Page 46 of My Three Hometown Alphas

“Ready?” Cole asks. I give him a nod as we lift opposite sides of a large log.

Walking in sync, we move it to the storage shelves on the side of the store. Miles and Theo follow behind us with another log.

We’ve already moved ten logs each from the trailer of lumber the two oldest Rivers brothers came to drop off. Sweat beads on my forehead as the summer sun bakes down on us. Using the bottom of my shirt, I wipe it away.

Lifting my gaze, I see Avery and Lyla walking across the parking lot toward the front of the store. Miles shouts something at them, but I can’t be bothered to care what he’s actually saying.

Lyla gives me a smile, which I return. Then my eyes are firmly glued on the fiery woman at her side.

She pauses in front of the glass doors leading into the store, turning to look at me.

This kind of connection can’t be normal. There’s no way people go about their everyday lives when they feel this tethered to another human being.

We aren’t even that close to each other, and I still feel like our souls are tangled in a warm embrace.

Sappy much?

Fuck. Get it together.

I run my hand over my face, trying to escape my errant thoughts.

Lyla yells for Avery. With one final look in our direction, she disappears inside.

Blinking a few times, I walk back up onto the trailer. Cole stands there, waiting for me. As we’re moving the last log, he asks, “What’s that about?”

I grunt, lifting the log onto the rack. “Nothing.”

“Mmm… sure,” he says. “I must have hallucinated all of that tension when the nanny walked by.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Shut the fuck up,” I growl.

I actually like the Rivers brothers, but all of them make me want to punch them in the face from time to time.

He laughs, throwing his hands up in front of him. “What? I’m not blind.”

“Neither am I,” Theo says as he and Miles step up beside us. He looks between Miles and me. “So, which one of you is going to get the girl?”

“Who says she needs to choose?” Miles says with his big, stupid mouth.

“Miles,” I growl, urging him to shut the hell up. I couldn’t care less if anyone knows I’m… whatever with Avery, but I don’t know how she would feel about it.

“Right,” Miles says, clamping his mouth shut for once in his life.

Thank goodness for small blessings.

“Well, shit,” Cole says, his eyes widening.

“You didn’t hear anything,” I say.

“Of course not,” Theo says, grinning from ear to ear.

Cole pats me on the shoulder. “We won’t say anything. Promise.”

I know they wouldn’t, but the thought of anything ruining the little time I have with Avery makes me sick to my stomach.

Theo and Cole hop into their truck and drive away. Miles and I turn at the same time, walking back into the store.

We clearly have the same destination in mind—our girls.I don’t know at what point I started thinking of them like that, but I kind of love the sound of it.