Deadly Storm by Lily Harper Hart

so we could cuddle,” Mandy said, resting her head against James’ shoulder as she sipped from her wine glass.
    James dipped some bread in the hummus. “I’m not a novice.”
    “I noticed,” Mandy said, the weight from the past few days absent from her diminutive shoulders. “I know this is going to sound weird, but I can’t tell you how much better I’m feeling about everything now that we’ve talked about it.”
    “We should always talk about everything,” James agreed. “We keep saying it, and then we keep forgetting it. From now on, I want to know everything that goes on in your life.”
    “Really?”
    “I don’t care how minor you think it is,” James said.
    “Well, for starters, I’m not wearing any underwear,” Mandy purred, kissing the ridge of James’ ear.
    “And now we’re going to eat really fast,” James said, squirming as he imagined a few entertaining after-dinner activities they could engage in.
    “I think it’s going to storm again,” Mandy said. “It’s too bad we won’t be able to use the hot tub.”
    “I’ll draw you a bath. There are jets in that big tub, too.”
    Mandy snickered. “Are you okay? You’re okay, right?”
    “Baby, I haven’t felt this good in days,” James said. “I didn’t realize how twisted up my stomach was until we had our little talk.”
    “Me, too,” Mandy said.
    “Did you do anything at work today?” James asked, hoping a return to normal conversation would ease their transition back to everyday life.
    “Well … actually, yes,” Mandy said. “Clint and Heidi are moving in together.”
    James made a face. “Why?”
    “Because they love each other,” Mandy said.
    “I can see Clint falling in love with Heidi,” James said. “What does she see in him, though?”
    “He’s sweet … and he dotes on her.”
    “I think he still has a thing for you.”
    “He does not,” Mandy scoffed.
    “He does,” James said. “He may have feelings for Heidi, but if I died tomorrow, he’d be at our house trying to warm the widow’s form.”
    “That is a really odd saying,” Mandy chided.
    “It’s the truth.”
    “Just so you know, you can’t ever die,” Mandy said. “I need to go first. If you die on me, I’ll curl up into a ball and give up on a life. Let me go first.”
    “Oh, no,” James replied. “If you die before me I’m going to throw myself off of a bridge, and that’s going to be messy and gross. I need to go first. I thought we’d already agreed on that.”
    “Absolutely not.”
    “Well, that’s the way it has to be,” James said, kissing the tip of Mandy’s nose. “I’ll be nothing more than a zombie without you.”
    “How about we compromise?”
    James waited.
    “We’ll die together.”
    “Like in The Notebook ?”
    “We need a cooler movie than that to base our deaths on,” Mandy countered.
    “Like what?”
    “I need time to think.”
    “As long as we’re not eaten by sharks, I’ll agree to whatever you want,” James said.
    “I don’t want to be eaten by sharks either. I … huh.”
    James shifted his attention to the direction Mandy was staring. “She did this on purpose,” he groused, glaring at Ann as she moved toward a table on the same side of the restaurant where they were sitting. “She heard me say where I was taking you and … look, here she is.”
    “It looks like she’s moved her affections from you to our professor,” Mandy said, pursing her lips as she watched Professor Barnes settle on the other side of the table from Ann. “That has to be some sort of record.”
    “See, women get over me quite easily,” James said. “I had a right to be worried about you getting bored with me.”
    “You’re still an idiot where that’s concerned,” Mandy said. “Do you think she’s going to get graded better than me because she’s willing to sleep with him?”
    “She should probably get something out of this if she’s going to put out,” James said. “Just for the record, I