Hott and Handled (The Hott Brothers #3) - Leah Sharelle Page 0,6
beings with the same good looks, Fenixx was the only one that held my attention. There was something about him, something compassionate that made him stand apart from his brothers. Not that I knew them all that well to make such an assumption. Hendrixx and Blake came to me a month ago to organise me to cater their intimate wedding reception. I knew Blake and the Hott brothers obviously, Cattle Ridge wasn’t a huge town. You bumped into or served everyone once or twice a week; Blake liked our pizza as did Hendrixx and Lenoxx, not as much as Fenixx obviously, but still, the family weren’t complete strangers to me.
All three shared the same blond hair, same toned body, and the prettiest blue eyes imaginable, but for some strange reason, it was Fenixx that stood out, demanded I pay attention each and every time he walked into my restaurant.
It was only Fenixx that made my body hum when I caught him staring at me.
And now, here, the silent staring man was gone only for a talkative, growling, flirty version of Fenixx to appear. There was something about the way he wore his flannel shirts with the sleeves ripped off, showing the female population his well-defined muscular arms that made drool pool in my mouth. His dusty, worn, denim jeans hugged his powerful thighs like a second skin, moulding to his magnificent tush so beautifully I had to force myself to stop from dropping to my knees and worshipping him.
If I had to pick my favourite thing about Fenixx, other than his piercing blue eyes, sexy smirk and phenomenal body—it was the fact that he wore a peaked cap and not a cowboy hat like his brothers and half the male population of Cattle Ridge and the surrounding districts.
Not being a born and bred local myself, I did not have a wardrobe of checked shirts, denim jeans and cowboy boots. I moved to Cattle Ridge four years ago after my marriage ended to start fresh with my son.
And there laid the reason why my drooling and body humming over Fenixx Hott would remain a well kept personal secret just for me. Having a broken marriage, a fourteen-year-old son and a busy and yet to be financially rewarding business was more than enough for me right now.
Of course, the age difference between us was another sticking point with me and the main reason I stayed behind the counter when Fenixx came in for his dinner and not be the one to make the first move and do something silly like sit down and start a conversation with the hot man. I knew that Fenixx was thirty; I knew this because the triplets asked me to cater their very low key, no fuss birthday dinner a couple of months ago. One would assume that people as rich as the Hott family would insist on showing off their wealth and throw a party to end all parties. Well, one would be wrong.
Fifteen wood-fired pizzas, enough to feed their growing families and the workers on the dual farms, was all that was needed to celebrate their big 3-0. I shamefully didn’t expect that from them and I would never make the assumption that all wealthy people liked to throw around their money.
My thirty-four didn’t seem like a huge difference on paper, but in reality, it was.
My life definitely changed when Alec came home one night and announced he wanted me to move out, that he didn’t love me, never would and was sick of being stuck in limbo. He proclaimed he did enough penance for his sin of picking me to have sex with, his words not mine. Getting married because of an unplanned pregnancy at twenty wasn’t a declaration of love, or not to him, anyway.
Of course, I had something to say about that and the nine years we spent married, raising our son, paying a mortgage and car loans, you know something called life!
To say that my world fell out from underneath me that day didn’t even come close to describing the pain and heartache of hearing the hateful things Alec said to me. Lecturing me on the type of person he thought I was and the kind I actually was. That I didn’t measure up to being anywhere close to the wife he wanted, and it seemed I was a very lacklustre sexual partner hence why he cheated on me at any chance he got.