The Brothers Rule - Carolyn Faulkner Page 0,56

get you. Come on in."

He guided her to the chair next to Nick, and surprisingly, he was the one who spoke first, of the four of them.

"Well, my brothers here have had what even I think is a pretty good idea."

Laurie grinned. "There's a first time for everything!"

The other guys grumbled good naturedly at that.

"I agree. We—and I include myself and Tanner in that—have all been very concerned about you lately, specifically about how obviously unhappy you are at the bank."

"I'm sorry for crying all over everyone this afternoon—"

Adam, who was the next closest to her, leaned over and took her hand. "Shhh-shh-shhh. This is not about that—we always want you to feel safe to express your feelings around us, and we're just sorry that we didn't think to do something about this sooner, frankly."

The others agreed wholeheartedly.

"So, I understand from the old men—"

If looks could have killed, Nick would have been dead.

"Yeah, well, it's not as if Tanner and I don't know that you guys call us 'the brats', so turnabout, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera," he defended. "Anyway, the guys were telling me that you might be interested in starting your own baking business."

Laurie's expression showed her surprise that this was what they had been talking about. "Uh, yeah. It's just a dream, though. I can't afford to do that and work."

"Well, that's pretty much what we've been discussing." He looked to his brothers, and Jace picked up the thread.

"We think that one thing might be the solution to the other."

She raised an eyebrow, and waited for him to continue.

But Ryan stole his thunder. "We want you to quit your job. Then you could work on your baking business from home."

The brothers had thought that she would look elated at that idea, but she looked more stunned than anything else.

"Quit my job?" She scrunched up her nose as she did when she was confused, in a fashion that all of the brothers found endearing.

"Yes. Then you wouldn't have to go to a job that makes you cry all the time."

She seemed a bit deflated. "I've not been hiding that very well, have I," she stated, rather than asked.

"We don't want you to hide it from us, Laur."

"Yes, we don't want you to hide anything from us," Jace said firmly.

"You can be a stay-at-home-mo—wi—woman." Ryan barely got himself out of calling her a "wife.”

"But what about my salary? I'd have no money, especially at first, while I was building the business—if I decided to do that. I have a small amount in savings, but in starting a business, I'd blow through that in a very short amount of time." It did sound very tempting not to have to go back to that place ever again.

Nick jumped in. "That's something the guys were talking about, too. They are all on board with supporting you financially if you'd like to stay home."

"Whether or not you want to start a business or find another place to work. We'd be just as happy to have you home."

They all recognized her rebellious look creeping onto her face, and Jace used his most soothing tone as he spoke. "Now put your back down, darlin'. If you and I were married, say, or you and either of the two of them were, and you hated your job, we'd each be telling you the same thing. It's not my money or their money—it's our money. We're a team. If it was just us, then I'd be asking you to do the same thing."

"Asking?" Laurie pointed out, with no small amount of sarcasm.

"Yeah, well. We're not telling you what to do in this case."

Adam raised his hand, as did Ryan. "Yes, we are!"

"No, we're not." Jace glared at them. "You know I'm all for making smart rules for her behavior and making sure that she experiences the consequences when she doesn't."

Nick cleared his throat at that, but Jace ignored him. It wasn't as if he didn't know what kind of relationship they all had by now.

"But there are limits to how we can influence you in that way—there have to be. You are an autonomous, successful, adult woman, and this is your decision. We can't make it for you. But, at the same time, we're very strongly suggesting that you might be a lot happier working for yourself—as in building a baking business—or even just staying at home would be fine with us. We want to make the offer, give you choices, so that you don't feel trapped in a