Love Storm by Jennifer McNare Read Free Book Online Page A

“Let’s get these things back into the garage
and then we can go inside and start a nice warm fire,” he said, attempting to
push the aggravating notion from his mind.
    “That sounds like a good idea to me,” Brooklyn readily
agreed.   Despite her heavy gloves and
boots, her toes and fingers had begun to feel the cold, and the thought of a
warm, toasty fire held tremendous appeal.   A steamy mug of hot chocolate didn’t sound too bad either.
    Once they’d gotten everything put away, they quickly headed
into the warm house, stopping to check their respective cell phones for
messages as they entered the kitchen.
    Ryan listened to several voicemails, one of which was from
Wade.   Though he didn’t come right out
and say it, the warning to keep his hands off of Brooklyn was definitely
implied.   Another sign, this one
infinitely more recognizable, for him to keep his distance from the
oh-so-desirable Brooklyn Foster, he wondered?   Sighing in irritation, he quickly read through his text messages, and
then without responding to any of them, he tossed the phone onto the kitchen
table, leaving the ringer on vibrate so that he wouldn’t be disturbed, and then
headed for the family room.  
    Brooklyn had four new text messages, one from her mother,
one from Julia and the others from a couple of her and Julia’s other girlfriends.   After firing off
quick responses to her mom and friends, she slipped the phone back into her
pocket.   A few minutes later, having fixed
each of them a cup of cocoa topped with small white marshmallows, she followed
Ryan into the family room, setting the warm mugs onto the coffee table.
    “I’ll get some more wood from the back deck,” she said, as
she noticed Ryan working to start the existing logs burning in the room’s huge
stone fireplace.   Slipping on the
rubber-soled slippers she’d left in a corner of the family room, she opened the
back door, stepped out onto the covered wooden deck and reached toward the tall
stack of firewood propped against the side of the house.   Grabbing four thick logs she quickly piled
them into her arms and turned back toward the door.   However, as she spun around, her gaze fell
upon the covered hot tub sitting to her left, and she paused mid-step.   Looking in through the glass panes of the
tall French doors, she saw that Ryan was still focused on the fire.   Oh,
what could it hurt?   Setting the logs
down onto the deck, she stepped over to the hot tub and lifted the cover.   As she’d hoped, it was full of lukewarm
water.   Putting the cover back into
place, she located the thermostat and turned it up to the higher setting.
    Picking up the discarded logs, she reentered the house,
pulling the door closed softly behind her.   “Here you go,” she said, placing the wood into the hinged metal box that
sat at the end of the hearth, as Ryan used the fireplace poker to rearrange the
logs that now burned atop the large metal grate.  
    “Thanks,” he said as Brooklyn dropped the extra logs into
the box.   “That should last us a while.”   Standing up he leaned the poker against the
mantle.   “Do you mind if I turn on the
game?”
    “No, not at all.”   She
wasn’t sure which games were on, but she knew that he and Wade’s teams weren’t
playing, as Denver wasn’t playing again until Thursday night, and the Vipers
were scheduled to play the Indianapolis Colts tomorrow on Monday night
football.
    Moving to the sofa, Ryan sat down, grabbed the remote and
switched on the television, flipping through the channels until he landed on
the Bears-Raiders game.
    As Ryan settled in to watch the game, Brooklyn stood warming
herself by the now blazing fire.
    “Uh oh.   Raiders are
up twenty-one to seven,” Ryan said as the score popped up on the screen.
    “It must be frustrating, having to sit out for the next few
weeks.”
    “Yeah, it sucks, Ryan admitted.   “One little bump on the head and I’m
sidelined for over a month.   But at