Page 19 of His Wild Storm
“Nothing,” I growled.
“Not nothing,” Travis teased, his grin reminding me of a villain.
For a moment I wondered if I was trapped in what would be the start of my own villain origin story. That curiosity only increased as my coworkers, the same people I consider my family, jumped right in on bugging me about what I was doing.
“If it’s not nothing, you should tell us,” Monroe, the only female tattoo artist in the shop, prodded me. “You aren’t working on a sketch for the client you just finished your consultation with?”
“No, these eyes definitely have nothing to do with the consultation,” Travis answered for me.
Yeah, definitely the start of my villain origin story.
“Eyes?” Bridger asked, clearly curious.
It’s only a one-word question, but the impact of it was huge.
Before Avery came into his life, he wouldn’t have asked even that much. She’s so damn good for him. He was struggling with thoughts of her for months after he spent one night with her, buthe never confided about how much he was still thinking about her to any of us.
Then her life imploded and she showed up at Vibrant Ink five months pregnant. When it happened, I really didn’t know what was going to happen. All I could do was look between Avery and Bridger like I was witnessing a tennis match.
I kind of expected Bridger to lose his mind and push Avery away. He didn’t. Instead, he accepted Avery and the baby as his in a way which made it seem easy. If it was difficult at first, which it didn’t seem to be, it’s obvious that they’ve found their footing since she showed up at the shop and are working on their relationship.
The love between them is clear to see. Honestly, it’s kind of nauseating. But, then again, the same can be said for Wyatt and Tenley.
Avery helping Bridger open up to us, his family, over the last few months has been a blessing. If that wasn’t enough, she’s an amazing woman with so much love to give. She’s fit right in with our family and we’re not letting her go.
Soon enough, we’ll be adding their baby to our family. I can’t wait to meet her. Bridger calls the baby his little heart and that is the most accurate nickname I think I’ve ever heard.
Bridger showing interest is what broke me. “They’re the eyes of the mom of one of my art students,” I admitted and could feel my cheeks heating.
I’m not sure when the last time I blushed was, but I was blushing that day.
Silence descended in the shop. At first, I couldn’t look anywhere than my sketch pad, but the longer everyone was quiet, the more curious I became about what they were thinking.
When I finally did look up, everyone was staring at me like they had never seen, met, or spent time with me before.
I huffed out a breath, my voice going to the edge of shrill, “What?”
“You realize what this means, right?” The voice Travis used to ask was tentative as he waved his hand to encompass my sketch pad.
Even though I rolled my eyes, I still asked, “What does this mean?”
“You’ve joined the club. The bitten by love club,” he clarified while wiggling his eyebrows after I shot him a look filled with confusion.
I sat back in my chair and found myself staring down at the eyes I had been drawing because I couldn’t get them out of my head. Questions filled my head about those eyes, but what didn’t scare me was the thought of Haven being mine, really mine, and spending forever with her.
With her and Wilde.
The questions I had were about who Haven was and if I could fit into her life. But the thought of claiming her felt completely right and natural.
And not really knowing her wasn’t scary.
It probably should have been.
“I guess I have been,” I admitted.
“Just be careful,” Ellis spoke up, his voice gentle as he studied my face closely.
“I get it, Ellis,” I shot back, trying not to sound as defensive as I was feeling. After letting out a breath slowly, I forced my shoulders to drop and to calm the fuck down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
