She stuck her bottom lip out, started sniffling, and threw her bottle on the ground before she started genuinely wailing like I’d taken her bottle before she was finished. I tried to soothe her, but nothing worked. She was getting more and more upset when I looked out the window and noticed the storm, which had been a steady snowfall just a few minutes ago, was now a verified blizzard. I’d been told she could create storms when she was upset, but now she was obviously able to create snowstorms too. Henry bustled in with a box, and the door slammed against the wall from the raging wind outside. He had to put all his weight into closing it against the wind, then leaned against the thick oak door.
“This is the weirdest storm I’ve ever seen! All of a sudden, the wind starts whipping the trees every which way and the snow started dumping down. It’s a whiteout. I can’t even see the driveway past the truck now.”
He dropped the box and took his boots off before coming over to where I was standing at the window, looking out and trying to bounce and soothe the screaming baby.
“What is all this noise? Are you making all this ruckus, little missy ma’am?”
Ameria stopped crying when she heard Henry talking to her. She reached for him, and he took her from my arms to give her a hug and nuzzle his chin on the top of her curly head. She had stopped her tantrum, but she was still sniffling, coming down from her high emotions.
“Now, there’s no need to cry, sweet girl. The storm is bad, but it’ll be better tomorrow. Now, look. See? The storm is getting better already.”
She raised her head and looked up at him, then yawned. He hugged her again and then gave her back to me.
“Someone’s so sleepy. Uncle Finn is going to recheck your diaper while I get your pack-and-play crib set up. It’s almost bedtime.”
I took Ameria back into my arms, and she snuggled against my chest as if she’d never acted like a brat minutes before. She reached her hand up and placed it on my cheek, then showed me images of Henry and me standing beside each other and feelings of happiness.
Damn. She liked him. She liked us together.
A long walk in the woods was going to be needed very soon to replenish my power after what I imagined the next few days would be like. I was going to have a shit ton of magic to hide.
Chapter 4
Henry
The snow wasn’t melting this high on the mountain. Even after a week, we would still get flurries every day. They seemed to coincide with Ameria’s moods. She already had very powerful magic. It was amazing, and at times adorable. Other times, like now, it was incredibly inconvenient.
“Princess, it’s time for your nap, now. You don’t want to be grumpy and tired later, do you?”
She pouted her lower lip and was about to start crying when Finn appeared behind me with a stuffed dog that had been in one of the boxes that I’d hauled up here in my delivery.
“Here’s your puppy. Snuggle puppy and help him take a nap. Look. His eyes are so sleepy. Can you curl up and help puppy take a nap?”
She cuddled the fluffy white puppy with pastel polka dots tight and rocked it back and forth, mimicking the way Finn or I would rock her to get her to calm down and rest. After a minute, she yawned and curled up in her crib for her nap.
Finn had placed her crib in the bedroom upstairs off a loft area, so she would be able to rest in peace while we cleaned up or talked when she slept. Or didn’t talk, usually. I liked Finn. I enjoyed his company, but getting him to open up was harder than trying to chip a diamond.
This last week we had fallen into a routine. We would both take care of the baby during the early day, but when nap time came, Finn would disappear into the woods. He said he was checking the snow levels and the roads’ condition, but he was probably doing Mage stuff he didn’t think me as a human should know about.
I was so jealous he got to go out. I didn’t want to go tromping in the snow on a mountain, but I was getting stir crazy in this cabin. I had thought being stuck here would have led to us finally having a chance to get to know each other, maybe lead to some sexy times. But all I’d been doing was teaching him things and playing babysitter. This was not what I’d had planned.
As usual, as soon as the baby went down for her nap, Finn threw his cloak on over his heavy kilt and sweater to go out. He wasn’t wearing long breeches under the kilt today as it had warmed up overnight. His furry legs were sexy under all that plaid. Being cooped up with the man of my fantasies for a week without any action was wreaking havoc on my hormones. The only explanation I had for my next question was that I was sexually frustrated enough to make a move.
“You’re not wearing your breeches today. You going commando under there, Finn?”
I should have been embarrassed blurting out a question like that, but I didn’t care. I needed some conversation. Honestly, I needed some dick, but I’d take a simple conversation at this point. If flirting got me some of anything, then I was completely down with that. His blush on his pale cheeks was almost as red as his beard when Finn cleared his throat and answered, “Do you want
