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  “We can’t wait. I’ll bake cookies,” Julie informed the women as she and Danny left Janie’s apartment after everyone except for Lyla.

  Their ride home was quiet. He was stuck in his own thoughts, as he assumed she was.

  “Glue.”

  “Danny?”

  “They’re the glue, Jules. Those two women came to town and fastened us all together. Not saying we weren’t a family before, ‘cause we were.” Danny stared at the road as his thoughts turned to words. “But we were pieces, and now we’re not. They’re the glue, honey.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  First Time For Everything

  WATCHING MAX AND Janie fall in love while Ashley and Ryan fell apart was exciting, exhausting, romantic, and agonizing. One couple flourished while the other flailed. Hearts and flowers or daggers and tears, it was a coin toss. For Julie and Danny, it was a never-ending carnival—fun until it wasn’t.

  Then there was Kyle, Julie’s special one. No good parent would ever admit to having a favorite child, and she certainly wouldn’t, but deep down, Kyle Marx had a special place in Julie’s heart. Lost since the day she met him, but he was too guarded to ask for directions. The man had been circling the drain for months, first with his alcohol consumption, which Julie feared may lead to drugs, and his excessive, but she prayed not careless, sexcapades with countless people. Nothing romantic had formed between him and Lyla, and the more Julie learned about her newest “daughter,” the more she realized that Lyla and Kyle would have been as catastrophic as lovers as they were beneficial as friends. Knowing that Kyle had Lyla to turn to comforted Julie, but according to Lyla, he never fully opened up.

  “Come on, we’re going to be late,” Julie called from the kitchen of their one-story ranch-style home. She popped the lid on the container of lemon-iced shortbread cookies—Max’s favorite—turned off the kitchen lights, and strolled to the front door.

  “Sorry, honey.” Danny’s hand slid around her waist and pulled her side to his firm chest. His soft whiskers touched her forehead barely a second before his lips. “I needed to set the DVR to record the post-game show.” A second and more sensual kiss landed on her neck. “Never know what time we’ll be home from dinner, and I always seem to want you more than football by the time we get back.”

  His lush lips and sexy words raised goose bumps on her flesh and sent tingles down her spine. “You know I’m a sure thing, right?” she teased as they walked from the house to the car. “You don’t need to sweet-talk me to get in my pants.”

  Danny opened her car door and waited for her to slide in and buckle up before he leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Been sweet-talking you for nearly thirty years, Jules.” His warm breath tickled her neck, making her nipples pucker beneath her wool sweater. “Does it turn you on?”

  Julie nodded, her heart thudding.

  “Then I need to do it.” His hazel eyes smoldered. “Let me rephrase—I fucking love doing it.”

  Sweet pain hit her earlobe a fraction of a second before a soft lick. Thank goodness for modern technology. Looks like Danny won’t be watching the post-game show until much, much later. But before then, they had dinner. The word barely registered in Julie’s mind before the car roared to life with Danny behind the wheel. Wait, how did he get there so fast?

  Sunday dinner was at Max and Janie’s house, formerly just Max’s place.

  “Seeing Max with Janie…” She sighed, and Danny laughed.

  “I hear you, honey. I never thought it would happen, but couldn’t be happier that it did.” Danny’s left hand moved to the top of the steering wheel while his right made purchase on Julie’s thigh.

  She placed her cool palm over his warm one, enjoying the feel of his heat penetrating her jeans.“I just wish Ashley and Ryan would stop fighting the inevitable.” It was only a matter of time before those two ended up together. Julie just feared the longer it took, the deeper the damage they inflicted on each other would be, and they had already suffered too much. No reason to add more.

  “You can’t rush these things, Jul. They may need more time.”

  “More time?” Her near snort would have been amusing had the topic been, well, amusing. “Dan, I think seven years is time enough. Even those who have broken mirrors run out of bad luck after seven years, right?”

  A barely there chuckle left Danny’s throat as they pulled into Max and Janie’s driveway. “That’s what I’ve heard, honey.”

  The night was lovely, as usual. Dinner was delicious, the company entertaining, and the Eagles were winning during the first half of the football game. It was a cozy Sunday night, aside from the weird vibes bouncing between Ashley and Ryan.

  But Kyle’s health and overall appearance put Julie on edge. More and more often, Kyle was coming into work hung-over and leaving his shift drunk, but that night, he looked saturated in more than booze; he looked strung-out.

  Julie wasn’t certain if she felt better or worse when Danny pulled her aside to get her assessment on Kyle. “He’s getting worse, yeah?”

  “Danny, my heart hurts just looking at him.”

  “Shit, I kept praying the boy would pull it together.” Danny ran his fingers over his short salt-and-pepper hair. “Fuck, can’t talk to him when he’s like this. It’ll go in one ear and out the other. I’ll call him tomorrow, stop by his place if I need to. We need to get him sorted.”

  “We will,” she said.

  During the football game halftime, Julie, Lyla, and Janie went to the kitchen to grab drink refills. The sound of the television got louder. Quickly returning to the family room with her eyes glued to the large screen, Julie heard a forecast that would forever change her life and the lives of those around her.

  Tropical Storm Leo is gaining strength in the Atlantic as we speak. We are expecting it to morph into a hurricane by Tuesday possibly hitting landfall as early as Wednesday night. Get ready, people. This is going to be a big one.

  Many things happened in the seconds during and after the meteorologist spoke, yet for Julie, the world slowed to an impossible pace. Frame by frame, she watched as devastation hit, and the actual storm was still more than twenty-four hours away.

  ***

  THEIR CAR WAS quiet on the way home from dinner. Danny white-knuckled the steering wheel, and Julie replayed what had happened in slow motion. Ashley had left the house almost immediately following the forecast, Ryan on her heels. The rest of the group tidied up what was left from dessert and left Max and Janie’s house, barely a word spoken between them.

  “Leo! Of all the fucking names in the world, the one hurricane to hit Charistown in decades had to be Leo? What are the goddamn chances?”

  Just hearing the name hiss from Danny’s mouth was like a physical blow to Julie’s gut.

  Leo had been Ashley’s brother and Ryan’s best friend. He died in a horrific car wreck during a hurricane when she was a senior in high school. His death brought about the end of Ryan and Ashley’s relationship.

  “How much more can she take, Danny? How much more should she have to?”

  The muscles in her husband’s jaw bunched. “She’s a strong ass woman. She’ll take what she’s given and not just survive but thrive. Reminds me of you, Julie. She always has.”

  His silken words touched her in a way she couldn’t express. It wasn’t sexy or slick but loving and truthful, words she felt straight down to the marrow of her bones.

  “You told her tonight before she left that she wasn’t alone,” Danny reminded. “And she’s not. She has a family now, and this time, she has Ryan. Promise you, babe, he won’t let her down, not ever again. Of that, I’m fucking certain.”

  “I believe that too.” And she did.

  As soon as their car pulled into the garage, the couple started preparing the list of things they needed to purchase from the hardware store to safeguard the bar against hurricane damage and the super market in case they were without power for a day or two. The next couple of days were sure to be long, exhaust
ing, and hopefully full of unnecessary concern.

  ***

  THE LATEST FORECAST said the hurricane would hit Charistown in less than twelve hours. While under normal circumstances, Danny wouldn’t put much faith in the weather predictions, the sky had already begun to darken and the winds to whip. He watched out the window as his store-owning neighbors and Charistown residents scurried around, preparing for the rare storm. Danny pulled his cell phone from his pocket, dialed the number, and lifted it to his ear.

  “Fuck,” he mumbled when Kyle’s voice mail picked up once again.

  Even with the chaos of the past two days, Danny had been trying, unsuccessfully, to get in touch with his boy. He and Julie had stopped by Kyle’s apartment, only to be met with an unanswered door. He had even called the police station to make certain Kyle hadn’t been arrested while Julie contacted the hospital. All searches came up empty. With the storm coming, they needed to batten down the hatches before they could continue their search for Kyle.

  Ryan, Max, and Max’s best friend since childhood, Sebastian Gage, all came to Danny’s on Main to assist with the storm preparation. The windows got taped, awnings stowed, booths covered in plastic, tables and chairs hugged tightly together in the center of the bar. Danny had had emergency generators installed several years prior, after they lost electricity for twenty-four hours due to an electrical storm. The food in the freezers would be fine if the power went out this time around.

  “Go home, boys. Thanks for helping me handle stuff around here.” Danny looked at the men he respected, cared about, and loved. He felt a great sense of accomplishment in having found so many good men to call friends—family. As the group filed out, Danny called, “Ryan, you don’t want her to be alone too long in this weather.”

  No other words were said because none were needed. Ryan nodded and left the bar with Max. Danny called Kyle again before removing the cash from the register and waiting for Julie to arrive so they could sort through their office before going home. No reason to be open in a ghost town.

  ###

  “WOMAN, HOW MANY candles did you buy?” He couldn’t hide the humor in his voice even if he’d tried. The woman must have pulled forty jarred candles out of the shopping bags he’d helped her unload from the car.

  “Dan, you’re lucky I could even find these.” She held up the white wax-filled jar. “The whole town has been emptied of batteries, but I got my hands on an eight-pack. Even that was tough. I thought some woman was going to throw a punch in order to take it from me.” She shook her head in the way she did when people’s actions confounded her. “Anyway, being the wife of a former firefighter, I knew better than to buy candle sticks—last thing I want to do is burn our house down if the power goes out—so I bought these candle jars instead. Figured if it came down to it, we could light them and place them away from the curtains and furniture. At least we’ll have some light.”

  The way his wife’s mind worked forever amazed him. Some people multitasked; Julie multithought.

  “I love you, honey,” he said, setting the jar on the table.

  He cupped her head in his hands and crushed their mouths together. Her taste on his tongue as he slid it against hers, deepening the kiss, made him need more and want it all. His free hand moved to her breast, kneading it through the thermal shirt, finding her pebbled nipple and plucking it. He swallowed her moan while slowly grinding his hips against her. He loved the way her body melded into his, the ultimate trust she’d given him since the day they started their love affair.

  “I want you now.” His command was uncompromising yet gentle. Heat roared through his body as every primal nerve awakened to play. Walking her backward from the dining room to the couch, he saw hunger enflame her sparkling gray eyes. “That bottom lip, baby, mmm, I need that fucking lip.” He took it, sucked it into his mouth, savored its smoothness, and pictured it around his throbbing cock.

  “Danny, oh, touch me.”

  Her throaty request had him stripping off her clothes before another word was spoken. His dick pulsed in his unbuttoned jeans.“Ahh, no panties. You were planning to get fucked by me, weren’t you?” His fingers brushed her naked sex, already glistening with arousal and waiting for his touch.

  “A girl can hope, can’t she?” Julie panted, her eyes closing when Danny pressed his fingers into her wet channel. “Ohhh, yesss.”

  The no-underwear rule had stayed in effect even when they’d lost the opportunity for adoption. If they were home, Julie was to be pantyless. At the bar, if she chose to wear undergarments, Danny had the right to tear them off. Either way, easy access was the name of the game. She tended to wear panties at work—felt cleaner that way, she claimed. So she kept spare pairs in her locked drawer in case they fooled around, which wasn’t all the time.

  “I need your skin, baby.” Her eyes narrowed, her voice a husky murmur as she slid Danny’s shirt up his torso and over his head.

  The cool air did nothing to quench the fire burning in his gut. Twisting his wrist so his palm faced the ceiling, Danny rubbed his woman’s pleasure spot and marveled at the delicious sounds that came from her throat. When his thumb circled her clit, Julie’s body tightened around him.

  “That’s it, your pussy loves what I’m doing, doesn’t it? Wants more. Ride my fingers, baby, gonna give you what you need to come hard. I want it, Julie, give all you got.”

  As if his words summoned her climax, she released. Trembling, moaning, panting, giving him all of her—raw. He loved seeing her that way, loved fucking her that way. His pants were at his ankles, his cock in his hand before her orgasm fully left her body.

  “Danny, yes, I want it,” she cried, her eyes round as she watched him stroke himself. “Fuck me, please.”

  Poised at her entrance, he rubbed the tip in her juices and swallowed back a groan that would have sounded more animal than human. He entered her slowly, teasingly, uncertain who the joke was on: her or him.

  “Fuck me,” she repeated.

  And he slammed home. Seated balls deep in her tight pussy, her warmth consumed him. He slowly pulled back.

  “No,” she pled, locking her ankles around his waist in an attempt to keep him close.

  “Shh, I’m fucking you. Now lay back and enjoy the ride.”

  The sides of Julie’s mouth ticked up because she knew she’d love what he dished out. She always did. Slow pumps led to deep thrusts as Danny’s hands slid over Julie’s silky skin. Every inch of her body was perfection, and every piece of her body was his. His skin prickled when she ran her cool fingers down the length of him, touching his muscles, gripping his ass. Her long legs wrapped around his torso allowed him in deeply, but he wanted more.

  “Stand up, honey. I wanna sink into you from behind.”

  His conscience kicked in a bit when he saw how jellified her leg muscles were, but he held on tight, slipped through her folds, and fucked into her like a man who’d gone without for years instead of days. His orgasm began to build in his spine, a fireball picking up speed, not yet ready to burst. Until… Julie’s hand slipped through her thighs and touched his balls. A light stroke, right behind his sack.

  “Fuck, Julie…fuck.”

  She continued her massage as his release rushed through his body, out of control. Out of his mind pleasure. His legs buckled, bringing him to the floor. Thank Christ he had the wherewithal to break the fall and bring Julie down on him instead of under him.

  “Fuck…holy shit. Where’d you learn to do that?” he heaved through broken breaths.

  She winked. “You have your guy talk; we have our girl chats. I learn a shit-ton from our girls.”

  Danny’s body still shook with pleasure as he brought his wife’s lips to his. “Keep up the good work, woman.”

  ***

  THE WINDOWS RATTLED with the force of the wind and the driving rain as Danny and Julie snuggled on a pallet by the lit fireplace. The power hadn’t gone out, but after witnessing an old maple tree crack in half and a dozen or so branches whip
ping around the yard, they thought it best to make a fire, fill the cooler with ice and beverages, and stay away from the windows. Their cell phones were charging, and Julie had found an old corded phone in the attic that she plugged in just in case the power went out.

  “This is shaping up to be some storm.” Danny shook his head at the Weather Channel. “I can’t believe they actually predicted this shit right.”

  “First time for everything,” Julie answered, lost in thoughts of Ashley and Ryan.

  “What’s going on in your mind, honey?” Danny muted the television and faced her.

  “I’m worried about Ashley and Ryan. I called her about an hour ago and Ryan wasn’t home yet. That poor girl told me she was okay, but come on, Dan. You think she’s okay?”

  “What I think is that she needs to get through this. Did you ask her to come and stay with us?”

  Julie smiled. Her husband knew her well. “Of course I did. When she declined, I offered to go to her. She declined that too. So what are we supposed to do?” When Danny’s arms opened wide, she curled into his embrace.

  “We let her deal for now, and we check in on her in a couple of hours. She isn’t alone in this, but she is an adult. So if it’s time she needs, we have to give it to her. I will, however, call Ryan and make sure he’s okay. Tell him to get his ass home.”

  Once Danny confirmed that Ryan was only minutes from his place and Ashley, Julie relaxed a bit and tried to enjoy the romantic ambiance with her man—until Danny’s cell phone rang.

  Julie was pouring them each a drink when Danny’s voice hardened. “What?” Her eyes went to his face, his skin ashen even by the firelight. “Was anybody hurt?”

  Julie’s stomach dropped when she heard that question. “Danny?” His gaze found hers, but it gave nothing away. In that nothing, he told her so much. “Danny…”

  He nodded. “Let me repeat what you’re saying, Officer. One of the old trees across the street from the bar snapped in half, crashed into a utility pole, and sent it and its live wires into our bar.”