Page 63 of Firecracker

“But we’re safe here,” he added hastily. “Just enjoy the amazing power of it. It’s really kind of fascinating, that light can create such a loud noise.”

“Th-the lightning creates the noise?”

“Yeah. A bolt of lightning opens a hole in the air, and then when the light is gone the air collapses back in and makes a sound wave. That’s thunder.”

“Huh.”

“We see the light first because light travels faster than sound.”

“I knew that, at least.” She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t know you were a science nerd.”

“Really? You didn’t know that?” His voice was low and teasing. “Jamie and I won first prize in the tenth grade science fair for our project on how fast light travels in water versus in air.”

“Oh.”

“You don’t even remember that, do you?”

“Jamie won all kinds of awards in high school. I couldn’t keep track of them all.”

“You weren’t jealous, were you?”

“Of course not.” She tossed her hair back. “Well. There may have been times I wished I was as smart as he is.”

Tyler snorted. “Youaresmart.”

“Eh. Not like he is.”

“Maybe if you’d spent more time studying and less social butterflying…”

She jerked back, but he kept his hands curled around her arms. “What?”

“Oh, come on. You didn’t care enough about getting awards to spend your whole life studying.”

She blinked at him. How did he know her that well? “That’s the second time you’ve implied I’m lazy.”

“That’s not what I’m saying! I’m not criticizing you. You think Jamie and I weren’t envious of all your friends and the parties you went to and how easy it was for people to like you? The teachers loved you. Even the principal loved you.”

She could only gaze back at him for a moment. “I guess things look different through someone else’s eyes.”

“And with ten years of hindsight.” He smiled. “You lived life the way you wanted to. Nothing wrong with that.”

Her eyes grew distant and the corners of her mouth drooped. Huh. What had he said?

The room flickered into light then darkness, and another boom of thunder vibrated the floor. Arden flinched, then laughed. “I’m okay.”

“It’ll pass over quickly, I think.” His skin tingled everywhere, as if electrified from being so close to her. Or maybe it was the electricity in the air from the storm. Yeah, right, that was why his dick was thickening in his boxers.

He released her arms and moved behind her, then gave her a little nudge. “Go make yourself some herbal tea or something. I’ll clean up your broken glass.”

He grabbed the big broom he’d left in the hall from his work earlier and headed into her bedroom. He turned on her lamp, swept up broken glass, mopped up with a towel he found neatly stacked on her dresser, and deposited the shards into the waste basket.

When he returned to the kitchen, she’d flicked on the overhead light, had the kettle on the stove, and was pulling a tin of loose tea out of a cupboard.

“Do you want some tea?”

“Sure. All cleaned up. Dried up the water so my beautiful wood floors don’t get wrecked.”

“Oh.” She bit her lip, her gaze dropping to his bare chest, then lifting quickly back up. “Did I do any damage?”

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