Heat of the Storm (4 page)

“I saw a lot more,” she whispered into his lips.

“Yeah? Tel me.”

“No. I’d rather show you.”

With the hint of a smile, she slid her hand between their slick, naked bodies and curled her fingers over his rock-hard shaft. White-hot pleasure sliced through him at the exact moment a streak of lightning lit up the bedroom. The light washed over Mac’s face and the raw lust he saw flashing across it made his cock jerk in her hand.

She crawled down his body and took his dick into her mouth. The sight of her rosy lips wrapped around him caused his bal s to tighten. His mind swam in a sea of excitement as her warm tongue devoured his cock, licking him from base to tip, grazing the sensitive underside and swirling over his bal s. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d imagined this, fantasized about this.

“Do you like what I’m doing?” Her voice came out throaty, making her sound like the seductress she was.

“Oh yeah.”

She licked the drop of moisture that squeezed out of his tip and he shuddered. He was dangerously close to coming, so much so that he yanked her up by the hair and forced her greedy mouth away from his cock.

Gripping her waist with his hands, he ground his cock against her pussy and kissed her roughly. Her arms came up and wrapped around his neck. “I want you inside me again,” she said softly.

“No.”

A cloud of annoyance washed across her face.

“Why the hel not?”

“Because we need to get a couple of things straight first.”

“I already don’t like the sound of this.”

“Too fucking bad.” He locked his gaze with hers and added, “This isn’t going to be one night, Mackenzie.”

“Wil —”

“You’re not going to shove me back in the friend zone when we wake up tomorrow.”

From the flicker of guilt he saw in her eyes, he realized that’s exactly what she’d planned to do.

Chalk this night up to a one-night-stand, or a fluke, and try to make things go back to normal. He knew her too damn wel , knew how her mind worked, and right now, her mind continued to hold on to the fear that he’d leave her.

T h e
unfounded
fear. Because he would never leave her. He didn’t care about her visions, and he certainly didn’t agree with her ridiculous notion that if she let him in, she’d lose him.

Steel lacing his tone, he added, “We belong together, baby.”

Her features creased with pain. “You’re my best friend, Wil .”

Frustration coiled inside of him like a rattlesnake.

He was so freaking sick of hearing those words. “So what?” he shot back. “I can be your lover too.” She tried to edge away, but he held on tight. “You won’t lose me, damn it. Your visions don’t scare me, Mac. I won’t walk away from you the next time you see the damn future.”

“You don’t get it. I can’t control what I see, or when I see it.” She sounded frazzled. “Men don’t get it. It annoys them, that I’m always in control, that I can’t just ignore the visions and focus solely on them.”

“I don’t expect you to ignore what you see.”

“I’m hard to live with.”

“You’re harder to live without.”

“It’s hard for me to let go of control in the bedroom.”

“You let go tonight.”

“Stop being so fucking logical.”

He grinned. “I can’t help it. We make sense together. You know it’s true.”

She looked like she was about to argue so he silenced her with a kiss. While his tongue tangled with hers, he stroked her breasts with one hand, moving the other between her legs. She moaned the second his fingers brushed over her clit and he decided maybe it was time to show her again, show her how wel they fit together, how fiercely he could turn her on, how much she needed him by her side.

He flipped her over onto her back and crushed her body with his. Without giving her time to react, he slid his entire length inside her. She gasped, then lifted her pelvis to draw him in deeper.

Shaking his head, he grasped her hips to stop her from moving. “Tel me you want to be with me.” The command elicited an annoyed groan from her.

She tried bucking up again, but he held her in place.

“Tel me.”

“Wil —”

“Say it. Say you want to be with me.”

“I…” He watched her face, saw the myriad of emotions flickering in her eyes. “I…” Fear. Her expression shone with fear. Damn it. She stil thought she would lose him if she gave in. After everything that had just happened, she stil believed he would be like al the other assholes in her life and leave her.

“Say it,” he pleaded softly.

She swal owed then stared up at him with regret. “I can’t,” she final y whispered.

Before he could reply, she wiggled out from underneath him, leaving his cock and his heart aching for her.

“ I
can’t
,” she repeated, and then hurried out of the bedroom.

A second later, he heard the bathroom door in the hal way slam shut.

Mackenzie sank down on the closed toilet seat, burying her face in her hands and trying unbelievably hard not to cry. The voices in her head screamed at her to go back to the bedroom, but she couldn’t do it.

Couldn’t face Wil , couldn’t stand to see the love and frustration in his eyes.

Tonight had been a mistake. She shouldn’t have succumbed to her desire. She should’ve tried harder to resist him.

Say you want to be with me.

The sound of his smoky voice fil ed her mind, bringing tears to her eyes. Outside, the storm continued to wail, making it difficult to hear anything but the sound of the rain against the window and the wind rocking the house. But she could imagine what was going on in the bedroom. Wil gathering his clothes, zipping up his jeans. The material of his windbreaker rustling as he slid it over his powerful shoulders.

She’d hurt him just now, refusing to say what he wanted. But though the idea of causing Wil pain made the tears fal faster, she couldn’t give him what he wanted.

He didn’t understand. He claimed to, but how could he? So far, he’d only seen what she’d al owed him to see. He’d never been with her when a vision of death came, and no matter how many times he insisted it wouldn’t bother him, she knew it would.

Dan had said the same thing, and look what happened with him.

The memory of that night two weeks ago flooded her brain, making her eyelids sting. Someone from town, an elderly man named Colin Garber, had died that night. Burned to death in his bed after his house had caught fire.

And across town, Mac had been in bed with Dan, asleep after a slightly bland lovemaking session. Only to be woken up by images of fire and pain. She could
smell
the smoke,
feel
the heat of the flames as they’d devoured poor Mr. Garber. She hadn’t been able to make it to the bathroom, and, mortified, she’d thrown up at the side of the bed, while tears streamed down her cheeks. It was a common physical reaction to a violent vision, the nausea, the shortness of breath, the uncontrol able sobs.

It had been too much for Dan. He’d broken things off that night.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t believe it would be any different with Wil . Oh, he might pretend it didn’t freak him out, stick it out for a week, a month, maybe even a year. But eventual y he’d get sick of it. Of her, and the visions, and the constant chaos.

Better to put a stop to this now, before…before what? Before she lost her best friend?

She laughed humorlessly. After tonight, she’d probably lost him anyway.

The sound of footsteps in the hal confirmed that devastating thought. Lifting her head, she listened, waited for him to approach the bathroom door, but he didn’t. A creak rang out, indicating he’d passed the noisy fourth step on the staircase. Then a few noisy fourth step on the staircase. Then a few seconds of silence, final y fol owed by the sound of the front door shutting.

Tears poured down her cheeks. He’d left. Not that she was surprised. She’d al but thrown him out.

Yet it stil hurt.

Legs shaking, she rose from the toilet and approached the sink. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, taking in the sight of her red-rimmed eyes, her wet cheeks and tousled hair.

“Wel , you did it,” she mumbled to herself. “You official y drove away the one man who’s always—” Pain exploded in her temples.

Then the vision came.

“Oh my God, Wil , have you ever seen a more glorious kitchen?”

Wil glanced around the room in bafflement. A long cedar work island, stainless steel appliances, a table, some cupboards, a smal pantry. Looked like an ordinary kitchen to him. Then again, he wasn’t a chef, and the only time he used his own kitchen was to shove Chinese takeout boxes in the fridge. He didn’t even do dishes, just bought paper plates and tossed them in the trash when he finished eating.

“It’s nice,” he said, trying to sound impressed.

Hol y Lawson’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Nice?

Are you kidding me? This kitchen is twice the size of the one in my old apartment.” She shivered. “Jeez, I’m close to orgasm just looking at it.” The last thing he wanted to hear was the word

“orgasm” coming out of his friend’s girlfriend’s mouth.

Not that he didn’t like Hol y. She was a great girl, but talking sex with her seemed weird.

He watched as Hol y dashed toward the stove and started running her fingers over the burners. She turned around, her brown hair fal ing into her wide-set green eyes. “Is this not the best stove ever?”

“Yes?”

“
Yes
. I swear, Wil , don’t you possess a single domestic bone in that big, strong body of yours?” A blond head poked into the kitchen. “Are you flirting with my Lieutenant?” Carson Scott demanded, frowning at his girlfriend.

Hol y shot him an innocent smile. “Of course not.”

“So you didn’t just comment on his big, strong bod?”

“I was just stating the obvious, Carson. He’s got a nice body.”

Carson studied Wil for a moment. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Hel o, I’m in the room,” Wil said, waving his hand around. “Wil the two of you please stop staring at my big, strong body?” He moved toward the door. “Or better yet, give me something to do, because I’m sick of loitering around here doing nothing.” He wasn’t sure why he’d even agreed to help the couple move. He tended to spend his free time up in Hunter Ridge, visiting with Mackenzie, but after what happened last weekend…

He quickly pushed away the memory, knowing if he let the erotic images surface, he’d soon be standing in the middle of Carson and Hol y’s big, glorious kitchen with a big, glorious hard-on.

Best to focus on the anger, and not the arousal the night had left him with. He’d been so close, so fucking close to final y getting the woman he’d dreamed about for the past fifteen years.

Why was she fighting it? Even after they’d experienced the best sex of both of their lives, she stil wouldn’t let him love her.

Damn her. Hadn’t he proved that he would stick by her side? That he didn’t care about her visions, or think she was a freak?

Yet she had convinced herself she would lose him if she crossed the line from friendship to romance. A part of him didn’t blame her, given her past relationships. But al those men she’d dated, wel , they were cowards. What kind of man walked away from a woman he cared about because she had a few gruesome visions? As a SEAL, Wil had seen his share of gruesome. Hel , the images he encountered on his job were probably far nastier than the ones Mackenzie saw in her head. And stil she foolishly believed he was like al the others, that her visions were too tough a pil for him to swal ow. She’d deluded herself into it, so deeply, that she’d had the nerve to ask him to leave—after he’d proven he could turn her on like no man ever could.

And he had no clue how to change her mind. Hot sex hadn’t done it, so real y, what fucking more could he do?

“You can help Garrett bring in the boxes from the truck,” Carson said, interrupting Wil ’s thoughts.

“No,” Hol y protested. “I need Wil to help me and Shelby unpack the kitchen boxes. You help Garrett.” Wil was wary as Carson nodded and hurried off, leaving him alone with Hol y. The barely restrained smile on her face told him she was up to something, and when Shelby Garrett walked into the kitchen a second later with a smile of her own, Wil knew exactly what was going on. These infuriating females had cooked up another matchmaking scheme.

“Sit,” Hol y ordered, pointing to one of the tal stools by the island.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “No.” Shelby marched up to him, curled her fingers over his arm and dragged him to the chair. Her blue eyes twinkled as she forced him to sit. “Come on, just hear us out.”

Hear them out? No, thank you. For the past six months, the two women had tried setting him up with a half dozen of their friends, and no matter how hard he fought the interference, they couldn’t seem to accept he wasn’t interested. He supposed this was al his fault. Up until six months ago, he’d avoided forming deeper friendships with the guys on his SEAL team.

Not that he was antisocial or anything. He just tended to keep to himself, enjoyed driving up to Hunter Ridge in his free time and hanging out with Mackenzie, rather than staying near the base with the other guys.

But after John Garrett married Shelby, things changed. Suddenly Wil was forced to attend a bachelor party, and a wedding, and then Carson, for some reason, decided to start inviting him to play golf and go out for drinks. Before he knew it, he was eating dinner at Shelby and Garrett’s every Wednesday night, and helping Hol y and Carson move into their new Coronado bungalow.