The Brothers Rule - Carolyn Faulkner Page 0,35

doubt, but they were also huggers, and damned good ones at that. They were all involved in getting things set up the way they wanted them, paying less attention to her than they usually did, beyond the usual, "Hi, babe, how was your day?" when they were hugging her. So, she grabbed a can of diet orange soda and a yogurt out of the practically commercial sized fridge and headed for her room, prepared to hole up for the evening.

The house was otherwise very well built and thus well soundproofed, but she could hear the faint strains of Rush drifting into her room. The evening's host also commanded a Bluetooth speaker, as well as choosing the games and the order in which they were played. And Ryan liked Rush. His musical tastes were a bit more varied than his brothers, and she liked that about him because he was always introducing her to new stuff.

They got everything arranged on the table for dinner. Everyone had their favorite meal, from which they would take the first portion, then it was all passed around amongst them then left in the middle, so that anyone could have more of anything they wanted. It was a staggering amount of food.

Adam caught Ryan as he was surveying the table, trying to make sure that everything was on it so no one had to get up and get anything. Being well prepared like that was a matter of pride with them. "I wasn't sure what Laurie liked for Chinese food, so I got her cashew chicken, not too spicy. Think that'll be okay?"

"I think that'll be fine." He began to look around the room. He could see the kitchen and the family room from where he was standing. "Hey, where is she? Has anyone made sure she has something she likes to drink?"

"She's got a twelve pack of that orange soda she loves." He shuddered just at the thought of that. "There's gin in the cupboard and I bought that lime tonic she likes, along with limes, too." He frowned. "But come to think of it, I haven't seen her around, either. Not since she got home."

Adam raised his voice a little so everyone could hear him. "Is Laur around?"

They all looked around them. "Nope. Haven't seen her."

Jace joined the other two. "Where do you think she got to? She knew this was game night tonight, right?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. Tanner told her about it."

"Did she go out again?" Adam suggested.

"I don't think so."

"Her car's in the driveway," Nick reported.

"Then she must be in her room, although I don't know why," Ryan mused.

The thundering herd of them moved down the hall almost as a unit, and it was Jace who pushed through them, before they banged her door down, and knocked politely.

Laurie opened the door as she shouldered her way into a light robe, and the older three brothers were right there, the other two hanging a bit back, trying to be courteous.

"Hi." She smiled tentatively.

Jace, Adam, and Ryan were all hit at the same time, with the same kind of bolt of pure lust. She looked and smelled as if she was fresh from her bath, and even though the cute flowered cotton pajama set she was wearing, with a light, flowered robe over it, was anything but risqué, it didn't matter.

They all wanted her and wanted her badly.

Jace's voice, when he spoke, was definitely affected by that, as was his usually sharp brain. "Uh, we, uh…" he kind of trailed off.

Adam swallowed hard and tried to pick up the thread of Jace's point. "We were, uhh…"

"Wondering," Ryan continued, "if, uhh…"

Tanner and Nick were rolling their eyes by then, so Nick took matters into his own hands. "Aren't you coming to game night?"

"Yeah," Tanner chimed in. "Are you feeling okay? You're dressed for bed."

Laurie bit her lip. "I'm fine, thanks. I-I just didn't assume that you'd want to include me. Tanner mentioned that it's family only, and I'm not family. I figured it was like a bros night, so I was just going to chill in here."

All five of them frowned quite fiercely at her. "Of course, we'd love to have you if you'd like to come," Jace reassured, having finally found his tongue and most of his mind with it. "We were planning on you being there; I'm sorry if no one told you that specifically."

It seemed they all assumed that everyone else had issued her an invite, and it never got done.

"You live