Riding the Storm - Brenda Jackson [63]
He reluctantly broke off their kiss. “I know you can’t leave until everything is over, but I have to get you alone.”
Jayla grinned and glanced around. “We’re alone now, Storm.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, but this place is too public for what I want to do to you.” His features then turned serious. “But more importantly, Jayla, we need to talk and come to an understanding about a few things, all right?”
She nodded. “All right. But no matter what, we’ll work things out.”
He pulled her back into his arms. “Most definitely.”
It was well after midnight when Jayla entered Storm’s home. The evening had been perfect and a lot of money had been raised for Kids’ World, which meant that plenty of terminally ill children’s dreams would be coming true. It wasn’t hard to guess that the calendars would sell like hotcakes. Over one hundred thousand calendars had been sold, and an order had already been placed for that many more.
And it hadn’t come as a surprise to anyone that the single women had gone wild over the twelve men who had posed for the calendar, especially Mr. July, Thorn Westmoreland. However, any women who might have given thought to the possibility that she had a chance with Mr. July, married or not, discovered just how wrong they were when, after receiving the plaque that had been presented to all twelve men, Thorn crossed the room and kissed his wife, proclaiming to all that Tara Westmoreland was all the woman he wanted and needed.
And, Jayla thought as she inwardly smiled, Storm had made a number of declarations himself tonight. That single woman who’d vowed that she would get at least one time with Storm had been brazen enough to approach him while he and Jayla had stood together talking. Storm had smoothly introduced Jayla to the woman as his fiancée. The woman had congratulated them and walked off, thoroughly disappointed.
He had also introduced her to his parents and the rest of his family. She even got to meet the newest additions to the Westmoreland clan, his cousins Clinton, Cole and Casey. She had quickly decided that the Westmoreland family was a very special one and they all stuck together like glue.
“Would you like something to drink, Jayla?”
She turned and watched as Storm closed the door and locked it. “No, thanks.” She nervously glanced around and stopped when her gaze came to rest on a framed photograph that sat on his fireplace mantle. It was a photo that the two of them had taken with her father at his last birthday party, the one the men at the fire station had given him. Her father had insisted that she and Storm stand next to each other while he stood in the background. Because of Adam Cole’s six-seven height, he appeared to be towering over them. And he was smiling so brightly that she couldn’t help wondering if perhaps he’d known about her feelings for Storm and, in his own special way, had given them his blessings that night, because less than five months after that picture was taken, he’d died.
Storm followed her gaze and after a few moments said, “Whenever I look at that picture and really study it, I think that your father was a lot smarter than either of us gave him credit for being.”
Jayla nodded. Evidently their thoughts had been on the same page. She inhaled deeply and then met Storm’s gaze. “I agree.” She broke eye contact with him and continued her study of his home. With earth-toned colors and basic furnishings, it was clearly a bachelor’s place. But everything was neat and in order. “Nice place.”
“Thanks. A few months ago, I decided to sell it and get a bigger place,” he said as his gaze roamed over her from head to toe. “Thanks for wearing that dress. It’s my favorite.”
Jayla smiled. “That’s the reason I wore it. I was trying to give you a sign, or at least make you remember the time we spent together in New Orleans. I figured the only other person who would know I’d worn this dress before was Ian, and I counted on him not noticing.”
Storm lifted a brow. He hated