Page 24 of Cold Foot Komodo

She wasn’t Crew.

Okay.

Okay.

She was still having fun, and would figure out how to fix up her rental house, and she was still close to her sister, and she would be starting a new job in two tiny days, and nothing had really changed.

Everything was fine.

Beside her, Reed was frowning down at her phone, which meant her mother was probably blowing it up.

Sasha sighed. The space from that relationship also made this all worth it.

Truly, whether she was officially in the Crew or not, everything was fine.

Chapter Five

“I didn’t even know they made king-sized sleeper sofas.” Sasha stared in disbelief at how enormous the bed was as Timber scampered around it tucking in sheets. That entire king-sized bed had unfolded right out of the couch.

“Fancy, huh?” Timber asked, standing up with a grin. “The fireplace has a timer, so you can set it for an hour and fall asleep with the fireplace on.”

“Timber, you live in a vacation home.”

“Right?” her sister exclaimed excitedly. “I’ve never felt so at home in a place.”

That part took the teasing right out of Sasha. What a beautiful admission. “Yeah?” she asked softly.

Timber’s smile softened, and she cocked her head and nodded. “Really.” She looked around and inhaled deeply. “I know this isn’t supposed to be easy. I’m a new shifter and learning to manage both sides of myself, and I’ve moved away from everything that is familiar, and I’m newly-married and learning about myself as a wife. Not to mention, putting together the Crew was absolute chaos, but now? I’m soaking up every second of peace. Every day that is a good day, I’m grateful for it.”

Sasha sank onto the bed, and rubbed the soft sheets with the palm of her hand. “Do you ever wait for the other shoe to drop?”

“You mean do I expect something bad to happen?”

Sasha nodded.

“Every day I have at least one moment where I think, ‘This can’t be real. It’s too good to be true.’ It’s like I can hear Mom in my head telling me I don’t deserve this, or it’ll all fall apart because I will fail.”

“How do you get through that feeling?”

“I say it out loud to Wreck, and he reminds me that he is real, and that he won’t let anything take this away from me. Or anyone. He would burn the world to the ground to give me peace. I know he would.”

“I want that,” Sasha admitted low.

“Mmm, speaking of, what’s up with you and Reed?”

“What do you mean, speaking of? We weren’t talking about Reed.”

“You’re avoiding my question,” Timber said, sitting on the fold-out bed beside her.

Sasha scooched to the middle and sighed, stalling for time as she waded through her thoughts. “He’s nice.”

“And hot.”

“You aren’t supposed to notice that stuff because you are married now. Err…mated? What do you call it?”

“Either way. Sometimes the shifters here call us paired. And I didn’t notice until he was looking at you all soft tonight. What I have noticed is that he is solid. He’s been quietly backing Wreck as he settles into being Alpha, and even backing King when he’s having trouble with his animal. He never seeks credit. He just takes care of stuff, and doesn’t want the attention for it. Looks aside, that adds a hell of a lot of value to a man.” Timber grinned. “But you do make a hot couple, just saying.”

“Oh my God, why are you pushing this? I have known him for thirty seconds. I don’t know how I feel about him.”

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