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CHAPTER 1

Houston Evers had been waiting for this night for as long as he could remember. With trepidation. He knew statistics, and while this area of Texas wasn’t normally this wet and rainy, this year had been the worst in more than a century.

He had been the one to see those statistics and make those statements on air. All his life, he had known the storm of the century would probably hit the Finley Creek area.

It had just been a matter of time.

He checked his chart—and then buzzed his producer. That little irritant had to be around somewhere.

Houston had never intended to go into radio, but over time his internship at the college radio station’s weather department, as small as it had been at the time, had just grown into where he was now. He enjoyed broadcast.

He enjoyed teaching meteorology at the campus, as well. But fifteen hours a week, he delivered the weather, and did one Finley Creek themed talk show each Friday.

He had been at the radio station since he was twenty-one years old, ten years ago. He’d seen plenty of assistant station managers come and go.

None had irritated him as much as little Brooke Jacobs. Of course, she had the job. Her father had bought the station from the college and privatized it six months ago. And then there Brooke was, supposedly to learn the ropes.

More likely, Wade Jacobs had given her the job to keep her out of his hair.

But she was there.

And she got right beneath Houston’s skin. He was used to precision. Brooke was used to smiling at a man and getting her way.

There should have been three or four people besides him, and Hoby the station engineer, and Brooke.

But there was no one.

He headed down the hall toward the back offices. Dwight Hoby should be back there somewhere.

And Brooke. That woman had to be around somewhere.

Thunder shook the building, causing him to pause for a moment. This storm was just a freak storm no one could have ever predicted.

This was the storm system of the century. He had known it was happening, eventually.

Hoby, a decent enough guy, who reasonably knew his stuff—Houston’s main requirement of a station engineer—waved when he walked by. Houston just kept going.

He finally found Brooke in the back break room, standing next to the window. The storm raged behind her. Lightning flashed, tangling for one millisecond in the woman’s red hair.

She jumped a little, her big green eyes widening. In fear.

For some reason, that fear shot straight through him. Brooke Jacobs, only child of Wade Jacobs, radio millionaire, wasn’t afraid of anything. And she’d stick that little chin in the air as she told him that, too.

But tonight, she was afraid.

“Get away from the windows, if you are afraid, then.” She didn’t need to be by the windows, anyway. He wrapped his hand around her wrist and pulled her away from the window. “Where the hell is everyone?”

“I called them. Told them to stay home. We don’t need people out driving in this.” Her words were tense. Challenging. “Not when we are already here for the night.”

That was exactly what he had been wanting to find out. “You should have asked me first.”

“You were on the air. I made the decision myself. I ran off the road when I drove in. I couldn’t see where I was going.” She shuddered in his grip.

“Are you hurt?” He studied her quickly. He was the child of an emergency department physician and a radiologist. He knew the basics of first aid.

She looked in one piece.

She looked better than good, actually. She was very curvy. At least in the way Houston loved, anyway. He did like looking at her when she wasn’t aware of it. He was a healthy man, and she looked good, after all.

It was her attitude that he found so irritating.

Brooke Jacobs thought she could make whatever she wanted just happen. She hadn’t yet realized that life just didn’t work that way.

“I’m good. But…if you want to leave…You should probably go now.”

“I’m not going. Someone needs to be on air here.”

“Shouldn’t you be in there, then?”

“I’m playing an update.” He checked his watch. “I have two minutes to go.”

He started moving toward the booth, almost pulling her along with him. For once, she wasn’t yanking away, glaring at him.

The woman glared at him a lot. Part of that was his fault, and he knew it.

The station on the edge of the Finley Creek University campus was small. He didn’t have far to go. He got set up and just watched Brooke through the window.

She got an odd look on her gorgeous face—no denying she was a hot woman from her head to her toes, that woman—when Hoby said something to her.

Almost as if…she was afraid.

Which was crazy.

Brooke wasn’t afraid of anything.

Brooke kept her eyes on Houston as he gave another weather update and read the relevant news reports. She was glad he was there. He knew how to run the station in a major event. This was her first big event. She’d just graduated college six months ago, at twenty-four. She’d been delayed a few years, after a rough time as a teenager for a few years in high school.

Of all the men she worked with at the station, she was glad it was Houston here now. Houston made her feel safer.

Especially with Dwight Hoby right there.

That man…terrified her. And he knew it. He liked it. Reveled in it. Dwight Hoby was out to…terrify her.

Just because her father had fired him from his last job in Wichita Falls, when he’d bought out that station there. Her father was a good man. Dwight should have gone to jail. That he hadn’t had just been a technicality. One that Brooke still didn’t understand.

As soon as her father returned from Chicago, Brooke was going to talk to him. Find out what she should do about Dwight. If she made it that long. The man…just wouldn’t leave her alone.

And she was almost certain he had followed her home the night before. She was almost convinced she’d seen him outside her home. Just…watching.

She made a point to stay where she could see Houston. Her reasoning: if she could see him, then the one other man in the station with her and Dwight now could see her.

She didn’t think Dwight would try anything tonight, not like he’d threatened the last time they’d been alone. Not with the much larger, stronger, forceful Houston Evers right there.

Dwight was a little afraid of Houston. She had seen that for herself.

No wonder. Houston could be a bit frightening. He didn’t tolerate screwups very well, or uncertainty. He wanted people to make decisions quickly and confidently, with knowledge. And no mistakes.

He was used to being the man in charge. He reminded her of her father in that regard.

Maybe that was why she felt almost safe with him, even though he very obviously didn’t tolerate her all that much?

Houston didn’t scare her at all, not compared to Dwight.

Houston just grouched at her all the time—the man didn’t handle change well—but he wouldn’t ever physically hurt her.

She knew that, on a deeper level, for some reason, she hadn’t figured out yet.

She had learned a long time ago with a boyfriend who hadn’t listened to the word no that some men hid evil in their souls. She didn’t think Houston Evers was like that.

Even if he didn’t like her very much, Houston wouldn’t hurt her.

Unlike Dwight, who had threatened to do just that. Who liked knowing he terrified her, had that control over her like that.

“You can’t hide behind Evers forever,” Dwight said, causing her to jump. She’d thought he was focused on doing his job. “He won’t be around all the time. Maybe even tonight. Then you are mine, you little bitch. And I’m going to enjoy you so much. Daddy’s not going to be here to protect you, either. You can’t get away from me tonight, sweetheart. Something to keep in mind.”

Brooke couldn’t help herself. She…almost ran out of the booth. Dwight’s laughter followed her the entire way.