Page 89 of Hush (Fighting Fate)

They’d gone without him for almost two years and here I was, crashing their welcome home party. I felt awful.

When he pulled into the driveway, I had to forcibly stop myself from gripping the seat. I was that terrified. “Can I just stay in the car?” I asked, panic more than evident in my voice.

Noah cut the engine and turned to look at me. After a few long moments, he simply opened the door, walked around to my side, and opened my door. But instead of yanking

me out like I thought he might, he just crouched down beside me and took my hand.

Turning in the seat, I slipped my legs between his, placing my feet on the ground.

“What’s got you so worried?” he asked softly.

“I don’t know. I just don’t want them to resent me for crashing their party.”

He gave me an easy smile. It was soft and reassuring. Everything I needed. “Kaeli, I wouldn’t have asked you to come if I didn’t think they’d be okay with it.”

“Really? You’re sure they won’t be annoyed?”

He squeezed my hand. “I promise.”

I bit my lip. “Okay.”

Letting him pull me from the car, I sighed when he wrapped his arms around me and held me close.

“There’s still so much we don’t know about each other,” I said into his chest.

“We’ve got plenty of time to get to know each other, baby. Stop worrying. It’s all good.” Pulling back, he placed a finger under my chin and tilted my head back so he could see me properly. “Okay?” he asked, his gaze intent.

I nodded, my eyes wandering to his lips without my consent. I watched them curve up a little before he leaned forward and pressed them to mine. I melted. God, I loved his lips. They were so soft, so warm, so mind altering.

He pulled away and I sighed. Taking my hand, he softly ran his thumb over the back of it before steering me towards the house.

Steeling myself for hopefully every possible scenario, I followed him through the door.

The first thing I noted was the homely feel. I certainly never had that living with Ken. Everything in our house had been sterile and cold. Obviously Mom was trying to rectify that, but she still had a while to go to get it to this level of warmth. It instantly soothed me.

I tried searching the walls of pictures as we went, trying to find the ones of Noah. It was a lot harder than I thought.

Voices floated out ahead of us, making me draw in a steadying breath. Noah’s hand tightened around mine.

It started as soon as we stepped into the room.

“It’s about freaking time, Romeo,” a smooth voice said from the sofa.

Noah just shrugged, grinning as he pulled me forward. “I had important things to see to.”

I looked around the room, only now remembering he had four brothers. I sucked in a breath at how startling similar they all looked. Crap.

Noah looked down at me. “What was that?”

Shit. Did I say that out loud? “I forgot you had four brothers,” I said quietly. “You all look so similar.”

“I’m the hottest though, right?”

“In your dreams little brother.”

I looked up at the sound of that smooth voice again, meeting shining, hazel eyes. He kind of looked like an older version of Noah, but without the tattoos. He was good looking. I couldn’t deny that, but I was attracted to Noah on a level that went beyond his looks. But yeah, the tattoos were hot.

I bit my lip, feeling my cheeks warm a little. “Mmm hmm…” I tried to keep my agreeance quiet so only Noah would hear, but it seemed he didn’t understand that.

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