AllFreeNovel
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“Me?”
“You, baby doll.”
“I don’t understand.”
West smiles. “We changed the company name and drew up a new contract. The business is yours now too. We all have an equal share.”
I shake my head. “No. I can’t do that. I… You three worked so hard for all this. I don’t want it.”
“We know, shorty, and that’s exactly why we want you to have it. You’re one of us.”
“But… this is too much.”
Zeke turns my face to his. “Baby doll, we might not be able to legally marry you, but we found a way to tie you to us forever. This is purely selfish on our part.”
“It was either this or knock you up,” Xander says, chuckling.
“And we did consider swapping out your birth control,” Zeke adds. His nonchalant shrug makes me believe he’s serious, but before I can voice my outrage, West chimes in.
“But we figured you wanted to work on your career for a few years first.”
I let out a quick laugh. “You boys don’t do anything halfway, do you?”
Zeke smirks. “Never have. Never will.”
“So, what do you say, princess? Will you be our business partner?” West takes a folded brown envelope from his jacket pocket and holds it out.
Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I glance at the building, then back at them.
Zeke tilts his head to the side. “You need us to get down on our knees, baby doll?”
Despite the cold weather, heat blooms beneath my skin. An image of the three of them on their knees for me makes me lightheaded. “Not out here in the street. But maybe when we get home.”
West rustles the pages and Zeke produces a pen. “Not unless you sign.”
“Come on, shorty. I’m freezing my nuts off here.”
With trembling hands, I take the pen from Zeke and glance over the papers. “I promise you it’s all completely above board,” West assures me. “It makes you a quarter owner in everything. It makes you officially one of us.”
I smile at the three men who’ve brought me more joy than I ever thought possible. “Forever?”
Their voices join together like a chorus. “And ever.”
Epilogue
WEST—TWELVE MONTHS LATER
“Samson, no!” I shout as the runaway mutt charges into the den with one of my shoes clamped between his slobbering jaws.
“Are you being naughty again, baby boy?” I follow Lily’s infectious laughter and find her with my shoe in one hand. The other hand scratches Samson’s wiggling belly. His tongue lolls out of his mouth as he glances over, and I swear the little fucker is laughing at me.
I glance at Stella and Snowflake, who are curled up on the rug in front of the roaring fire. “Shouldn’t you two be teaching the new guy some manners?”
Snowflake wags his tail and gives a soft woof. Stella, being Stella, closes her eyes, ignoring me completely.
“Aw, he’s just learning.” Lily gives him one final belly scratch, then orders him to go lie down beside his better-behaved canine siblings. I fight the urge to snarl when he does so without hesitation. Damn dog only listens to her and Zeke. It’s like he’s deaf to all voices that aren’t theirs, especially Xander’s and mine. “I got your shoe back.” She holds it out to me, a devious grin on her beautiful face.
Disgusted, I scowl at the slobber dripping from the sole. “I’ll buy a new pair.”
