Page 2 of Taken By Storm

Building a snowman with her kid brother, Keith.

The visualization didn’t work.

Probably because being hot and sitting in a pool of her own sweat wasn’t her predominant complaint at the moment.

Exhaustion was.

So, instead, she kept her eyes closed, steadied her breathing, and started counting down the hours until she could climb between the crisp, cool cotton sheets on her bed.

Sadly, the hourly countdown would take some time because she was a long way away from bedtime, from laying her head on her soft pillow and falling asleep. Back in her carefree days, she was a champion sleeper, the queen of REM dreams, hers always vivid and epic and wonderful. Nowadays, the best she could muster were a few hours of restless, tossing-and-turning sleep that left her even more exhausted come morning.

Being tired had become a regular thing in her life the past eight months, but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with.

She jerked when someone cleared their throat.

Kasi’s eyes flew open, and she was shocked to discover Levi standing right in front of her counter. How the hell had he parked in front of the stand and walked in without her noticing? Had she actually fallen asleep sitting up?

She lowered the arms that were still holding her hair and realized she hadn’t put his pie out on the table.

“Oh, Levi,” she said. “I, um, I held a pie back for you because they were going so fast today.” It was a lie, but she doubted he’d see through it. After all, hewasher most reliable customer.

She rose from the stool, moving a little too quickly. Gray spots blinded her as she was overcome with a wave of dizziness. She tried to reach out for the counter but her hands found nothing but air, and for a split second, she became aware that she was going down, her gaze focused on the concrete floor.

Her last thought wasthis is going to hurt, before things went black.

When she opened her eyes, Kasi realized two things simultaneously. She was lying on the floor and her head was in Levi’s lap.

“Did I pass out?”

Levi nodded, scowling, though not with anger. He looked worried as hell. About her. If she was more lucid, she’d probably have some sort of misplaced feelings about that.

As it was…

“I’m going to call nine-one-one.”

Kasi shook her head as she reached out to grip his wrist, preventing him from grabbing his phone from his back pocket.

“No. That’s not necessary. It was just the heat. I didn’t drink enough water today.”

For a second, she was afraid Levi was going to ignore her and place the call anyway.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, attempting to rise. Levi helped her, a steady hand on her elbow, a firm arm around her back.

Those touches would have thrilled her if her sticky shirt wasn’t clinging to her skin.

Real sexy, Kass.

Once she was off the floor, she sank back down on her stool. Levi hovered close, his hand still on her arm, until he was sure she wasn’t going to fall off it. Then he walked over to the tin she filled with ice and bottles of water every afternoon, returning with one. He twisted off the cap and held it out to her. The ice in the tin had melted long ago, so the water was basically lukewarm rather than cold, but still…it was wet.

She drank a few small sips before starting to put the bottle on the counter. Levi crossed his arms and lifted one eyebrow, making it clear he expected her to drink it all.

She lifted the water and drained it. Putting the bottle container on the counter, Kasi felt her arms, looking for scrapes, feeling for bumps.

“What are you doing?” Levi asked.

She frowned. “I didn’t hurt anything when I fell.”

“That’s because I caught you.”

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