Page 59 of Must Love Bees
“Astrid... Astrid can borrow Scorpio if she gets scared.” Nova didn’t sound convinced.
He stared down at Astrid, the corner of his mouth quirked up. “Astrid, huh? What about me?”
“You don’t get scared, Charlie.” Nova giggled. “You’re silly.” She lowered her voice. “Can you come to Astrid’s house? I...I want you and Scorpio and Astrid to comehere. We can all be safehere. Together.”
Astrid’s heart ached for the little girl. It was a loud and intense storm. Thunder boomed. Lightning lit up the sky. Rain continued to slam down with substantial impact. And the power was flickering. Scary stuff, especially for a five-year-old in a big, strange house with mostly strangers.
“Please?” Nova’s little voice was trembling. “Please, Charlie?”
Astrid didn’t want to interfere but Nova’s near-frantic pitch had her ready to run into the storm and back home.
Charlie glanced at the large window and the ominously dark sky, his jaw muscle tightening. “We’re coming.”
“Thank you. Thank you, Charlie,” Nova gushed. “Hurry. Be safe, but hurry. And don’t tell Halley I called. Or that I used her phone. Bye.”
He frowned. “She sounds scared. She is scared.” He slid his phone into his pocket and ran his fingers through his hair.
“Then let’s go.” It took effort to step back and put space between them, but it was the right thing to do. If she didn’t let go, they’d never leave and Nova needed them.
He pushed off the table, grabbed his keys and his laptop, and looked at her. A long, hard-to-distinguish look.
“What does that look mean?” She tried to imitate his expression. Rather, the lack of expression.
“I’m going to grab some dry clothes.” He left the dining room, leaving the door open behind him.
She blinked. She could still feel the imprint of his lips on her mouth while he was back to being... Charlie. If she hadn’t felt the urgency in his hands and the fierceness of his kiss, it’d be easy to think what had happened between them was a daydream. A wonderful, fiery, passionate daydream. She drew in a shuddering breath. Lucky for her, his reaction was seared into her mind and skin.
A clap of thunder shook the house.Poor Nova.
Which reminded her. She spun, searching the three pallets on the floor until she found Scorpio. The plush blue star peered over the edge of one of Rebecca’s quilts, his stitched smile fraying and his white-mitten gloved hands a bit dingy. She scooped it up, plucking lint from the embroidered wide-eyed and smiling toy. “There you are.” She smiled back at Scorpio. “Nova is missing you.”
The seconds creeped along and the fact that she was wet and cold grew harder to ignore. The last thirty minutes had, for her, inexplicably changed things. It was more than her reaction to Charlie’s touch—as overwhelmingly delicious as that was. Her heart. Charlie had taken a very firm hold of her heart. The question was, did he want it? It was a real question. One she had no answer for. They’d been so caught up in a bubble of euphoria, so tangled up in the newness of exploring one another, that she hadn’t cared about much else. But now that Charlie wasn’t within reach to cloud her mind and distract her from overthinking, the uncertainty was hard to ignore. The longer the silence held, the tighter her nerves were stretched.
That was why she jumped at his sudden reappearance in the doorway.
Charlie paused, his dark brows furrowing. “You all right?”
She nodded, Scorpio clutched to her chest. As soon as her eyes met his, her heart took off at an alarming rate. “Found him.” She held out Nova’s beloved toy.
He was studying her in that unreadable way of his.
With those gorgeous, brooding eyes. She drew in a steadying breath. “Ready?”
He blinked, turned on his heel and headed for the front door.
“Okay,” she murmured, following.
“Here.” He took Scorpio, put the toy inside his waterproof athletic bag and zipped it shut before pulling open the front door. With a howl, the wind blew the door wide to slam into the wall.
The sky flashed, alternating cracks of lightning and the deafening boom of thunder making Charlie pause. He glanced at her, his jaw clenching. Rebecca’s car wasn’t far—a quick dash across the front lawn and out the side gate.
“Let’s make a run for it.” Astrid offered up a smile. Yes, they’d get wet but they were both already soaked through so what difference would it make?
“Be careful,” he grumbled.
She nodded, then dashed out the door. She didn’t mind the rain. They needed it, desperately. She did, however, hope it tapered off a bit. Flash flooding was a thing in the Hill Country. And while they needed the rain, too much, too soon presented a whole new set of problems.
She reached the passenger door of Rebecca’s old tank of a car and pulled the heavy door wide. She sat and slid onto the vinyl seat, then turned for the grip on the door. The wind fought her, holding the door wide with a brutal force.
