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CHAPTER1
The mapsand satellite readouts streaming across the computer monitor screamed at her. Violet shuddered as she stared at them, abandoning the exams she had been grading. Her stomach clenched. It wasn’t an awful storm, but the highs and lows, the ramping up, could easily be seen. She’d be willing to bet a tornado would show its face in the middle of all that.
She could hardly tear her gaze from it, the itch to be out in the middle of the storm stronger than anything. It had been months since she’d been able to slide into the Hummer and chase. The thrill it sent through her was a shudder of excitement and even a little arousal every time.
The knock on her door startled her. Jerking back, Violet glanced up to find one of her favorite students filling the doorway—not that she allowed herself to have favorites.
“Hey, teach.”
“Lando.” Violet’s lips curved up. “See this?”
Pointing at the screen, she expected Lando to lean over her shoulder and stare at the monitor. What she didn’t expect was the scent of Lando’s cologne, her hand on Violet’s desk to prop her up as she leaned in to get a better look.
Violet held in the shiver, but goosebumps ran along her arms. Lando squinted at the screen, and Violet had to work hard to tear her gaze from her soon-to-be-former student to her computer monitor.
“It doesn’t look too bad.”
Violet clicked her tongue. “If you follow these lines, see? The spin is just not forming.”
“This is real time?” Lando asked.
“Mmhmm.” Violet pointed at the screen again. “Oklahoma. I’ve been following the weather cell for a few hours now.”
“You want to be there, don’t you?”
The question caused tension to ripple up Violet’s spine. She hadn’t realized it was that obvious, or perhaps she suspected most of her students were oblivious. Violet’s lips parted, and she shifted her gaze to her student, a woman who by any means was young and ready to take life by the horns and ride it until she had to get off.
“Yes,” Violet answered simply, a wispy tone to her voice.
“You storm chase in the summers, right?” Lando’s gaze turned to her.
Violet hummed her agreement. “But I’m taking the last quarter off this year to chase in the spring.”
Lando didn’t move, her thick forearms and biceps still holding herself up as she leaned over Violet onto the desk. “I’ve thought about finding an internship, maybe going out this summer.”
“You’ll love it.” Violet hit a few buttons on the monitor to change the parameters and run another analysis. She wasn’t in charge of planning their chases—that would be Diane’s business—but she was excited to join in earlier that year than she had since she was a student.
“Finding a team isn’t as easy as I thought it’d be,” Lando commented, still looking at the screen.
Violet’s stomach clenched. She’d run into the same when she was a student. First it was because she had no experience, but the second issue, which rapidly became a third issue, was that she was a woman, and a woman attracted to other women at that. Storm chasing was often in the most conservative parts of the country, and when she’d been younger and dipping her toe into meteorology, womanhood had not been a common attribute of storm chasers.
She and Diane had managed to break through those barriers, and she was glad. It meant it was easier for students like Lando to join in, but there was often still an undercurrent of sexism and homophobia were in the teams. Lando, by the very fact of being a woman (because Violet didn’t assume anyone’s sexuality anymore) would have an easier time than Violet had but would still have issues finding a team willing to hire her on.
“I have a few contacts. I can see if they have any openings.”
“I would really appreciate that.” Lando finally shifted, straightening her back.
Violet tore her gaze from the monitor and stared up at the stocky build, wide hips, and hair that seemed always perfectly in place. Lando had a preference for keeping her hair short, which would help in the storms, though Violet suspected she wouldn’t have time to gel it into the perfect style as she did every day for classes.
Lando shoved her hands in her pockets and leaned back on her heels, her tone flirtatious when she spoke. “I did come here for a reason, and an extra lesson in meteorology wasn’t it.”
Violet flushed. “What did you need?”
“My final paper.”
“Right.” Violet looked at her desk, which was a mess. She had to clean that up before she left for the quarter and summer. The finals were…somewhere. She hadn’t expected any students to actually come get them. They so rarely did and never before the following quarter.
They were in a folder. Violet just had to find that particular folder. Lando plopped into the extra chair that sat in Violet’s office, crossing an ankle over her knee. Violet tried to ignore Lando and focus on finding that paper. By this point, she was pretty sure every student she’d had was used to her scattered organization.
