SHUT THE HELL UP.

RIO WAS LOOKING AROUND THE COMPLICATED CAB OF THE TRUCK IN AWE. After a few more hours of helping clean up the devastated small town, Boone kindly offered to drive her back to her and Kate's motel — except he was really offering Tyler's services, as he wasn't in a car of his own.

She didn't understand half the stuff Boone and Tyler told her about the modifications on the truck, but she was impressed. They'd basically tornado-proofed the vehicle, making it extremely safe for such a dangerous hobby.

A large pizza was sitting on the center console, and Rio was fighting hard not to break into it — they were only a few minutes out from the motel. But she knew she needed to save some from Kate, and something told her that if she opened it in front of Boone, he'd help her devour it. As if he didn't have his own medium meat lovers in the back with him.

"Thanks for giving me a ride, seriously," Rio said for probably the fifth time since climbing in the truck.

"It ain't no trouble," Boone told her. "Tyler wants to check on Kate anyhow."

As Tyler sucked on his teeth, Rio smirked at him. "You worried about City Girl, Cowboy?"

"Shut the hell up," he said, not able to think of anything witty. At least not anything that wouldn't have Boone kicking the back of his seat in embarrassment. "I just know she was torn up after what happened to those people. Want to make sure she's handling it okay. They don't get destruction like this is New York."

Rio just tilted her head, knowing she could tell him that Kate wasn't really from New York. But that was at Kate's discretion, she supposed.

A minute later, they pulled into the motel parking lot, and though she was tired, Rio smiled across the street at the rodeo that was happening. Tyler also perked up at the sight, already formulating a plan to make Kate feel better. The trio walked up to the second floor where the girls' shared room was, Boone kindly holding the pizza for Rio.

Tyler was the one to knock, and a moment later, Kate was at the door. She had showered, unlike Rio, and was in a fresh set of clothes. And she looked warily from Tyler to Rio, wondering what she was doing with the men, especially after her fight with Tyler.

"Brought your botanist back—"

"Ecologist," Rio cut him off, rolling her eyes as she smiled.

Then Boone grinned and held up the pizza. "Rio figured you was hungry."

With a nod, Kate silently reached for the pizza and Rio's wrist, pulling her into the room and shutting the door in their faces. As Kate sat on the bed and opened up the box, Rio leaned against the wall.

"Oh, don't be like that, Katy," Rio said, smiling. "They ain't half bad, and you know it."

With a dramatic eye roll and a groan, Kate got off the bed and went to the door, opening it up. Tyler was still waiting, looking awkwardly at the ground until he saw her again. And Boone just smiled successfully at Rio over Kate's shoulder.

"Y'all find the dog?" Kate asked, her eyes on Tyler.

"Course, I found the dog," he said, scoffing. "How you doing after all that?"

Kate just shrugged. "It doesn't matter. It's those people, they..." She couldn't even finish it.

"Yeah, well, you've seen the worst of this place," he said, still thinking she was from New York. "Probably nice for you to see something good." Then his gaze softened. "Want to take you somewhere. Think it might help. Come on."

"Where?" Kate asked, not wanting to just blindly go away with him.

"Just across the street," he said, nodding to the rodeo arena. "Come on. Both of you."

Rio found herself shaking her head. "Sorry, Tyler, but I'm bowing out. I'm exhausted, but y'all have fun. I'm gone stay in and finish my pizza."

"Well, uh, mind if I join you then?" Boone asked, his hands in his pockets. "Just to keep you company 'til he brings Kate back to you."

The corners of Rio's lips turned up before she shyly nodded, not minding the thought of being alone with Boone for an hour or so. The more time she spent with him, the more charmed she was.

"Great," he said, grinning. Damn, she really was starting to like his grin. "Um, lemme go grab my pizza from the truck."

Tyler tossed Boone the keys, who ran back down to the parking lot, Rio watching him go. And it made Tyler smirk.

"Awe," he cooed, "gone have a little pizza date?"

"Shut the hell up," she said, copying him from earlier, which made him snicker.

"You know, I think Boone has a little crush on Rio," Kate said, smirking.

"Most definitely," Tyler teased before seeing the uncertainty on Rio's face. So, he spoke a little softer. "Look, I know Boone's a little much — and you seem the type to shy away from much — but he's a good guy. Don't knock it til you try it."

"I don't really make habits of trying it since..." Rio trialed off and caught Kate's understanding eye. So, Kate reached for her hand and squeezed it tightly. Which just puzzled Tyler.

"Since what?" he questioned curiously. "Last relationship end badly?"

Rio's jaw tensed and she fought back tears. She'd already cried so much over the years. She was tired of it. "Decidedly so."

"Well, I don't know how it went, but I know Boone. And he's the type to treat you right — won't hurt you or leave you behind."

Rio wouldn't be able to survive being left behind like she had been by Addy and the storm that took her away. It's why she never gave anyone the chance to get close enough to her heart to cause her pain like that again.

"Look," Rio said, biting the inside of her cheek. "You're playing a good wingman for Boone, but ain't nothing gonna happen between us. I mean, I'm going back to Texas at the end of this week."

Tyler raised a challenging eyebrow. "Then I guess we'll see what Boone can do in a week's time. And I bet it'll be worth it."

It made her smile, albeit a bit bitterly. Maybe five years ago, before Addy, she'd have been giddy about the thought of a weeklong, whirlwind romance. Because she could so clearly see it happening with how much she was starting to like Boone — his smile and his laugh and his mind. But it wasn't worth it. It couldn't be worth it.

"Hey, T, catch," Boone said, cutting off her train of thought as he reappeared with a pizza now in hand. He tossed the car keys to Tyler, who caught them effortlessly. "Have fun out there."

After Rio and Kate said goodbye, Rio slipped into the motel room, Boone holding the door open for her politely.

"God, I'm starving," Rio said, climbing onto the bed and sitting by the headboard. She glanced at Boone, who was standing a few feet away, unsure on if he could sit with her or if he needed to go to the table in the corner of the room. So, she smiled and nodded her head. "C'mon. Just don't get sauce on Kate's side of the bed."

He chuckled and joined her, making sure to kick off his muddy boots before doing so. Then they dug into their pizza, both starving after a long day of storm chasing and then helping out the victims. And because of that, it was silent for a minute as they both devoured their first slice.

"So," Boone said, his mouth a little full. "You was right in the tornado today. You doing okay?"

Rio just shrugged. "I lived, I guess. I about tore the bar off the ceiling of Javi's truck though. God, I hate gettin' close to tornados."

He frowned at that, trying to understand her better. "They why did you get in the car with 'em? Why not stay back with the other members of your team staying behind it?"

"Well, I wouldn't want to work with anyone but Javi and Kate," she explained. "They're my family." Well, they used to be — maybe they could be again. "But you get that. Your crew's like a little family too."

"We are, ain't we?" he said with a smile. "I get that. I wouldn't wanna chase with no one else either."

"So," she then said, taking another bite. "You don't like the rodeo or something? Why didn't you go with Tyler and Kate? They're lots of fun."

"Well, I - I wanted to spend more time with you," he admitted a bit shyly, his face heating up. "I know you don't really know me, but I thought maybe we could fix that."

"Well, I know you're really smart about this storm stuff. And your favorite color's red," she listed off. And she could see on his face that he appreciated her listing his brains first — something told her people didn't typically consider him smart because of the way he presented himself and spoke.

"And I know you're an environmental genius that likes blue," he said with a nod. "What else am I allowed to learn?"

"Well, what do you want to know?" she asked. God, she hadn't tried to make a new friend in ages, so she didn't know where to start. She needed Boone to tell her where to start.

And he didn't make it easy as he said, "Everything."

Well, that was sort of a broad umbrella, so, she started small.

Rio told him about growing up in Florida — how Javi babysat her and she worshiped him. She told him about competing in 4-H agriculture research competitions from a young age and being fascinated by with the effects that hurricanes had on the land. That fascination shifted to tornados when she followed Javi to Oklahoma.

Though she didn't touch on why she left Oklahoma, and Boone didn't press her for the information.

Then it was his turn.

Boone told her about growing up in the backwoods with five dogs, loving to hunt and run around in the mud all day. And it wasn't that he was mesmerized by storms like Tyler and Kate were. He just thought they were cool as shit, thinking it was amazing that nature was capable of something like that.

Though he didn't talk about it a lot with others, he liked photography in addition to just filming for the channel. He even took Tyler's headshots, which he told her were crammed in the glove compartment of his truck, much to her amusement.

"Maybe Ben will let you take pictures for his article," she suggested. "Get your work out there outside of just YouTube."

"Ain't nobody want to see my pictures," he said, shaking his head.

"Well, I do," she said earnestly. "Come on. You got any on your phone?"

"Really?" he asked, smiling again. No one aside from the crew ever really cared about his side hobby. The crew would always be supportive of each other.

Rio just nodded and scooted closer, the empty pizza boxes shoved to the foot of the bed so that they could get closer. Boone pulled out his phone and went to a separate photo album where he had some of his stuff saved from the SIM card in his nicer camera.

Rio liked the pictures he had of his dog — her name was Dixie — and of his friends. But what she really adored was the photos he took of the world around him. Each time he showed her a photo of a tornado or the creek near his house or the vast woods near Tyler's, she'd lean in and marvel at them.

"These are amazing," she told him, her cheek pressed to his shoulder as she looked at a beautiful picture of a storm in the distance, lightning striking and illuminating the clouds. Then Rio turned to look at him, her chin now resting on his shoulder. "Boone, you're so talented. Ben would be lucky to have stuff like this in his article. I've never seen someone capture the beauty of tornadoes like this."

"That means a lot," he murmured, looking back at her and flushing when he realized how close her face was to his. "I kinda felt silly showing them to you at first."

"You shouldn't have," she assured him. "You take the prettiest pictures."

"Maybe I could take some of you sometime," he said hopefully. "You're a prettier subject than any storm could ever be."

Now it was Rio's turn to blush. Sure, he'd called her pretty before already, but that didn't mean she liked it any less as he kept doing so.

"You keep calling me that," she murmured.

He raised a dark eyebrow. "Pertty? 'Cause you are. You're the best looking girl I ever seen. You ought to be told so even by someone like me."

Rio scrunched her face up. "What's that mean? Someone like you?"

Boone shrugged, the movement causing her chin to fall off his shoulder. "I ain't much, you know?"

"Well, that ain't true," she told him. "You're funny and smart. You're just about fearless and you're kind. Not to mention handsome."

"You, uh, you think I'm handsome?" he asked almost nervously while leaning a little closer.

Rio glanced from his deep, brown eyes to his rough-looking lips. All that denial she'd spouted out to Tyler was out of her mind now. Because Boone felt so warm to lean against, and they'd spent the last hour without a single second of uncomfortable silence. He made her feel content and nervous all at once, and Rio hadn't felt like that in a long time.

Not since Addy.

Her heart was hammering in her chest, her mind in a whirlwind battle, part of her pulling away because of memories of Addy and the other part that was so desperate to move on. And Boone seemed the perfect sort of guy to move on with. He was both a risk and yet incredibly safe as well.

And Rio wanted safe. She craved it.

So, when Boone saw her eyes on his lips, he took a chance and leaned in, his breath washing over her face. Still, he didn't kiss her, his nose just skimming hers, not wanting to take anything from her that she didn't want to give deep down. He was letting her decide and he'd be content with whatever the decision was even if it left his heart on its own.

Just when Rio decided she wanted to see what it felt like to kiss Boone — to feel his scruffy facial hair tickling her skin — the sirens began to sound. With wide eyes, both pulled away, and Boone reached for his phone, which was the nearest.

"What's coming?" Rio asked, a frown fixed on her face as she looked at his screen.

"A storm," he muttered. "A big one. Get your shoes on. We can't stay here."