Unexpected Storms (The Unexpected Series Book 4) Read online

  Unexpected Storms

  The Unexpected Series, Book 4

  Stacy Eaton

  Copyright © 2020 by Stacy Eaton

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Chapter One

  2. Chapter Two

  3. Chapter Three

  4. Chapter Four

  5. Chapter Five

  6. Chapter Six

  7. Chapter Seven

  8. Chapter Eight

  9. Chapter Nine

  10. Chapter Ten

  11. Chapter Eleven

  12. Chapter Twelve

  13. Chapter Thirteen

  14. Chapter Fourteen

  15. Chapter Fifteen

  16. Chapter Sixteen

  17. Chapter Seventeen

  18. Chapter Eighteen

  19. Chapter Nineteen

  20. Chapter Twenty

  21. Chapter Twenty-One

  22. Chapter Twenty-Two

  23. Chapter Twenty-Three

  24. Chapter Twenty-Four

  25. Chapter Twenty-Five

  26. Chapter Twenty-Six

  27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

  28. Chapter Twenty-Eight

  29. Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The Unexpected Series

  About the Author

  Also by Stacy Eaton

  Chapter One

  Harvey

  “Hey, man!” I stepped through the front door at Maggie Valor’s house and clapped hands and shoulders with Greg Blaire, a friend and co-worker at Safety Zone Security. “It’s about time you came back to the real world!”

  “No doubt,” he said as he let me go and shut the door behind me. “Come on in; everyone is out back.”

  “How does it feel returning after a five-week exile?” I asked him. Maggie and Greg had been off the grid that long after they had been held hostage during a botched robbery—that Maggie herself had screwed up without knowing. After the event, a few of the hostages had turned up dead, and someone had come after Maggie, but luckily Greg had been there and took the guy down.

  It wasn’t the guys involved with the robbery and kidnapping that had been worrisome; it was the cartel that those guys had been working for. They hadn’t wanted to be given up by Chuck and Len, so they silenced them and several other witnesses too. The police had asked anyone who was left to head out of town.

  A couple of weeks ago, a few of the witnesses came back, not Maggie or Greg, but a few others, and so far, there hadn’t been any threats and no further signs that the cartel wanted any other retribution. Hence the reason Maggie and Greg finally came out of hiding.

  “It feels great, and it sure is nice to be back at home.”

  “Home?” I glanced around. “This is home now? Are things going that well for you and Maggie?” When the two of them had gone into lockdown, Greg had been trying everything he could to keep distance between himself and his former high school sweetheart.

  Greg frowned at me. “You know what I mean, Harv, home as in back here.”

  “So, you and Maggie aren’t living together now?”

  “I didn’t say that.” He chuckled and slapped my back. “Go get yourself a drink. I have to grab something from the kitchen.”

  “Alright, I’ll see you out there.” On the back deck, Alex and his pregnant wife, Lexi, were seated on a gliding love seat, and Trevor had his infant son, Devon, on his lap, while his fiancée, Davina, helped Maggie with something at the food table. Alice was over there too, along with Mike and two pretty women that I didn’t know. Mike was laughing at something that one of the women had said.

  Standing off to the side, talking shit to one another was Jake, our boss, along with Drake, Wyatt, Joe, and Brett, who were all part-timers with our company. I made the rounds, saying hello to everyone, and Greg tossed me a beer as he came back out of the house.

  A few minutes later, Greg had his arm around Maggie when he called us all to attention. “Thanks to all of you for coming. While Maggie and I had a great time being on vacation for a full five weeks, we are very happy to be home and to have you all here.”

  “You guys married yet?” Jake called out with a laugh.

  “No, we are not, and we aren’t in any rush to do that either.” Maggie didn’t look the least bit upset by his words as she smiled up at him. “But we did reconnect nicely after nineteen years, and I know I feel like I know her better than I ever did. I’m pretty sure she knows every single one of my bad habits now, and she is still willing to stand here beside me.”

  Brett whistled loudly as Wyatt joked, “Damn, anyone who can put up with his shit, and I mean that literally, is good in my book.”

  Laughter and a few crude jokes about bathroom etiquette went around the group for a few moments.

  Maggie was laughing, a huge smile on her face. “Do you know how many times I got yelled at for putting the toilet paper on wrong?”

  “Wait!” Trevor snapped as he threw up his hand. “Don’t tell me that you put it on so that it hangs under?”

  “Of course I do, doesn’t everybody?” Maggie replied with a serious face.

  “No way!” Jake called out loudly. “Even the patent office has it on record that it has to hang over!”

  “But that’s crap!” Lexi joined the conversation. “Just because when they did a drawing of toilet paper, they had it hanging over, that doesn’t mean that is the end-all way to do it.”

  Alex barked out a laugh and pointed at Lexi. “But that’s how you hang it!”

  She shrugged. “I know, but that doesn’t mean there is a right or wrong way to do it.”

  The debate continued for a few more minutes before Greg put his hands up to get everyone’s attention. “Alright, we can finish the great toilet paper debate later. There is something that Maggie and I wanted to share with you.”

  “Well, if you aren’t getting married, are you having a baby?” Davina asked. Maggie and Greg looked at one another and held each other a little tighter as Greg shook his head.

  “No, no babies in our future,” he said with a bright smile. “What we wanted to share with you is that Maggie is now the newest official employee at SZS, as our official media liaison!”

  “Oh, that’s great!” Lexi clapped excitedly and Jake approached them, giving Maggie a hug.

  “She’s actually been working for us already,” Jake said. “When I got back from our medical supply delivery, I shared with her a bunch of photographs and videos that I took. She’s been working on some social media advertising, and if I’m not mistaken, just sold our story to a prominent Washington D.C. paper.”

  “I sure did,” Maggie said brightly.

  Alice asked Jake, “Maggie is the one that made that video you showed me the other day?”

  “Yep.”

  Alice turned wide bright eyes toward Maggie. “It was fantastic! I hope he paid you extra for that, because you even managed to make Jake look like a decent human being.”

  Everyone howled in laughter. “You’re funny, Alice,” Jake muttered toward her, and the two of them stared at one another for a moment. Were they sleeping together? If they weren’t, they should be because the amount of sexual tension that radiated off of them was almost mind-blowing.

  “No, he didn’t pay me extra, Alice, but I’ll keep that in mind the next time he wants me to change something out to make him look better.”

  “What a na
rcissist,” Trevor joked.

  “Maggie has also been working with Mike on a new website design, and on Monday, we are going to roll it out, so make sure you all take a good look at it. If things go as well as we anticipate, we are hoping to bring the rest of you PTers on full time.”

  Drake put his beer in the air. “Hear, hear! I’m ready.”

  “We have some other things in the works, too, and on Monday we need to meet as a group and go over some upcoming changes,” Jake continued.

  “Hey, did you forget that I’m on vacation this week?” I called out.

  Jake turned to me. “And if I’m not mistaken, you aren’t going anywhere or doing anything. You took the time off to burn.”

  “Yeah, so. Coming into the office for a meeting kind of defeats the purpose.”

  “Well, you could not come and then find out about all of it next week when you return.”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “What time on Monday?”

  “One, and since it is going to be all of us, let’s meet at the training facility. Actually, let’s make it noon, and Alice can order us lunch, and we can eat while we talk about the new website and show you some of the videos that Maggie has put together.”

  “I’m the lunch girl now?” Alice barked, and her dark-brown eyes slit closed as she glared at him. She was almost as headstrong and volatile as our boss, and I knew she hated when he volunteered her for things that were not in her job description.

  “I got it, Alice,” Maggie said with a wink to Alice.

  Jake shook his head and muttered something under his breath.

  Greg announced after that they were putting the food on the grill, and we all milled around talking and snacking on finger foods while the cooking got underway with Greg and Jake.

  My cellphone vibrated in my pocket of my shorts, and I pulled it out to see my sister, Holly, was calling. I stepped away from the group of people I was speaking with and answered, “Hey, Holly, what’s up?”

  “Harv, I need your help.” She sounded close to panic, and she never sounded like that. My sister was normally calm as a cucumber.

  “Are you alright?”

  “Yes, I’m alright, but I need your help.”

  “Anything you need.”

  My sister was five years younger than me and one of my best friends. When I’d gone into the military, leaving her had been the hardest thing I had to do. Especially as she had been just starting high school and getting involved with boys.

  When I got out of the Marines three years ago after a shoulder injury, Holly and I had clicked right back into hanging out together. Except now instead of movie night and popcorn, we had dinner dates and drinks.

  “Really? Anything?” she asked, and I heard the uncertainty in her voice.

  “Of course, Holly. Whatever you need. I’m there for you.”

  “Oh, my god, Harv! You have no idea how much that means to me! Seriously, I was freaking out, but this is going to work!”

  I chuckled. “Okay, what did I just volunteer for?”

  “I’ll explain it all on Monday. You’re still off this week, right?”

  “Yeah, but I need to attend a meeting Monday afternoon, why?”

  “We can work around that,” she said and sounded excited.

  “Alright, but again, what did I volunteer for?”

  “It’s a surprise, but I know you will love it! It’s going to be so awesome.”

  “You’re lucky that I love you, kid.”

  She laughed. “Harv, I’m thirty-five years old now; I think you can stop calling me kid.”

  “Nope, you will always be a kid to me.”

  “You are hopeless. Okay, I’ll text you the address of where to meet me, and wear something comfortable.”

  “Comfortable? What are you going to have me doing? Moving stuff? Oh, god! You’re going to make me paint, aren’t you?”

  She laughed. “No, nothing like that. Well, you’ll be moving around a lot, but you won’t be painting. Just wear comfortable clothes.”

  “Alright, fine.”

  “Love you, Harv! I appreciate this so much! I’ll talk to you later.”

  “I’ll see you on Monday,” I told Holly before I hung up and returned to the group I’d been talking to.

  “Problem?” Wyatt asked.

  “Nah, my sister needs my help with something.”

  “I didn’t know you had a sister,” Joe said.

  “Oh, yeah,” Drake said, “she is one fine woman.”

  “Hey, you watch it,” I growled at him. “That is my sister you are talking about.”

  “Who is a grown woman and does not need you to hover over her,” Drake added.

  “I only hover over her because the last two men she was with did a number on her. I’m not going to let that happen again.”

  “You should bring her around sometime,” Joe said.

  I frowned at him. “Yeah, why? So that you can drool and hound dog all over her? I don’t think so. I just told you that I’m not going to let another guy take advantage of her, and you immediately say you want to meet her.” I laughed. “You are not her type, Joe.”

  “Man, you have no idea how well I treat girls.”

  Drake busted out a laugh. “Yeah, well, maybe you’ll be ready for a serious relationship with an adult woman when you stop referring to them as girls or chicks.”

  “I didn’t call his sister a chick,” Joe said quickly.

  Wyatt laughed. “No, not her and not today, but you do use that term quite often.”

  “I’m talking about baby chickens.” Joe grinned.

  I shoved his arm. “Bullshit! Dude, this is why I’m not going to allow my sister to get around you. She is totally out of your league.”

  Drake smiled. “I have to agree with you, Melton, your sister is way above his level.”

  “Oh, and you think she is closer to yours?” Joe joked back.

  “I didn’t say that, but yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m closer to her normal standards than you are.”

  I held my hand up. “You all can stop right now. There is no way that Holly would date any of you meatheads. She’s into artsy guys.”

  “Hey, I enjoy the arts,” Brett said.

  “Body paints are not the arts,” Drake said with a laugh.

  “I beg to differ,” Joe tacked on, and our conversation veered off of my sister, thankfully, and onto other subjects.

  I didn’t think about my sister’s request to meet her again until Sunday night when she texted me an address and reminded me to wear something comfortable.

  Are you going to tell me what I’m going to be doing?

  You’re going to be helping me, and someone else out, and you’re going to have fun while you do it.

  Someone else? An uneasy feeling slipped down my spine, and I had a feeling that I was not going to have fun with whatever my sister was roping me into.

  Chapter Two

  Ali

  “I don’t think I can do this,” I said to my best friend Charlie. “Why did I let you talk me into this?”

  Charlie gave me her best what-the-hell look that she could muster. “I didn’t talk you into this! You suggested it, Ali! I told you when you first came to me with the idea that I didn’t think it was a good one.”

  I frowned at her as I jerked back. “But why isn’t it a good idea?”

  Charlie laughed, not just a funny tee-hee, but a full-on throw-the-head-back-and-cackle kind of laugh. “Because you are talking about a blind date, Ali. You—who doesn’t even date—is going to go on, not one or two, but three blind dates, and you aren’t even going to talk to them. You’re going to dance with them—dance. It makes no sense, Ali, even for you.”

  “But don’t you see, this will be the best! I don’t have to come up with small talk; I just dance with them, and then if I enjoy it, and I like them, then I can dance again.”

  “How do you know if you will like them? You think fancy footwork is going to help you decide that a guy is worth getting to know?�
��

  “No, it’s about chemistry. It’s about locking eyes and seeing if you can trust someone without them even opening their mouth. It’s about having fun and being different. Geez, Charlie, you’ve been on those dating apps for months. What has it gotten you?”

  She shrugged as she sipped from her iced tea glass. “I’m not saying it’s wrong. I’m saying that it’s weird, and it’s absurdly weird for you.”

  “Weird? I love to dance, and I’m thirty-four years old. It’s been four years since I was in a serious relationship, and I can feel my eggs drying up as we sit here.”

  Charlie winced. “That’s gross to think about.”

  “It’s the truth. I’m not getting any younger, and I want a man in my life. I want a family, and I want to plan a future.”

  “How about some fries with that?” she added drolly.

  “Come on, Charlie, I’m serious here.”

  “Serious about what?”

  “Finding love. I want to find love!”

  “And you honestly think that you will find love by dancing with strangers? You don’t even like to take an Uber because the driver is a stranger.”

  “It’s not the same thing. These men are vetted. They go through criminal background checks and medical exams to make sure they are healthy enough to participate. They also have extensive interviews, and one of the people that conducts the interviews is a psychologist. The producer told me that they weed out quite a few people in that process because they have odd tastes, or just weird the interviewers out.”

  She gave me a dubious look. “Weird the interviewers out?”

  I pursed my lips. “Come on, do you really think this is a bad idea?”