Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she smiled.“One hundred percent.”
He walked back to her and gave her a hug, then left her to her online shopping.
As he made his way up the stairs to the second floor, he paused, his hand gripping the railing.Tension prickled his neck in warning, the way it felt when a storm was on the horizon.
He listened intently, but didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary.
Was his stallion just on high alert because he had Fallon to watch over now?Because of Colton’s attack, was he leaning toward being paranoid?
Or was it nothing, just a wild imagination?
He frowned as he looked up to the second floor where Grey, Crew, and Zara were working, while Ford was sleeping for his night shift on patrol, and Tris was in the laundry room with Nancy.
The house was humming with activity.
No danger.
Probably.
But still, he’d mention the odd feeling to Crew anyway.
He didn’t want anything to happen to his mate or his herd.And it was better to be safe than sorry.Always.
Monday morning, while Fallon was cleaning up the kitchen with Tris after breakfast, Avi walked inside with an armload of packages and set them on the kitchen table.
“Look what came for you, sweetheart.”
“Oh, wow!This is so cool!”
“There’s a big box on the porch from the fabric store.I’ll take it into the sewing room for you.”
“Thanks!”
She picked up the packages, said goodbye to Tris, and headed upstairs to the bedroom.He’d really encouraged her the day before to shop for anything she might need or want.She’d gotten some things at the safari park, but she’d had limited options and hadn’t really been able to choose things she really liked.
But as she opened the packages and saw the things she’d picked out, she couldn’t have been more excited, even though a little thread of sadness wove underneath it.
It was amazing that she had access to clothes and shoes and toiletries, that Avi was so kind when she didn’t have a penny to her name.But she wished she could share the experience with her mom.And Sunny.
“Hey, there you are,” Avi said.He plopped on the bed.“How’s everything look?Whoa, are you okay?”
She blew out a breath and looked down at the cardigan she knew would be perfect for the cooler evenings coming in the fall, and then she smiled at him.
“I miss my mom.”
He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze.“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“It’s okay.I don’t want to be sad all the time.I just hate that I can’t talk to her.She would love to see these clothes and to shop online with me.I’m trying to build a new life, but I keep feeling like the old life isn’t done with me yet.”
He hummed.“I think it’s natural to feel that way, especially with things up in the air with your mom.”
“It’ll just take time.”
He nodded, then gave her one of his sweet smiles that made her heart flutter.
Holy crap, she really liked him a lot.
Pushing away the sad feelings that edged around her happiness, she said, “Want to see what I picked out?”
