The Other Side of Us (Harlequin Superromance) by Sarah Mayberry Read Free Book Online Page A

he
couldn’t possibly beat the water. But he was already pulling the metal grate
free, gravel and all, tossing it to one side to allow the water and gravel to
surge into the channel beneath the grate.
    He didn’t wait to see if his radical surgery had had the
desired effect. He turned to her, jerking his chin toward the house.
    “You got another broom?” he yelled over the sound of the wind
and rain.
    She blinked the rain from her eyes. Tried to get her brain to
connect with her mouth. “Yes.”
    He plucked the broom from her hands. “Go grab it.”
    He was gone before she could say anything more, striding to the
side of the house. He swept with long, powerful strokes, pushing water down the
side path.
    For long seconds Mackenzie simply watched him, dumbfounded,
overwhelmed, grateful and terrified all at once. He glanced at her, obviously
wondering what she was doing, standing there like an idiot, and for the second
time that night she snapped into action.
    Her legs felt rubbery, her back was starting to ache, but she
spun on her heel and went to find the second broom.

CHAPTER THREE
    O LIVER GLANCED TOWARD the sky, willing the weather gods to take it easy
with the rain. Apparently they weren’t taking calls right now, because it
continued to pound down, relentless and seemingly unending.
    He returned to sweeping, pushing water along the side of
Mackenzie’s house, the weight of the water and his efforts creating a miniature
river. He was aware of her working at the other corner of the house, a small,
sodden figure in clinging pajamas. She’d looked terrified and exhausted when
he’d arrived twenty minutes ago. As well she might be. He’d been momentarily
staggered by the amount of water pouring down her driveway when he left his
place.
    The street was almost knee-deep, the storm drains clearly
overwhelmed by the volume of runoff. The laws of gravity demanded that the water
find the lowest point and it had—Mackenzie’s driveway. And, to a lesser extent,
his own. He’d already removed the grates on his own channel drains, but one
glance at the water rushing toward Mackenzie’s house had told him that her
property was in far greater danger.
    Lightning cracked overhead, a violent fork that turned the
world silver. He spared the sky a glance before refocusing on his efforts, but a
few seconds later he felt a tug on his arm.
    “We have to go inside,” Mackenzie yelled over the sound of the
wind and rain.
    “I’m all right,” he assured her.
    She didn’t let go of his arm, tugging on it with surprising
strength. “You can’t be outside in an electrical storm. It’s dangerous.”
    As if to punctuate her words, the sky split in two again, a
fork of lightning spearing across the darkness. She flinched, her grip
tightening.
    “Inside!”
    He glanced toward her porch, where water still lapped at the
bottom step. If they stopped what they were doing, there was a very real chance
she would be inundated.
    “Don’t worry about the house,” she yelled.
    He let her tow him toward the porch. She released him as they
gained the shelter of the eaves and they stood side by side in the relative dry,
watching the water rush down the driveway to join the miniature lake in front of
them. Lightning lit the world again, a huge, jagged line that cut through the
darkness, and he was suddenly glad that she’d insisted they seek cover.
    “You’re insured, right?” he asked, looking at her.
    She had her arms wrapped around herself, and goose bumps
peppered her skin. She nodded, her face very pale.
    “You’re freezing,” he said.
    “So are you.”
    “You should go inside.”
    “And miss the floor show?”
    “If it means missing out on pneumonia, sure.”
    He could see her reluctance to abandon her post. He didn’t know
Mackenzie from a bar of soap, but his gut told him she wasn’t the sort of woman
who gave up on anything easily.
    “You can’t do anything until the electrical storm passes,” he
said.
    Her mouth