Page 13 of Eye of Her Storm

His arm tightened on her, and he kissed the top of her head. “Okay, baby.”

“Seth?” she prompted, needing his understanding, too.

He nipped behind her ear. “No problem here. My cock could feel exactly how much you liked all of it.” The smirk in his tone was undeniable.

She reached back and smacked his hip. “Just remember that.”

He grinned. “So are you going to let me make dinner now?”

River flopped onto her back and sighed in contentment. “I’m not really hungry. For that.”

Twin growls answered as both men showed her exactly what they were hungry for—and it wasn’t anything downstairs in the kitchen.

* * * *

“Damn it, Seth,” River swore. “You promised.”

“What?” he protested, full of annoying—fake!—innocence.

“You both promised not to coddle me. You promised that you would treat me normally, and not like an invalid.”

“This is normal,” he argued, sweeping away the plate that had held her French toast and some weird thing he’d called bacon that definitely wasn’t bacon. She was also pretty sure that the French toast hadn’t had any egg in it either. Then he’d put almond milk, not creamer in her coffee… It had all tasted great, but still…

And that wasn’t her point.

She’d woken to the men already out doing chores, but before she’d even made it out of bed, she’d heard an alarm downstairs then Seth had come cruising upstairs. He’d kissed her quickly then headed into the bathroom and started the shower for her. When she’d come out from it, the bed had been made and her clothes—down to her shoes—had been lain out. He’d also left her pain meds and a multivitamin on the nightstand with a bottle of water—opened. Apparently, in case she lacked the strength.

Then when she’d gotten downstairs, she’d been herded into a chair in the kitchen’s breakfast nook, breakfast and coffee placed before her and, when she’d offered, she’d been informed she would not help with cleanup.

“No. It’s not normal,” she argued. “Sweet, but really not normal.”

“I just…want…to do things for you,” he offered. And now, she’d hurt his feelings.

“It was laying out her clothes,” Tai muttered just as she was about to apologize. “That was just weird. And speaking of weird…” He held up his fork with a piece of the bacon. “What the fuck is this?”

Seth plucked it off the fork with his fingers and popped it in his mouth. “It’s good,” he said around it. He waved his hand at Tai’s plate. “Just eat.”

“Seth,” Tai growled.

“It’s Portobello bacon.”

“It’s not bacon. Porto— What?” he finished in disbelief.

“It’s healthy,” Seth argued.

“It was good,” River told him, feeling a little bad for hurting his feelings earlier. “But why, um…fake bacon.”

“It’s better for you,” he said. “After you told us about…about your condition. Well, I did a bunch of research and—”

“When did you have time for that?” Tai interrupted.

“You were sleeping.” He refocused on River. “My research said this is healthier for you and it could keep your tumor from growing. If it doesn’t do that, it will help you to have a stronger immune system over all, so you can fight off other things that could weaken you.”

It was a good thought, even if she didn’t believe for a second that it could work. Tai, however, looked at his breakfast with more interest. He took a bite. “It’s good, but can we agree on one thing?”

“What?”

“Don’t call it something it’s not.”

---