Piper remained rigid, silent and tense enough to shatter, until he slowly pulled her in closer, sliding a hand up her back to palm the nape of her neck, where he rubbed at the muscles that were tight with tension.

“I lost my parents in a storm like this,” she whispered.

A shock of surprise went through him. “Ah, Piper. No.”

“It was in the DRC—the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was a crazy storm, and my siblings and I got sent home to Wildstone just as it started up because one of my brother’s friends had just been killed by rebel forces.”

Okay, and now he understood her earlier mysterious bomb comment, far more than he wanted to.

“My parents decided it was no longer safe for us kids,” she went on. “Gavin was . . .” She shook her head. “In shock. Devastated. We all were.” She drew in a deep breath. “So plans were made for the three of us to come here and live with our grandparents. We got out okay, and our parents were going to follow within the week, but . . .” She closed her eyes. “There was crazy flooding. The clinic was over capacity when the water rose unexpectedly and everyone inside died. It was a whole bunch of years ago, but violent storms like this one seem to bring it all back. The guilt and everything.”

Yeah. He knew exactly. “If you’d stayed, you’d have died too, and Gavin and Winnie.”

She nodded. “I know. But it’s small comfort sometimes.”

“I get that.” So much more than she could possibly know. “Anyone who’s been through what you have would be triggered by tonight’s insane storm.” His hand was still on the nape of her neck. Her skin was soft and he stroked his thumb back and forth, trying to comfort her, which wasn’t something he’d thought himself capable of.

“I usually try to sleep through storms like this.” As she said it, her hands slid up his chest. He wasn’t even sure she was aware of what she was doing. “But my mind won’t shut up,” she whispered.

“No?”

She gave a slow shake of her head, watching her hands move on him.

Okay, so she was aware of what she was doing.

“Cam?”

“Yeah?” he asked, voice unintentionally low and husky.

“I need a distraction.”

Several choice options came to him, all of them requiring a lot of nudity. Before he could get ahold of himself, her fingers dug into his biceps and she kissed him.

At the same exact instant, there came another bright flash of lightning and then thunder, but several seconds later this time. The storm was moving off. Still, he felt an instant rush, though he wasn’t sure which to attribute it to, the storm or Piper’s hot, sweet mouth.