The Brothers Rule - Carolyn Faulkner Page 0,61

the best thing to do is to quit and let us take care of her."

"Mmm," Adam nodded. "It's the 'take care of her' part that she's not going to be happy about."

Ryan smiled. "Yeah, she's annoyingly feisty about that."

Jace mused, "Better that than having her just expect to be taken care of."

"Of course!"

"But she could unbend some."

"She can be encouraged to do so, I would imagine."

"I don't know how I feel about punishing her for wanting to be independent. I don't think that's right. We just have to make sure she feels that whatever money we make available to her is for staying home and, frankly, taking care of us and the house we all live in, etcetera. It's earned, not given. I certainly don't want her to feel as if we're paying her for sex."

"Absolutely not!"

"No way!"

"Well, if she's home, I would assume that she'd do the cleaning. She's already doing the shopping and the cooking." Adam grinned again. "How much does one pay one's wife?"

Ryan's smile was not humorous. "Yeah, those are all things that any normal wife does."

His two older brothers gave him a disbelieving look, and Adam's tone was incredulous. "I can't believe we have to say this to you, youngster, but when both couples work, the housework is divided equally between the two of them! What century are you living in, boy?"

"I don't know about these things! She's the first woman I've ever been serious about!"

Adam continued on a much more serious note. "But most women do take care of the kids."

That halted all three of them in their tracks.

"Yeah, what about kids?" Adam wondered.

Jace was the first to speak after that. "Let's cross that bridge when we get to it, guys. For now, our goal is to get her to feel comfortable enough about our supporting her to quit. I can't bear her being so unhappy."

"Me, either," the other two chorused.

"We'll deal with the wedding—and eventual, hypothetical children—later, although I have some ideas about the wedding already."

They sat up for quite some time talking about things—each contributing ideas and wishing that Nick was there—not necessarily as a lawyer, but more to play secretary and take notes for them.

Eventually, though, they all said goodnight, and Jace was very glad that he was the one who was crawling under the covers with Laurie tonight, since she had been pretty much the sole topic of the evening or, at the very least, the focal point of the whole thing.

She was the focal point of everything, he thought, swallowing hard and hugging her to him so unconsciously tightly that she whimpered in her sleep and he let up—just a bit.

She was not just his world, but his brothers', too.

They were all wrapped up in the small, stubborn woman he held in his arms, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

Chapter 9

"You're quitting? Really, finally? Jesus Christ, what took you so fucking long?" Lita was hitting her as if she was confessing to some sort of crime against humanity.

"Stop that! Jesus! How am I going to explain my black and blue shoulders to three testosterone-filled men?" she asked as she carried a tray of booze, chasers, and snacks onto the deck to put it down on the table between them.

She poured them the traditional first shots of tequila and said the traditional first toast as they each held up their shot glasses, "Everyone else can go fuck themselves!"

When she put her shot glass down, a timer went off.

"I'll be right back."

Laurie reappeared with a piping hot glass dish and a trivet on which to put it.

"Oh my God, you made the dip!"

Laurie was always amazed at how Lita raved at a dip that was so easy to make—cream cheese spread in a baking dish, salsa poured over it, then topped with jack cheese and baked until it was bubbly, served with good tortilla chips.

"I worked and slaved over it all day!" she teased.

"I know you're lying, but I don't care in the least," Lita said, dipping a chip in.

"I'm on my way, Laur," Adam said, making his way onto the deck to bend down and kiss her passionately then stand beside her, holding her hand.

"Adam, have you met Lita?" Laurie asked, knowing her friend was drooling at the tall, handsome man in his policeman's uniform.

"I don't think so, but I'm very glad to know you, Lita." Then he immediately returned his attention to her. "You ladies have everything you need?"

"I think we do, yeah, thank you."

"Well, have a