Page 115

Cradled protectively against Van’s chest with the rain pinging off the porch, pattering off the roof while Lachlan stirs a pot of soup has always been a distant fantasy. A tiny escape I allowed myself in the privacy of my thoughts, but never dared to believe could become a reality.

With a sighed exhale, I allow my joints to soften. I melt into the arms holding me. I sink into the moment with too much ease. I’m rewarded by the slip of Van’s fingers up beneath the hem of my top. The long digits graze the plains of my belly to curve around my waist, just beneath the weight of my breast.

“Want to start after lunch?” he murmurs into my ear.

I’m distracted by the thumb he skims along the wire supporting my breasts. It takes my brain a minute to realize he means setting up for the party.

Masking my disappointment behind a nod, I drop my head back against his shoulder and graze the soft slash of his jawline with my nose. “We can—”

With a rumbling crash, thunder erupts overhead. The clouds through the skylight overhead churns with discord. Rain hammers. Another boom that shakes the house. The lights.

“Better get the candles out,” Lachlan mumbles, head tipped up towards the ceiling. “I have a feeling we won’t have electricity for long.”

No sooner has he spoken when a third crash promptly sends us into a murky gloom.

“Good going,” Van teases.

Lachlan gives a grunt of irritation as he drags the saucepan off the dead stove and sets it on a potholder on the counter.

“Is there a generator?” Lachlan asks.

Inwardly, and possibly outwardly, I wince. “Yes, but...” I pinch my lips together as I fight not to look at either man. “I’ve been forgetting to bring propane with me the last few times I’ve driven down, so ... it might still work but not for very long.”

Lachlan tips his head back over his shoulder to frown at me, his disapproval unmistakable. “And you wanted to come alone?”

Amusement gone, I return his scowl with my own. “It’s just a little power outage. It happens everywhere. I have candles and—”

“That isn’t the point.” He huffs and looks away. “Where are the candles?”

Needing space to calm myself before I lose my temper, I push out of Van’s lap and stalk from the room.

The kitchen sits at the back of the house. It’s tucked between the library and the sunroom before expanding down a narrow hall towards the sitting area and den. I have to jog down into the dark, dank basement to retrieve the emergency candles. Not the best place to keep them, granted, especially when my phone is in my purse somewhere upstairs. Mostly likely off. But memory guides me down the damp board steps and along the concrete walls.

Like the vast majority of the human race, I hate the unfinished hole with the rumbling heater and boiler. It stinks like the bottom of a pond and feels equally moist. As a child, I was convinced something was alive down here. A hairy thing with long, spidery limbs and too many red eyes. As an adult, that theory holds firm as I hit the bottom and fight the devil not to glance towards the void. The endless black that spans intoeternity. The kind that breathes in the dense silence this far from civilization.

I hold my own breath as I creep the ten steps into the unknown, fingers extended into the darkness, searching for the row of shelves bolted into the concrete. Still, I jump when I actually make contact.

Relieved the task is complete, I snatch up the first box my fingers close around, yank it off the shelf and bolt back up the stairs.

Straight into Lachlan’s chest.

I nearly lose my grip on the candles, a scream lodged in my throat. His arms are safe and secure, closing around me, and I exhale for what feels like the first time.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs into the curve of my shoulder. “I have no right to get upset with you for living your life.” He pulls back and I tip my face up into his bathed in deep shadows from the windowless hallway. His warm fingers brush my cheek. “I know you can take care of yourself. I know you’re brave and resilient. I know you can handle anything, but ... I can’t. The thought of you being here alone, in the dark with no one to help if you need it scares the shit out of me.”

Heart still thumping from the frantic sprint up the stairs, the collision of running into Lachlan just at the top and his sweet words has me already lightheaded before his lips even reach mine.

His fingers replace mine on the box and the candles are taken from me. They’re set on the ground at our feet as another burst of thunder explodes overhead. But his arms return, folding me in the possessive weight of his chest. His lips find mine, but not to kiss.

They hover inches over, close enough that I feel the whisper of his words.

“I’d never survive without you, sweetheart.”

Unable to hold back any longer, I rise up on my toes and circle his neck. I hold him close as I sink into his quiet confession. As I let us both lie to each other for a little longer.

I know Lachlan isn’t stupid. He knows the gist of it all better than anyone. At the end of the week when it’s all said and done, he will be hurt, but he’ll be okay and he’ll make sure Van is, too. The only person left alone in the wreckage will be me and that’s okay because I’ve done it before. Only difference will be that this time, I’ve gotten better at shielding myself.

“We should find Van,” I murmur, brushing the side of his face with a sweep of my thumb.