Page 17

Lark

I stared at the blinking cursor on her laptop like it had personally offended her.

One paragraph. That’s all I’d managed in the last hour.

And it wasn’t even good. Something about wind shear and pressure gradients.

Blah, blah, meteorological jargon. My fingers hovered above the keys, then dropped to her sides with a sigh.

Is storm chasing this boring? Hell no, it’s not! Write your book.

Axel’s sweatshirt hung loosely off her frame, the sleeves bunching over her hands, with the faint scent of cedar and diesel still clinging to the fabric.

I pulled my knees up onto the couch, the only sound in the cabin being the soft tapping of rain on the roof—the same roof Axel had fixed two days before leaving.

Three weeks. Maybe four.

I knew the risks. Hell, I chased storms for a living. But this felt different. This wasn’t adrenaline—this was silence. Stillness. The kind that crept under your skin and whispered what if …

I missed his presence. The way he moved around the kitchen like he didn’t belong there but tried anyway. The way his hand would find hers without looking. The way he saw me.

I closed the laptop.

Maybe I wasn’t cut out for this “quiet retreat to write a book” plan. Maybe I needed chaos. Wind. Noise. Twisters.

As if summoned by the thought, a knock rattled the front door.

I frowned. Visitors weren’t exactly common up here.

When I opened the door, a gust of wind blew in—along with a tornado of voices.

“Lark freakin’ Bennett!”

“Is this your hideout now?”

Two of my old storm-chasing friends, Jake and Tiffany, stood grinning on the porch, soaked from the rain and radiating trouble.

“We were just passing through—well, okay, we were actually tracking a system east of here— we figured we’d stop and say hi.”

Lark blinked. “A system?”

Jake’s grin widened. “Oklahoma’s lit up like a Christmas tree. Storm cells firing all over. Multiple vortex signatures. Some of the best conditions we’ve seen in years.”

Tiff added, “It’s basically Storm Chaser Disneyland. Come on, Lark. You’re dying inside up here, admit it.”

She hesitated, heart thudding.

Axel had just left. She’d promised herself she’d stay put. Stay safe.

But he’d also said: Don’t let the world shrink just because I’m not in it right now.

Her gaze drifted toward the horizon. Somewhere beyond it, Axel was on a mission that could get him killed. And here she was, afraid to live while he was out risking everything.

Lark grabbed her duffel.

“I’ll be back before he even realizes I left.”