Page 9 of Storm

Shit.

There went his plans.

At least there was one positive to staying.

He’d get to stare at the sweet ray of sunshine for the rest of the evening.

During the next hour, Storm couldn’t stop himself from glancing toward the playroom every so often. He wasn’t normally a curious person, but when he’d walked into the real estate office the day before, the receptionist had piqued his interest. She’d said she was tired because she’d stayed up late. Why was she up late, though? And why did he care or want to know? It didn’t matter what her reasons were. He didn’t know her; her life was none of his business.

So why did he have an urge tomakeit his business?

“Dinner’s ready,” Gabriel told the men.

Kade stood and crossed the room. “I’ll tell the girls to go wash their hands.”

As Gabriel brought several large dishes to the dining table, Faust set out plates for everyone while Doc filled sippy cups of watered-down juice for the girls. Smart guy. The last thing they needed was the Littles to get even more hopped-up on sugar. Storm was convinced they had a bag of candy hidden somewhere and had been eating it all afternoon. Not to mention the cake they would be eating later. He almost felt sorry for his club brothers who would have to deal with their Little girls at the end of the night when they had sugar crashes and became overly tired and unreasonable.

He continued to watch as his closest friends all working together to make sure everything was set up for dinner. It was their nightly routine. Storm had a tightness in his chest and something that felt like longing in the pit of his stomach. What would it be like to take care of someone again? Someone toprotect and provide for. It’s been so long since he had that. He couldn’t really remember what it had been like.

One by one, the girls filed in with Kade trailing them, laughing at something Remi had said. The corners of Storm’s lips twitched as he watched the couple while Kade helped his girl into a chair and then pushed her in.

“Hey. I want to apologize.”

Turning toward the sweet voice, Storm met the eyes of the Little girl who ratted him out to everyone. “No need.”

She let out a deep breath and nodded, though she kept rubbing her fingers over her fuzzy sweater as if the softness was soothing her. “I didn’t realize they didn’t know. I guess I assumed, and I shouldn’t have. Anyway, I’m really sorry. I understand if you want to complain to my boss. I’m also sorry they got upset with you.”

Unable to let her continue, Storm reached out to wrap his hand around her dainty wrist and gently rub his thumb over her pulse point. “Look at me,” he commanded as gently as he could, which wasn’t great, but he couldn’t help it. “You don’t need to apologize. It was an accident. I should have told them, so it’s on me, okay? I don’t want you feeling bad about it.”

Her shoulders dropped, and he hated that she’d been so stressed about it. He could be a jerk, but he wasn’t a total asshole. Not usually, anyway.

“Okay,” she murmured, lowering her eyes from his. “Thank you.”

His heart raced. She was about to move away from him. Even if it was across the table, it was too far. Instead of letting her go, with his free hand, he pulled out the chair beside him. “Sit right here, Little girl.”

She looked at the open seat and then around the room where her friends were spread out around the table. He hated that she was hesitating, but she was sitting next to him whether she likedit or not. He would get a booster chair and strap her in if he had to.

Fuck. What was wrong with him?

When she finally sat on the chair, he nodded and pushed her in.

“What’s your name, sunshine?” he asked. “I didn’t catch it before.”

There was a pause before she tilted her head back and met his gaze. “Brook.”

Brook. That was cute. Just like her.

In the short amount of time he’d seen her here at the clubhouse, he’d noticed several things about her. The first was that she was much quieter than the other girls. Maybe because she was a guest, but he thought it might actually be how she was all the time. She was quiet and reserved in the real estate office as well. The other thing he’d noticed was that she looked even more tired than the day before. It bothered him that she wasn’t getting enough sleep.

“I’m Storm,” he replied.

Slowly, her lips curled up into a smile. “I know. I worked on your file yesterday.”

Right. Way to make her think he was a dumbass.

“Brook, do you want a hamburger, a piece of chicken, or a hot dog?” Atlas called from the end of the table.

Storm’s stomach clenched. He glared at his friend, barely biting his tongue from snapping that he would help Brook get dished up. Why did it matter if Atlas was helping her?

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