Holy hell,” he said, genuinely surprised.
“Right?” She glanced at him, standing there holding the wine. “So, pour us some glasses and we can clean up before bed?”
He kissed her on the lips ever so gently. “Sounds perfect.”
In the end, they decided to clean up first and then luxuriate in the Hope House bathrobes. Marti had taken special care to scrub the smoke out of Joey’s scalp. A soak had helped with the rest. When he worried over smelling like a girl, she reminded him that smelling like a bonfire was far worse. And he conceded. They lounged on the floor in front of the fireplace, talking, sipping wine, and eating chocolate cake.
All of a sudden, he leapt up and grabbed for his coat. “I almost forgot.” He was a bit frantic. Then he pulled a box out of his pocket. When he turned around with his hand outstretched, she was shocked.
“When did you…” She was utterly confused.
“I rescued it from the house. I bought a bunch all at once. I knew there would be certain milestones and I wanted to be ready.” He smiled. “Open it.”
Her hand was shaking. She couldn’t imagine what that one was. She was actually a little scared. Did they make a sex charm? She pushed the lid back on the spring box. And there is was…a silver lightening bolt. She giggled. Then she looked at him, leaned over and kissed him on the lips.
“I figure this one will have a lot of meaning, a ton of memories attached to it.” He sat beside her and began the process of adding that charm to the bracelet. “See, I bought it because I knew at some point this year we’d be bound to get one heck