Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
But it was hard when her body felt so good, when her soul felt oddly at peace.
Something about a naked picnic did it for her.
Or it was about the men she was with.
Either way, she didn’t want to wreck it by being angry.
Shane’s expression went soft. “You don’t have to be mad at anyone. I want you to know that we’re on your side and we’ll stand by you. You want us to fuck with someone, we can do it.”
Bay kept up his stroking, seeming to enjoy lying around on a blanket in the middle of a stage with her. “I’m going to explain to him that the show is off. I’m not working with someone who doesn’t respect my… Who doesn’t respect you.”
She looked up at him. She knew it should be weird because his dick was right there, but it felt oddly normal to be like this with them. “I’m their kid sister. They put a lot into me. And I’m not merely talking about Max and Rye. Stef and Callie, too. Stella and Mel and Hiram and Teeny and Marie. Logan was practically my brother growing up. You know he calls me at least once a week to see if I’ll have lunch with him or come to dinner with his family, and I always turn him down.”
“Why?” Shane asked. “You live in the same city.”
She huffed out a laugh. “No, I lived in an apartment that barely qualifies as a two bedroom, and Logan lives in a penthouse on the Upper East Side. We were in two different worlds. Logan is going to have a thriving practice when he graduates. I don’t have a job or an apartment anymore.”
“I don’t understand why that means you shouldn’t spend time with a guy you grew up with,” Shane replied quietly. “Look, Brooke, I grew up with a woman who constantly told me what a failure I was.”
Again, not the same. “You were a kid. I’m a whole, grown-ass adult who had everything she could want handed to her.”
“I don’t know about that. I think you probably would have liked to have a dad who loved you, a mom who lived,” Bay pointed out.
“I had my brothers,” she said with a sigh.
“That doesn’t give them a pass to spy on you and make you feel small,” Shane replied with quiet surety. “Even if they gave you everything.” He frowned for a moment. “Baby, are you worried they’re going to be disappointed in you?”
She sniffled and found herself being dragged into Shane’s arms. He tugged her until she was sitting on his lap, his arms wrapped around her. “How can they not be? My degree wasn’t cheap, and they didn’t have to pay for it.”
“Of course they did. You’re their sister.” Bay shifted so he could lean against her back.
She loved how warm she felt when she was caught between them. Safe. She felt safe with them and that wasn’t what she was supposed to be looking for. Especially not when she would have to leave them. But she wasn’t thinking about that now. “They could have easily turned me over to Teeny and Marie. I know they offered to take me in. Marie went so far as to look for a bigger cabin. Stella said I could live with her. My brothers wouldn’t hear of it. There was a whole town hall and everything. I remember Logan and I sitting together playing Uno and drinking root beer. There was popcorn, too. And Rye stood up and said if anyone tried to take his sister away, he would leave the town and never look back. Max said he would go, too. He would leave everything he knew behind so we could stay together as a family, and I yelled at him this morning.”
Shane held her tighter. “Baby, families fight. At least I think they do. I think part of what makes a good family is being able to disagree and still love each other. No one’s perfect. I think that phrase was invented for Max.”
She could feel Bay shrug behind her. “Max is obnoxious, but he’s actually reasonable. Rye seems reasonable, but he’s a hard-ass. She’s way more worried about what Rye thinks. Max is fine as long as the people he loves are happy and someone gives him bacon his wife doesn’t know about. Rye is trickier. He’ll hide what he feels. I’ve always known we can handle Max. It’s Rye who might take real offense to us dating his sister.”
“Rye is a sweetheart,” she countered.
“Rye wants you to think that. Believe me. I know how sibling relationships work. Especially when you have to bond the way me and Shane did. I know for your brothers it’s in their DNA, but Shane and I had to do something similar in order to survive our childhood.”