More Than Lust (Courthouse Connections Book 1) by Jacobs Ann

Author:Jacobs, Ann [Jacobs, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-06-02T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

A huge clap of thunder made Andi let out a little yelp. Gray counted nine seconds before a bolt of lightning lit the sky in front of the car.

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little spring thunderstorm,” he commented. “After all, you’ve lived around here all your life. You should be used to them.”

“I’m not scared of the thunder, it’s just a noise, like that country singer said. But lightning terrifies me. I saw my best friend’s dad get struck by a lightning bolt when I was about eight years old.”

“Was he hurt badly?” Gray could see how Andi might be terrified of storms. He’d heard that lightning strikes on humans, while rare, could cause anything from burning and scarring to severe neurological problems and even death.

“He lived, but ever since he got hit, his muscles twitch. When they do, he makes faces that even scare my friend. He hasn’t been able to hold down a job, and it’s been almost twenty years since…” Her voice trailed off, as if thinking about the long-ago event still upset her terribly.

“It looks as though we’re in for a storm, so we’ll skip the walk along the beach tonight and go straight to the condo.” Gray decided to spare her the direct exposure to what looked as though it would be a severe if brief patch of weather.

Andi had mentioned going to the beach as a child, searching for new shells to add to her collection. “If we wait and go out after the storm, more interesting shells should have been deposited on shore than ones that are usually there.”

She laughed as he pulled into a parking lot outside the waterfront high-rise where his mother owned the condo that he’d been camping in since coming back to work in the DEA’s Tampa office. “That will be fun. I haven’t hunted shells for years. I don’t know if Mother still has the box where I used to keep my finds.”

Just then the skies opened up and rain started pelting the windshield, its velocity practically drowning out the sound of Andi’s voice. More thunder rolled in the distance, followed even more quickly than before by lightning bolts that even he found alarming. Turning off the engine, he turned and put an arm around Andi, who was shivering despite being safe inside the car.

He didn’t make a move, but tried to calm her by continuing the conversation they’d begun before the deluge began. “I still have the ones I found when Dad used to take me out for weekends on his boat. We’d take off for the Keys, occasionally even the Bahamas, stopping to explore uninhabited islands—that’s where I found the most unusual treasures.

“They’re in my old bedroom—at least I don’t imagine Mother ever cleared out my stuff. I’m sure her housekeeper, Julianna, would call and ask me before disposing of anything that belonged to me. She’s a sweetheart, almost like a second mother, only nicer.”

Once Andi seemed calmer, Gray reached into the small

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.