Page 37 of Storm

“What? Fix who?”

Instead of answering, I hang up the phone and quickly hurry into the closet in my petal’s bedroom.Mi pétalo y mi bebé.My petal and my baby.

And it’s that thought which has me unworried that she’ll hear me as I search her closet for a bag. There’s an old, wadded up duffle shoved behind some storage boxes. As soon as I have it on the ground, I pause and listen to see if she’s on her way, ready to discover an intruder in her home.

I’m relieved but also frustrated when she slams drawers in her kitchen while loudly talking on her phone. She needs to be much more aware of her surroundings, but we’ll work on that. I listen to the muffled argument she seems to be having as I start shoving dresses into the bag.

Dresses are good for a growing belly, lots of room.

I leave the closet and head to her dresser and grab handfuls of panties, as well as a few pairs of socks. I skip the pajama drawer because Tatum and I can loan her our shirts to sleep in if she’s cold. Glancing around, my eyes fall to her desk and I quickly unplug her laptop, then gather everything that looks like school work and shove it inside as well.

“You have to remember PEDMAS, Loren. Parentheses, exponents… I’ll explain those in a second… Damnit, Loren. Would you just listen for three seconds? Okay, then there’s division and multiplication,thenaddition and subtraction.” She pauses and I peek out the door and see her staring at the ceiling, thinking.

I sprint to her bathroom with the bag, staying silent on my feet, then grab everything I can from her shower as she continues her math lesson to, I assume, one of her brothers.

“You go from left to right. You can’t—” I bite my lip when she growls through the phone and curses under her breath. “I’mtryingto help you,hermano.Start it over and, wait, is that Cristián?Cristián! Help Loren with his algebra!”

Using my toe to push the door almost closed, I look up her building, then call the building and tell the doorman her food delivery has arrived, but that it’s a surprise from a friend, so she’ll probably argue. Understanding the assignment, I hang up and wait until she stops talking, then tells her brother she has to go.

I’ve got to give her at least some credit for staying in a fairly safe building, even if the one security guy is over a hundred years old. Waiting as she argues with the doorman, finally she mutters curse words as she shoves her shoes back on, then storms out the door.

Slinging her bag over my shoulder, I wait only a minute before hurrying out of her apartment, then down the back stairwell and through an emergency exit. Thankfully, there’s no alarm and no one sees me. I circle the building and seemi pétalostanding outside, looking around with a frown.

With her back to me, I hurry behind her and count my lucky stars that I was in a hurry and parked just across the street.

My arm goes around her waist as if we’re walking arm in arm, and grip her tightly when she attempts to yank herself away, turning her face to me, then stalling as soon as she recognizes me.

“Hijo de puta! What in the actual fu—Ezra? Why areyouhere?”

I encourage her to keep walking, which works as I talk to keep her from paying attention to where we’re going. “I saw you standing out here and couldn’t believe my eyes, my petal!”

With an eye roll, she huffs. “Fuck off with themy petalshit. Seriously, there’s no reason you should be here. What are you doing?”

“Protecting you,” I say as I open my passenger door, then palm the back of her head, pushing it down so she doesn’t hit it on her way inside. I think she’s so stunned by what’s happening,she doesn’t even put up a fight. So I shut her in, then press my key fob to lock it up.

Jogging around to the driver’s side, I unlock it again quickly, then slip inside and reach across her quickly to keep her from getting out. “Just wait a second. I just want to talk for a few minutes.”

Blowing out a breath, she crosses her arms and looks at me expectantly without a word. I use her concession to toss her duffle in the back, giggling to myself when she yells out a, “Hey! That’s mine!” and start the car up.

I drive us into the road then pick up speed and it’s as if everything just settles in for her. Like a lightbulb flickers on inside that beautiful head. Most women would immediately start crying or fighting the door to get out, but notmi pétalo. I won’t lie and say I was prepared, but her tiny fist flies into my jaw, clipping my upper lip enough to split it.

Touching it, I pull my red tinged fingers away and smile even wider when I taste metal, then immediately grow concerned. “Did you hurt your hand? You didn’t ball your fist properly. If you tuck your thumb like that, you risk breaking it. Thank God it was a weak punch. We’ll work on it.”

“You’re bleeding,pendejo. I think I did good enough.”

Smiling through bloodied teeth, I reach out and stroke her cheek. She’s angry enough that she doesn’t flinch away. Instead, she snaps her teeth at my finger to force me away, then looks out her window.

With a lustful sigh, I turn back to the road and press on the gas pedal, speeding up to exactly the speed limit. Any faster and I’ll put her and the baby at risk, which reminds me.

“You’re gonna make such a great mom.”

From the corner of my eye, I see her whip her head toward me and her soft, lilac scent hits me like a brick, forcing a groanfrom me as my cock hardens. Fucking her is going to be a dream when she’s all baby belly and full of fire.

CHAPTER 18

KEVIN

“Shit, I’ve been here so long. I’m gonna make safety my first priority. I can fix him later if it comes to that.”

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