Page 15 of Shattered By the Currents

She forced her gaze back to his, and of course his smile widened.

Oh, brother.

Over the next hour, Raven talked and laughed and drank with Connor and his friends. And yet again, she relaxed. Not the forced untensing of her shoulders that took an hour of meditation and a good soak in the bath to achieve. This was natural. Effortless. The ease of her limbs from the fight-or-flight mode she’d been in all week.

And God, it felt good. Really good.

“I thinkAnika and Mark are fighting again,” Maggie said, as she lifted her glass to her lips.

Polly shot a look over her shoulder. “Oh yeah. Sitting at opposite ends of the bar. Dead giveaway.”

While everyone peered at the bar, Connor didn’t. He looked at Raven. Her soft blonde locks that fell over her shoulders in waves. The small curve of her lips.

This was the most relaxed he’d seen her. And he liked it. He wanted more of it.

“Do they fight often?” Raven asked.

“More than me and Joel,” Polly said with a laugh.

“Hey.” Joel feigned hurt.

“But Polly and Joel also love each other a lot,” Maggie added.

Ethan sipped his beer. “Their good and bad days are very obvious.”

“Obvious to some,” Connor said, lifting his beer.

As the others continued to talk, Raven turned to Connor. “Not to you?”

“I’m not the best at reading people.”

“You were a Navy SEAL. Aren’t you trained in that?”

“That’s a different kind of reading people.” That was seeing evil in a person’s eyes. Noticing small actions and word choices that gave away their true nature and intentions. He’d become really good at that. He glanced down at his beer. “Relationships, I have no idea.” All you had to do was look at his relationship with Margaret to know that.

“You’re probably better than you think.”

Raven’s soft voice drew his gaze back to her. Damn, she was beautiful. Her blue eyes glowed in the dull bar light, and there was no crease between her brows tonight. No anxious glances around her or at her phone. No distant look, like she was carrying the weight of the world alone.

She was just…present.

Polly straightened. “Time for a new drink.” She grabbed Maggie and, as she passed, grabbed Raven’s arm, too.

“Oh, I don’t?—”

“You absolutely do,” Polly sang, tugging both women forward.

Connor watched the back of Raven as she walked away.

He was glad he’d come out tonight. He’d almost stayed home. There wasn’t even a reason he hadn’t wanted to come. So that he could work on his shed? So he could drink beer alone?

No. This was better. Seeing this side of Raven, the carefree version who smiled with her eyes and held his gaze for more than a few seconds, was so worth dragging his ass out of the house.

“You look happy.” Zac came to stand beside him.

“I’ve got no reasonnotto be happy.” A damn understatement. He was working a job he loved with men he considered family. And tonight, he was making progress with a woman who had the prettiest blue eyes he’d ever seen.

Life was good.