Can't Hardly Breathe (The Original Heartbreakers #4)

At last he met her gaze. Whatever he saw in her eyes convinced him to agree. “You have twenty minutes before I head out. If you’re not ready, I leave without you.”

“Thank you.” She called her mom, who was at a book club meeting at the Rhinestone Cowgirl. She didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “Come home and bring the other ladies with you. And bring Virgil, Anthony and the dogs. Looks like we’re gonna have ourselves a twister.”

“Are you sure? We have storms all the time. I bet this one will pass, too, and we’ll—”

“Now! And hurry.”

Took a little over twenty minutes for everyone to arrive, but Jazz waited. The wind had really kicked up, whistling as it hit the sides of the building. Dorothea gathered the supplies she’d need, filling a large black duffel bag.

“Stay here,” she told the masses. “Do not leave.” She placed her laptop on a shelf, the screen already set to her webpage, where she would be streaming the feed she captured on her phone. “I’ll keep you updated.”

Her mom wrung her hands. “Are you sure you should be going out there?”

“Daniel would not be pleased, young lady,” Virgil said.

She kissed her mom’s cheek, then Virgil’s. “I’ll be fine, promise. But this is something I’ve always wanted to do, and I’ll be with a...professional.” Besides, Daniel would encourage her to live her dream. Right?

She experienced a tendril of unease. Stay safe, he’d told her. Meaning stay put?

Did it matter? Even if he had issued a flat-out command, so what? Her days of people pleasing were over. Amen.

As she strode to the exit, Holly stepped into her path. “Don’t leave. Please, Dot—Dorothea.”

Last week she would have been so eager to earn back her sister’s affections, she would have done whatever the girl asked. Today? Not so much.

“I’ll be back,” she muttered, and stepped around the girl.

Jazz was in the lobby, peering out the door. Other storm chasers from other networks would be out there, of course, but they wouldn’t know the terrain like she did.

When she sidled up to Jazz, readying her phone, he said, “Are you sure you want to do this? The danger...my liability—”

“I’m sure.” She almost added, “My middle name is Danger,” but decided she’d sound like a dork, so she kept her mouth closed.

Thump, thump, thump. Clink, clink. The hail had begun to fall.

“The doors are unlocked,” he said. “All you have to do is jump in.”

His van—with shatterproof windows—was waiting under the portico, she realized.

“You ready?” he asked.

“Ready.”

He raced outside, and she followed. Her hair whipped from its knot and slapped her cheeks. The cold and the wet hit her full force, nearly knocking her off her feet, but she kept going.

When she made it to the vehicle, her relief was short-lived. She couldn’t get the door open; the wind was too great. Jazz had to help her from the inside. Teeth chattering, clothes plastered to her body, she buckled in.

“Not too late to stay here,” he said as he studied the storm in the distance.

And let him hog all the glory? No!

One fact became very clear. He’d never believed in her.

But Daniel did.

“Is that your way of saying you’re scared?” she asked.

He looked at her, aghast. “No.”

“Then shut up and drive.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

DANIEL TOOK ANOTHER stroll around the Michaelson Hotel ballroom. Despite the elegance of gilt mirrors, white columns and a freshly polished marble floor, the place lacked the inn’s intrinsic charm. But then, he had a feeling no place on earth would ever compare to the inn. His home.

He was beginning to feel like a normal person. Someone who could maintain a stable relationship long-term. He was sleeping at night. He could hear a loud noise without freaking out. And he could almost—almost—believe Thea would stay with him, through good times and bad.

He wanted their relationship to last.

He should have called her when he’d first arrived in the city. Then he should have called before he’d gone to bed last night. Hell, he should have called her this morning. Like an idiot, he’d tried to temper his feelings for her.

Things with her were good. Very good. Almost too good.

In his experience, trouble always struck at Too Good O’clock.

Concentrate. You’re on a job. The morning gala had bled into a silent auction and lunch buffet, which would ultimately bleed into an evening party. The ballroom was already crammed with people. Everyone was decked out in formal wear, the women sparkling with precious gems, and the men in tuxes. Even Daniel wore a tux, and the tie was about to choke him, but he kept his hands at his sides, ready to grab a weapon, if necessary.

Ten minutes stretched into thirty and thirty into an hour. A storm erupted outside. Many of the guests pulled out their phones to check the latest news. Thunder boomed, and hail began to beat at the windows.

“Daniel, we’ve got a problem.” Jude’s voice spilled through the bud in his ear. “Your dad couldn’t reach you, so he called me.”

Jude was in one of the hotel’s lavish rooms, watching everything from a makeshift wall of screens. Daniel had turned off his phone the moment he’d gone on duty.

He missed a step. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. He and the dogs are in the basement at the inn. Dorothea has gone out with Jazz, chasing the storm. I’ve sent a link to you. It’s the website I created for her. She’s streaming.”

Chasing the storm? What. The. Hell.

“That’s not all,” Jude said, his voice nothing but doom and gloom. “Power lines are down in Strawberry Valley, and cell towers are clogged. I lost touch with your dad.”

Daniel spoke into his wrist mic. “Brock—”

“Yep. Heard. You go do what you gotta do, my man. We’ve got you covered here.”

Daniel rushed into the hallway leading to the lobby and whipped out his phone. He followed the link, and after several tries, he was able to log on to see video footage of the storm. A dark sky, black with shades of green. Rain and hail the size of golf balls poured, the trees whipping in the wind, limbs breaking. One tree was even uprooted; it danced across the terrain like a tumbleweed.

In the background, he heard Thea shouting, explaining what was happening. A loud roar had kicked up, as if a freight train was headed straight for her.

He’d lived in Oklahoma long enough to know the sound of an incoming tornado.

“If you live in or around Strawberry Valley, take cover,” Thea yelled. “Take cover right now. This is an F-3, at the very least. There’s going to be damage. Any homes in its path will be destroyed.”

The feed stopped, the screen going blank, and his heart nearly burst from his chest. When he’d told her to live stream, he’d meant from the safety of her room. He hadn’t wanted her to go out in the storm and endanger her life. What if he...lost her?