Page 42 of Spring Showers

It was evident now, more than ever, that she liked this man very much. But their timing could not be any worse.

At that thought, thunder splintered across the old lake, carrying a tempest on its back. Thick clouds darkened the sky outside the barn and replaced the bright, clean air with an ominous green hue. She needed to get Grant to his cabin before the skies opened up. There was no way she was getting stuck out in another downpour.

Standing, Thandie crossed her wrists out in front and took each of Grant’s hands in hers. “There’s a storm coming.” She braced one leg in front and one in back and pulled him upright. “We need to go.”

More thunder rumbled low across the shallow valley. The delicate crystals of the chandelier shook above their heads, and a blinding light filled the space for a split second. She didn’t have time to close her eyes or shutter her ears to the booming sound. Before things got any worse, Thandie took Grant’s arm, and they made their way outside.

In the meantime, Leo had intercepted the guests and was directing them back to their own cabins. Everyone except for Margret and Anne, who were coming up the path towards the barn and aiming for Thandie and Grant.

Margret jogged ahead. “Is he well?”

Thandie nodded. “He will be. But I need to get him inside before the storm hits. I should be up to the barn in a little while. I hear the chef is preparing a traditional fish-and-chips tonight.”

“What a treat,” Margret said with excitement sparking between her clapping fingers.

“Get inside while you can,” Thandie said.

“I agree, ladies,” Leo chimed in. “Get indoors.”

Thandie and Grant continued to his cabin, passing her own on the way. She thought to stop by and grab her coat, because she hadn’t needed one until now, but the thunder cracking overhead had them moving with urgency towards the Bear Cabin. Grant’s cabin. Sometime between periwinkles and poison ivy, the weather had turned, though she hadn’t noticed with all the commotion. As though the pressure for her to put on a fantastic week for The Foundry wasn’t enough, she highly suspected that the weather was purposefully throwing a wrench in her activity plans.

CHAPTER20

Inside Grant’s cabin, Thandie left him sitting in the kitchen while she turned on the shower for him. “I don’t want you touching anything until you clean your skin off.”

“And yours,” he said while she was still in the bathroom checking the water temperature.

She looked down at her hands and forearms. Small red dots had popped up from where she had touched Grant and when she had swatted the flowers from his grip. She didn’t even realize that she had been affected until he mentioned it just now.

“You go first,” he said.

“Here? No, that’s okay.” She shook the warm water drops from her hands and went out to the kitchen. “I’ll go back to my place. I can come check on you later.”

“Absolutely not.” There was no amount of negotiating room in his voice. “You heard the storm coming. You should hop in really quick, and then I’ll go.”

She protested again, but he was right. The longer she stayed there stalling, the closer the storm was getting. “Do you have something I can put on?” She showed him her arms. “My clothes are probably covered too.”

“Of course. There’s a pair of robes hanging behind the bathroom door. I used the gray one, but the white one hasn’t been touched. You’re more than welcome to borrow it.” Grant shooed her away with his hand.

After she got cleaned up, she wrapped the fluffy white robe around her body and tied the rope closure as tight as she could comfortably stand. She used her claw clip to brush out her half curly, half straight hair, and pinched her cheeks for a bit of color. A deep breath was necessary, and she took three. Steam escaped the bathroom when she finally opened the door, and she felt like she was in a made-for-TV movie about a ghost haunting a Roman bath.

Grant hadn’t moved from his place in the kitchen, and his smile melted her heart and her nerves. “Your turn,” she said as another crack of thunder shook the old windows. “Better hurry.”

As he turned the shower water back on, Thandie grabbed an empty trash bag from under the sink and opened it. “Since you’re not cleaned off yet, can you grab my clothes and put them in here?” She held the flimsy white plastic bag open, careful not to be touched by the contaminated garments as he slid them inside. “Now take yours off,” she said.

He pointed to himself, and she nodded.

His button-down shirt was already sitting somewhere on the floor at the barn and his white tee left little to Thandie’s imagination. Even so, her pulse quickened, and her neck muscles tightened behind her ears. He grinned on one side and took hold of the tee’s hem. Grant shimmied the shirt slowly up his torso, teasing her with every inch of exposed skin. The worst part was that he knew what he was doing to her, and she knew that he knew, and liked him for it all the more.

She bit her bottom lip, not because she was incredibly hungry for him, but as an effort to hide the broad smile that was pulling at her cheeks. Grant threw his shirt like a basketball, and she caught it in the bag. She turned away, knowing his cargos were next to come off.

Grant was having far too much fun with this game, and she was about to lose herself in the valleys of his amazing abs if she looked any longer.Yes, turning away from him was the best thing to do, she thought. “Let me know when you’re done taking those off.”

“All done,” he said, and she could tell he was smiling.

Thandie kept her eyes shut tightly and moved toward the sound of his voice echoing off the tile in the bathroom. She held the bag open and felt the weight of his remaining clothes fall in. She backed out, careful of the moist floor beneath her feet, and felt for the door handle. Only after the latch clicked did she open her eyes again.

“You’re cute, you know,” he said from the other side of the door.

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