Rising Storm (Westin Force #2) - Julie Trettel Page 0,76

into excitement as they ran for their mother squealing with little hands high in the air.

She oohed and aahed over her precious babies while I sat there trying to just get off her couch.

“Are you okay, Emma?” she asked me worried.

I couldn’t admit defeat and I didn’t want to tell her that her children might be demons.

I gave a small smile. “We had a bit of a rough day, but I’m okay,” I lied. I was not okay. It was awful.

I rode home in silence, even Cal was starting to worry about me.

I didn’t really remember walking upstairs, but Painter was there with dinner waiting. I walked straight into his arms and started to cry.

“Emma, I’m starting to worry. Maybe this isn’t the best idea.”

“They’re not children, they’re demon spawn. I don’t know if I can do this.”

He laughed as he rubbed my back and kissed the top of my head.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

“It is. I can’t let Shelby down though.”

“One more day, and then you can take a break. You can make that, can’t you?”

I sighed. “You have more faith in me than I do. You don’t want kids do you?”

He shrugged. “Never gave it much thought, really. I like kids. I would certainly love our kids—someday. I never dreamed I’d find you and now that you’re here, I’m not inclined to share you anytime soon, but maybe someday.”

“Too bad. I’m not cut out to be a mother.”

He laughed. “Decided that after only three days?”

“Every day just gets worse. They don’t listen. They destroy everything in sight, and they fight constantly. I don’t know how Shelby does this every day.”

“Do you want me to let Ben know it’s not going to work out?”

“No,” I said pulling back to show him how horrified I was by that idea. “I committed to this. Those little demons aren’t going to get the best of me.”

He smiled. “That’s my girl.”

We had a nice relaxing night. He drew me a hot bath and left me to soak alone. I was a little disappointed by that, but he must have known I needed some alone time. That only lasted until I got out of the tub.

It started off innocent enough. We put on a movie and sat on the couch, he pulled my feet into his lap and started rubbing. I wasn’t sure how that one simple thing could be so erotic. I couldn’t tell you what the movie was about. We ended up turning it off and heading to bed early where he let me work out all my frustrations of the week on him.

I felt like a new woman the next morning. I even managed to get breakfast and lunches made before Painter got in from his run.

He kissed me. “Feeling better?”

“Much. Thank you for last night.”

“Sweetheart, you never need to thank me for that.”

I knew he was just teasing me.

By the time I got to Shelby’s, I didn’t feel as stressed as I had the last few days. I’d even grabbed her a coffee from the Lodge when I fixed mine since I’d arrived ahead of Cal for once.

I walked in and the babies were playing nicely. Shelby wasn’t stressed either.

“Brought you a coffee. Thought you could use it.”

“You are such a blessing to me.”

“You look great today,” I commented. “And look, the kids are nice and calm. Maybe they’ve been feeding off of us the last few days.”

“You know, I think you’re right. I hope today goes better.” She still looked worried.

I looked down at the little demons who seemed more like angels at the moment. “We’ve got this.”

I hugged her. She said a quick goodbye to the kids and walked out without incident.

“Who’s hungry?” I asked.

They were playing nicely, so I made my first attempt at using the stove. I managed to only burn a few of the chocolate chip pancakes before finding my groove. Overall, I was really proud of myself.

The kids happily ate with minimal mess. They only required a wipe down not an entire bath. We watched something more educational as I sat on the floor with them singing the alphabet and dancing around. It was even fun.

There was leftover cold pasta in the refrigerator that I served them for lunch as I ate my own. After some playtime outside, the kids went down for their nap easily and I didn’t feel the urge to collapse on the couch. Instead, I cleaned the house.

The babies had played hard outside and slept a little later than