AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh my god! Come! Details, now!” I usher my girls into the living room and Layla starts spilling everything.
We’re interrupted moments later when Stella storms through the door. “Auntie! Auntie! Is this your new house?”
I laugh, going over and crouching down to give my adorable girl a hug. “Yes, it is! Guess what? There’s a tree swing in the back yard. Wanna see?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” The little girl shouts. Taking her hand, I lead her out the back door.
By the time we get back inside, all my brothers are here. And so is Mason’s entire family. Boisterous greetings and congratulations are exchanged, and before long, we sit down to eat.
The meal is a hit with our guests and everyone is asking for the recipe by the end of dinner. When I accidentally let myKarli’s Kitchenbusiness idea slip into the conversation over dessert, Darius is quick to make it known that he wants to discuss a financial partnership.
“I love you, brother, but I’m not handing over my idea to you,” I say protectively, like a mama bear. This business idea is my baby, after all.
Darius looks at me across the table with an earnest expression. “It would be a partnership, Karli. We’d be business partners. I have no desire to steal your control from you.”
I can feel the respect radiating from him and it almost brings tears to my eyes. My brothers finally see me. They finally respect me. And it’s such an amazing feeling.
All evening, this little bungalow is filled with love and laughter and good vibes. By the time the table is cleared, we’re all exhausted, but in a blissful kind of way. Everyone is helping with clean up when Felix comes up to me as I’m dishing the leftovers into containers for all our guests.
“Hey sis.” He bumps his elbow into me.
“Hey bro.” Grinning, I bump him right back.
“This house is incredible,” he tells me. “You and Mason really did a good job here.”
“Thanks.” I glance around the room again and I get the same thrill I did the first day Mason and I visited this tiny charming house. “The first time we set foot through that front door, we knew this place was our home.”
“Well, I’m happy for you,” he tells me. “I’m happy the two of you are happy.” He gives me a hug. “And I’m sorry I almost got in the way of that.”
I squeeze him tighter. “You can stop apologizing now, Felix. We forgave you a long time ago.”
“Yeah, well I still feel bad about it.” His expression is genuinely pained when we pull apart from our hug. “For once, I’m glad that you were stubborn and didn’t listen to me.”
I laugh. “I’m always stubborn.”
“True. But in all honesty, it was kind of scary when you were mad at me. I thought I’d lost my sister for good.”
“I’ll always be your sister, knucklehead. And on the bright side, you learned a valuable lesson about not being a bossy asshole and minding your damn business.”
He chafes. “Jeez. So harsh.”
“You’re tough. You can take it.” I grin in his face. “And who knows. Maybe you’ll be next to fall in love. Then you’ll know from experience what all the fuss is about.”
His phone chimes. That damn dating app again. “Meh, it’s doubtful.” Felix is already backing away from me, his eyes glimmering with interest as he scrolls down the screen.
Mason shakes his head as he comes up beside me with more empty containers. “Wanna bet that guy’s dick falls off one day?”
“Nah, I say he’ll get knocked on his ass by love when he least expects it.” I grunt. “Five dollars says he’ll be head over heels in love a year from now.”
Mason’s face twists with skepticism. “Umm…not so sure about that.”
When everyone is gone and the house is quiet, Mason and I are in the kitchen doing the dishes together. To anyone else, this would just be a mundane chore. But like everything with this man, we’re laughing and teasing each other every step of the way.
“That’s not how the dishes should go,” Mason flings my way, dramatically staring down at the top rack, where I’m strategically placing dirty bowls.
“What? Yes it is! You should always put the plastics at the top.”
“No, no, no. They’ll get cleaner at the bottom,” he argues playfully, already rearranging my diligent dishwasher organization.
