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“She’s heraunt,” Sophie blurted in her very give-no-fucks way. “You guys are coming onreallystrong.”
They were, but Trystan was in one of those moments where his mind told him one thing and his senses were bombarding him with other signals. He was trying to work out whether Cloe was a real threat or simply felt threatening to him because he was reacting so strongly to her.
“Do you remember telling me never to get between you and Biyen?” Logan warned Sophie. “This is like that.”
Trystan bristled, but most of his attention was still on Cloe, watching her bounce her uncertain glance from Logan and Sophie, to Reid, then into his. When their eyes met, Trystan felt the zing travel through his entire nervous system and tried to pretend he hadn’t.
“I’m not telling you what to do with Storm,” Sophie insisted. “I’m saying you’re being really scary when Cloe is a perfectly normal person. Everything is fine. It’s going to be okay, Logan.”
“No, it’s not!”
Okay, now Trystan had to look at them because Sophie was one of his best friends. Trystan would back her in any fight, including against his brother, but she wasn’t taking issue with Logan’s tone. And Logan was holding on to her as though she was about to fall off a cliff.
“Art is gone, you and Biyen are leaving, we’re selling this place, and nowStorm?” Logan burst out with so much emotion, Trystan flinched. “No.”
We’re not losing Storm, he was about to say—loudly—but Em’s voice called from inside the house.
“Reid? I saw you all come back.”
Cloe’s attention swept back to Reid, filled with such pleading and desperation, it was a gut punch.
“I’d really like to see her,” she implored him. “She’s all the family I have left.”
Theywere all the family Storm had. That was the assumption the Fraser brothers had been operating on all this time, but the full scope of Cloe’s relationship to Storm expanded like a supernova in Trystan’s consciousness. Cloe was his little sister’s only connection to the woman who had given birth to her. They couldn’t make Cloe leave without at least seeing her niece.
When Reid glanced at him, Trystan nodded.
Chapter Three
“We’re out here,Em,” Reid called over his shoulder.
Cloe was completely disoriented. When the nanny had said she was checking on the baby, Cloe had sat down on a lounger here on the deck. The next thing she knew, she’d woken to find an entirely different woman here.
Sophie had introduced herself as Emma’s friend. She had expressed her condolences over Tiffany, then told her EmmawasMrs. Fraser. Reid and Emma were married and planning to adopt Storm.
Cloe was still trying to assimilate that news when these three men clomped out here like a wet team hired to dispose of a body. They were big and muscled and all wore glowers that made her guts turn to acid.
At the same time, she was so stupidly sensitive tohim, Trystan, that she felt his watchful gaze like a laser that left her skin feeling sunburned and hot.
For a minute, she had thought Sophie was on her side, but no. She was snuggling herself under Logan’s arm. The bunch of them formed a wall so she couldn’t even glimpse Storm through them.
They didn’t want her here. That was beyond obvious. And devastating.
She ignored her despair, though, looking longingly through the small spaces between them, waiting for Emma to emerge from the house and—
Oh God.Look at her.
The baby Emma held on her hip was utterly perfect.
Storm was almost nine months. Cloe had been counting the days and weeks like a new mother, but all she’d had was a handful of photos that Tiffany had sent her when Storm was first born. She’d had them printed before she sold her phone. Storm was so different now, sturdy and alert with fine hair that was long enough to kick up in almost curls beside her ears. She had soft, round cheeks and blue-gray eyes exactly like Tiff’s. She wore a yellow onesie printed with the wordsI’m the Bossthat left her pale, pudgy arms and legs bare.
She looked happy. That’s what struck Cloe, leaving a poignant ache inside her chest. Storm grinned with recognition at Reid as he drew Emma under his arm. He glanced down at his baby sister and his face altered into a moment of acute tenderness that twisted the knife lodged in Cloe’s heart.
“I”—she had to clear her throat—“I should have called first, I know. Sophie told me you two are married and want to adopt her?” All of her felt dry and barren with only the unrelenting heat of envy burning holes into her organs.
“Yes.” Reid’s hard stare practically knocked her off the deck.
“I’m not here to get in the way of that.”If only, if only. “I’m not actually in a position to support her, no matter how much I would love to.” She could barely take care of herself. “I came to make sure she was in good hands. That’s all.” That wasn’t all. She wanted to know her niece, but she could tell that was the last thing they wanted.
