Into the Storm Read online

  Now, they were sitting on the porch railing, sharing a joint. Isaac took a drag and closed his eyes, taking an extra beat or two. He didn’t smoke much of anything these days, with Lilli and Gia at home. He passed the joint to Show and said, “Lots of boxes in storage at the B&B. I’m going over there to pick my girls up. I’ll have Omen pick a bunch of boxes up, bring ‘em to you.”

  Show had a lungful, but he shook his head. When he could, he said, “I’ll go. Pack it up tonight. Think I can borrow your trailer? I’m gonna drive this shit down to Holly myself. Cheaper. And maybe she’ll let me see the girls, take them out to lunch or something.”

  Isaac nodded. “’Course, man. You want backup? I could take a day or two, ride shotgun.”

  “No. You stay home, where you’re needed. You don’t leave a woman alone with a month-old baby, brother. Not and live to tell the tale. I’m good. I got it.”

  He wasn’t sure that was true, but he knew he had to go, and go alone.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “So, we’re booked solid all the weekends until mid-October. I was worried about September, since that’s sort of a dead space between summer and the fall foliage, but it looks good. I’d say we’re still riding the publicity wave, though it is slowing down a little. We’ve got that wedding, now, too, the last weekend in September. Great luck for us, their venue falling through so late.” Shannon Bannerman turned her laptop, so Lilli, the owner of the Keller Acres Bed & Breakfast, and therefore her boss, could see the booking pages.

  Lilli was nursing her newborn daughter, Gia—which was the only reason they could have this conversation. As far as Shannon could tell, unless she was asleep or eating, little Gia was screaming. Having the baby around was a distraction, but it didn’t look like Lilli was one for maternity leave—or for daycare, for that matter. Nor was she one to let the manager she hired actually manage. Yet. Shannon was working on that.

  Now Lilli was giving the laptop screen a skeptical look. “I’m not so sure it was great luck. A wedding, only a few months after we open? Do you think we’re ready for that?”

  Shannon nodded. “I do.” She turned the laptop back to face her. “I have lots of experience planning weddings, Lilli. In Tulsa, there were several months of the year when we had at least one wedding just about every weekend. This one we’ve booked is small. They were very grateful and relieved that we could accommodate them on such short notice, and they are paying top dollar. We do this right, and it could bring really great word of mouth. It’s lucky.”

  Setting Gia on her shoulder and closing her shirt, Lilli nodded, but her brow was furrowed. “Okay. I just don’t want the word of mouth to be that we ruined somebody’s wedding day because we had no idea what we were doing.”

  “But I know what I’m doing.” Shannon liked Lilli a great deal. She was smart and she didn’t bullshit. They’d had a mutual respect since the day of the interview, and they had a similar way of seeing the world that made Shannon think they might be friends someday—though Lilli didn’t seem like someone who sought friends out. But she had a hard time not being in charge, and she’d hired Shannon to run this bed and breakfast—to be in charge—because she needed someone who knew how.

  Shannon sighed, and Lilli caught the frustration in it, her eyes sharpening in response. Shannon met those sharp, grey eyes steadily. “You hired me because I know what I’m doing. Let me do it, Lilli. I met with the bride and her mother this morning, and I’ve got the plan. The bride actually jumped up and down when she saw the garden and the gazebo. I’ll hire some people for event staff, and they’ll be trained and ready by the day. We’ll do some dry runs to be sure. If this goes well and word gets out, that event staff could be working fairly steadily. That’s what this is about, right? Helping Signal Bend stay on its feet?”

  Gia was sleeping, curled into a ball under her mother’s chin, so Lilli’s voice was low when she responded. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I should shut up and let you do your job.”

  Yes, she should. But Shannon understood. She grew up in a town like this, but one that had actually died. She understood the stakes here, and she admired the way these people hung together. “Thanks, Lilli. It’s going to be beautiful, and this little inn is going to be known as a perfect venue for an intimate wedding…oh, one thing. You said Edgar is trained to pull a cart. Any chance of having a little carriage in time? I think the bride would literally swoon if she could make her entrance in a horse-drawn carriage. Do we have someone who can drive it?”

  “Yeah. Badger. He’s been pushing me pretty hard to get one for Edgar. I’ll look into it.” Lilli set her sleeping daughter in her car seat/stroller thing. Gia stirred, her pretty little face screwing up, and both Lilli and Shannon froze, waiting for the wailing to start. But she settled and kept on sleeping. “Okay. I’ll work on the cart. What else do you need from me?”

  Shannon moved to the door leading from the office into the front room, and Lilli rolled Gia out. “Nothing. You’re still supposed to be resting, as I understand it. You know that people keep telling me to make you go home.” Gia’s birth had been difficult, and Lilli had almost died. Nevertheless, she’d started schlepping the baby to work before three weeks had passed.

  Lilli laughed. “Isaac?” Isaac was her husband, the President of the local motorcycle club (Shannon had learned quickly not to call it a ‘gang’), and, apparently, the town leader, Mayor Fosse notwithstanding.

  “Yeah. And Badger, too. They seem to think I’m in charge here and you’d listen if I sent you home.” The front door opened, and Shannon looked past Lilli’s shoulder to see who was coming in. “And speak of the devil.” Isaac had walked in, filling the doorway as he stepped through it. He came up and put his arm around Lilli, who tipped her head as he leaned down to kiss her cheek.

  “Hey, Sport. My ladies ready?”

  “Yep. Could have done this on our own, you know.”

  Isaac laughed. “Yeah, not gonna happen.” He gave Shannon a wink. He leaned in and lightly brushed his daughter’s cheek, then took the stroller from Lilli. “Come on. Let’s move.”

  Turning to Shannon, Lilli explained, “Doctors’ appointments. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Shannon nodded and, smiling, feeling a touch relieved, she walked her boss and her family to the door. “We’re good here. I’ll see you.” She followed them out onto the porch and was surprised to see Showdown standing out there, leaning down to kiss Lilli’s cheek.

  “Oh! Hi, Show.” He glanced her way with a curt nod, then turned and watched Isaac take Lilli and Gia across to their SUV and load them in. Shannon watched, too, not sure why Show was there. He made her nervous. Not in a serial-killer way. That, she would probably have been better at dealing with. No, he made her nervous because she found him unbearably good looking. She didn’t understand it. He was not her type at all. She’d decided a long time ago that she was done with country boys and roughnecks, and Showdown was both. He was a huge biker, his light brown hair and beard long, his monumental arms—which so far, during this summer that she’d known him, were almost always bared—covered in tattoos. He wore a black beanie constantly, even in the heat.

  She’d first seen him the day of her interview here, when Lilli had taken her on a tour. Isaac and Show had been outside in the back, building the gazebo that was now the centerpiece of the lovely English garden. Both had been shirtless, sweating in the May sun. Shannon still saw that picture of Show in her mind, especially at night, alone in her cute little apartment. Insanely broad, muscular shoulders. Defined chest and back, tapering to a hard, narrow waist. Ink covering his arms, shoulders, and back. She’d about swallowed her tongue.

  Since she’d left home, she’d focused her attention on clean-cut, success-oriented guys. College boys first, and then businessmen. Men who wore suits to work and out to dinner. Men who went out to dinner. Lawyers. Executives. Doctors. She’d never found ‘The One,’ but she’d found some good guys who’d treated her well. A few jerks, too, of course. But Shannon like
d to dress up and go out. She liked to have a good time. Showdown was not that kind of man; that could not have been more obvious. She didn’t have any idea why her stomach did that annoying fluttery thing when he was in any kind of proximity.

  Especially vexing was the fact that she wasn’t sure he’d ever actually looked at her. They’d had cause to interact a few times. The inn seemed to be some kind of a focal point for the Night Horde MC, because Lilli and Isaac owned it, and several of the other Horde worked at or with it in one capacity or another. Showdown managed the town feed store, and that had brought him by a few times, even though he mainly dealt with Badger, the livestock manager—who was also a Horde Prospect. But Show paid her almost no mind at all, rarely more than nodding at her, never more than asking a terse question or answering one she’d asked.

  Shannon knew her attributes as well as her flaws. She wasn’t built like a model. She didn’t wear a tiny size. There were stores, the ones that catered to the “youth” aesthetic, that didn’t even stock her size. She was taller than quite a few men she knew, and she had a body that was more generally appreciated fifty years ago—an excess of tits and ass. But she also knew that many men appreciated her hourglass just fine. Most men, in fact. The straight ones, anyway. Not always in ways she liked, but she’d learned early how to deal with guys like that. What she wasn’t used to—at all—was being summarily ignored. She was noticeable. For good or bad, people noticed.

  But not Show. She wondered if maybe her growing obsession with him wasn’t at least partly rooted in his utter lack of notice. Her eyes were constantly drawn to him, and she often found herself feeling fluttery in his presence. She was not a woman who fluttered. If she was interested in a man, she told him so. But something about Show both compelled her attention and discouraged her advances, as if there were a kind of force field around him. She didn’t understand it any better than that. The result of that uncomfortable coexistence in her of powerful interest and uncharacteristic shyness was that she was acting like a high school freshman with a crush on the hot senior. Or, at least, she felt like one.

  Frustrating as it was, there was no great mystery about why he seemed so closed off. She’d been around town long enough to understand the grapevine, at least partly, enough to overhear things. So she knew he’d gone through some deep trouble in the past year—divorced, a dead child. She didn’t know much more than that, but she’d never seen him smile. She was becoming consumed by the desire to see him smile. To make him smile. She barely knew him, and yet.

  He was still standing there, looking out over the grounds. Isaac and Lilli were away, out of sight, but Show hadn’t moved. Shannon didn’t see his bike. Instead, parked in the lot next to Isaac’s bike, was Show’s old, green Chevy pickup. He only brought that when he was at the inn to work in some way. That must be why he was still here.

  “Um, Show—is there something you need? Badge is in the barn, I expect.”

  He turned and met her eyes. Just briefly, and then he shifted his gaze to just above her shoulder, but that quick connection was enough to make Shannon’s heart thump. His eyes were light blue and sad. She had to get hold of herself. She was getting swoony over a broken man who clearly wanted no part of anything she might offer.

  He cleared his throat. “Packing some stuff up. Isaac said there were boxes in storage here. That right?”

  She was always surprised when he spoke. He had a rich baritone, but was remarkably soft-spoken, especially considering his prodigious size. His was a kind voice that belied his muscles and ink.

  “Yes. We still have almost all of the boxes from the furniture and accessories that were shipped in. They’re taking up a lot of room in the storage, so I’m glad someone’s got a use for them. I’ll call Steve to bring some out for you. How many do you need?” Shannon would be glad to get rid of those. She understood Lilli’s reluctance to burn or trash what could be of later use, and Signal Bend wasn’t quite up on the whole recycling thing, but there were more than a hundred flattened boxes of varying sizes taking up a lot of space.

  “Nah, s’okay. I can handle it—if you don’t mind me going back there.”

  Shannon smiled and shifted so that her eyes slid into his eye-line. He didn’t move away. “Of course not. Come on, I’ll take you back and unlock the door.” She turned and went back into the inn, feeling glad that she was wearing her black pencil skit with the deep kick pleat. It was a good ass skirt. Here at the inn, during business hours, she tended to wear low-heeled boots or flats with slacks, and sometimes even jeans, under a tailored blouse. Signal Bend was a casual place, and they were cultivating a similarly relaxed vibe at the inn. But this morning she’d had that meeting with the bride, so she’d dressed in more conventionally professional clothes—her black skirt, classic black pumps, and an emerald green wrap blouse that popped with her red hair. Not to mention what it did for her cleavage, without being slutty.

  It was a good day to be alone with Showdown, now she thought of it. She’d have picked this outfit if she’d known he was going to be here asking for her help. So hurrah for serendipity. If she was going to gain his attention, she was dressed for it.

  He was standing a couple of feet behind her when she unlocked the storeroom door. The switch was in a little ways on the wall, so she stepped in and flipped it. The boxes were leaning, in descending order of size, against the back wall. Shannon navigated her way back, realizing that Show would have to move a lot of crap out of his way before he could make the same trip to the back of the room. She really needed to put organizing this room on her list.

  “Tell you what. I’ll hand boxes to you, so you don’t have to fight your way in here. You just tell me how many and what size.”

  Filling the doorway, he shook his head. “You’ll mess up your fancy clothes. I’ll take care of it. Come on out of there before you snag something.”

  He’d noticed her clothes. That was something. She smiled and brushed her hands, then came back to the door. He was still taking up the entire doorway, so he swung to the side to get out of her way. Shannon scooted by him, admittedly not taking all the room he’d given her, brushing lightly up against him as she went past. God, he was so big. Even in her heels, she felt tiny next to him. And she’d noticed, she thought, a little bit of a flinch when they touched. Whether that was a sign of potential interest or present distaste, she did not know. She preferred to focus on the former.

  “Okay—take as many as you want. Just call out if you need anything—I’ll be at the desk. The door only locks with the key, so if you would lock it when you’re done and bring the key back, that would be great.” She went back down the hall, adding a little sashay, just in case he was watching. She didn’t look back to check.

  He made a few trips out to his truck, carrying big stacks of boxes. They couldn’t have been overly heavy, but still the muscles in his arms were flexed and huge. She was checking in a couple without a reservation, the Erwins, deciding to stay on a whim after a day shopping in town, when Show came up to the desk and laid the utility key ring on it. He nodded a wordless thanks and then turned away, heading out. Both guests turned and watched him go, each with a different kind of interest—he wary and a little intimidated, she appreciative.

  Mr. Erwin turned back to Shannon. “Lot of bikers around?”

  Shannon smiled her best hospitality smile. “Well, Signal Bend is well known as the home of the Night Horde MC, so yes, you’ll see bikers around. They don’t spend a lot of time here, though. Mostly in town.”

  Mrs. Erwin smiled. “Where in town?”

  It was a question she was often asked, and she’d learned to navigate it carefully. The MC was getting a different kind of groupie. Not just girls looking for a good time, but people wanting pictures and autographs with the famous bikers. To say that the members were uncomfortable with that was to understate, and they weren’t generally a patient group. But that popularity was getting the inn up and running and the town back on its feet.

  “Pretty mu
ch anywhere in town. They’re usually working, though—they kind of take care of the place, so it’s better to ask before taking a picture or anything.”

  Both Erwins nodded, and Shannon showed them up to their room. She would direct them to the Chop House for dinner. The people of Signal Bend were especially protective of No Place, the town bar, as their own place, and they didn’t want outsiders there. Already that was changing—it was the only bar for miles—but it was still not a place that welcomed newcomers easily. It was a place where the regulars wanted to be able to enjoy a good fight when one broke out.

  Shannon was new to town, and only just beginning to find her way into the outer circle, but she understood that Signal Bend had for years been both isolated and insulated. That remove had been killing the town, but it had also made them suspicious of strangers and change. Now, the town was beginning to thrive, but they had to learn a whole new paradigm, one that included people they didn’t know, one that meant change.

  ~oOo~

  That night, after she’d served a nightcap in the parlor to the five guests—two couples and a single—of the inn on this midweek summer evening, Shannon retired to her apartment behind the manager’s office. She’d thought it would take a hard adjustment to get used to living where she worked, never being fully off the clock. But so far she really enjoyed it. She was well compensated for the inconvenience of being on call through the night, and she was already starting to think of the inn as her home.

  And the apartment was nice—cozy and well appointed, with a small but complete and modern kitchen, a bathroom with a spa tub, a sitting room, and a nice bedroom. Her condo in Tulsa had been bigger, and she’d had to put a lot of her things in storage, but she had everything she loved best. Her windows faced onto the garden in back and the fields at the side, so she always had a lovely view.