Page 17 of Choosing Their Omega

“It’s really not a problem,” Miles says, putting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing reassuringly. “It’s not hurting us to help you. Really.”

Lawson’s already on the phone with the tow truck guy, so Miles helps me get my things from my car and into theirs. “I know it probably seems silly to hold on to the car,” I murmur.

“Not at all. It’s a dependable model. We all have things that we hold on to and that mean a lot to us.” Miles quickly gets everything into his car, even the boxes filled with books, which are pretty damn heavy.

I have to admit, it makes my mouth go dry to see his muscles flex as he lifts everything so easily. All of these men are professional athletes, and I know that, but it’s one thing to see them on the ice with all that padding while I sit far away in the stands. That was bad enough.

It’s entirely different to see it up close, right in front of me, with Miles wearing nothing but a thin t-shirt so that most of his arms are exposed. It’s hot in a way that doesn’t feel real, like something out of my romance novels.

Lawson finishes up his call and Miles gets everything loaded into the car, then we wait for the tow truck to come and make sure my car’s taken care of. I feel a pang in my chest as my poor baby is towed away, even though I still feel kind of silly, being so worked up over a car.

Miles gives me a gentle smile. “It’ll be okay. We know these guys, they’ll take good care of your car.”

We get back to the men’s house and unload, then Miles and Lawson kindly take me again to the small storage unit Shay let me borrow. I didn’t tell her that I was moving, just that I had some things I needed to store that were my grandmother’s, and since she’s only using half of it she didn’t mind.

My plan was just to get a job, then hopefully a place to live, but at the very least be able to pay for half of the storage unit while I saved up money from whatever new job I had to get back on my feet. I insist to Miles and Lawson that really, they don’t need to get all my things out of there, it’s too much, but they refuse.

Next thing I know, my clothes, my massive book collection, my keepsakes from childhood, and all the rest are at their fancy house.

“We’ll take these up to your room,” Lawson insists, hefting up one of the book boxes. “What do you put in here, cement?”

“Just books.” I follow him up the stairs to what is apparently the guest room where I’ll be staying.

“What kind of books?”

“Um…” I can feel my face heating up. “Romance novels.”

“All of them?”

“I’m a big fan.”

Lawson grins. “Damn, I guess you are. What kind of romance do you like best?”

“The steamy kind.”

His footsteps pause as we reach a bedroom on the second floor, and he glances over at me with a spark of heat in his eyes. My skin tingles with awareness as our gazes meet. Maybe I should’ve answered his question more vaguely, but the truth popped out before I could stop it.

“Got another one coming through,” Miles says, breaking the moment as he slips past us with another box. “I hope you like the room. Sorry it’s not really decorated.”

“None of the house is really decorated,” Lawson adds, chuckling as he sets my box of books down. “Except for Ben’s rooms. We wanted to make sure he had a place that was bright and cheerful.”

“I love that.” I look around the room. “It is bare, but that means I have room for my things, so really, it’s fine.”

The color of the walls does make me wince a little inside, but not for interior design reasons. It’s just that it’s the same color as the room where my grandmother stayed while she was sick, and I was with her almost twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.

Lawson winks at me and goes downstairs to get the last of the stuff, but Miles frowns. “Something wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing at all.”

Miles doesn’t look convinced. “You look… I mean, I don’t know you that well, so I could be wrong. I don’t want to overstep. But you look unhappy. Is there something about the room? I could change the position of the bed, maybe?”

He’s so helpful. It’s sweet, and earnest, and that’s what gets me to loosen my tongue. “It’s just… the walls are the same color as the room where my grandmother stayed when she was sick. It’s nothing, really, I’m fine. I promise. It was just an odd reminder of that time. The color match is a little uncanny.”

“Shit. I’m sorry about that.” Miles glances around the room, his brows knitting together.

“Okay, last one, coming through—ah shit.” Lawson steps in, tries to move around me, and trips over a box. He manages to catch himself, clearly good on his feet, but the box he stumbled across tips sideways, spilling open.

“Oh no!” I blurt out, diving for everything. Luckily there’s nothing breakable in this box, but as I get a glimpse of what fell out, my heart nearly stops.

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