The need to take care of her was almost instinctual. As though this was what he was meant to do. He might sound ridiculous talking about fate. But he’d spent enough of his life in dicey situations, where the only thing he could do was trust his gut.
It had never led him astray.
And his gut was telling him that she was meant to be his.
Theirs.
Holding her in his arms had felt so right. So had kissing her. Although he wasn’t certain if she knew he’d meant to kiss her.
The bedroom door opened before he could say anything more and she peered out.
She was so freaking beautiful. He didn’t care that her mask was back. He had seen it slip a lot. And if she needed it to make herself feel safer, then that’s what she had to do.
But with some time and a lot of reassurance and trust, he hoped that she would stop using that mask with them. That she’d realize she was safe to express whatever she was feeling.
“So, I was thinking—” she began.
“Sounds ominous,” Kellan said.
She gave him a funny look. Most people didn’t realize that Kellan had a sense of humor, including their family.
He just didn’t let people see it that often but it was there.
“You guys can’t go out in this storm?—”
“Like we’d leave you,” Eli exploded.
She held up her hand, giving him a quelling look.
Yep. She was so fucking hot it was killing him.
“And you can’t sleep on the floor. So why don’t the two of you take my bed and I’ll sleep on the recliner?”
Was she . . . had he heard her right?
“Sleep on the recliner?” he asked.
“Um, yes. It’s large and I’ve been sleeping on it since I realized the mattress was punishing my back. Or do you not like the idea of sleeping together? Is that weird?”
“What’s weird is that you fully expect us to let you sleep in a chair while we take your bed,” Kellan told her.
“That’s not weird! It’s thoughtful.”
“It’s not happening is what it is,” Eli told her. “You’re sleeping in the bed. And if you’re so concerned about where we’re going to sleep, we’ll sleep there with you.”
Wow.
That backfired on her spectacularly.
“I, um, well, I . . .”
“Relax,” Kellan told her. “No one is sleeping in the bed with you. We’ll move the small mattress into the living room and sleep on it and the recliner. You will sleep in your bedroom. Alone. You have the lamp, is there anything else you need?”
She was aware of Eli glaring at his brother. But Kellan simply stepped past her into the bedroom to grab the horrible mattress.
“Um, no,” she said. “Thank you. I appreciate you guys staying with me.”
She shut the door quickly behind her. Arabella knew that she should have found them some blankets or maybe insisted on them taking the bed. But she just needed a few moments to think.
