Westmoreland Desires: Riding the Storm / Jared's Counterfeit Fiancée / The Chase Is On. Brenda Jackson
guy who was the perfect figment of a teenage girl’s imagination. He had been real, bigger than life and for two solid years before leaving Atlanta to attend college, he had been the one person who had consumed all of her thoughts.
When she returned home four years ago, she had still found him totally irresistible, but it didn’t take long to realize that he still wouldn’t give her the time of day.
“And it was good seeing you again, too, Storm. Just in case we don’t run into each other again while we’re here, I hope you have a safe trip back to Atlanta,” she said, hoping she sounded a lot more excited than she actually felt.
“And I ditto that for you,” he said. He surprised her when he grasped her fingers and held them firmly. She’d shivered for a second before she could stop herself. His touch had been like a shock. She couldn’t help noticing how strong his hand was, and his gaze was deep and intent.
She remembered another time their gazes had connected in such a way. It had been last year, when the men at the fire station had given her father a surprise birthday party. She distinctively remembered Storm standing across the room talking to someone and then suddenly turning, locking his gaze with hers as if he were actually seeing her for the first time. The episode had been brief, but earth-tilting for her nonetheless.
“Your father was a very special man, Jayla, and he meant a lot to me,” he said softly before releasing his grip and taking a step back.
She nodded, putting how intense Storm’s nearness made her feel to the back of her mind while holding back the tears that always flooded her eyes whenever she thought of losing her father to pancreatic cancer. He had died within three months of the condition being diagnosed.
Although while growing up she had thought he was too authoritative at times, he had been a loving father. “And you meant a lot to him, as well, Storm,” she said, through the tightness in her throat. “You were the son he never had.”
She watched him inhale deeply and knew that her words had touched him.
“Promise that if you ever need anything that you’ll call me.”
She sighed, knowing she would have to lie to him for a second time that day. “I will, Storm.”
Evidently satisfied with her answer, he turned and walked away. She watched, transfixed, trying to ignore how the solid muscles of his body yielded beneath the material of his shirt and pants. The last thought that came into her mind before he stepped into the elevator was that he certainly did have a great-looking butt.
* * *
When the elevator door swooshed shut, Storm leaned back against the back wall to get his bearings. Seeing Jayla Cole had had one hell of an effect on him. She had been cute and adorable at sixteen, but over the years she had grown into the most breathtaking creature he’d ever set his eyes on.
“Jayla.” He said her name softly, drawing out the sound with a deep, husky sigh. He would never forget the time Adam had invited him to dinner to celebrate Jayla’s return to Atlanta from college. It was supposed to have been a very simple and quiet affair and had ended up being far from it. He had walked into the house and felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach. The air had miraculously been sucked from his lungs.
Jayla had become a woman, a very beautiful and desirable woman, and the only thing that had kept him from adding her to his To Do list was the deep respect he’d had for her father. But that hadn’t kept her from occasionally creeping into his dreams at night or from being the lone person on his Would Definitely Do If I Could list.
He sighed deeply. She had the most luscious pair of whiskey-colored eyes he’d ever seen, medium brown hair that shimmered with strands of golden highlights and skin the color of creamy cocoa. He thought the entire combination went far beyond classic beauty. And he hadn’t been able to ignore just how good her body looked in the shorts and tank top she’d been wearing and how great she’d smelled. He hadn’t recognized the fragrance and he’d thought he knew them all.
She had actually trembled when he’d reached out and touched her hand. He’d felt it and her responsiveness to his touch had given his body a jump-start. It had taken everything within him to pretend he wasn’t affected by her. Since he was thirty-two, he calculated that Jayla was now twenty-six. She was now a full-grown woman. All woman. But still there was something about her that radiated an innocence he’d seldom found in women her age. It was her innocence that confused him most. He was an ace at figuring out women, but there was something about her that left him a bit mystified and he couldn’t shake the feeling. But one thing he was certain about—as far as he was concerned, Jayla was still off-limits.
Maybe it had been a blessing that she’d turned down his invitation to dinner. The last thing he needed was to share a meal with her. In fact, spending any amount of time with her would only be asking for trouble, considering his attraction to her. He released a moan, a deep throaty sound, and realized that the only thing that had changed with the situation was that Adam was no longer alive to serve as a buffer and a constant reminder of the one woman he could not have.
“Damn.”
Just thinking about Jayla sent a jolt of desire straight from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head, leaving an aching throb in his midsection. Storm rubbed a hand down his face. Nothing had changed. The woman was still too much temptation. She’d been a handful while growing up; Adam had been faced with the challenge of raising his daughter alone after his wife died, when Jayla was ten.
Adam had been a strict father, too strict at times, Storm thought, but he’d wanted to keep his daughter safe and not allow her to get into the kind of trouble other teenagers were getting into. But Adam had also been a loving and caring father and had always placed Jayla first in his life. Storm had always admired the man for that.
Storm’s thoughts went back to Jayla and the outfit she was wearing. It hadn’t been blatantly sexy, but it had definitely captured his interest. But that was as far as he would allow it to go, he thought with a resigned sigh. Jayla was definitely not his type.
He enjoyed his freedom-loving ways too much and no matter what anyone thought, he knew the main reason he lived a stress-free life was because of his active sex life. In his line of business, you needed an outlet when things got too overbearing. And as long as he was responsible and made sure all his encounters didn’t involve any health risks, he would continue to engage in the pleasures of sex.
Okay, so he would admit that he was a man with commitment issues, thanks to Nicole Brown. So what if it had been fifteen years, there were some things a man didn’t forget and rejection was one of them.
He and Nicole had dated during his senior year in high school and had even talked about getting married when he finished college. He would never forget the night he had told Nicole that his future plans had changed. He decided that, unlike his brothers, he didn’t want to go to college. Instead, he wanted to stay in Atlanta and attend the Firefighters Academy. Nicole hadn’t wasted any time in telling him what she thought about his plans. A man without a college education could not provide adequately for a family, she’d told him, and had broken up with him that same night.
He had loved her and her rejection had hurt. It had also taught him a very valuable lesson. Keep your heart to yourself. You could have sex for sex’s sake, but love and marriage would never be part of the mix. So what if his uncle Corey, who had pledged to remain a bachelor for life, as well as his older brothers Dare, Thorn and Stone, had all gotten married in less than a year? That didn’t mean he or his twin Chase would follow in their footsteps.
His thoughts shifted back to Nicole. He had seen her at a class reunion a few years back and had been grateful things had ended between them when they had. After three marriages, she was still looking for what she considered the perfect man with a good education and plenty of money. She had been surprised to learn that because firefighters made it a point to constantly study to improve their job performance and prepare for promotional exams, he had eventually gone to college, taking classes at night to earn a bachelor’s degree in fire science and later a master’s degree in public administration.
His