Taming the Storm

What?

What the hell?

“No!” I yell. “He’s not seeing me! I mean, he sees me here, of course, but he’s not seeing me, seeing me. We’re not sleeping together. Jesus Christ!” I drag my hand through my hair. “Tom and I are not together! The end!” I jab a finger in Tom’s direction. “Tell her.”

He says nothing. He’s completely blank. There’s nothing but a sly smile on his smug face that I’m more than ready to wipe off.

What the hell is he playing at?

Shannon looks between us again. “Okay…” she drawls out, a bemused look on her face. “I get it.” She winks at me and lowers her voice as she says, “Don’t you worry, Lyla. I’m awesome at keeping secrets.”

Secrets! What secrets? There are no secrets to keep!

Jesus, I feel like I’ve just stepped into a parallel universe.

“Um…there’s no secret to keep because nothing is going on between Tom and me.” My voice is rising an octave higher with each word I speak.

I throw an expectant look at Tom, desperate for him to say something, to tell her the truth. But he’s just standing there, smirking and not saying shit. So, basically, he’s as much use to me as a chocolate fire suit.

“Ugh!” I throw my hands up in the air, more angry than anything.

I realize that if I stay here a moment longer, I’m going to pummel Tom Carter to death.

“I have no clue what the hell is going on here! Especially with you!” I point at Tom. “I don’t have time for this bizarre crap, so I’ll leave you to your craziness. I’m going to go onstage and do my job. Nice to meet you, Shannon. Tom, I’ll hopefully see you…never!”

I stomp past them, and I’m out the door in a flash, my face burning like a furnace.

What the hell was that about? Why did Tom let Shannon think we were together?

Fucking Tom Carter!

Maybe he’s gone crazy. He has seemed different from the guy I met before. And he has gone all hobo with the hair and beard.

Men! See? This is why I stay clear of them. They’re all crazy bastards.

“So, we’re not together then?” Tom’s lush deep voice comes from behind me.

Shivers prickle the hairs on the nape of my neck at the baritone of his voice.

I ignore the sensation and spin around, my anger unleashed to rain hell all over him.

“What the hell are you talking about? Have you lost your goddamn mind?” I’m yelling at him, and he totally deserves it. “Why did you let Shannon think that you and I are together?”

His brow furrows. Being this close to him, I notice a little cute line that has appeared from his frown.

Cute? Jesus, Lyla. Get your head back in the game.

“I didn’t make Shannon think anything,” he replies evenly.

“Um…yes, you did. She assumed you were seeing someone, and you looked directly at me! I mean, what the hell, Tom? We don’t even like each other.”

His lips curl. “Well, that’s not entirely true.” His eyes give my body a lazy perusal.

I hate that my body lights up like the Fourth of fucking July under his heated gaze.

“I definitely like your tight, little body, that flat stomach just begging me to lick it, and your rack—fuck, Firecracker,” he says, his voice gruff, and so completely hot.

I can practically feel his words on my body, like he’s touching me with each one.

He steps closer. He’s a breath away from me, and now, I’m finding that I can’t seem to catch my own.

“And your face…gorgeous, really gorgeous.” His minty hot breath blows over my face. “I can honestly say, the only thing I don’t like about you…is your no-filter, ball-busting mouth!”

“Ugh!” I shove him hard in the chest. “Screw you!”

“Please do. It would make my fucking year to see you riding my cock,” he says with a masculine groan, smirking at me.

“Ah! You’re a nightmare! Don’t you ever stop?”

“When it comes to you, Firecracker, I’ll never stop. Never.”

Flustered and turned-on and angry and confused, I press my thighs together trying to keep my virginia in check, and I wrap my arms across my chest. All the while, I’m firing daggers from my eyes straight into Tom’s.

He stares right back. His chest is heaving up and down.

Then, my anger suddenly deflates, and I’m just left feeling flat.

Way to kick off the first show of the tour.

I rub my nose. “It’s only been one day, Tom, and we’re already yelling at each other. It’s not good—at all. And what you just pulled back there…Jesus, that was way out of line.” Disappointment drags my voice down.

Tom lifts his eyes to mine. In this moment, I see a shade of real in them that I don’t think I’ve ever seen in him before.

“Okay,” he exhales. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

I can’t imagine that Tom Carter apologizes to many people, if any, so I take the fact that he just apologized to me as he really means it.

“I crossed the line. I didn’t exactly dissuade Shannon of her assumption that you and I were sleeping together. In my defense though, technically, I didn’t actually say anything.”

I unfurl my arms, stretching them out in his direction. “But that’s worse!”

“How so?”

“I don’t know!” I say, flustered. “It just is!” I shove my hands through my hair. “I don’t get you, Tom. Why would you even want Shannon to think that you and I are seeing each other?”