Elizabeth Lee - Storm Warning

“Nice to meet you, Cameron.”

WHEN he caught his reflection in the rearview mirror, he tried to wipe off the stupid smile he was sure he’d been wearing since he left the Nickelsons’ house to make the twenty-minute drive back to Hope’s Grove. He ran his hand over his face and chuckled to himself as he thought about the girl who had just rocked everything he thought he knew right off its foundation.

To start with, she’d been nearly naked standing in front of him and he was sure there was drool dripping off his chin by the time he realized he’d been staring at her bare chest like an idiot. Damn, she was beautiful.

From her deep brown-nearly-black hair to her sun-kissed skin, right down to the tips of her little pink toes. Wasn’t every day a girl like that stepped out into the sunlight and took his breath away. Nope. He’d seen his fair share of naked girls, but Cameron Nickelson was different. The fact that she was a knockout was only half of it. She had more confidence in her little finger than all the girls he knew put together. And he liked it. A lot.

When he’d finished up pruning the hedge that ran across the back of the Nickelsons’ property, he turned around and caught her staring at him.

There she was, laid out across a lounge chair in a swimsuit that did a piss-poor job of covering up her body. Not that he needed it to. He’d already seen how amazing she looked without it.

She’d turned her head when he caught her ogling him and dove back into the magazine she was holding in front of her. He had to remind himself that he was Kyle Mason—football golden boy and small-town superstar—as he walked over to her and sat down on the edge of her chair. He was the kind of guy who usually got what he wanted. Decent grades, football scholarships, and pretty girls.

“What are you doing?” she asked, shifting her legs to the side of her lounge chair and giving him room to sit down. She might have been trying to play it off as if she wasn’t interested, but the simple act of allowing him to sit down was all the go-ahead Kyle needed.

“Just coming over to tell you goodbye,” he told her, giving her his best boy-next-door smile.

“You needed to sit down to do that?” She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked in what looked to him like a failed attempt at fighting back a smile.

“I did this time,” he answered. “Guess you make my knees weak.”

She giggled and it was just about the cutest thing he’d ever heard.

“So, will I be seeing you next week?”

“I got no place else to be,” she replied, sitting up and leaning a little closer to him. He’d have bet money that if he’d leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips she wouldn’t have protested. She was nothing if not forward. As much as he wanted to do just that, he placed his hand on top of hers instead and smiled.

“I guess I’ll be seeing you then.” That should have been the point where he said goodbye and left, but something about sitting there, touching her, and staring into her big brown eyes seemed so right that it took a second for his body to get the memo from his brain. “It was sure nice to meet you, Cameron,” he said when his feet finally decided to work and he stood up.

“It’s Cami,” she called out as he was walking away.

“Cami.” He turned and smiled, letting her name roll off his lips. “See ya next week.”

“Yeah you will,” she answered, biting her bottom lip and causing him to forget what he was doing.

He bumped into one of the potted plants that surrounded the gate. Thanking God for his quick hands, he managed to steady it before it crashed to the ground. When he looked up and saw her laughing at his clumsiness, he was sure glad for it too. He didn’t want to have to spend the next week repotting some stupid plant. Not when he had a Cami to talk to. Nope. This girl was his audible. The one who was about to change the play. Or maybe even the whole damn game.

“I was starting to wonder if you were going to make it home,” Kyle’s mom said when he finally floated through the door. “Thought maybe you decided to stay up at college instead of coming home and spending time with your dear old mother.”

“Well, hello to you too, Mama.” Kyle snickered as he pressed a kiss on her cheek. “Camp’s going great, in case you were wondering. And yes, I checked up on the Nickelsons this afternoon.” He knew the routine when he finished a day of work. Millie would have inevitably asked her son about his first week at football camp and if he’d managed to work in the job she’d asked him about last week. Mason Landscaping didn’t normally do jobs on Sundays, but with Kyle being gone most of the week, they had to rearrange the schedule to keep the money coming in.

“Well you answered all my questions.” She laughed and brushed the top of the fresh rolls she’d just pulled out of the oven with melted butter.

Kyle hopped up on the counter and snagged a hot roll, taking a bite and earning a stern look from his mother.

“Dammit,” he mumbled with a mouthful of steamy goodness. “That’s hot.”

“Serves you right.” His mother smirked. “You should have waited for dinner like everyone else. Speaking of everyone else, why don’t you go down to the canyon and get your sister. I need to talk to her about the Rogers’s account. Tell Coop he’s welcome, too.”

“They went without me?”

“You were late.” She shrugged and her mouth turned down slightly. “They didn’t want to wait around.”

“Hmm.” That stung a little. He knew that going away to college was going to mean missing out on all the things he loved about home, but he didn’t think his best friend would replace him with his sister so soon. Sure, EJ usually tagged along, but he and Coop had found that fishing hole while she was still carrying a baby doll around. Plus he didn’t love the idea of the two of them alone together. He’d caught Coop whispering things to EJ that made her giggle and blush more than once.

“What exactly took you so long?” his mom asked as he jumped down off the counter.

“Nothing,” he answered, feeling that same goofy smile he’d been wearing the entire ride home take over his face. Cami. That’s what took me so long. “Just tired from practice. Took me a little longer than usual.”

“Whatever you say,” Millie Mason answered with that all-knowing smile. He could fight back his grin as much as he wanted, but she’d seen it. She was good at figuring her kids out. She could tell when they were lying, sad, and excited, and she could tell when they’d met someone. She didn’t announce her observations, but Kyle knew she could tell. “Go get your sister.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

ONCE Ella Jane and Coop reached Red River Canyon, he unloaded the gear like he’d done a million times. They had been coming here since they were kids. It had always been the three of them, but with Kyle gone, they were down to two.

“You’re unusually quiet this evening. What’s up?” he asked the girl stretched out on the bank next to him. Something was wrong, he could tell. Surely she wasn’t this upset over her crazy-ass friend leaving town. He’d been more than happy to see that psycho chick go.

“Just feels weird,” she admitted with a heavy sigh. “Kyle not being here.”

He let his eyes drift away from her and across the smooth surface of the water. A few ripples caused by bugs or fish or whatever made him nervous. He was thinking about making some ripples of his own.

The three of them had always been in perfect sync, each knowing when the other needed a late-night fishing trip or a beer or just to sit and be pissed off. Kyle would’ve killed him if he’d known the few times he’d let Ella Jane drink a beer. She was a lightweight though, so he never let her have more than two.

“Weird? As in bad?” he asked, pulling a can out of the cooler.

“Just weird as in different,” she informed him, baiting her own hook like the champ that she was.

“He should be home anytime, right?” It was Sunday. Coop knew the answer to the question. Kyle was his best friend so he knew that he had OSU training camp during the week and came home at different times on the weekend. He just really hoped that he’d be late this particular day.

She smiled back at him, her perfect mouth curving in a way that made his mind go blank. “Yeah. He worked today. Some house where the family is out of town. He should be back any minute now.”

“Ah. You know, sometimes different can be a good thing.” Coop gave her shoulder a slight nudge and left his arm resting close to hers. Either he was imagining things or she was holding her breath. “Seriously. You okay?”

She nodded and bit her lip. He watched as she fidgeted with her reel. “Yeah. I am. Just lots of things changing this summer.”

“Like your dad moving out?” He knew Brad Mason had ditched his family a few weeks ago, leaving her and her mom to deal with everything alone. Dude needed a swift kick in the nuts as far as he was concerned. “Heard anything from him?”

When her eyes met his, they were shining with the promise of tears.

“Shit, Ellie May.” He reached for her, resting his hand on her arm. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Now he kind of wanted to kick himself in the nuts.

“It’s fine. You’re fine. I’m…” She waved a hand between them before she lied one more time about being fine. He raised his hand to wipe away a tear she’d let slip with his thumb and then palmed her cheek gently.

The way she was looking up at him, like she needed him, gutted him, and it didn’t help matters that she’d leaned her face into his hand. He’d held back for so long. Want and need twisted inside of him, demanding that he pull her closer.