Teaser Tuesday: Rings of Fire

For The Arrangement fans…have you ever wondered what happens to Jill, Daniel, Jess, Bel, Ashley, Brittany, Samuel and Simon? What the heck were they doing going off to live on that hippie commune with that crazy scientist guy?

Well, fingers crossed your wait is almost over. I have begun work once again on Book 2 of the Apocalypse series that features all your favorite characters. It is the story of Brent Jacobs or Doc as Daniel and Samuel nicknamed the volcanologist. And his flames of love that burn as brightly as Kilauea for his ex-wife.

Sometimes, for the very lucky among us, you fall in love as a child…a love that lasts a lifetime. A love that waits to grow up. A love that not even the fires of Krakatoa could destroy. A love that lasts until the end of time…and beyond.

Brent Jacobs and Lauren Masters are those people.

Lauren looked across to where her eldest child slept. If the world were coming to an end, her young face certainly did not look worried. Nor did Lauren’s grandmother, the older woman was fallen fast asleep in only moments after their exchange.

She supposed it was well enough, it would allow them to avoid another confrontation. Her grandmother had never really adjusted to the divorce, pleading with Lauren to reconsider. It was not as if they had stopped loving one another, she argued. But Lauren knew…sometimes love just wasn’t enough.

When she returned to her seat, she was relieved to see that Brent too seemed to have finally fallen asleep. For the first time, she noticed that there was a liberal sprinkling of grey hair, especially at his temples. She could not stop her fingers from reaching out to brush a wisp of waves from where it had fallen against his forehead.

Brent moaned in his sleep and leaned into her light touch. A soft smile touched his full pink lips. Lauren itched to bend forward and taste them once more. No man had ever turned her stomach to molten lava the way this man did. In her heart, she knew none ever would.

‘What the hell,’ she thought. Giving into temptation, at least partially, she brushed a light kiss across his forehead, where moments before the stray lock of hair had rested.

It was a mistake. Brent shifted suddenly in his seat. His striking blue eyes stared into hers. “Thank you, Lauren,” was all he said as he grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together as he drew her down into the seat next to him.

Lauren fell asleep wondering what he was thanking her for. Brushing the hair back? Following him into another hair-brained wild-goose chase? Or something far more primal? As primal as the molten lava and disastrous eruptions that they had studied for the past almost twenty years.

***

Lauren walked hand in hand with Brent down a deserted beach. Warm water lapped at her toes. They were deep in conversation, arguing a salient point of volcanology. Then Brent splashed an incoming wave, the spray soaked through Lauren’s t-shirt and shorts. They both dissolved into laughter. Brent drew her into the protective circle of his arms. His lips descended upon hers; warm, firm and teasing. It seemed to go on forever and when he finally did draw back she whimpered softly.

She was still half asleep when she felt a hand envelope her own. Her eyes came open just in time to see Brent brush those lips that she had been dreaming about across her knuckles. His blue eyes were lit from within by passion’s fire as he leaned over and whispered, “Aww baby, I haven’t heard that in seven years. You’re driving me nuts here, Lauren.” His eyes locked upon her mouth as if considering re-enacting the long ago kiss from her dream.

Lauren forced her head towards the window, light streamed in through the small porthole. “Where are we?”

Brent shook his blond head as if to break the spell, “We are landing in about fifteen minutes.”

“Yes, but that still does not answer my question, Brent. Where the hell are we?”

A dark look passed over Brent’s handsome visage. A look that Lauren had come to know over the years meant that he was deciding whether or not to do something, he was not certain about. “Brent, what could I do now? We are almost there. I agreed to give you your week. One week,” she reminded him.

He nodded and spoke, “We are landing on a small private strip. It is Jacobs Energy land in West Texas that I have been working on for the past five years. Preparing for this time,” he finished.