Summer Sizzle by Samantha Gentry Page A

from the clock in the living room as it tolled midnight. The wind chimes on the deck made their own unique noise as the wind increased in intensity, indicating the storm’s arrival. Raindrops spattered the windows, at first with just a trace of moisture, but quickly escalating into a full-blown downpour.
    Rainstorms always made her uneasy, even without the fearful accompaniment of thunder and lightning. She pulled the covers tightly around her neck so that only her head peeked out from beneath them. Then her panic started. All the fear she’d experienced as a child in the Midwest welled inside her once again. A foolish, irrational fear, but that didn’t stop it from being so.
    Ty-Ling stationed herself in front of the bedroom door. Perhaps Vicki’s trepidation over the impending storm had made her careless, but she had not closed the door enough for it to click shut. The cat nudged it open, entered the room, and jumped onto the bed. Vicki grabbed the cat, holding onto it like a security blanket.
    “I’m glad to see you, Ty-Ling. I didn’t want to be alone.” She whispered the words, but the sound of her voice seemed very loud.
    What she really wanted was to be safely wrapped in the security of Blake’s arms. She fought the desire purely because of the emotional implications. She couldn’t allow anything beyond a physical relationship with this man, nothing other than the incendiary desires and needs they shared. Nothing that could be construed as a portent for the future.
    A flash of lightning filled the room with bright light before the loud clap of window-rattling thunder chased it away, the sound obliterating the noise of the howling wind and the rain pounding against the roof. Another bright flash and more thunder followed. Her entire body shivered. She held the cat tighter and buried her face in the pillow. She tried to control her sobs but couldn’t stop the involuntary reaction.
    She finally pulled the covers over her head and scrunched her body against the headboard as lightning momentarily lit up the room again. The mature, responsible woman had been enveloped by the fears of that little girl from long ago. Ty-Ling wiggled free of her tight grasp, jumped to the floor, and ran across the room and out her bedroom door as more thunder rumbled through the air. She heard the cat’s yowl down the hall, the sound filling the air and competing with the thunder. Vicki cowered in fear beneath the covers, unable to move even to keep the cat from disturbing Blake.
    Blake couldn’t identify the noise, but that didn’t stop it from jarring him out of a sound sleep. He lay in bed, his eyes closed, and tried to comprehend the weird sound. The noise continued, a shrill whining that penetrated above the sound of the storm.
    The cat. He bolted upright, his senses jerking into full alert. He recognized the sound of the very upset Siamese, which seemed to come from the other side of his closed bedroom door. He threw back the covers and charged out of bed, a slight shiver darting across his skin as the cool air hit his body. He opened his door and stared down at the cat. It paced back and forth twitching its tail.
    The cat did not try to attack his ankle. Instead, it started down the hall toward Vicki’s room, stopped halfway, and turned back toward Blake. When he didn’t follow, the cat returned and issued a plaintive cry. Then it started down the hall again. The cat was obviously trying to tell him something, but he didn’t know what.
    “Well, cat. What’s on your mind? What’s bothering you?”
    Ty-Ling let out another plaintive cry and continued toward Vicki’s door. Blake cautiously followed, not at all sure if he should. Vicki had been insistent on maintaining distance from him and once again, to his disappointment, retreated to her room shortly after dinner and stayed there the rest of the evening. He didn’t understand why, but he had accepted her decision. He’d toyed with the notion that she had somehow