Page 55 of Like a Hurricane

“Oh sure,” She cocks her head for me to follow her through to the kitchen, “Let me just grab some for you.”

I stand awkwardly watching as she pulls a box from the cupboard and retrieves a bottle of pills and hands them over. She grabs a bottle of water from the fridge next.

I accept and quickly take two pills.

“It’s a lot, isn’t it?” Maya says gently, drawing my attention back to her.

“What is?”

She grins, “The Avery Brothers.”

I smile at that, “What makes you say that?”

“They’re intense,” She widens her eyes dramatically, “I swear those men don’t know when to stop being overprotective. Torin won’t even let me lift a log.”

My eyes drop to her stomach before I can stop them, giving away my knowledge of her news.

She places her hand across her stomach, a softness entering her when she does as if she can already picture holding that small bundle in her arms.

“I’m pregnant, not sick,” She laughs, “I can lift a log.”

“I think that’s the universal mode most husbands go into when their wife is expecting,” I say, matter of fact, my tone a little icier than I wanted it to be. I didn’t want to admit I was jealous. Jealous of what they had.

She cocks her head, picking up everything I wasn’t saying, “It’s okay.” She tells me.

I shake my head, “I’m not so sure anything is ever going to be okay.”

“I thought the same thing, Arryn. Before I came here and met Torin, I didn’t know how I was supposed to keep living but he showed me. And then I found my family.”

“I’m happy for you,” I swallow.

Picking up on my reluctance to continue with this train of conversation she heads out of the room but before she leaves, she pauses, “Give it a chance, Arryn. Theres a lot to gain when you let some of those walls down.”

“Goodnight,” I say to her back, standing alone in the kitchen.

The jealousy left a bad taste in my mouth. I’d never wanted something like this until now.

The door clicks closed behind me, and I suck in a breath before I turn to face the bed. I expect Rett to still be asleep, but instead I find him propped up on the pillows, the sheets pooled around his hips and he’s looking at me.

“You okay?” He asks.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” I answer.

“You didn’t,” He smiles gently, pulling back the sheets. I go, climbing into the empty space beside him, “I woke when you got up, but I figured you didn’t want to be followed everywhere you go.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t,” I smile into his chest, inhaling that scent that is inherently Rett, like leather and rain, surprisingly comforting, “not worried I’ll run away?”

He chuckles and reaches for me, hauling me until I’m straddled over his hips.

It would be so easy to love Everett Avery.

“I don’t mind a good chase, little storm, the reward is always so much better when I’ve had to work for it.”

His words rush heat through me. I’m picturing that first day I woke up here, remembering how it felt to be chased and caught by him. Fucking terrifying but exhilarating all the same. And then he’d caught me and pinned me in the snow…

“You want to play that game, princess?” He sits up, pressing our chests together as his hand wraps into my hair. He tugs to expose my throat and then his tongue is sliding up my neck. I shiver at the feel of him, my thighs aching.

When I don’t answer him, he gently lifts my hips and slides his fingers under the hem of my new sleep shorts.

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