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He choked in horror before the bathroom door closed behind him.
Tessa needed to hit the shower herself. The chicken she was serving for lunch was marinating and ready to be put in the oven, but she still needed to throw together a salad, not that the men would care. All they cared about was meat, and she was already anticipating the complaints about the chicken not being cooked over an open fire, but
she wasn’t an idiot. No way was she going to let three big men argue over who was grilling what and which one didn’t know his ass from a barbecue fork.
The next time she opened her eyes it was because Luke’s hand connected with her ass with a smack. “Get up. It’s ten-thirty.”
“Fine,” she groaned, lurching from the bed. Luke was already dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.
“Is my hair dry enough?” he asked. “I was trying to hurry, but I don’t want them thinking I showered over here.”
“You look fine. Better clean up the condom wrappers, though.”
“Shit!” He jumped toward the bed as she wandered to the shower, smiling at his nervousness.
“I thought you didn’t want me lying anymore,” she drawled.
“These aren’t lies. These are helpful illusions. For your brothers’ sake.”
“Right.”
He’d calmed down a little by eleven-thirty when Jamie knocked, but Luke still watched with wary eyes as she went to answer the door. At least her brothers had finally learned their lesson about coming in uninvited.
“I brought the beer,” Jamie said, not looking the least bit happy.
“It’s not even noon.”
“Oh, we’re going to need it.” Despite that he’d pressed her to make up with Luke, Jamie still refused to budge on his opinion that a divorced cop he’d once partied with could possibly be good enough for Tessa.
“Come on. It’ll be fun.”
Jamie flashed a patently fake smile and twirled a finger over his head. “Sure. Good times.”
Eric was only slightly more accommodating when he arrived, but all the men seemed to relax when Tessa piled their plates high with chicken. Or maybe the beer was kicking in. Either way, the men couldn’t maintain their tension in the face of meat, beer and baseball talk. Despite her triumph, Tessa felt her eyes glazing over.
“Hey,” she interrupted. “Did everybody get the new pictures of Simone and the baby? I emailed them yesterday.”
“Uh, sure,” Eric said.
Jamie squirmed. “Cute kid.”
“She’s adorable!”
“Tessa,” Eric said carefully. “They kind of all look the same at that age.”
“Yeah,” Jamie agreed. “Squishy.”
“Anna doesn’t look squishy! She’s beautiful, isn’t she, Luke?”
Luke nodded, but his eyes slid away.
“Oh, you’re all ridiculous,” she huffed, throwing down her napkin. “Just for that, you guys get to clean up.”
“Aw, come on,” Luke said. “You know I think she’s beautiful.”
“You won’t even hold her!”
“She’s too small!” he shouted.
