Loving the Chase (Heart of the Storm #1) by Sharla Lovelace Page A

his teeth, still typing madly on his keyboard. “Damn it.”
    “What do you have?” Zach asked, his voice sounding cracked and dry.
    “Rotation is breaking up,” he responded. “It’s a bust.”
    “For us, not Boudreau,” Zach said, his head coming back to reality. “He got it when it was in town. Son of a bitch.”
    Maddi let go of his hand, and he had to shake his head free of the need to grab it again. That was crazy. That was bullshit.
    The storm was over. There was still rain, but even the hail had been short-lived, and it was lightening up. He was able to see a good twenty yards and to start driving again just in time to see the sign for Mossy Cove come into view.
    “What do you mean, it’s a bust?” Maddi exclaimed. Her voice was shaking, and her breathing was labored. “Fuck, we had a damn tornado on top of us. How the hell is that a bust?”
    “We got nothing on it,” Hannah said. “No video and possibly no data—Zach, that sounded like one of the cups broke off up there.”
    “I know, I heard it,” Zach said.
    Like so many weird-ass storms before this one, the rain immediately reduced to a sprinkle. As if the tornado itself sucked the life and the water and everything from the clouds.
    “It’s—it’s done?” Maddi asked, her voice sounding strained.
    “It’s done,” Zach said, disappointment lacing his voice. “Guess you should have been riding with the Boudreaus today.” And then he wanted to kick himself for putting that out there.
    They rolled into town amidst light debris. He’d seen worse. There were tree limbs and a few downed power lines to avoid, but other than that, the few pieces of random debris scattered here and there were nothing on some of the destruction he’d witnessed. He’d seen trees driven through buildings, cars on top of houses, and an entire Holiday Inn wiped from the slab as if it were never there.
    As they rounded a corner, they found ground zero. A supermarket with very little roof left; it and the surrounding buildings in a strip mall were mostly destroyed.
    “Here we go,” Zach said, pulling in an empty space.
    “What are you doing?” Maddi asked.
    “Hannah will want to get pictures of something,” he said. “And she’ll find a jewel in this, she always does. In the meantime,” he added, opening the door, “we can walk around and get some information on how it hit. If they had any warning, that kind of thing.”
    He opened her door and didn’t back up as she got out and leaned back against the vehicle. Her face was ashen, tear tracks lining her cheeks, eyeliner smeared under her eyes. Fuck. Everything in him wanted to act on something he hadn’t felt in years. Protective.
    “Are you okay?” he asked quietly, shoving a hand in his pocket before it did something idiotic like touch her hair or pull her in to comfort her.
    The look in her eyes as she looked up at him about brought him to his knees.

Chapter Six
    M addi tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and tried not to react to his nearness, to the wishes that ran through her brain that wanted stupid things like his arms around her. He’d always had the sexiest eyes she’d ever seen on a man, and unfortunately that hadn’t changed. When she saw them land on her shaking hands, she clasped them together.
    “I’m fine.” Her voice sounded strong enough, but the fiercely protective vibes coming off him coupled with the look on his face made her breath stick in her throat. Shit. She needed to quit looking at him. Think of something she hated. Mustard. She’d think of mustard.
    “Maddi—”
    Her knees almost gave way at the catch in his voice. At the immensely personal and familiar sound of her name on his lips. Damn mustard wasn’t doing its job.
    “Let’s just do this, Zach. Okay?” she said, her voice barely a whisper as she crossed her arms over her chest. He was so close that the move caused her hands to brush his torso, and for one second, everything went upside down. Maddi