Page 100 of Stormswept Colorado

I chuckled, sprawling on the yoga mat and looking at the ceiling of my living room. “No, you don’t. You’re a single mom and business owner with a lot going on.”

“Yeah, true. Also, I’m a delight most of the time.”

“You are. Now tell me what’s up.”

“Actually, I was calling to see howyouare. Which I don’t do enough, clearly.”

“I’m fine,” I grunted. “I’m always fine.”

Sure. That sounded convincing.

“You said that the last several times I’ve seen you. I want a real answer. Something’s been weird with you for the last month or so. I’m not the only one who’s noticed.”

That was…fair.

Last weekend, when Ollie and I were working on his treehouse, I nailed the wooden door shut before realizing what I wasdoing. Just a few days ago, Susan made a huge deal out of the fact that I forgot to shave two days in a row. Apparently I had dark circles under my eyes too.

Which was what happened when a guy couldn’t sleep.

Before, I couldn’t sleep because I was tearing myself up over a woman I thought I couldn’t have. But lately, I’d been staying up late to talk to Ayla for hours on end. Or brainstorming what I could send her next to brighten her day. Not an easy feat when her net worth outpaced mine a hundredfold.

It was killing me not to be able to see her. But I had just as many responsibilities in Silver Ridge as ever, and of course that mattered to me too. My head was all fucked up over how to make this work.

I had to have Ayla in my life. There was no longer any other option.

Buthow?

“I know you do that usual manly thing where you refuse to talk about your feelings,” Piper said. “But you’re also the uncle who tells Ollie that boys are allowed to cry. I need you to be real with me. Are you hung up on Ayla?”

Of course Piper had heard that gossip. I was surprised she’d waited this long to confront me. Maybe because she figured I would deny it.

Before, I would have. But I was determined to win Ayla over. I wanted a relationship with her. This was going to impact my life.Ourlife. It was past time that I admitted that to my sister.

I blew out a breath.Just say it.

“Ayla and I got close during Emma and Ashford’s wedding weekend. We both tried to move on after, but that wasn’t happening. A few weeks ago, I told her how I feel. More or less.”

“Wow. That’s major. What did she say?”

“She’s open to it. We talk every day.”

“And how exactly do you feel about her, big brother?”

I hesitated, and Piper must’ve heard something in that silence.

“Tell, are you inlovewith her?”

My pulse thrummed in my throat. Guts twisting, heart rate taking off. “Pretty sure. Yeah.”

I had no idea how I’d fallen for Ayla this fast. It had been bad a few weeks ago when I went to Callum for advice.

But now that we were talking every day, it was so much worse.

Every conversation drew me deeper. Convinced me all the more that I had to have her. No matter how difficult it was.

Maybe that explained the sparks between us each time we’d interacted before the wedding. The way she’d made my blood heat and my defensiveness rise up. I’d known, down to some primitive, instinctual part of me, that she was supposed to be mine.

I hadn’t wanted to fall in love. But with Ayla, how could I not?

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