The Brothers Rule - Carolyn Faulkner Page 0,62

great girls' night—but behave, or else," he warned, watching her blush as he had intended as he bent down to kiss her again before he turned to leave.

"Be very careful!" she warned back at him.

"I will, sweetie. Love you!"

"I love you, too!"

He blew her a kiss and left.

Lita was just sitting there, shaking her head, dip and chips forgotten.

Seconds later, Nick and Tanner came to say good bye and were also introduced to her friend before they each hugged her and took their leave.

"Jesus! You're surrounded by them!"

"Yeah, well, they're not part of the agreement."

Lita snorted. "Damn, woman, you should get that thing rewritten!" Not one to forget about snacks, she dipped another chip into the drippy, cheesy dip. "So? Spill about work, already!"

Laurie had decided to quit, but she was feeling very anxious about it. She hadn't been without an actual job since she became legally eligible to have a job. She'd worked during the summers, even in high school!

The guys had been wonderfully helpful and encouraging about it. She knew that they were all itching to make the decision for her, and she had told them—when she'd made it herself—that she very much appreciated that they hadn't done so. They did, however, never pass up an opportunity to remind her how much nicer it would be for her if she lived and worked at home—no alarm clock, no long ride into work, no horrible boss and awful coworkers.

And she'd countered with the fact that she'd be very isolated on the ranch, she'd be away from the friends she did have at work—and Lita—and would miss the time alone with whoever was chauffeuring her into or back from work.

They assured her that she would have ample opportunities to go into town. All three of them seemed particularly concerned that she didn't think they were trying to isolate her from her friends.

But she was quite certain that they were not like that, and she let them know that was how she felt in no uncertain terms.

Considering how her backside felt after the three of them had gotten through with it over the "not telling them about being miserable at work" incident, she had decided that she was going to err on the side of over sharing, which she was not normally in the habit of doing, rather than under.

Besides, she had the use of all of the ranch vehicles already, plus keys to all of their own personal vehicles. They'd summarily retired her car with a surprise "funeral" a few months ago because of that. And because they had all thought it was a deathtrap and they didn't want her driving it anymore.

They really weren't wrong, so it was hard to argue with them about that—not that she didn't try—until she got the triple power "looks.”

Lita was nodding enthusiastically at that. She'd been trying to get her to trade in that car for a long time.

Plus, one or more of them was always going into town for one reason or the other, so she didn't think that she would be in danger of feeling trapped at all.

She loved the ranch, frankly—all of it, even the less than pleasant smells—and spending time there wouldn't be any kind of a hardship at all, even if her business didn't work out or she never got another job.

She did still feel a little uncomfortable about them giving her money for what she considered to be nothing, but they wouldn't hear of not paying her for doing a lot of what she already did around the house.

Her friend was licking her fingers loudly, with great enjoyment, as she dabbed at her mouth. "I know you're submissive to them and all, but they've never tried to keep you here when you didn't want to be, have they?"

"Oh no. Never. Not at all. That would be a big warning sign."

The brothers—no matter how strict they were with her, and they were—had never tried to restrict her from seeing her friends or just going out on her own, if that was what she wanted. If she'd ever had an inkling that they would be like that, she would never have agreed to enter into this arrangement with them.

They wanted her to be happy, and seeing her friends made her happy, just like seeing theirs made them happy when they went out with the boys. Granted, that usually meant that the majority of the "boys" were their brothers, but Laurie loved that they all got along so well.

If they