The Brothers Rule - Carolyn Faulkner Page 0,75

freezer for your first anniversary. How do men not know that? Does that information just come with a uterus, or what?"

Laurie nodded vigorously. "Oh yeah. Like how to put a toilet seat down, use a turn signal, and ask for directions."

"Hey!" the Y chromosome majority took umbrage at that, apparently.

"I'm sorry if you guys recognized yourself in that very short list that could be much, much longer." She grinned.

The one big man who was her husband and the two others who were her de facto husbands stood tall and crossed their arms over their shoulders while giving her a stern look.

Laurie leaned over to Lita and stage-whispered into her ear, "That means I'm right."

"That means you're likely to find yourself sitting gingerly for several days is what that means!" Ryan grumblingly clarified.

Adam nudged his brother in the ribs much less than gently, motioning to Tanner, but he wasn't having it.

"Do you guys really think I don't know that she's submissive to you, considering she rarely calls any of you anything but 'Sir' and that you spank her? I've been putting pillows on her chairs for her since she got here, for fuck's sake!"

Now, it was Hop who looked a bit stunned, not any of the brothers.

Laurie put her hand over her face, moaning, "Oh dear God."

Tanner flushed at that. "I-I didn't realize—"

His brothers' attentions were now fixed on him. "That's obvious," Jace began, looking as unhappy as the rest of them did—including Adam.

Tanner went immediately to Laurie. "I'm so sorry—"

But she hugged him. "No, don't be."

"Not on my account, anyway," Lita stated almost proudly. She knew what was what among them, and because her friend seemed happier than ever, especially since she'd quit work, she was all for it!

But Hop was still flabbergasted by what he'd heard, saying entirely in jest, "Apologize to me, apologize to me!" which had everyone laughing.

Chapter 11

It was an absolutely perfect wedding, and she told them all exactly that, hugging them again and thanking them profusely, since they had done the lion's share of the work toward it, really.

"Anything for you, darlin'. You liked it then?" Jace asked.

Laurie actually teared up, and he was very touched. "I can't believe it. I'm obnoxiously happy."

That had him smiling lovingly down at her as if she'd hung the moon.

She clung to his muscular arm, finding the wedding ring he was now wearing and twisting it a bit. "You don't have to wear this if you don't want to, you know. I don't want you getting hurt on the ranch because of it."

He grinned down at her like the cat that ate the canary. "Already thought of that," he crowed, opening the collar that he'd—and the rest of them—had already long since loosened to reveal a nice gold chain. "I'm going to wear it here. Just so you know, Ryan will probably do something like that, just so no one ever asks him where his wife is."

Laurie nodded. "Good idea, both of you."

She changed out of her dress and got into her traveling outfit, which, even though it was new, was quite a step down from the beautiful confection that was her dress. The guys had insisted that she buy some new clothes for her honeymoons—plural. They had decided to go with someone's original idea of them each having a honeymoon with her. All of them very much liked the idea that she would get three of them.

So, she and Adam were going first, which was only right. They were going to spend some time at that plot of land he owned—which was why she was in new jeans, a pretty t-shirt and hiking boots—where he'd taken her to before, relaxing and fishing, and maybe he'd teach her how to kayak while they were there.

Then they were going to drive to Vegas, just to have a complete change of scenery, where they would hit all of the buffets and gamble and drink and sightsee and have an all-round good time in a beautiful suite at the W.

By the time she made her way back to them, many hands had already made light work of the mess, and Lita was directing the brothers like a drill sergeant.

They formed an informal, champagne-fueled little line at the door, with Hop first, who hugged Laurie and shook hands with Adam, congratulating them both, and Lita, who hugged them both.

"Don't you worry about your men. I'll keep an eye out for them."

"Thank you, my lovely Melita!" she thanked her and hugged her again.

The guys