Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
“Are you serious?” She groans, hunting for her friend and shaking her head when she witnesses the unstable dancing that is happening a few feet from us. “What am I going to do with her?”
“She needs a harem,” I say, my eyes drifting over my brothers, and Ellie and her triplets. Since we committed to Gabriella, everything about our lives has relaxed. Celine needs that stability. She needs an anchor that can hold her and make her feel safe, even if she doesn’t know it.
Maybe that’s one guy, but now I’m in my own multiple love situation, the option of more doesn’t seem wild to me anymore.
“I wish she’d start looking at the decent guys who are right in front of her,” Gab says. Her eyes linger on Dornan, her friend, who is single and ready to mingle. Then on Travis, who recently quit his job in Germany. There are other decent guys here tonight, men who I’d be happy to date my sister, if I had one.
“Maybe we need to matchmake,” I say. “You know, nudge her in the right direction.”
“Yeah, but who’s going to want that?” she says, grimacing as Celine trips over her own feet and stumbles into a table.
“Someone who sees past her current issues. Someone who knows her well.”
Gab folds her arms across her chest, squashing her perfect tits so they rise up, tempting me. I moisten my lips, ready to leave this stupid party so I can get my hands all over this perfect woman who’s mine to play with, mine to ravish, and mine to love. But I know she won’t leave until her friends do.
Celine stumbles again and this time, Elias is there to catch her. He hefts her up in his huge linebacker arms and strides towards the nearest booth like a lumberjack lugging a log. Her hands swat at his back but they don’t seem to bother him in the slightest. A man who’s used to demolishing two-hundred-and-fifty-pound opponents isn’t going to be fazed by a tiny, incapacitated woman. Gabriella laughs, relieved, and we watch with fascination as he dumps Celine into the booth, practically tossing her onto Travis’s lap in his haste.
Celine is a flailing tangle of arms and legs, but she rights herself, gazing around as though she’s in a dream. Then she leans toward Travis, her lips banging into his, her arm reflexively hooking around his neck.
My buddy is taken off guard, surprised at the sudden onslaught of woman joined to his face, but despite her drunkenness, Celine must be a good kisser because suddenly, he’s responding passionately, while she paws at him.
Damn.
“Seriously!” Gab throws her arms up. “What the fuck is my brother doing?”
“Kissing your friend…they really should get a room,” I laugh, but that changes when Elias puts his hand on Celine’s shoulder and pulls her away. Her mouth is swollen and glistening, her eyes half shut. “Come on, Celine. You don’t need to be doing that…”
His words are cut off by Celine’s mouth and her greedy hands which search his body like airport security. Jeez. This is about to get messy. Except, Elias kisses her back too, and Travis looks on, shaking his head, a wry smile on his face.
“Celine’s a mess,” Dornan says, stepping in beside Gabriella, watching tiny Celine climb Elias like a tree.
“I think you should go rescue Elias,” Gab says, nudging Dornan in the direction of the booth. Surprisingly, he listens, and steps in to tap Celine on the shoulder, distracting her enough to stop the kiss.
“Hey, Celine,” he says, but doesn’t get to finish the sentence because she’s already off Elias’s lap and latching herself onto Dornan’s face. My god, this is going to end in a scuffle. Or Celine being packed off before she can seduce anyone else.
The latter is what happens. Ellie puts her hands between Dornan and Celine, prizing them apart. “Come on, you guys,” she says. “Pack it in.”
Dornan blinks like he’s emerging from a dark tunnel into the midday sunshine and Celine sways, smiling like the cat who got the cream.
“What’s wrong, Ellie? I’m just gathering my own harem!”
“I don’t think that’s how it works, sweetie.” Ellie pats her softly on the shoulder.
“I guess it could work that way,” I whisper into Gabriella’s ear and she shakes her head, rolling her eyes.
“You seriously think that Dornan, Elias, and Travis would share Celine? I mean, you guys are brothers, and Colby, Seb, and Micky are triplets. You were all closely bonded before me and Ellie came along. Travis, Dornan, and Elias barely know each other. In fact, Dornan and Elias have always rubbed each other up the wrong way. It’s hardly going to be a match made in heaven.”
“I guess,” I say, “but stranger things have happened!”
“You’re just looking to sprinkle your happiness all over other people. I swear since you started cooking, you’ve become a big softy.”