Page 6 of Storm

“Come on. I’ll introduce you to everyone.” Her quick inhale is enough to remind me how nervous she is. Turning my head, I run my eyes over her, stopping her just before she opens the door. “If you get in there and feel uncomfortable in any way, I’lltake you home. You aren’t obligated and you can absolutely say no if you have any reservations.”

Her shoulders drop in relief, and she gives me a hesitant smile. “Thank you for saying that.” With that, she braces herself and gets out of my truck on her own, shouldering her overnight bag she packed when traveling to the hospital a few days ago.

I lead us up the steps and toss a smirk at Ezra when he goes unnoticed by her.Fucking stalker.Tatum opens the door and grins at Miriam immediately. “Glad you guys made it.” She follows me inside and he immediately holds a hand out to her. “I’m Tatum. You must be Miriam.”

The man deserves some credit because he doesn’t immediately let his eyes fall to check out her body. “Yeah. Nice to meet you.” She’s a bit distracted by him while also trying to look around the space. It’s impressive when you see it for the first time. Richard bought it from his family years ago and it’s the perfect setup for us. Four bedrooms on the second floor with a ton of open space on the main floor, including an office.

Tatum peers at me over her head and winks in approval. “Richard is in the office. Ezra is…” He trails off and looks around.

“Outside,” Miriam states matter-of-factly.

My eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “You saw him? You didn’t say anything.”

She waves me off as she leans around Tatum to look at the kitchen. “He looked comfortable. I figured he didn’t want to meet me just yet. That kitchen is gorgeous. Can I see it?”

Tatum covers his mouth to hide his laugh, then says, “I’ll go grab Ezra.”

“I want you to meet Richard first, then I’ll show you around.” Taking her hand, I lead her to the office where the last of my friends is sitting behind a desk, working on his laptop with afrown. “Shut it down. I want you to meet Miriam,” I call out to him.

He doesn’t lift his head, only his eyes, locking on the petite woman next to me. I want to smack him when he doesn’t have the same reservations as Tatum did, letting his eyes lower and roam over her body slowly. I’ve known him long enough to know he’s not disappointed.

“Miriam, I’m glad you’re here.” I’m going to choke this fucker if he stays formal with her the entire time. When he holds his hand out to ask, “Would you have a seat?” I finally let out a little growl in warning.

He narrows his eyes at me, and I just know he’s about to go into how we normally set up these arrangements. Miriam eyes him warily but sits where he asks, and he nods once in approval.

Picking up a small stack of papers, he taps them once on the desk and sets them in a neat stack facing her. She doesn’t pick it up, but raises a brow in question. “What’s that?”

“It’s our contract,” he informs her, then clears his throat. “Due to the line of work some of us are in, this is a standard agreement which prohibits you from speaking about our time spent together. A non-disclosure agreement.”

When Miriam doesn’t say anything, he seems unnerved, and keeps explaining as he taps the first page. “It’s very standard if you’d like to read through. Basically, it outlines our agreement, and the consequences if you were to share personal information about us with other people.”

“You have a contract for the women you bring here.” She says this as fact, not in question. I can’t see her face from where I’m standing, but whatever Richard is seeing has made him defensive.

“I’m a lawyer,” he snaps out.

Her head tilts to the side, seemingly unsure what his point is. “Okay? I’m a home-health worker.”

Gritting his teeth, he forces out a smile. “It’s what I do.”

She turns around to find me, and staring up, she asks, “You all make everyone you bring here sign a contract? Do you guys sign one too? Because what if I don’t want you talking about me, either?”

“I like her,” Tatum says, walking into the room with Ezra trailing behind him. Our fourth friend keeps walking until he’s standing next to her. Miriam follows him with her eyes and cranes her neck back when the two of them fall into a staring contest.

“I’m Ezra,” he rumbles out.

“I’m Miriam.” I press my lips together to fight another smile when she responds in his same unemotional tone.

Richard interrupts, an attempt to get back to his contract. “We can talk more after. Miriam, if you’d like us to sign one as well, I don’t believe anyone would be against it.”

“You’d sign a sex contract?” This time I do let out a snort of laughter at her incredulous question. “What do you do to the women that’s so over the top to require a contract?”

“We do everything to them.” Richard’s answer shuts all of us up, and the heightened tension flowing through the room is palpable.

She looks at each of us for a moment, then eyes me carefully. Plucking a pen off the desk, she stands up and leans over the papers.

“Where do I sign?”

CHAPTER 3

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