Page 31 of Forever Yours
“Morning, ladies. We’re talking about vacations and bad cell reception,” he informed them, moving away from the coffee pot so they could pour some for themselves.
Annabelle shot a pointed look at Sebastian. “You’d better not be complaining. I told you we had no reception here.”
“I’m not complaining, Winters. In fact, I was just telling Gabe how nice it was not to have to answer a bunch of emails before I could go to bed. I slept like a baby.”
“In my bed,” Devlin pointed out.
“What?” Annabelle asked in a voice that was too loud for the situation.
“He passed out in my bed last night,” Devlin explained. “Imagine my surprise when I almost sat on him when I got to my room.”
Gabe’s mouth went dry at the imagery.
“Where did you sleep, then, Dev?” Annabelle looked between Sebastian and Devlin.
“It wasn’t worth waking him, so I just grabbed my stuff and went upstairs.”
Now Annabelle looked between Gabe and Devlin. “Really?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.
“Two rooms, AB,” Gabe stated. “Devlin stayed in the other room.”
Annabelle shrugged and propped one hip against the counter. “I’m just saying.”
“I’ll change the sheets before you go into the room, Devlin,” Sebastian said.
Devlin waved away his concern. “Don’t worry about it. Why bother with changing two sets of sheets? My luggage is already upstairs and toiletries in the bathroom. We’ve got enough to do today working on the proposals without room switching for just one more night.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll grab my stuff later.” Sebastian stood and refilled his mug.
Annabelle sighed. “Seems like I’m going to end up sharing a bathroom with you anyways. At least I got in there first this morning.” She jumped as the rattle of the wind blowing at the sliding door stopped Sebastian from responding. “I know Grey keeps saying no storm is coming, but this wind is telling me otherwise.” She pulled her cell out of her back pocket and walked around the kitchen, holding it up in various locations. “Do you still have that old weather radio here?”
Gabe tried to picture various locations in the cabin and where the radio would’ve been stored. “I don’t remember the last time I saw it, or if it would still work.”
Devlin walked to the sliding door, peering out at the still gray sky. “The sun’s not coming out any time soon.”
Gabe moved to stand behind her, close enough that the warmth of her skin radiated to him, and reached around her to point to a group of pines about fifty feet from the house. “When we were kids, my dad would tell us that you can base the weather on how those trees move.”
Devlin moved back, almost leaning into Gabe’s chest.
“If the tips of the trees whip like a trebuchet, bad weather is on the way.”
Devlin’s laughter vibrated through Gabe and the impulse to wrap his arms around her was almost too much to bear. “A trebuchet, huh? That’s very specific imagery.”
“Dad likes all things medieval, what can I say?”
She leaned a fraction more into Gabe just as he shuffled his feet closer to her.
“I don’t think they’re quite at that level yet. Maybe a slingshot.” She lifted her head and her hair brushed against Gabe’s morning stubble. He breathed in the fresh scent of her, and was starting to lift his arms to embrace her when Annabelle’s voice broke in.
“I don’t know why I’m bothering.” Lowering her phone, she glanced to where Devlin and Gabe were standing and appeared startled. “All right, you two. We should focus on breakfast then proposals. We’re only going to be here one more night, I can live that long without cell reception.”
Gabe stepped back from Devlin and a chill seeped into him at the loss of contact.I’m getting moony over trebuchets and shampoo.Devlin had walked to the fridge and was bent over searching for something, her ass doing a delectable wiggle.Now this I can get moony over.
“Breakfast sandwiches are in the freezer,” he called out to Devlin. “Leo whipped up a batch and I figured that would be good enough for this morning.”
Devlin grabbed the sandwiches as Annabelle turned the oven on. “Works for me. If I get to eat I’m happy. Coffee isn’t enough for me in the morning.”
Annabelle pulled out cut fruit from the fridge and set the container on the table. “I’m good with just a cup or ten of coffee until lunch. Then more coffee.”