Love Storm Read Free

his waist, swiped a matching hand towel
across his face to remove the remaining traces of shaving cream, and then
stepped from the steamy bathroom and out into the large bedroom.  
    She could hear him moving around behind her and squeezed her
eyes shut tight, wishing the floor would suddenly open up and swallow her.   “I guess there was a bit of a mix up,” she
began.   “Apparently when I told Kate that
I wanted to spend the week at the cabin she didn’t realize that Wade had
already offered to let you stay here, and unfortunately I didn’t get the
message until just a few minutes ago.”    She was talking too fast, but she couldn’t seem to help it.   “I am really sorry, I didn’t mean to…uh…walk
in on you like that, I swear.”
    “Don’t worry about it,” he said, reaching for the clean
clothes lying next to his bag.   He’d gone
for a jog shortly after he’d arrived at the cabin and his sweaty workout
clothes were still lying on the bathroom floor.    “I don’t usually shower in the middle of the
day, but I went for a run before the snow really started coming down, and I was
just getting cleaned up.”
    “Oh…well um…I’ll just let you have your privacy then,” she
stammered, already moving toward the door.   Crap, crap, crap.   Grabbing the handle she pulled the bedroom
door shut firmly behind her as she rushed from the room.
    Alone in the bedroom, Ryan quickly donned his clothes, a
dark-blue Nike t-shirt and a faded pair of denim jeans, as he thought back to
the first time he’d met Brooklyn Foster.   Her father had been transferred out of state by the company he worked
for, which was why Kate and Wade had agreed to let her temporarily move in with
them, so that she could finish her senior year of high school in Denver.   Kate’s younger sister had been a sweet girl,
friendly and outgoing, and had often accompanied Kate to the team’s games,
practices, and family-friendly events.   She had also been incredibly attractive, which was why Wade had
immediately instructed him and the rest of their teammates in no uncertain
terms to keep their hands off his then eighteen-year-old sister-in-law.
    Unfortunately, it had soon become apparent to Wade, and
pretty much everyone else on the team, that Brooklyn had developed a serious
crush on him , which in turn, had
earned him a lot of good-natured ribbing from the other guys.   That was, all except for one.   Wade Calloway, his good-friend and teammate,
hadn’t been amused in the slightest and had kept a watchful eye on the
situation whenever he and Brooklyn were in the same place.   Despite their close friendship, when it came
to Brooklyn, Wade had been wary of Ryan’s oft-times youthful love ‘ em and leave ‘ em reputation with
the ladies, and he hadn’t wanted her getting hurt.
    Over the course of the next several months he had done his
best not to encourage Brooklyn’s infatuation, more out of respect for Wade than
a lack of interest on his part, for truth be told, he’d been attracted to her
as well.   Hell, who could have blamed him?   At eighteen, Brooklyn Foster had already been a knockout, but the age
difference, not to mention Wade’s friendship had both been insurmountable
deterrents to any kind of relationship between them.   Even so, and most likely due to the large
amount of alcohol he’d consumed during Wade’s birthday party, the reason he’d
ended up crashing in one of the guest rooms that night, he’d been sorely
tempted to take her up on her offer when she’d slipped into his dark room.   Fortunately however, though it had taken
every ounce of willpower he’d possessed to hurry her out of his room, rather
than welcoming her into his bed with open arms, he’d done it.  
    Up until a few minutes ago, that had been the last time he’d
seen her, for shortly thereafter, Brooklyn had gone off to college and Wade,
who had regrettably been traded to the Vipers, had moved halfway across the
country with