Hurricane Hearts (Storm MC Reloaded 1)

BIRDIE

“Take as long as you need. The girls have told me they’ll help out for as long as required,” Cleo said as I watched Winter sitting on the end of the bed texting his club president.

My heart wanted to cry as I took in his body language. The way he sat hunched, exhausted, and kind of adrift, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him so ravaged. Our breakup and his family problems over the years had hit him hard, but this was like a whole other level of devastation.

His argument with his brother had been coming for a long time. I didn’t know what had gone down between them during the last five years, but I could tell from what had been said that they hadn’t cleared up any of their issues they’d had while Winter and I were a couple. He’d left me to go outside for some fresh air and time alone to gather his thoughts after the argument. Max had told me which room was Winter’s, and I’d spent the time alone in here trying to get hold of Cleo and talking with Mum. I felt out of my depth with this situation and needed Mum’s advice on how to help Winter through it. She had, of course, given me her usual advice: trust my heart to guide me in the moment. Not really what I’d been looking for, because my heart was a mess of confusion and I wasn’t convinced I could trust it to guide me at all.

Shifting my attention back to Cleo, I said, “We can’t afford for me to—”

She cut me off. “They’re not l

ooking to be paid in the usual way, Birdie. They want to do this for you because they love working for you.”

Frowning, I pulled the few strands of hair from my T-shirt that sat like strays on it. I lost way too much hair and was forever cleaning it off myself. “What do you mean by ‘in the usual way’? What other way is there?”

“They’ll exchange the hours they do now for time off at a later date. You don’t need to worry about work, babe. We’ve got you covered. You just concentrate on what you’ve got going on up there. And look after that man of yours.”

I eyed him again. His head was still bowed, exchanging messages. I wanted to correct her that he wasn’t my man, but I left it because right now, he felt like my man to look after. “Okay, well just call if you need me back.”

“Will do.”

We ended the call and I moved to find my phone charger. As I walked past Winter, he reached his hand out and curled it around my thigh. “Where are you going, Angel?”

My breath hitched at not only his touch but also at what I heard in his voice. Need.

I turned and stepped into the space directly in front of him. “Nowhere. I’m staying right here with you.”

God, how I wanted to take hold of his face and kiss all his pain away. Soothing kisses, nothing more. If only it was that easy.

His hold of my leg eased, but only enough for him to run it up over my ass before slipping it around my waist and pulling me down onto his lap so I straddled him. He caught me off guard. So much so that he had his mouth on mine before I realised what was happening.

Although I was exhausted, and although kissing him like this was the last thing on my mind, my body detonated with desire the second we connected. Unable to stop it, a moment later my hands were on his chest and I was pressed against him.

Winter’s kiss was demanding. As were his hands. He took what he needed, and what he needed was my complete submission. I surrendered to the raw animal side of him, completely consumed by his touch, his smell, his growls.

When he stood, taking me with him, I didn’t fight him.

When he spread me out on the bed and positioned himself over me, I didn’t say no.

When he pulled my T-shirt off and dropped his mouth to my breast, I let him.

God, how I let him.

But as fast as it all happened, it all stopped.

“Fuck!” He reared up and off the bed, his face full of anguish.

I lifted myself up onto my elbows. “What’s wrong?”

Spearing his fingers through his hair, he looked at me with regret. “That shouldn’t have happened. I’m not going to use you to ease my grief.”

“I don’t feel used, Winter.” I felt anything but used.

“Well you should. That was an asshole move.”

Feeling naked, both physically and emotionally, I left the bed to locate my T-shirt that he’d thrown on the floor. I needed to busy myself with a task to distract myself from what I’d just wanted to happen. “You are not the kind of guy who makes asshole moves.” Finding my tee, I slipped it on. I then moved to my bag to grab my phone charger, trying to return us to where we were before he kissed me. But I couldn’t let him think this was all on him, so I added, “And it’s not like I stopped you.”

Winter remained silent while I plugged my phone in to charge. When he didn’t say anything, I said, “We both need sleep, you especially.”