The Bossy Prince (Rugged and Royal #3) - Lili Valente Page 0,37

heart is involved. You know how he is. A different woman every month. Which is why this is so stupid, Nick. If there was a future for you and Zan, that would be one thing.

Andrew: Right. I mean, it would still be bonkers—the two of you have nothing in common aside from the fact that her sisters are married to your brothers. But at least it would be worth the family drama. Not to mention the scandal. The press is going to have a field day. Jeffrey and I marrying identical twins is bad enough. You having a holiday sex-fest with their triplet sister is completely over the top. We’ll never hear the end of it.

Jeffrey: Exactly. And if it were anything other than a sex-fest, you wouldn’t have lied and said you were going alone. So, as I see it, there’s only one course of action.

Andrew: Right. Get Zan on a plane back here ASAP, and we’ll do our best to minimize the damage. Sabrina will convince Bea to keep her mouth shut about what she saw, and I’ll set Zan up with one of my driven, successful, no-nonsense friends. By New Year’s Eve, she’ll be falling for a guy who’s actually her type, and this whole thing will have been forgotten.

Jeffrey: And until it is, you’ll stay away from her. It’s the least you can do. Lizzy says Zan hasn’t dated at all since her divorce. We haven’t told Lizzy, by the way. She has enough on her plate without worrying about this nonsense.

Andrew: Exactly. Lizzy is vulnerable. And so is Zan. She’s the walking wounded, Nickolas, on the rebound in a major way.

Jeffrey: Absolutely. She’s not thinking clearly.

Andrew: And do you really want to take advantage of your sister-in-law? Especially considering her history of attempting to kill you when all you’d done is exist too close to her while she was in the mood to drown people? Imagine what she’ll do to you if she has a justifiable cause?

Jeffrey: They were children, Andrew. Don’t be dramatic.

Andrew: I will be dramatic if I want to be dramatic! My baby brothers’ dicks are entirely out of line. You couldn’t keep a condom on yours long enough to marry Lizzy before you knocked her up, and now Nick’s has convinced him to lie to his nearest and dearest and make family get-togethers awkward for the rest of our lives! We’ll be in our fifties, sitting in the hot tub on holiday, secretly wondering if Zan’s husband and Nick’s wife know that the two of them fucked thirty years ago. It will drive me mad, the not knowing! I won’t be able to enjoy a single second of the trip.

Jeffrey: Just text us, Nick. Or call. Between the three of us, we can sort this out before anyone gets hurt. And before Mother finds out.

Andrew: Oh God, yes. If we’re not careful, she’ll have the wedding planned by the time you two get back to Gallantia. Text us, asshole. There’s no time to waste.

“They’re wrong,” Nick says.

I look up to find him tugging on a tight white polo and experience a flash of relief that he’s more covered than he was before. Concentrating is so much easier when he’s wearing clothes.

“Of course, they’re wrong,” I huff. “I would never physically attack my brother-in-law. That’s ludicrous.”

Though I might have fantasized about it once or twice.

But sometime in the past few days—sharing the holiday together and the plane flight here—I’ve stopped wanting to murder him. Now, I just want to work well with him, then get as far away from him as possible.

I also want his mouth all over me and my mouth all over him and his long, muscled body heavy on top of me while he makes me moan. But that’s not going to happen and certainly doesn’t need to be said aloud.

“No, not about that,” he says, his lips hooking up on one side. “Though that’s good to know. They’re wrong about my mother. She wouldn’t approve. The night before we left, she actually warned me to stay away from you.”

My brows creep higher on my forehead. “What? You told her we were coming here together? But we—”

“No, I didn’t tell her. She just…” He trails off with a shrug, his gaze dropping to his waist as he threads a leather belt through the loops of his pants. “She sensed something, I suppose. That we had…potential of some kind.” He glances back up, his eyes meeting mine with one of