Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 130159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Seth opened his mouth to object, then shut it. At twenty-one, his dad’s good buddy had tried to tell him how to live. Granted, Gene had saved his life at sixteen and tried to be a dad after his own had been killed in the line of duty, but he’d been too much of a hothead to listen when the man had insisted that neither he nor Autumn was mature enough to get married. Seth had resented the fuck out of him…but over time, he’d been pissed at himself for not listening. He and Autumn hadn’t been ready for that kind of commitment.
The twins weren’t, either. If he backed off and let them carry on—and probably fuck up once or twice—maybe they’d come to him for help when they were ready to think about spending more than a night with a woman. “All right.”
“Really? You’re going to stop lecturing us?” Connor sounded suspicious.
Seth tossed up his hands. “Yep. Not another word.”
“Good. If you weren’t going to shut up, I would have had to tell Mom the shit you’re doing out here in Hollyweird.” Jack gave him a cocky grin.
“Nice try. We’re already planning to tell her everything after her wedding.”
“Seriously?” he scoffed. “Dude… Good luck with that.”
Seth knew they were going to need it. “Thanks. But if you two want to be assholes, I can tell Mom about your proclivities, too. And I’m not relying on her to help fund my last year of college, so…”
“Damn it, you always end up getting the last word,” Connor groused.
“I’m still better at some things than you. Arguing is one of them.” Seth winked.
Weirdly, he was convinced that, as horrible and embarrassing as the twins finding them mid-coitus had been, this conversation was for the best. “You guys want to stay for dinner?”
They both nodded. “That would be great.”
“Yeah. Thanks,” Jack added.
“Good. Heavenly made plenty. Did you two get off work early?”
Jack and Connor exchanged a guilty glance, then Jack winced. “Not exactly.”
Seth raised a brow. “What ‘exactly’ happened?”
“We got fired.” Connor pulled at the back of his neck. “We might have, um…been fucking one of the waitresses in the break room during our lunch hour when our boss walked in.”
Seth sighed, but he wasn’t surprised his brothers had ignored his advice. “I take it he was pissed?”
They exchanged another glance, then Jack’s grimace turned even more guilty. “Well, if you’d seen two dudes going at your barely legal daughter in a semi-public room…”
Pressing his forehead to his palm, Seth shook his head, trying both not to be annoyed and not to laugh. “That would do it.”
“Yeah. He told us not to come back,” Connor admitted.
“Which is fine by us. That gives us more time to ourselves before we head home. Hey, we’re partying on Saturday night with the guys we met this summer. If you and Beck want to come, we’re going to take Zach to his first titty bar. He loves tits. Hell, he’s a horny bastard in general.”
“Yep. When he found his inner freak, he found it hard.” Connor frowned. “Wait a minute… Does Zach know about you three?”
“He does. And since you three shared an apartment all summer, I guess he’s known for a while that you two like to put a woman between you.”
“Yep, and that son of a bitch never said a word—to either of us,” Jack grumbled.
Seth had to smile. “I’ll be damned. Should have known Beck’s brother would be sly. Must run in the family.”
Jack laughed. “Probably. Sometimes he’s really earnest and do-goody, but he’s a decent dude.”
“Beck, too.”
Jack gaped. “Do you, um…fuck each other?”
“No.”
“Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay or bi or whatever, if that does it for you.” Connor frowned.
“There isn’t, but it doesn’t,” Seth assured. “We’re strictly girl-in-between.”
“We get that.” Curiosity seemed to get the best of him again. “Is it super weird to share a woman with a guy you don’t know, like, really, really well?”
Seth pondered that. “No. Once we stopped fighting over Heavenly and got on the same page, it didn’t just feel different, it felt right. I think I knew then that, with the two of them is where I belong.”
The twins exchanged a befuddled glance, then Jack shrugged. “Well, we’re happy for you, bro. Really. You keep doing you.”
“Thanks. I guess, then…you two should keep doing you, too.”
At least until they ran into problems with a woman they both fell for and needed advice.
“Thanks.” Connor smiled. “So…if we’re staying for dinner, you got a beer?”
A loud buzzing noise jolted Heavenly out of a sound sleep. She moaned when the electronic whir chimed again.
Beside her, Seth rolled over. “Who the fuck is calling at this hour?” he grumbled as he groped for his device. “Hello?”
Lifting her heavy lids, she saw Seth sitting up—cell phone pressed to his ear—silhouetted by the moonlight spilling through the window, painting his sculpted back and shoulders in a silvery hue.