Page 39 of Quietly Falling
I’ve never talked to a woman like this, although to be fair, I’ve never let anyone get close enough to even try. But Ella had been thrust into my space, and any resistance I’d had went out the window.
She just feels sogood.
It’s the kind of thing that you don’t miss if you’ve never had it, but the second you have, you’ll never stop wanting it.
An addiction.
I’ve fooled around a couple of times before but nothing like with Ella.
No one like Ella.
I’m half out of my mind for her already, driving to some unknown little North Carolina town in the middle of nowhere all because she looked sad.
She’d already taken care of me when I’d barely been able to string a sentence together in the car, and then last night…God,it’d been amazing having her in my arms.
Like a dream.
One I never want to wake from.
She’s about to say something when the sound of tires on gravel comes from somewhere behind us.
Her cousin.
Perfect timing.
Pushing back from the truck, I swallow hard and try like hell to settle myself before I meet her family. But I can’t think of anything I want to do less.
Hell, there’s nothing I can even do to look busy or blend in right now, and that’s a survival skill I learned before anything else being in the system.
What the fuck was I thinking being here?
“Roman!” Ella screeches the second the car is put in park, the woods no longer peaceful. He unfolds himself from the driver’s seat and wraps his arms around her when she crashes into his chest.
And then he just holds her.
Quiet.
Real.
Emotion pours from them, their embrace so much more than justI missed youbut ratherI haven’t been whole since you’ve been gone.
“Hey, I’m Eden,” a woman says from my left, startling me from my trance. Her dark hair is pulled back from her pretty face, her dark eyes assessing as she holds her hand out to me. “Roman is my younger brother.”
“Oh, uh, Bodhi.” I stumble through the words as mischief flits across her gaze. My handshake is solid—thank fuck—because that’s the exact moment Ella and Roman turn to look at us.
Ella squeals and doubles back, her arms outstretched, Eden mimicking the action in turn, the two of them colliding as Roman comes to stand at my side.
“How’s it goin’, man? I’m Roman.”
“Bodhi,” I reply, repeating the handshake without reacting to the extra pressure he applies. “Welcome home.”
“Thanks. She hasn’t mentioned you,” he says offhandedly as if he’s trying to get a rise out of me but is trying to be nonchalant about it.
“Can’t imagine she would.”
“And why’s that?” he retorts as I turn my head back toward where the girls are animatedly talking about one thing or another.
“Cause we were just supposed to be picking up a countertop,” I say, letting the words linger between us before turning back to face him, “but family means a hell of a lot to her so we’re here.”
