Page 17 of Day of the Storm

“What? You’re not making much sense.”

“I’ve hidden how I feel about you for six years.” Sean brushed her lips with his once.

He pulled back. They’d been through utter hell tonight and he wasn’t about to pressure her. Not even for a moment.

He wanted her to know exactly how he felt about her. It was starting to sink in that he had almost lost that opportunity forever. “No more. You do something to me, Autumn Jane, something that no woman ever has before. The ball is in your court. You get to decide what happens with us next. But no more of you just looking at me like I’m one of your idiot brothers.”

19

No,it hadn’t just been platonic. She’d be stupid if she ever told herself that it had been. There was an expression on his face that she had never seen there before. Not directed at her. “Sean? I…I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to see you as one of my brothers again. I don’t that I ever did. Not really. A massive irritation, yes. But never one of my brothers.”

“Good.” Then his mouth was on hers. He was kissing her, a real kiss with heat and passion, fire and flame between them.

A. J. kissed him back, hungrily.

Never had she imagined kissing Sean like this.

Never had she imagined it feeling right like this either. That was something she couldn’t discount. A. J. couldn’t put what she was feeling in the words. Not adequately.

Not after everything that had happened between them today.

She tried to show him how she felt. She didn’t have the words to express it.

His hands tightened. His hold intensified.

She felt the hunger.

Hunger for her.

A. J. pulled back. “We need showers.”

That was an understatement. They were covered in debris, mud, blood. There had only been so much cleaning up she could do with baby wipes in a hospital bathroom.

“Yeah. You go first.”

A. J. deliberately stepped back from him. She needed to get her head on straight. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, everything had changed between them.

There was no hiding it. They’d gone from platonic to heat in thirty seconds flat. They were both adults. She knew what he wanted. And she suspected he knew what she needed.

Now she had to decide what she wanted to do about it. But for now, A. J. took the borrowed pajamas and scurried down the hall toward his shower.

Sean tookone look at her face after coming out of the shower in the second bathroom and knew that Autumn Jane had come to a resolution. She, more than any of her brothers, was very, very determined. And that was saying a lot, as the Evers family was extremely stubborn. It was in their DNA.

Well, he was just as determined. Especially when it came to her.

“Everything changed tonight, didn’t it?” Autumn Jane asked. “The city, the TSP, you and me. I don’t exactly know what to do next, Sean.”

“I won’t hide it from you any longer. I want to be more than just friends.” Of that Sean was absolutely certain. Whether they got together or not he wouldn’t keep his feelings a secret any longer. “I want more than that.”

Autumn Jane stared at him for a moment. Sean waited. Everything was going to change right now.

Neither one of them had any doubts about that.

“You’re not just saying this because of what happened tonight?” she asked. She stepped closer to him. There wasn’t any uncertainty in her tone, nor in her eyes. Autumn Jane was a confident woman, who would meet him on equal terms.

Sean just shook his head. “No. Well, yes. I realized something tonight. For six years I’ve told myself that it was just attraction. That I’d get over it. That I didn’t want to risk hurting you or damaging my relationship with your brother. But I haven’t gotten over you. I’m tired of being too afraid to take the chance. I’m not the greatest at relationships. I think we both know that.”

“You seem to do pretty well with your friends. With Mike. My parents. Is it just women?”