The Brothers Rule - Carolyn Faulkner Page 0,42

had been a while—and she would choose a lighter color, and she'd like new carpeting.

Ryan suggested new furniture, since she couldn't bring hers from her place, unfortunately.

"Well, I really like what's in the spare room I'm in. Why not use that?"

Adam laughed. "I'm sorry, but if we sleep in a double bed with you, you're going to end up on the floor!"

"All right, I'll buy a new bed."

"We'll buy you a new bed." Ryan gave her a look that didn't invite her to argue with him. "Especially since we're the ones who need the king."

She grumbled a little but knew better than to challenge him when he got stubborn—or any of them, for that matter.

Jace gave her a dubious look. "Are you sure that's all you want to change? We're not going to do this every year, you know."

Laurie frowned up at him. "Damned straight, you're not! You shouldn't be doing it now, either, frankly. I could live with it exactly the way it is—"

"That's just what I was worried about, darlin'." He crossed his big arms over his bigger chest. "You're just trying to not cost us too much money, rather than asking us to do what you want."

The other two hovered around the two of them.

Laurie wasn't going to be intimidated. She stared back up at him, crossing her own arms over her chest. "Well, I'm sorry that I'm not soaking you guys for all I can get, but you had the misfortune of falling in love with a woman of generally simple tastes. New paint, new carpet, drapes, and linens, and a new bed is quite expensive enough. Or would you prefer that I demand a skylight and a chandelier and a diamond encrusted toilet seat."

Jace wasn't doing very well at hiding the grin that wanted to spread across his face at her gumption.

"Minx. We could redo the bathroom for you if you like or put in paneling—I just want to make sure you have everything you want. "

"We all want that," Adam chimed in.

Ryan nodded. "Definitely."

Laurie turned and kissed Ryan, keeping a hand on the other brothers and moving them as she moved to kiss each of them. "I have everything I want right here. Anything else is just decoration."

She found herself immediately surrounded by large walls of male flesh as they hugged her all at once.

While it was being redone, she would sleep in the room she was in and go with them to their rooms, but it would only be a month or so before she'd have a big, brand new room of her own, and they would be coming to her, instead.

But before she slept with any of them again, she wanted to get those very private things from the shell of her apartment, hoping they were still intact. So, she stopped by after work that Friday night and went in by herself, knowing the entire time that she would get into trouble if they found out what she was doing. But she wasn't about to send them in there to get those things. Nope. Not gonna happen.

She had to dig through some of the rubble, and there was ash all around her, but she found what she wanted. And they weren't even melted!

But she didn't count on something that Ryan was—not surprisingly—the first to pick up on when she got home and began what was becoming the surprisingly familiar and comfortable ritual of getting a hug from everyone.

They were all there, and Ryan was the first one she got to.

As he was hugging her, he began to sniff at her, softly at first, and then in a much more pronounced way.

Laurie took offense at that, leaning away from him and giving him the eye, saying, "You know I did shower today, so don't make out like I stink, for fuck's…" she heard Jace's sharp "ahem", "… for crying out loud."

He looked puzzled. "No, you don't smell bad, you smell… familiar." He buried his nose in her hair then sniffed at the shoulder of her dress, before he saw some fine ash on it, and it dawned on him where he'd smelled that particular scent before and how it was connected to her.

Laurie found her chin caught in his hand when he brought her eyes to his. "You went over to your place, didn't you, hon?"

The other two older brothers' heads came up at that.

"She, what?" Adam asked, moving over to where she was still standing in Ryan's arms.

Jace joined them there, frowning