The Brothers Rule - Carolyn Faulkner Page 0,13

to raise all three of those men almost frighteningly right.

They portioned out the food, leaving her some so she wouldn't have to cook for herself—even the cake, which Jace practically had to force the other two to relinquish so that they could leave her some.

She could see how parental he was, even with the brothers who were closer to him in age.

Adam was probably the closest thing to a Jace clone. He was funnier and easier going, but there was a common thread of steel in all of these men that she would bet even Tanner would have, if she got to know him.

Ryan was even more relaxed and a bit more verbal than the other two. She'd spent the most time with him. He was definitely dominant, and they had discussed him spanking her, but they hadn't quite gotten to that point in their relationship yet.

With Jace, the sexual connection was like a thunderclap. With Adam, it was a slower burn, and Ryan was somewhere between those two. But she felt a connection with all three of them that was quite deep, especially considering how new it was. That was one of the biggest reasons why she hadn't been able to just pick one of them to go with. It was almost painful to her to consider giving any of them up, and that was a bit worrisome to her, frankly.

"We're going to head home, darlin'," Jace said, and she came to stand by the door with him. He hugged her again as he had when greeting her, then he kissed her on the forehead and waited by the door for the rest of them.

Ryan was next. "Night, babe." He hugged her tightly but carefully and followed Jace's lead by kissing her on the forehead.

She loved how all of them were so careful of their own strength with her.

Adam took her in his arms and whispered, "Sleep well, Laur." Then he bent her over his arm and kissed the breath out of her, while his brothers cried foul. He set her on her feet again, holding onto her arms because she was a bit dazed after that. Then he looked over his shoulder at each of his angry brothers. "You got a night with her that none of us got, Jace. And Ryan kissed her when he came in, even though we'd agreed not to. I was just leveling the playing field."

His brothers grumbled at him, but Adam was paying attention to her.

"Are you all right, hon?" he asked.

The other two immediately crowded around her with concerned looks on their faces, and she felt six hands—all baseball mitt sized—being put on scrupulously neutral parts of her body.

"I'm fine, thanks," she smiled.

"What was the matter?" Jace asked, frowning for a different reason now.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

But Adam was all smiles. "I just left her a bit breathless, as usual, boys."

Ryan wasn't about to let him leave on a last line like that.

"Yeah, from holding her breath around you because you stink."

Adam whapped the back of his little brother's head smartly at that, and they left amidst a chorus of goodbyes.

When they were gone, Laurie sank down into her chair and realized with a start that she was utterly exhausted but, also, that her apartment had gotten horribly quiet and lonesome all of a sudden.

Chapter 3

Laure's life changed a lot—more than she would have thought—after she decided to continue seeing all of them.

It seemed she was always going out with someone. Or staying in with someone. She had decided to give each of them a weekend during the month, and then take the remaining one for herself, but she was really wondering how much longer she could keep this up.

It wasn't just all of the activities. Jace loved to go antiquing—to her great surprise—and she was always looking for interesting and eclectic stuff to put in her apartment, so they often took day trips to various flea markets when it was his turn. Adam liked to hike, so they spent most of their weekends outdoors in the sunshine. Ryan's favorite thing was amusement parks and arcades, so they hit up the nearest ones—water parks included—as often as they could.

And even though they'd sometimes made elaborate plans to go places and do things with her, it wasn't at all unusual for one or all three of them to decide to chuck it all and stay home with her—at her place or theirs—so that they could spend the weekend making love.

As a result, she