Hurricane Love

The Stranger

    Joseph watched the news intently, despite his three children running restlessly around the living room. He was paying close attention to the weather report; the hurricane was going to blow in directly over them. He pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed it gently, slightly aggravated about having to worry about this storm and— although he loved them dearly— feeling an oncoming headache from his children's loud playing. His wife was in the kitchen, cleaning up from dinner and adding to the noise.
    He got up from the couch to look out the window; the sky was ominously dark, a thick blanket of dark gray clouds blocking out any sunlight above them. Soon enough, he heard rain start to fall outside. He crossed his well toned arms across his broad chest as he watched the rain pick up its pace— despite his more mature age and fatherly status, he was rather muscular and still looked great physically. His children stopped their playing to listen as well, and his wife came in from the kitchen to get a look with him. A loud crash of thunder had caused them all to jump and his youngest, a three year old boy, started to cry. Joseph rubbed his aching forehead and his wife went to comfort the sobbing boy.
    The power flickered every now and then, scaring his wife and children but not so much him. He lived by the coast his entire life and that had made him insensitive to most storms. However, there remained that distant worry that it would only get worse from here.

    An hour had passed. An hour full of flashing lightning, rumbling thunder, and pouring rain. The family's youngest was still quite upset and his two older siblings— another son of five years and a daughter of nine— were attempting to keep him calm by distracting him the best they could. The three of them sat on the living room floor together, coming up with little games to play. Joseph was just glad they stopped their usual incessant sibling bickering.
    His wife sat next to him on the couch, but not very closely. They didn't want to admit it, but they couldn't stand each other. There wasn't enough discontent to push them to pursue a divorce, but neither were very happy with each other. Then, a loud, echoing cracking noise from outside caused them both to jump from the couch. It was followed by a swoosh, and then a loud destructive-sounding crash. This was no thunder; this was the dreaded sound of a tree falling. Joseph rushed to look out the window and couldn't see any fallen trees nearby, leaving him confused. He figured it must've been a couple houses down, but he didn't dare go outside to check it out.

    About fifteen minutes later, there came a desperate knocking on their front door. Joseph went to go see what psychopath would be outside at this time. But it wasn't a psychopath at all. When he opened the door, there was a frightened young woman clutching the collar of the bathrobe that hung around her body; it's white fuzzy fabric was splattered with mud and heavy with rainwater. Her face was red and puffy from crying hysterically and her wet hair clung to her soaked cheeks and neck. Alarmed, he swung the door open fully and grabbed her arm firmly, pulling her inside to safety. Her bare feet dirtied the wood flooring, but he was too worried about her right now to care about a silly thing like that.
    "What happened? What are you doing outside like this?!" Joseph asked. He tried to keep his voice at a calm level, but his efforts were futile in such a situation as this. His wife watched from down the entryway hall.
    In a panicked and shaky voice, the young woman replied, "I was home alone and showering when a tree fell on my house, a couple houses down from here. I managed to get out unharmed, but the house is completely ruined! I really need a safe place to stay until my parents come back from their trip and you're the only person to answer my knocking." She covered her face with her hands and started to sob. Joseph exchanged a glance with his wife, who just looked annoyed instead of worried for the poor girl. That made him feel a flash of anger towards her, but he pushed it down and looked back to the upset young stranger.
    "Hey now, it's alright. You can stay here until your parents come back", Joseph replied in that deep, comforting, fatherly tone of his. She looked up at him with wide watery eyes. She grabbed his large calloused hands in her own delicate ones.
    "Oh thank goodness! Thank you so much sir!" Her voice was full of relief and genuine gratitude that made a warm smile tug on the corners of his lips. Joseph didn't see it, but his wife rolled her eyes and walked back into the kitchen.
    "Of course, I'm happy to help. Let's get you put into some nice dry clothes, okay? My wife might have something for you to wear." Joseph's voice was low and soothing. His kids were peeking from around the corner of the hall curiously and he gestured for them to go back to the living room. The young woman let go of his hands and followed him.
    "The poor girl needs to borrow some clothes. I told her you might have something for her to wear, if that's alright", he said to his wife. She placed her hands on her hips almost accusingly and a glint of jealousy flashed in her eyes.
    "It's not alright, but I suppose she can borrow something temporarily. Just give her some pajamas, nothing too nice", she replied flatly. He sighed frustratedly at her obvious lack of sympathy, but he accepted her response. He went back to the mysterious young stranger and said, "come with me please, I'll show you where you can get some dry clothes." She smiled warmly up at him, causing him to get those dizzying butterflies in his stomach he hadn't felt since he was a young man in college.
    She followed Joseph down the hall and to his and his wife's bedroom. He opened one of his wife's dresser drawers and turned around to face the woman once again.
    "Here's some clothes you can put on, I know they're only pajamas and they may not even fit right, but that's the only thing my damn wife will allow you to wear. I apologize." He blushed a little out of embarrassment.
    "This is great, tell your wife I said thank you", she responded. Her voice was a bit hoarse from crying, but it was sweet and soft and still so full of gratitude. He smiled at her and turned towards the door to give her privacy to change. Suddenly he felt a dainty hand grip his wrist from behind him.
    "Please don't go. I'm scared and I'd like you to stay here with me while I change", the young woman said quietly, a hint of desperation in her soft voice. Joseph felt his cheeks get hot with blush upon hearing her request. He turned towards her, looking into her beautiful pleading eyes.
    "I don't think my wife would like that," he replied, averting her gaze awkwardly and pausing to think before speaking again, "I'll stay but just don't mention this to her, alright?" He felt bad for the poor girl and wanted her to feel safe after her terrible experience, but there was another feeling of feverish desire trying to push it's way to the surface of his mind. She gave him another sweet smile, driving him wild inside. She walked over to the open drawer and picked out some pajamas. Joseph sat down on the big bed in the middle of the room and tried to keep his eyes off her, but he couldn't help but steal the occasional short glance. He watched the young woman slip the soaking wet bathrobe off slowly and gracefully, revealing the supple curvature of her nude body and her smooth skin that looked like the most expensive porcelain he'd ever laid eyes on. he felt the fabric of his pants tighten around the crotch area uncontrollably, and he looked down at his shaking hands and tried to get a hold of himself and his unruly feelings. She looked over her shoulder at the flustered man and said timidly, "could I have a towel please?" Joseph nodded quickly and rushed to the bathroom. He handed the woman a towel and kept his hungry eyes from wandering although it was very difficult. She accepted the towel graciously and began drying herself off. He sat back down on the bed and couldn't help glancing again. The way she dragged the towel over her glowing, youthful skin only made his member harden further. He let out a quiet shaky sigh, hoping she wouldn't notice his arousal. He ran a hand nervously through his thick dark hair that was starting to turn silver with age.
    After what felt like an eternity to him, she slipped the pajamas on and they hung on her delicate body loosely. It didn't help his nerves that he knew she didn't have any underwear on under said pajamas. She turned around to face him, smiling gratefully. He stood up and pulled his shirt down quickly over the hardened bulge in between his legs.
    "I hope getting into some dry clothes helps you feel a bit better", Joseph said with a friendly, semi-awkward grin.
    "Yes, much better. Thank you so much again, I hate to inconvenience you and your family like this during this nasty storm", the woman said, crossing her arms under her perfectly round breasts and looking away from him bashfully. His eyes flicked down to her chest and noticed her nipples were hard under the nightshirt and he felt his throat become dry. He cleared it quickly and tried to talk through it, his voice cracking like it did when he was a teenage boy.
    "It's not a problem, really." Joseph looked deeply into her big doe eyes and got lost in them for a moment. She took a step closer and his palms began to sweat. She gave him a gentle embrace, pressing her rather cold body against his and causing his breath to catch in his throat. He hesitantly hugged her back, taking her small frame into his strong arms. His hardened crotch pressed against her pelvis but she didn't seem to mind. After a moment of silence, he spoke up quietly.
    "My, you're quite cold aren't you?" He pulled away slightly to look down at her with a worried and observant gaze. She nodded, looking back at him with those gorgeous glossy eyes of hers. His hands cupped the small of her back, and he could feel hers resting on the middle of his much broader, muscular back; the feeling was exhilarating, almost dangerous. He knew it was wrong, but it just felt too good. She pulled away from him and picked up her towel again, using it to dry off her wet hair. His arms felt empty without her in them. He just wanted to scoop her up in his arms once more and protect her and get her body warm again. How would he get her body warm? Well... he shut those dirty fantasies down before they could even begin.