Elizabeth Lee - Storm Warning

He huffed out a breath and shot her a forced smile. “If you say so.”

Cami’s chest ached at the wounded expression that lingered in his eyes. She wanted to say something to fix it, to let him know she’d acted a fool because of her own screwed up issues, not because of anything to do with him.

But the words, the truth about why she was in hiding, were just too humiliating.

Cami Nickelson did not do humility.

“HEY, you busy? I need advice.” Ella Jane stood in front of her open closet in her room, wrapped in a towel. She held the phone to her ear with the help of her shoulder.

“I’m heading out to the beach to watch fireworks with my lame-ass parents. Why, what’s up?”

Ella Jane breathed a sigh of relief. She was in the middle of a major freak-out and needed Lynlee’s expert opinion. “So I think I’m going on my very first date tonight. And I have no idea what to wear.”

Lynlee squealed into the phone, prompting Ella Jane to pull it a few inches from her ear. “You finally did it! You finally made a move on Coop. Go you!”

“Um, no, I didn’t.” Ella Jane paused as she held a red dress up in front of her and faced the full-length mirror. “Actually, that guy I told you about? The cocky one from Summit Bluffs? He kinda asked me to watch fireworks with him tonight.” Or did he? More like he just agreed to join her. Now Ella Jane was even more confused. Was this a date or wasn’t it?

“Nice. That’ll show Coop.”

Yeah, it had started that way. But now she wasn’t so sure she even wanted Coop to know about her and Hayden.

Coop had a girl in his life apparently, and she didn’t want him thinking everything she did was because of him. “I don’t really care anymore what Coop thinks. He’s got a girlfriend, I think. I don’t know. Whatever. The point is, I’m meeting Hayden in an hour at The Ridge and I need to know if I should wear a dress or just keep it casual. I don’t want to look like I’m trying too hard, you know?”

“What does he normally see you in?” Lynlee asked.

“Um, work clothes. And church clothes. That’s really it.”

Lynlee blew out a breath. “Okay, so you need something that looks casual like you just threw it on to watch fireworks but shows enough skin to be distracting. How about your denim dress with the cute pockets? It’s short enough to get his attention without being obvious. Throw a red cardigan over it and boom, you’re patriotic.”

“Um, okay. Let’s see if I can find it.” Ella Jane found it near the back. It actually showed a lot of skin in her opinion, which was why she hardly wore it. “Here it is.”

“And for God’s sakes, leave your freaking hair down. Ponytails are not sexy.”

EJ yanked the elastic band out of her wet hair. “Hair down, got it. Anything else?”

“Oh, and wear cute underwear. And a matching bra. Just in case.”

Whoa. Ella Jane’s eyes widened at her own reflection. “Just in case what? A spark falls and my clothes catch fire?”

“No, Virgin Mary. In case you decide to let anyone see them.”

Yeah, that wasn’t going to be an issue. Ella Jane had only kissed one guy—or rather, one guy had attempted to kiss her. Until Kyle jacked his jaw. And that was like almost three years ago. “Um, okay. Have fun with your parents.”

“Doubtful. I’ll be ditching them ASAP. Enjoy your date. Maybe we can compare stories later tonight.”

“Right. Thanks for the wardrobe help.”

EJ was one hundred percent positive her evening would pale in comparison. Lynlee was the furthest thing from being a virgin and EJ was the poster child for abstinence. Her friend had given her graphic tutorials on blow jobs, hand jobs, and the kinds of noises she should make when a guy touched her. It was pretty much a ton of useless advice she wouldn’t be able to put to use until long after Kyle was away at college and boys got bold enough to risk their lives to date her. So possibly never.

And if she was being honest with herself, she’d only ever pictured one boy doing any of those things to her. Only wanted to do those things to one guy.

She closed her eyes and tried to wipe the image of herself wrapped in Coop’s arms out of her head.

She let the word incest take its place. Then his smug smile when he’d rubbed it in about his favorite girl. The one he’d be with tonight.

Suddenly, the image in her head shifted. He was citified to the core, obnoxious, and utterly full of himself, but Hayden Prescott was the one meeting her tonight. The one who’d laughed with her all summer, teased her, watched trains with her. He was the one who’d showed when he’d said he was going to, been there to make her laugh when she’d cried. He was the one who made her nervous and unsure and crazy. He irritated her to death and excited her just as much.

Maybe Coop was right. Maybe different could be good and not all changes were bad.

AS she pulled her truck up to The Ridge, a small seed of nervousness began to grow. She tugged at the sleeve of her white cardigan as she got out of the truck. She hadn’t been able to find the red one because it was dirty. She’d forgotten she’d worn it to church last Sunday.

She wanted to kick herself. She’d put on a pink bra and teal panties and then stripped at the last second and put on matching red ones. She really was patriotic. And stupid, apparently, because the fireworks were starting and Hayden was nowhere in sight.

As she laid the blanket she’d brought across her rickety tailgate, the seed of nervousness became a vine of worry, which was rapidly growing into a thriving tree of full-blown panic. Maybe Coop had warned him about her brother and he’d decided not to show. Or maybe he’d forgotten. Or she was a complete idiot and he’d been messing with her all along.

Either way, it was hot and humid and she was sweating. She pulled her hair to one side, wishing she’d just ignored Lynlee’s advice and worn it up. Her heart grew heavy in her chest. Telling her friend she’d been stood up was going to suck. Lynlee wasn’t the kind of girlfriend who would be sympathetic. She was the kind who would laugh. Hysterically.

Glancing down, Ella Jane saw a few red specks on her white sweater. She’d helped her mom unload the salsa she’d made for the Founder’s Festival before coming here. Apparently some had splattered on her.

This night was off to a swell start. She began pulling her arms from the sweater sleeves. A low whistle interrupted her.

“I just got here and already you’re stripping. Should I give you a few more minutes and come back?”

As much as she wanted to glare at him, she grinned up at Hayden as he approached. “Why do you always do that?”

“Do what?” he asked as he hopped up on the tailgate beside her. He offered her a brown paper sack so she took it.

“Make stupid comments like that. Like you’d really be okay with me taking my clothes off out here.” She peeked in the bag. “Oh, never mind. You can be an ass all you want. Grandma Prescott’s caramel apple pie is my favorite.”

Hayden laughed, but it was a short laugh. Then he cleared his throat. “For starters, I have no problem with you taking your clothes off up here. Pretty sure I’m the only one who can see. And secondly, I made the pie for the festival because my grandma wasn’t feeling so hot.”

Ella Jane ignored the comment about her clothes and inspected the pie with the plastic fork he’d handed her. “Oh no. I hope your grandma’s okay. And I hope you didn’t just poison the whole town.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. And yeah, she was just tired, I think.” He paused and set his own piece of pie aside. “Can I ask you something?”

With her mouth full of warm apple pie—pretty decent pie actually—Ella Jane nodded.

“Would you give two of me for one of Joe, er, Cooper?”

“Um…” EJ forced herself to swallow. She couldn’t help but notice Hayden’s normally gleaming eyes seemed a little dimmer as he reached over and wiped a crumb from the corner of her mouth. Her skin burned where he touched her, and it was scary and intoxicating all at once. “Why would you ask that?”

Hayden shrugged and removed his hand. “Something my grandpa said.” She studied his profile as he turned his face to the sky. “Ever feel like no matter how hard you try, nothing you do will ever be good enough? Like you can do two million things right but people will always remember you for the one thing you did wrong?”

“Kind of. But I mean, all you can do is your best, right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” He turned to her and tilted his head to the side.

Ella Jane sucked in a breath as Hayden leaned his face toward hers.

A loud boom interrupted whatever had been about to happen. Startled by the fireworks blossoming and falling in front of them, they jumped apart.

“Aren’t they beautiful?” Ella Jane asked as the sky lit up with bright blasts of blue and purple and red and green. Flashes of light reflected on her face as the twinkly ones she loved went off.

“You’re beautiful,” Hayden said quietly from beside her.

“What’d you say?” she asked turning her attention back to him.

“You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”

The abrupt honesty of his words shocked and thrilled her to her core. “I don’t… No one’s ever said that to me before. I don’t know what to say to that,” she breathed.

“Most girls I know would say ‘I know I am,’” Hayden told her with a grin.

“Really? What kind of girls do you know?”

“Fake ones. Conceited ones. Insecure ones. Lots of different kinds. None like you though.”