Page 151 of The Storm

I kick off my shoes by the door and wrestle myself out of my jacket before I rake the hair out of my sweaty face.

“You look chipper,” he says.

Observant, I want to say, but that’s mean, and my crappy morning isn’t his fault.

“I’m fine.”

He leans his shoulder against the wall. “What happened?”

“Subway problems,” I say. “It was packed, too, so now I smell like sweat.”

“You can take a shower, you know? And borrow some clothes. Easy fix,” Callum says.

Technically he might be right, but I glower at him anyway. “You’re a giant. In what world do your clothes fit me?”

“I’m actually the runt of the family.”

“Your poor mother.”

“Go,” he says. “Find clothes. There should be stuff there from when I was in college that might fit you. I think it’s somewhere in the back of the closet.”

“Yeah, fine,” I say with a sigh. “Just let me grab my stuff.”

“You can do it later,” he says. “Go on. Take a break. You look like you need it.”

“Based on how this day is going so far you’ll stumble on my bag and break something. I don’t have the money for that lawsuit.”

“Most of my body parts are insured.”

“Of course they are.”

He grabs my shoulders and starts herding me toward his bedroom.

“I know where it is. No, wait, I forgot my bag.”

“It’ll still be there. Relax. Maybe take a hot shower? Actually, you really should take a hot shower. I’ll make you some tea.”

I dig my heels in just as we’re about to round the corner and turn around. I narrow my eyes at him.

“You don’t know how to make tea. You don’t even have tea here.”

“My cabinets are stocked. You don’t know what I have in there.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” he says quickly. Too quickly. “Other than my deep concern about your well-being.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing!” he says. “I’m actually a bit hurt that you would just accuse me of?—”

He’s stopped by the knock on the door.

I raise my brows at him.

“Coach,” he says. “Said he was gonna drop by. You just go ahead with that shower of yours while we talk football. Remember how boring you find football?”

I take a step toward the door, and he steps in front of me.