“I’d love that.” I smile, relieved—thrilled, even—at the genuine affection and warmth that Huxley’s brothers and their wives are showing me.
Griffin appears in the foyer. He’s in a casual T-shirt with a stain that’s somewhere between yellow and green on his shoulder and faded jeans, although the outfit still doesn’t make him look like the kind to beat up people for tenure. He must’ve noticed my stare. “The stain’s old, and the shirt has been laundered so it shouldn’t be too gross. I’d have worn something else, but this is the only clean shirt I have in the closet after the kids decided to drool and smear food on everything over the last four days.” He sounds chagrined and slightly tired.
“It’s my fault,” his wife Sierra says, shoving her messy strawberry-blond hair out of her face. “I didn’t feel well the lasttwo days, and Griff’s had to deal with the triplets on his own. They only want Mommy and Daddy, not their nanny.”
The brothers and wives make a sympathetic noise.Triplets!I’m stunned at just being pregnant. How did she cope when she heard she was going to have three babies at once?
“We’ll bring the kids next time,” Sierra says. “We thought it might be less hectic without them. Plus, I really need some adult time. I love them to pieces, but oh my God! I’m not a red-haired pony!”
We laugh. The last to walk through the door is Sebastian. The CEO of Sebastian Jewelry and, according to Huxley, the biggest asshole in the group because he can’t stand losing. But from the affectionate glint in Huxley’s eyes, I figure Sebastian’s cool in spite of his competitive streak.
He comes in with his wife Lucie, who is a six-foot blonde with ice-blue eyes. I’ve never admired somebody’s jewelry before, but the stuff on her is amazing. Even to my casual eye, it looks priceless, sparkling like it has its own inner light. A string of rubies wrapped around her ankle is stunning, the color like fresh blood backlit by fire. Karie often puts on a lot of bling to display how wealthy she is—and it’s as ostentatious as she can afford. But Lucie’s pieces are balanced for elegance and beauty, giving off an air of casual affluence in the service of exceptional taste.
“You made it!” Bobbi says. “I brought a key lime pie!”
“You’re the best.” Lucie hugs her, then turns to me and hugs me too. “I’m going to hug everyone before I get moody. Pregnancy hormones are not being kind to me.”
“You okay?” I say as we move toward the dining room.
“Oh my God. Mood swings and weird food cravings.” Lucie sighs. “How about you? How are you holding up?”
“I’m doing surprisingly well,” I say, feeling a little abashed and squirmy that I’m doing so much better than her. “Nomorning sickness or anything. Not too moody. But it’s still early, so…”
“I’m happy for you,” she says warmly. “Hopefully it stays easy.”
“Pregnancy is different for every woman,” Amy says, patting Lucie’s shoulder affectionately.
“Perhaps so.” Sebastian glowers at Lucie’s belly. “If that baby doesn’t start behaving, it’s going to get a good spanking when it comes out.”
“Yeah, right.” Noah snorts. “If it’s a girl, you’re the one who’s gonna be whipped.” He makes a whip-cracking sound.
“I don’t think so,” Sebastian says. “I plan to be a stern disciplinarian.”
From the way Huxley rolls his eyes and the other brothers shake their heads, everyone agrees with Noah.
Tilda and the staff set a massive spread of grilled beef, pork roast, chicken, Caesar salad, pasta, veggies sticks and lots of bread and salted butter before everyone’s arrival. She didn’t bother with desserts because Bobbi said she’d send some. We grab whatever we feel like eating and go to the table. Huxley puts down his plate and pulls out a chair for me. I notice all the brothers do the same for their wives. Lucie only has a slice of key lime pie and some celery.
“I want to tell you how much I admire what you’ve done. That revenge was inspired,” Noah says, before biting into heavily buttered bread. “It’s almost like you knew a guy who knew a guy! How did you get the recording of them in your bedroom? Do you have a stalker who films your house?”
Curious eyes turn on me. “No, thank God. I’m not that interesting.”
Huxley makes a skeptical sound deep in his throat. “Don’t underestimate yourself,” he whispers.
Flushing and elbowing him teasingly, I cut the roast beef on my plate. “Viv has a habit of stealing my things and then denying that she did so, even though it’s obvious that she did. So I got fed up and installed a camera in my bedroom without telling anybody. It only records if it detects motion or sound in the room. I sort of forgot about it because I’d been occupied with the wedding and the pregnancy. But when she decided to make me an online celebrity, I thought I’d return the favor. Peter getting caught in it is a bonus, since he helped her.”
“Damn. That’sgood.” Noah turns to his wife. “We should get one of those for our bedroom.”
Bobbi stabs some lettuce. “No. You’d just watch the videos of us over and over again for your own entertainment.”
“So? I might get lonely out on the veldt. With nothing but the wilderness around, shooting cheetahs. I might need something to comfort me.”
Sebastian rolls his eyes. “If your precious cheetahs could, they’d get a restraining order against you.”
“They don’t even know I exist. Yes, I am just that smooth.” Noah nods with deep self-satisfaction.
Next to him, Bobbi rolls her eyes, but a small smile on her lips says she’s crazy about him. They lock gazes, and something illicit and unspoken passes between them. I look away, feeling an urge to blush.
“How about the license plates?” Sierra leans forward. “How did you manage that? Did you have a camera set up to capture it too? Maybe a drone?”
