Broken Storm Part One Read Online Free Page B

standing there, rain dribbling
down her face as she stared at him with a slightly open mouth.
    ‘I’m sorry I was pulled away at the party,’ he
tried, ‘we never got to finish talking about... Aiko.’
    At the mention of that name, a gust of wind so
strong it was almost hurricane force swept through the street. It plastered
against Keiko, her hair whipping so hard and fast around her face, it slammed
into her cheeks and made them sting. It also pushed her forward, her high heels
stumbling against the slippery and uneven pavement.
    She lost her footing.
    But she didn’t fall. Chase Harlow quickly leaned
out a hand and grabbed her arm, fixing her in place.
    ‘God damn, we better get out of this wind,’ he
said, bringing a hand up to protect his own face.
    Get out of the wind with Chase Harlow of Harlow
Enterprises? Why was he even here?
    He gestured to his car again, even tugging ever so
slightly on her arm as he still fixed her in place.
    ‘What do you want?’ she managed. It was a terribly
blunt thing to say, and despite the chill of the wind and rain, Keiko was sure
she blushed as she realized how rude it was.
    ‘I’m a collector,’ he tried to say. But his words
were mumbled and practically indiscernible over the roar of the wind.
    At that moment the rain drenched down harder too,
slamming all around them in thick, fat drops.
    Though Keiko really did love the weather, and
enjoyed nothing more than a good, ferocious storm, this one was getting a
little too much even for her.
    She did not however run straight to the open sports
car in front of her.
    She didn’t know the man.
    At all.
    So she wasn’t going to get in his car just because
he had found her on the street. Instead she ran underneath a nearby awning.
Chase followed.
    When they were safely under the awning, he repeated
again that his car was just there. ‘I can give you a lift to wherever you need
to go,’ he added.
    Keiko, water dripping down her face, through her
jacket, over her dress, and completely drenching the fancy white lacy knickers
that were meant to make men fall to their knees in front of her, slowly shook
her head. ‘I don’t know you,’ she pointed out in a quiet voice.
    He didn’t move for a moment, then he nodded his
head. ‘Sorry, I guess that was quite forward.’ Then he seemed to hesitate for a
moment. He looked at her, up at the billowing sky above, and then over to his
car. He ran over to it, though he didn’t get in and speed away. He closed the
door, locked it, and then ran back to her awning.
    Through it all Keiko watched, her lips gently
parted and slightly wobbly.
    What exactly was happening here?
    Billionaires usually never chased her down in a storm
and offered her rides or stood next to her under leaking awnings.
    ‘There is a cafe just across the street,’ he said
in a loud voice that made it over the wind as he pulled up his arm and pointed
to one of the few shops that still had lights on. ‘We can wait out the worst of
it.’
    For a second Keiko wasn’t sure what she should do.
Should she walk away, call a taxi, or go and have coffee with the billionaire?
    Frowning to herself, she looked up at him for a
moment.
    Serial killer? She really doubted it. Everybody
knew who Chase Harlow was, and he would probably be too busy running one of the
world’s top Fortune 500 companies to run around picking up women in the rain only
to murder them.
    So she nodded her head and she walked across the street
with him.
    The wind buffeted and roared and became all the
more violent as she did, and several times it practically pushed off her feet
and she stumbled right into the man. But he never pushed her away, and just
leaned against her, or propped her up with a hand until the two of them were
out of the worst of it and finally into the shop.
    The place obviously had its heat on full bore,
considering the weather outside, and as Keiko walked in, the warmth was a
godsend. She shivered against it, bringing a hand up to wipe the