Title: When Lightning Strikes (The Thunder Rolls) Chapter 6
Author: Romantique
Email: dolph1n
Classification: Rayna Jaymes
Rating: T for language (but no worse than the show)
Summary: This is a fantasy fic. (I'll let on I what mean when the time is right.) It starts after the airing of "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)," but before the not yet aired "Lovesick Blues."
Disclaimer: This fic is based on nothing but my imagination.
Legal: These characters do not belong to me. I'm just a fan and have not made a dime. Please email me to obtain permission to post.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
About half an hour later, Rayna was showered and changed. She used the little, low-watt hair dryer in the bathroom to semi-dry her hair. Then, she brushed her teeth and put on a little make up but found that, with her new hair color, she didn't need much. It was a good thing, too, because her eye shadow and her favorite lipstick were no longer a great match. Some gloss would have to do. On the plus side, her darker hair color seemed to warm her skin tone, made her look more alive.
Checking herself one last time in the mirror ... She looked different. She felt different. And she could not get the good Colonel off of her mind.
Rayna James closed her eyes. How many times had she been in this place before, feeling those beginning feelings of falling for a man? With Deacon and Teddy, she remembered going through the tingling, the aching, and the overwhelming desire to be near them and then, to become one.
Deacon Claybourne, the first true love of her life, was someone with whom she shared the most incredible chemistry. They wrote music together, shared their thoughts, their hearts, and their souls. But the years he went in and out of rehab took their toll. And even though she was well aware his addiction was an illness and not his fault, the fact remained that she could never rely on him. She couldn't depend on him to always be there for her, because no matter how much he wanted to be there for her, he couldn't. After everything they'd been through, she knew he loved her, perhaps more than she loved him. Her love for him was less than it had been in the beginning. It had been tarnished. But that initial spark between them never died.
With Theodore Conrad Jr., there was no doubt in her mind that he loved her. His family had been around hers ever since she could remember. Teddy persistently pursued her for years to go out with him. It was only after she had one of her last run-ins with Deacon over his addiction that she finally caved, and they went out on a dinner date. He was so handsome and charming, and her father liked him, unlike Deacon. But Teddy had always been a 'wanne-be.' His father was a failure in business, nothing really more than a con man. Or at least that is what her father always said, and he said it to anyone in Nashville who would listen. And in Teddy's zeal to be a better man than his father, he seemed to follow the same failing path by entering into one bad business deal after another. It was as if he was pretending to be something he could not be. Ashamed of his failures, he kept things from her. They had grown apart during their marriage, and as much as Rayna hated to admit it because he was the father of their children, Teddy Conrad simply wasn't good enough for her. She could make herself live with his failures for the sake of their children, but now ... he had been unfaithful to her, too.
This man, Lucas Redmond, was the finest, most decent man she'd ever had the pleasure to meet. She respected him. He towered in integrity over any man she'd ever known. He was the real deal. Rayna James was falling in love with everything about him. He made her feel safe.
The electricity between them was something she'd never experienced before. Rayna ached to be near him, to gaze into his eyes. But something was clearly bothering him, and she was hell-bent to find out what it was, to fix it.
She tucked her card key into the back pocket of her jeans, grabbed the pizza box, walked over to the room next door, and knocked on the door.
Luke answered. The expression on his face appeared to be one of annoyance and frustration.
"Can I come in?" she asked.
"Alright," he sounded a little put off but was honestly stunned to see her as a brunette.
She was absolutely gorgeous, more gorgeous than he ever thought she could be.
He took the pizza from her and placed it inside, on the table. Rayna entered and stood there, protectively hugging herself, as she prepared herself to say what she came to say. She looked across the room at him, as if she was trying to catch his attention and look at him straight in the eye.
"What is going on here between us?" she asked, trying to keep her composure. "Because I'm getting really mixed signals here?"
Luke looked over at her. It was obvious he was trying to keep his distance from her.
"You tell me if I'm wrong, but I feel this incredible, chemical heat, this powerful electricity between us," she was now talking with her hands. After a beat of silence, she re-asked the question. "Am I? Am I wrong?"
"You're not wrong," he answered. "There's a problem." He swallowed hard. "It is 'Conduct Unbecoming to an Officer,' to have relations with a married woman."
With his hands near his heart, almost as if to protect it, he said very matter-of-factly, "As much as I want to ... I can't."
"My husband cheated on me," she rebutted, in all seriousness. "He's lied to me. He's broken my trust. I think it's pretty safe to say my marriage is over."
"Still, you're married just the same," he said. "Rayna, I can wait," he said, sounding so sincere. "I will wait. It's the right thing to do."
She walked a little closer towards him and gazed into his eyes. Her darker hair made her blue eyes pop, and he couldn't help but return the gaze.
"I can't," she said. "I can't wait."
Gazing into one another's eyes, Rayna reached up and cupped his face, longing to kiss him.
"And I can't," he whispered, swallowing hard. "Please, understand."
"I know," she said. "It's that whole honor thing. It's one of the things I love best about you."
Their eyes never left each other's.
"It's not an honor thing," he tried to explain. "It's an oath, an oath I take very seriously. The Air Force takes it very seriously, too. In a way, I'm married to the Air Force."
She nodded. "I know. I'm not trying to minimize the magnitude of your commitment. I would never do that."
After a beat, she carefully added, "I feel like I'm dying, literally in pain. I ache to be near you."
If she sounded as if she was begging, she was ... she was pleading.
"You are a force to be reckoned with, Rayna Jaymes," he said in a breathy voice, and he swallowed hard, again.
She was drowning in his eyes.
"I am filing for a divorce, just as soon as the news breaks. I have valid grounds for a divorce," she nodded. "Not that I'm asking you to marry me. I don't want to trap you. But I'm not his, I don't belong to Teddy. I belong to me. And I want to know you, Lucas Redmond ... inside and out ... I'm falling for you, hook, line, and sinker."
Tears were welling up in her blue eyes.
She was met with a deafening silence.
"Please, don't leave me out here to drown, all alone," she begged.
She approached him, a little closer. "Don't you and I deserve a chance? To be happy?"
And she slowly, yet deliberately reached out and wrapped her arms around him. She brought her mouth closer to his, and she opened her mouth a little and kissed him. She pressed herself hard, against him. His body's response to her told her all she needed to know.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Rayna awoke to find herself in the arms of a sleeping Luke. Her head fit perfectly on his broad shoulder. She watched his muscular chest rise and fall with each breath. She looked up and watched him sleep, this strong, beautiful, honorable man.
The complete stillness of their perfect afterglow was interrupted by her cell phone's ring tone. She quickly reached over to the nightstand and grabbed it with one hand.
Glancing at the screen, it was Bucky.
"The news just hit the television," he said. "Are you watching?"
"No, what channel?" she asked.
At that moment, Lucas stirred.
"It's the lead story. I'm watching the 5 o'clock news on Channel 2," Bucky answered and continued to listen to the 'Breaking News.' "Oh, shit, Rayna. I am so sorry," he exclaimed upon hearing the full story.
Slowly, she sat up in bed. "Look, Bucky," she said. "I've got to go. But would you please do me another favor? Would you please get a line on THE best divorce lawyer in Tennessee who does not have a conflict of interest with my father? I'll call you tomorrow."
After disconnecting the call, she looked up at Luke.
"The news is out?" he surmised, placing a firm, steady hand on her back.
"It's happening right now," she said.
She opened her arms and lay back down and hugged him.
He hugged her even tighter, bringing her closer to him. "Are you doing okay?" he asked.
She then hugged him back, with all her might. "I've never been better."
He gently kissed the top of her head.
"I want to go to back to Nashville and face this thing head on," she said, "just as soon as Bucky secures me Counsel. I'll need the best legal protection to shield me from my father's meddling. But I can do this."
"Are you sure?" he asked. "Because if you are, you need to do it."
"I've never been so sure of anything in my whole life," she said, looking up at him.
After a beat, she added, "Can I ask you something?"
"Anything," he answered.
"Those emails you showed me from Teddy, where he's talking about Peggy?" she began. "I really don't want to get you involved any more than we have to, but could I have those for the lawyer?"
"They would certainly be proof of the affair," he said, "give you instant credibility with a Court of Law. I will provide them to your attorney. But I think he should subpoena them from me. I won't fight it. It would be better for you, and for me, that way."
"You're being strategic again, aren't you?" she kissed his chest. "We can do it any way you say. Thank you."
And she kissed his chest again. "What are we going to say about you and me, if someone was to bring it up?" she asked.
"You try not to give any reason for anyone to bring it up," he said. "Because if asked, we can't lie. My story is ... Teddy asked me to look after you. I brought you here, over the state line and away from the Nashville Press. We have separate rooms. That's all true."
He brought his face in closer to hers. "We can't see each other again, not like this, until you're free. It's too dangerous to my career. And it's too dangerous to your divorce, as well."
He spoke the truth, and she knew it.
"I can wait, now," she assured him. "I now know everything about you that I needed to know. It's going to be hard, but I can do it," she said.
"Look at it this way. This will be good practice for us," he explained, "for when I have to go off on a mission. That is, if you're truly serious about wanting to be with me."
She answered him with a passionate kiss.
Luke shifted his weight so that he was suddenly on top of her. They made love that night for what would have to last them for a long time.
(To be continued ... )