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“You can’t sleep sitting up. Either we both lie down, or we perch on these folding chairs until we fall over.”
“Stubborn woman.”
“Definitely the pot calling the kettle black.”
“Are you tired?”
“I don’t really know. All my synapses are fried. Sheer terror will do that to you.”
She was right. The adrenaline had flowed hot and heavy this afternoon. “I’m betting if we keep still long enough we might be able to sleep. We’ll need rest to handle whatever happens tomorrow.”
He heard rather than saw her stand up. When her hand touched his arm, he realized that she had come to him.... one human seeking comfort from another. “It’s going to be bad, isn’t it?”
He nodded, squeezing her hand briefly. “Yeah. Wind strong enough to lift whatever is on top of us will have done a hell of a lot of damage.”
Her sigh was audible. “Let’s get settled for the night, then. The sooner we sleep, the sooner morning will come.”
* * *
Beth wanted to weep with joy when Drew turned on one of the flashlights so they could construct their makeshift bed. Being able to see his face gave her a shot of confidence and relief. Everything in Royal might have changed, but Drew was still Drew. His features were drawn and tired, though. She could only imagine what she looked like. It was probably a good thing she didn’t have a mirror. Her hair felt like a rat’s nest.
Thankfully, the cellar was not as bad as she’d imagined. Drew checked every corner and cranny, killing a couple of spiders, but nothing major. By the time they had spread the silver blanket on the floor, she was more than ready to close her eyes.
But first, she had to deal with something that couldn’t wait. “Drew...I....” Her face flamed.
He was quick on the uptake. “We’ll both use the facilities.” He went to the ladder and stood with his back to her, beaming the flashlight toward the cellar doors, diffusing the illumination so that she could see but not feel exposed.
Beth did what had to be done and swapped places with him. In hindsight, it was not nearly as embarrassing as she had expected. She and Drew were survivors in a bad situation. No point in being prissy or overly modest.
At last, they were ready to court sleep. She knelt awkwardly, wincing when the concrete floor abraded her knees through the thin barrier that was their only comfort. She curled onto her side, facing the wall.
Drew joined her, facing the same direction, but leaving a safe distance between them. “All set?” he asked.
“Yes. But I should give you your shirt. You’ll get cold.”
“I’m fine.” He sighed, a deep, ragged exhale that could have meant anything. “I’m turning off the light now.”
Her stomach clenched. “Okay.”
This time the darkness was even worse after she’d been able to see for the last half hour. Her eyes stung with tears she would not let fall. She was okay. Drew was okay. That was all that mattered.
Her heart thundered too rapidly for sleep. And she couldn’t regulate her breathing. She trembled all over—delayed reaction probably.
Drew’s arms came around her, dragging her against him, his hands settling below her breasts. “Relax, Beth. Things will look better in the morning.”
The feel of his warm chest against her back kept her sane—that and his careful embrace. Her head rested on his arm. It must have been painful for him, but he didn’t voice a single complaint.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Go to sleep.”
* * *
For Drew, the night was a million hours long. He barely slept—and then only in snatches. His gritty eyes and aching body reminded him that he wasn’t a kid anymore. But even a teenager would have trouble relaxing on a bare cement floor. To take his mind off the physical discomfort, he concentrated on Beth.
It took her a half hour to fall asleep. He knew, because he kept sneaking peeks at his watch. Her body had been tense in his embrace, either from the miserable sleeping arrangements, or because she was uneasy about their inescapable physical intimacy. Or perhaps both.
Either way, she finally succumbed to exhaustion.
He liked holding her. As he tucked a swath of hair behind her ear, he inhaled the faint scent of her shampoo. Apple maybe...or some other fruity smell. In the dark, his senses were magnified. The curl he wrapped around his finger was soft and springy and damp. He allowed himself for one indulgent moment to imagine Beth’s beautiful hair tumbling across his chest as they made love.
The image took his breath away. All these months of verbal sparring had hidden a disturbing truth. He was hungry for Beth Andrews—totally captivated by her spunky charm—and physically drawn to her sexy body.
If he hadn’t been in pain, and if every one of his muscles weren’t drained from battling a tornado, he would have been more than a little aroused. As it was, his body reacted. But only for a short moment. He closed his eyes and prayed for oblivion.
* * *
Beth woke up with a sensation of doom she couldn’t shake. It was only after she opened her eyes that she remembered why. Her concrete prison was still intact with no way out.
Despite the circumstances, it wasn’t the worst morning after she’d ever experienced. Far from it. Drew’s right arm lay heavy across her waist. His right hand cupped her breast. Even though his gentle snore reassured her that he was still asleep, she blushed from her toes to her hairline. Until yesterday, Drew Farrell had been nothing more than her annoying, arrogant neighbor.
Except for the fact that he was incredibly gorgeous, masculine and sexy, she had been able to ignore him and his continuing dissatisfaction with her thriving business. But now, in one brief stormy adventure, they had been thrust together in a pressure cooker. No longer were they merely bickering acquaintances.
For better or for worse, they were comrades in arms. Friends.
It was difficult to sleep with someone, even fully clothed, and not experience a sense of intimacy. Not necessarily sexual intimacy, though that was certainly a real possibility when it came to her feelings for Drew.
But they shared another equally real type of closeness. They had stared death in the face.
Even now the words sounded too dramatic. But when she remembered looking over her shoulder and seeing the monster storm barreling toward them with ferocity, something inside her shivered with dread. Disaster had come close enough to breathe down their necks. They had escaped with their lives, but they weren’t out of the woods yet.
It was probably still early. Whatever landed on them during the tornado had darkened most of the tiny holes in the cellar doors that let in light. But the few that were left filtered the faint glow of dawn.
She felt no real urgency to move. Though her hip ached where it had spent the better part of the night battling with the unforgiving floor, she was surprisingly content. Being held close in Drew’s warm, comforting embrace was better than a tranquilizer. His big body was hard and muscular, reminding her without words that she was under the protection of a confident, capable male.
There was something to be said for primitive responses. Though Beth could hold her own in most situations, the fact remained that Drew was larger and stronger and more equipped to deal with the physical challenges of their crisis.
She let her mind wander. How badly had her farm been damaged? What about Drew’s horses? And the town of Royal? Had it avoided a direct hit? Thankfully, the storm had struck late enough in the day that most children would have already been home from school. But businesses in town would still have been open.
The not knowing drove her crazy. Even so, worrying accomplished nothing. She had no other choice but to live in the moment.
Closing her eyes, she savored the unfamiliar sensation of her cheek resting on Drew’s arm. The light covering of masculine hair tickled her nose. His scent was so familiar to her now that she could pick him out of a crowd in a dark room.
He must be very uncomfortable. But there was no reason to wake him. Had he thought it odd to hold her like this?
They had been adversaries from the beginning. It seemed he was always rubbing his good fortune in her face. Though perhaps she was too sensitive on that score, because most people thought he was a great guy. In fact, the only person she knew in Maverick County who ever got crossways with the owner of Willowbrook Farms was Beth Andrews.
Their feud had gone on a long time, probably because they were too much alike. Both stubborn. Both sure they were right.
He muttered in his sleep, tightening his grasp, his fingers brushing her nipple though three thin layers: his shirt, her tank top, and a lacy bra. Was he dreaming about a woman?
Unbidden, arousal stirred in Beth’s veins. It was sweet and yearning and ultimately for naught. Nothing was going to happen. The time and place were wrong. More importantly, she and Drew had to hope that rescue was on the way and that whatever they discovered above ground was not going to be too terrible.
She felt his steady breathing ruffle the hair at her nape. Had he thought about kissing her there? Or had he been too wiped out to even notice she was a woman? How sad that their first opportunity to really get to know each other was fraught with difficulty and struggle.
Being Drew’s neighbor had been a pain in the ass until today. His repeated bluster about the problems her business caused his had added to the stress of getting the farm up and running. In the midst of his frequent complaints, she had been busy tending to her fledgling crops, learning new things she needed to know and trying to keep the checkbook in the black.
Now, there would be no going back. What would this new awareness mean to their ongoing battle?
Sometime later she realized that she must have dozed off again. One of her legs was trapped between Drew’s thighs. It was as if his body was trying to stake a claim. She knew she should wake him, if only to let him move his arm. But this moment was pleasurable despite the context.
Once they were officially awake and alert, they would have to face things like a tiny water supply, dwindling stores of food, and the reality that no one knew where they were. All the harsh realities that defined them at the moment.
Given that truth, she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.
* * *
When Drew woke up, he stifled a groan. His body was one big throbbing toothache, and he wasn’t at all sure he would be able to stand. But having Beth tucked up against him was a bonus. Carefully, he eased his arm out from under her head, wincing as the blood returned. Beth muttered and frowned when her cheek came to rest on the unsympathetic ground.
He checked his watch. Seven thirty. Surely late enough for police and rescue personnel to begin going house to house. Rolling to his feet, he tried to ignore the sudden craving for eggs and bacon and hot coffee. Sadly, beef jerky was on the menu again. But not until Beth joined him.
Standing on the ladder, he turned on his phone and held it as close as he could to the cellar doors, praying for a signal. Still nothing...not that he really expected an overnight miracle. The storm had probably destroyed numerous cell towers.
He heard Beth sit up. “Any change?” she asked.
He wanted to be able to give her good news, but there was none. “No. You okay?” She was nothing more than a dim outline in the gloom.
“I’ve been better.”
“We have to eat and drink something. If this drags on, we’ll need to keep our energy up.” He hopped down from his perch and located more beef jerky and water. “Welcome to breakfast, Survivor-style.”
“Thanks. I think.”
He joined her on the floor, their knees touching as they sat cross-legged on the crinkly blanket. “Somehow, during all those years in the Boy Scouts, I never imagined this scenario.”
“Did you make it all the way to Eagle?”
“Yeah. My dad was a stickler for never giving up on anything.”
“Ah, now I get it,” she said. “That’s why you continue to browbeat me.”
“Eat your breakfast, woman.”
If he had to be trapped in a hole in the ground, Beth was the perfect companion. She hadn’t whined. She hadn’t panicked. Her sense of humor had survived the tornado intact even though she had to know, as he did, that things would probably get worse before they got better.
Holding her as they slept last night tapped into more than his human need to cheat death. With all the societal expectations stripped away, he discovered something deeper than physical attraction. Beth Andrews had edged her way into his heart.
That information was sensitive—need-to-know basis only. But it was something to be tucked away and savored at a later date.
“Seriously, Drew. What are we going to do to pass the time? If we can’t use our flashlights, our options are seriously limited.”
Several inappropriate suggestions came to mind immediately. But he squelched the impulse to voice them. “We can try lifting the doors again.”
“And that will take all of ten minutes.”
“Sarcasm, Beth? I thought we’d reached a détente.”
A faint noise from above interrupted her answer. He put a hand on her knee. “Shh...did you hear that?”
Four (#ulink_416000b0-2aa6-50a6-b227-287e54f4d098)
They both froze, their ears straining in the darkness. Next came the screech of metal, followed by a muffled shout. “Anybody down there?”
Drew leapt to his feet, dragging Beth with him. “Yes,” he shouted. “Yes.”
Beth was trembling. Hell, he probably was, too. He wrapped his arm around her narrow waist and she curled her arms around him. Together, they faced the specter of uncertainty.
They waited for what seemed like forever but might only have been a minute or two. Thumps and curses rained down on them, along with dust particles that made them cough. The voice came again, louder this time. “Hang on.”
Beth leaned into him. “What’s taking so long?”
“I think they’re trying to move whatever has the doors stuck. It must be big.”
She murmured something under her breath.
“What?” he asked, still straining to hear what was going on up top.
“I hope the doors don’t break and whatever that is doesn’t fall and crush us in this pit.”
He chuckled, despite the tension gripping him. “An active imagination can be a curse at times.”
“Tell me about it.”
They fell silent again. All the commotion above them had ceased. Surely the rescue team had heard him shout.
Beth voiced his concern. “What if they didn’t hear you? What if they went away?”
“I don’t think they would give up without making sure no one is down here...even if they didn’t hear me.”
But doubt began to creep in. Why was nothing happening?
Beth burrowed her face into his chest. He held her close. “Don’t freak out. If they left, they’ll come back.” God, I hope so.
He checked his watch. “It’s almost nine.”
“What time did we hear the first shout?” The words were muffled.
“I’m not sure. Maybe ten minutes ago? Fifteen?”
