Storm Warning by Toni Anderson Read Free Book Online Page B

you guys were students?” Ben made a joke of it, but anger rose and Sorcha narrowed her eyes.
    “That’s right. We sleep all morning, have sex all afternoon and drink all night.” She raised her pint and took a big swallow. She held his gaze as she put the glass back down on the scarred wood, wiping her lips on the back of her hand. He shifted and his elbow brushed her arm.
    She jumped. She shouldn’t have mentioned sex. Feeling irritable, she looked away. Most days she wasn’t this cantankerous, but this guy aggravated her and she didn’t know why.
    Carolyn put a hand over Sorcha’s and squeezed. “Ignore her, she’s had a long boring day and she doesn’t get out much.” Sorcha’s discomfort intensified and she tried to twist her hand away, but the other girl held tight. “Plus, she’s an Aquarian. Unpredictable and stubborn.” Carolyn nodded sagely and Ben laughed.
    “That stuff is—”
    “—horse shit,” Sorcha finished for him.
    He grinned and once again his thigh brushed hers. Tingles shimmered across her skin and her breath cramped in her lungs, but she didn’t retreat. There was nowhere to go anyway.
    Carolyn was enjoying her game. “You’re a what? Hmm, a fire sign. Let me guess. Leo? No? Aries?” At his nod, Carolyn thumped her hand in the air as if she’d won the lottery.
    “Very good.” He smiled as if impressed.
    “She’s a two-faced Gemini. Don’t encourage her.” Sorcha kept her tone dry and let go of some of her animosity. Carolyn was so cheerful she felt reluctant to bring her down.
    Ben angled his body toward Sorcha, his eyes intent on her face. Unsettled, she rested her head against the ugly green walls and closed her eyes. Shutting him out.
    “Headache?” The question was intimate in the noise of the pub.
    Her pulse skipped. She didn’t want intimate, didn’t want comfort, didn’t want anything from a man whose eyes melted one moment and pierced the next. She nodded as if she weren’t blowing him off, finished her drink and pulled on her coat. The skin around his mouth tightened.
    “Sorry, I have to go.”
    Carolyn was trying to drink up. Sorcha put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Don’t rush, Caro, I’m sure Ben will keep you company?”
    He nodded and leaned back, all sprawled bones and fluid muscle. They exchanged a look, his eyes narrowing at her brush-off.
    “I’d love to.” The smile he aimed at Carolyn contained enough heat to melt sand, and Sorcha hated the lash of hurt that whipped through her. Men weren’t fussy about which girls they chatted up. Being there seemed to be the main criteria.
    “Right.” Buttoning her coat, she squared her shoulders and squeezed past Ben, who stood to let her by. He didn’t give her much room though, and she tried to ignore the sensations that flooded each point of contact with heightened sexual awareness.
    A moment later Duncan Mackenzie barged through the door with two of his mates. She stood stunned as if ten thousand volts of electricity arc-flashed through the air and welded her feet to the ground. She’d seen him from a distance a couple of times but this was the first time she hadn’t had an escape route. Her personal demon hadn’t changed much in the last fifteen years. Mackenzie just looked bigger and meaner.
    If he hadn’t spotted her, Sorcha might’ve slunk back down and hidden behind Ben, but Duncan’s initial sweep of the bar hooked her. His lips curved upward like a scimitar, his eyes hot and nasty, just the way she remembered. Her fingernails bit into the palms of her hand.
    “Problem?” Ben asked.
    Nothing he needed to know about. She took a step forward. Even after all these years, the thought of confronting Duncan Mackenzie turned her blood to water.
    Leaning against the bar, Duncan’s eyes swept over her body. Her heart hammered in her ears and she hoped no one could see her distress. Still, she wasn’t ten anymore. And she wasn’t running away.
    Dark-haired and handsome in his own