Vanilla Dipped In Chocolate

Chapter 6:Weathering the Storm (Bonus Chapter)

(this chapter wasn't even supposed to be in the book but for all my new team cavans- team cassie and evan i had to write them a beautiful scene, yes its unedited so expect mistakes, Next chapter is all about Alice-Evan's neice)

So this is the first bonus chapter. Wasn’t intended for the book but I want you to get some more cuteness.

 The weather forecast had said to expect rain. She had moved away from the East Coast so she could get away from the rain but once every few weeks, she was rendered helpless by Mother Nature. It was silly that even after all these years, a rainstorm could leave her scarred and needy.

  She had been hiking with her roomie Dionne, Dionne’s boyfriend Larry and a few of her girlfriends from school and their boyfriends. She was no hiker and had wandered off from the group. By the time she had realized her mistake, she was alone and lost and most importantly hungry. For hours upon hours she walked, until she had to take her shoes off when her feet began to hurt from her bad choice in designer sneakers. Night was fast approaching and there were dark clouds overhead and the rain was coming, and with no compass, she never realized she was walking in circles.

  It wasn’t until nightfall when she saw her Victoria Secret panties hanging from the tree she’d tied it to hours earlier, when she was desperate to get out of this crazy maze of trees. Then the rain began to pour, soft at first, then increasing to a loud downpour. She was drenched in seconds and with no shelter around her and with no supplies, which Larry and the other men had with them, she was screwed.

 The others had found her in the morning, asleep on the ground, shivering cold with no recollection of how she had gotten there. It had taken her months upon months to remember what happened, but from the moment she remembered she wanted to forget them; to bury them away someplace she’d never have to think about them again. Even now, seven years after that tragic event, she couldn’t be alone in a rainstorm.

   This time, she was alone….

 Leti had gone down to Miami to spend the weekend alone with her fiancée before they were officially engaged in the Indian traditional way. She knew her big brother was sick of all the waiting, especially since they couldn’t sleep together till after the wedding, which was a  month away. There were however allowed to cam on Skype and from the stories she had heard, things had heated up quite nicely. The edge wasn’t off but it was keeping the groom on his toes.

 Her little sister was off at a photo-shoot somewhere, doing what she did best-seducing the hell out of the photographer’s camera. And she was here, alone, dreading the oncoming rainstorm. The clouds darkened and thunder rolled overhead.

 She breathed heavily, dialing the number of the only person she knew would be there for her in her time of need.

 “Hello,” The rich masculine voice greeted her, rattling her senses. She couldn’t let him hear her crying or he’d worry unnecessarily.

 “Hi,” Her voice was weak and with the first drop of rain, she curled into a ball, holding the cell phone as tight as she could. The rain came down, falling from the heavens with a loud noise, the one that always startled her. “Evan…” Her voice broke and trembled. She heard him silence someone in the background, giving her his full attention.

“What is it love? What’s the matter?”

 “Evan,” She repeated his name, hot tears spilling from her eyes. For a moment she thought she was outside in the rain, cold and wet. She could almost see the trees around her again, hearing her voice break as she screamed for someone to find her…for someone to save her.

 “Sweetheart, you’re scaring me. Do you want me to come over?” He asked.

She never heard his voice. She was already numb.

“Yes,” Came her simply reply.

*

*

*

By the time he had shown up she had turned on every appliance in the house to drown out the sound of the rain. Her head hurt and without thinking, she flung herself around him, holding him tight. With an ease that came only with hours upon hours of working out, he lifted her bottom half, letting her wrap herself around him while he closed the door, rubbing calming circles  against her back, letting her cry, which had become a very bad habit of hers. “I’m so glad you’re here,” She said the words without regrets.

 “You needed me,” He kissed her cheek reaching for the remote to turn the television down.  She grabbed his hand before he could, stopping his hand in midair.

 “Please don’t”

 “I’m going to go deaf if I don’t love. Do you trust me?” He asked kissing her briefly on the lips. She did trust him…maybe a little too much in the short space of time she had known him. She kissed him back, blinking away fresh tears. She wanted to forget, she wanted this all to be over.

  He reached again for the remote and turned off the television, then walking over to the radio and turned it off too. Lastly came the blender which was empty but filled the kitchen with its noise. “That wasn’t so hard now was it sweetheart?” He asked talking to her like he would to a small child. She felt like a child at this moment.

  Instead of sitting her down on the couch, he walked through the house, finding her bedroom and setting her down on the bed. He turned to give her time to recover as she had only said a few words since he’d arrived but she held onto him tighter. “Don’t leave me Evan…please don’t leave me,” Her tears came again.

  “I’m not going anywhere…Don’t cry love, I’m right here,” He removed his jacket, got into her bed, cradled her close to his side. “Will you tell me what happened?”

 “I’m afraid,”

 “Of me?”

“No, I was but not anymore,”

 “Of what then?”

She paused for a minute, biting her lip, almost smiling when he kissed them. It had become a game for the both of them, and now she had begun to do it on purpose. But this time was no game, this was sincere.

“I’m scared of the rain,”

He didn’t laugh like she thought he would but looked down at her, with her red nose and puffy eyes. “I’m afraid because when I was twenty two, I got lost on a hiking trip. I spent the worse night of my life in the middle of the worst rainstorm, they had seen in years. Since then, I’ve been afraid of the rain,”

  She felt him stiffen against her and for a moment she thought he was going to call her a cry baby and laugh at her. No grown woman was afraid of the rain and the both of them knew that. “I’m sorry that happened to you sweetheart,” He kissed her lips again but this time she didn’t feel his apprehension, she felt something more reassuring.

   “You don’t think I’m weird?”

“You could never be weird sweetheart,”

 She smiled and kissed him like he’d kissed her the first time, she was begging him to help her forget, if only with his body. She was halfway on top of him and sighed when his hands roamed over her waist and even further cupping her plum derriere.

“Cassie… as much as I want to, I don’t want it to be like this. Forgive me,” He kissed her back removing his hands. She wasn’t disappointed…in fact, she respected him more for not going further.

“I’m sorry,”

 “No need sweetheart,” He kissed her forehead smoothing the hair back from off her forehead.

 “I’ll always be here for you,”

“Promise?” She looked up at him with eyes a tad red from crying. She looked a hot mess but couldn’t be arsed.

 “I promise,”

“Good…”

And with that, she drifted into a peaceful sleep ignoring the rain for once, instead lulled to sleep by the white man who she’d grown to trust in the last few days- her protector from danger.