Page 10 of Wanting a Family Man

“I didn’t book anything because I wasn’t sure Storm was actually here. I’d love to stay and see a little more of her while I figure out my next steps, but I think I’ll have to look for accommodation in Bella Bella. Do you know of anything that isn’t too expensive? Maybe someone who might rent a room for cheap and take yard work in trade?”

This felt a lot like she was throwing herself on the mercy of the court. Again. It opened a pit of uncertainty behind her diaphragm, making it hard to catch her breath.

While the men were exchanging looks, trying to decide how to answer, Emma said, “Who were some of the people who took kayakers when theMissionary IIwent down? Maybe one of them would have a room for a few days?”

“She can stay on theStorm Ridgeuntil I leave on Wednesday,” Trystan said.

Everyone turned their heads to stare at him. He didn’t seem bothered by it, only sipped his coffee and said to Cloe, “I was going to take Storm tomorrow. We can spend the day with her.”

He was really good at making Cloe’s heart swerve.

“That would be amazing. Thank you.” What was theStorm Ridge? The boat she’d seen them climb aboard this morning? It hadn’t looked big enough to have a bed, let alone a bedroom, but she was prepared to sleep in the back of a car if it would keep her here for a few more days. “Could I shower there? I’m dying to freshen up.”

“You can use the shower downstairs.” Trystan glanced at Emma, and she nodded. “I’ll show you.” Trystan rose.

Oh. Right now. Okay.

Cloe was actually desperate for a moment alone to collect herself so she grabbed her bag and followed him into the basement.

Chapter Four

“What,” Reid saidwhen Trystan came back up the stairs three minutes later, “the actual fuck?”

“What?” Trystan played dumb as he took Storm, seeing as she was trying to launch herself out of Reid’s arms at him.

Reid hung his hands on his hips and tried to drill holes through him, staring with all his might.

Trystan did his best to keep his thoughts and reactions off his face. His conflict. Not because they were a family incapable of showing emotion—which they were. It was a tradition they observed like Christmas. And not because he feared Reid would mock him for having feelings, either.

No, it was the feelings themselves Trystan wasn’t ready to pick apart. The fierce attraction and sense of threat. Cloe was too small to pose any physical danger to him and seemingly too broke to make a challenge for custody of Storm. She struck him as reasonable. Earnest. Like she wanted to put Storm’s best interest above her own.

So he was trying to do the same. And he was struggling with it. Because want was sitting like hunger in his belly, but lower.

He ignored it and kept his focus on Storm, his expression impassive.

“It’s a couple of nights,” he said dismissively.

He didn’t have a savior complex. He wasn’t about to overturn his life for a woman, no matter how much his gut told him she could really use a hand. He was a decent person who helped out a stranger in need, but he wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t let a woman take advantage of him. Not again.

Even so, he couldn’t shake how deeply her voice had pierced him when she’d said,She’s all the family I have left.

“We invited her for dinner,” Reid pointed out begrudgingly, as if he had been the one to issue that invitation. As though it was enough.

“Why did you do that, Em?” Trystan held out his hand, allowing Storm to bat hers against it while he lifted his brows at his sister-in-law, already knowing her answer.

“Honestly?” One side of her mouth pulled in a grimace. “I thought,What would Glenda do?”

Glenda was Logan’s mother and the profoundly patient stepmother to the pair of them. She wasn’t a saint, but she had loved them every bit as much as she loved the son she’d made with their father. That relentless love of hers had made them see each other as family despite their animosity toward their father and his complex relationships with their mothers. Most importantly, she’d made them see their baby sister was their family and needed their protection and love.

“Shit.” Reid released a hissing breath toward the ceiling. Then he gave a heavy couple of nods. “Okay. You’re right.”

Storm copied his exaggerated nod, which was objectively hilarious, not that Reid or Emma noticed. They were sharing a look of reckoning.

“You’re really okay with her sticking around?” Reid asked Em.

“Unless something comes up that makes her unfit to be around Storm, we have to be as open as possible.” She was hiding her face by stacking the dishwasher, burying her voice in her own chest. “Storm deserves to know her.”

Storm did know her. These days, she wasn’t above playing shy with Trystan when he came back from being away most of the week, but she had gone to a complete stranger as though she recognized Cloe as one of her own.

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