Page 11 of An Unexpected Twist

“Kelsey look at me.” He had placed both hands on her face. “Are you okay? Do you feel hurt anywhere? I am so sorry I got you into this.”

“Are you kidding me?” She spoke through her sobs. “You saved me, twice. I probably wouldn’t even be alive if it weren’t for you. None of this is your fault, I’m glad you brought me here. I couldn’t imagine going through any of this alone.”

Boone’s lips hovered so close as she spoke, then touched hers intimately. The kiss deepened as adrenaline fed both their emotions and she didn’t want to ever let him go. He’d rescued her. No one had ever taken care of her like he had.

“Boone!” They heard screams coming closer to them. The kiss ended.

“Thatwould be my brother.”

Chapter Seven

Kelsey sat on his couch in the living room wrapped in a blanket while Boone tried to tune out the incoherent ramblings coming from his brother. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what Pearson was talking about, he just didn’t care. The sun was setting, the storms had moved on and cleared the sky and they were both exhausted. He had no more energy to expend to even be rude. He just pretended to listen while he watched her watching him.

He’d rescued a stranger from the middle of the highway in the wake of a tornado and they’d become each other’s’ lifelines. How does that happen? More cosmic universe stuff? He had no clue. He’d never been through anything like what they’d both just experienced but he felt an undeniable need to not be apart from this woman he barely knew. That can’t be normal. Not that he’d been normal his entire life anyway.

He could tell Kelsey was shivering and he needed to get her into a hot shower and they both needed some sleep. He hadn’t even had time to check on his parents yet but maybe he could convince his brother to take a quick drive to make sure they were okay.

“Pearson.” His brother kept talking like Boone hadn’t spoken.

“Pearson! Are you hearing me?”

“Yeah, I hear you, I’m right beside you.” He tried to continue talking but Boone interrupted him.

“I need you to do me a favor, can you do that?”

“A favor? Sure, what is it?”

“Take my truck and go check on mom and dad, just make sure they’re okay and the house is still in one piece.”

“Oh, yeah I can do that, don’t you want to go along? You know mom will want to see you too.”

He motioned his head toward Kelsey.

“I really need to get her cleaned up, she needs sleep. Just do me this one favor, I know you can handle it without me.”

“Okay, I guess but when I get back, I want to know who this person is that you brought home.”

“Sure, you got it. Here are my keys. You can go now?” Like he had to answer to his brother about anything he did.

He stood up from the couch and his brother followed suit. He pushed him toward the front door and opened it so he could go.

“If you have any problems, call me. You have your phone, right?” His brother felt his pocked and nodded but Boone was already closing the door. He walked back into the living room but Kelsey wasn’t sitting on the couch. He panicked, looking around the room and found her over by the kitchen.

“I put some water in the kettle, hope you don’t mind?”

“Of course.” He approached her, rubbing his hands up and down her arms, warming up the blanket.

“I don’t have any tea though, if that’s what you were hoping for?”

“At this point I’d settle for hot water, I’m so cold.”

“How about we go upstairs, and I’ll let you use my shower. The water is always hotter up there anyway.”

“Is it just a shower because I’d really like to soak in a bath.”

“You’re in luck, it’s one of those old claw foot tubs. I even have bubbles you can use.”

“Hey now you’re talking.”

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