AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Fifi!”
“I missed the first wedding,” she grumbles. “Didn’t wanna miss the second.”
“You helped me pick a dress and you said nothing?!”
She crosses a finger over her chest. “Sworn to secrecy.”
A deep, throaty, inappropriate chuckle vibrates from somewhere on the other side of the helipad, until Felix Malone himself steps around the chopper and looks me up and down with a hungry gaze. “You look as beautiful as always, Mrs. Malone.” He reaches out, grabs Mia from my arms, and hands her off to Fifi, then he wraps me up in a crushing hug that feels healing.
It’s so odd that that’s the word I choose to describe his touch.
That that’s what I feel in this moment.
But it’s accurate. His hug is soothing and sweet and so undeniably loving, I almost choke on the tears fighting desperately to surface and make me look stupid.
Most surprising of all is the fact hedoesn’tpress his dick against my hip. There’s no stiffness. No sneaky grab of my ass. He doesn’t stuff his tongue down my throat, or whisper naughty nothings in my ear. There’s nothing except adoration. Then as he pulls back, he reaches around and waits for Christabelle’s hand.
He is completely and totally in love with a woman other than me. And most important of all, she’s good for him. She’s strongand brave and beautiful, and she has just the right amount of attitude to keep her man in place.
“Debbie.”
“Christabelle,” she sniggers. But she brings her upper-society self in and gives me a quick hug. She’s not like the others, who want to wrap people up and hold on forever. She’s a little more like Fifi. Wary, but sweet. Curious, but careful. “Thank you for having me on your special day.”
“I didn’t even know you were coming!” I pull back and meet Felix’s emerald eyes. “No one thought to call and let me know there was a coup?”
“A deal was struck.” Micah, the middle Malone brother steps between us and pulls me into a quieter, gentler hug. “When a Malone makes a deal, the terms agreed to must be met.”
“You flew a helicopter! I didn’t even know you could do that!”
“He can do all sorts of things, Doc.” Felix lifts his chin, a proud glint in his eyes, toward his brother. “He’s a monster in bed, too. In case you were wondering.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Micah rolls his eyes and turns away. “Happy almost-wedding-day, Doctor Mayet. Felix,” he shakes his head. “Shut the fuck up.”
“Wait.” I glance around in search of the fifth and final Malone. The loudest one. The neediest one. “Where’s Cato?” Oddly, my stomach drops with disappointment. “He didn’t wanna come?”
Felix scoffs, dragging Christabelle under his arm and starting toward the stairs. “Starboard side, babe. He’s coming for you. Always is.”
I look to my left and frown. But then Micah makes a soft clicking sound with his tongue, drawing my attention to the right. Then he sighs because far out in the distance, a small black dot zooms over the water and dangerously jumps the breaks so his Sea-Doo catches a little air.
He’s coming, I sigh. He just has to make an entrance.
“Who wants to drink?” Felix asks. He leads Debbie down the stairs, crushing her into his side the way Archer is so apt to do with me. “My treat.”
We eat some kind of shrimp pasta the chefs throw together, and we pair it with a crisp, white wine that sets the tastebuds on my tongue alight. There’s noise. And laughter. Arguments. Friendly banter. Even with sweet Mia at the table, brothers cuss and others make deadly threats.
All in good fun.
Cato is needy. And Christabelle wears bands around her wrists to stave off seasickness. Aubree drinks and laughs, and all along, Tim watches her with the shrewd, beady-eyes of a man who knows violence.
Mia picks at her pasta and dangles the long threads of spaghetti above her mouth. Fletch gives Fifi a wide berth because he likes her, but his ex-wife is still an issue. Christabelle slaps a beer out of the too-young Cato’s hand. And Archer… well… he watches his family like their happiness,my happiness, are the only things that matter to him.
“Did you get the catering sorted?” Fletch wonders aloud. He glances across at a stiff Archer. “Because of the?—”
“Yep.” Archer brings his drink up in a kind of salute, kind ofshut the fuck up, and takes a sip. “It’s all dealt with.”
“And you had no clue?” Aubree demands. “None?”
“That you were flying out here today in a fricken helicopter? No! Archer didn’t give a single hint until you were already in the air.”
