Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Then Storm had appeared beside me.
And finally, I could think about something else.
Something that wasn’t business or failure or the bone-deep ache of how badly I missed my father, and how badly I wished he were still here.
Storm had brought me back down to Earth. It was causing some misguided surge of affection to well up inside me, all aimed directly at him.
“You have no fucking idea how glad I am to be inside,” he said, doing a full-body shivering motion that somehow looked fucking adorable even though he was a tall, built man.
I reached out and rubbed his arms, trying to help heat him up. When he glanced back at me and gave me his dimpled half-smile, it felt like my heart was being tugged directly toward him.
Good God.
How had I never noticed how kind he could look, when I didn’t feel like I was his rival?
Or how he had a little dusting of freckles at the top of his cheeks, so slight it could almost go unnoticed?
Or how when he looked at someone—looked at me—all I wanted was for him to pull me in and kiss me again and erase every awful thought from my mind?
Maybe it was all in my head. I was broken down and vulnerable, after today, and maybe anyone could have made me feel this sense of longing.
But I didn’t think so. I was pretty sure Storm made me feel something completely different than most people.
Just act normal.
What is acting normal, around Storm Rosling?
“Look who’s here,” I said, glancing back toward my back doors and seeing a familiar fuzzy face in the yard.
“Oreo, you little rascal,” Storm said. “It’s cold out there. Can she come inside?”
“Of course,” I said.
I let her in and immediately she started playing around with Pepper in the living room, sharing toys and playing tug-of-war.
“Fuck. Emmett, can we shut that door?” Storm said, and I looked over to see him shivering again.
I slid it shut and motioned for him to follow me upstairs.
“I’ve seen you get tackled by men who look like Mack trucks, yet you can’t stand a chilly day. Kind of adorable,” I said as we walked up the stairs toward my master bath.
Did I usually tease him like that? I meant it more affectionately than anything, but suddenly I was second-guessing everything, and I hoped he didn’t think it was an insult. I reached out again as we walked, rubbing at his arm.
“Was a lot more than just chilly out there,” he said, shuddering. “Might be near freezing outside. You had a whole suit on and all I had was shorts and a T-shirt.”
I led him through the upstairs hallway, across my bedroom, and toward the master bathroom.
Storm whistled.
“This isn’t a bathroom, it’s a bath suite,” he said. “Fit for a king.”
I reached over the big tub and pulled the tap, letting hot water start to pour out.
“Are you more of a lavender kind of guy? Mint and eucalyptus? Rose? Vanilla?” I asked, pulling out the basket where I kept different bath bombs, liquid bubbles, and salts. I leaned over close to him to show him the basket, and our arms touched.
Because apparently I couldn’t go more than ten seconds without touching him somehow, now.
Like the only time things felt right for me today was when I felt my skin on his skin.
His playful, devious smile spread over his lips. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute,” he said. “You have multiple different types? There you were acting surprised that I liked taking baths, meanwhile you have a whole selection of scents and options, here?”
“Never said I didn’t like them, too.”
He hummed, picking out the amber vanilla scented bubble bath. “This one looks amazing.”
“One of my favorites,” I said. “I’ll go grab you a towel. I think I’ve got some oversized sweatpants and a shirt that should fit, too.”
“Surprised that even your sweatpants aren’t perfectly tailored,” he said, looking in my eyes with a teasing look.
A teasing look that went straight to my cock, even though he was just messing with me, talking about sweatpants, for God’s sake.
I was way too attracted to this man.
“Sometimes things are good when they’re loose,” I said, turning toward the door.
I headed out toward my closet, pulling in a long breath. After the worst had happened, I had realized how stupid I had been since meeting Storm. I’d thought of him as an obstacle, as someone who stood between me and my goals, someone who actively wanted to fuck with me and ruin my dreams.
Now, one of those dreams was already ruined. And it hadn’t been his fault at all. I only saw Storm for who he really was, now, and it was like having a blindfold pulled away from my eyes.
How could I have been so blind? I wanted to know everything about Storm from the moment he’d gotten so vulnerable with me talking about his father. I had a million more questions to ask him about his past.