Page 83 of Messing With My Brother's Best Friends

And so did I.

The three of them came filing in, bare chested and tousle haired and my mouth went dry. Not from the toast I’d been munching on but from the very pretty sight of a bunch of men who worked physically hard for a living putting their very big, very muscular bodies on display.

“Everything OK out here?” Connor asked, surveying the kitchen.

“Damn, bacon? I freaking love bacon!” Van went to grab some off the plate, but I slapped his hand with my spatula. “Fuck, baby!” He pulled his wounded hand back against his chest. “If you wanna spank me, save it for the bedroom.”

“If you want bacon I cooked, you need to sit down,” I shot back.

I was treated to a sharp salute, Van sitting at one of the four place settings still on the dining room table. I’d disposed of the now-stale bread and put the shepherd’s pie in the fridge, but the remains of the dinner still haunted me.

“So what’s all this?” Connor asked with the gentlest smile, but I saw the concern in his eyes. It was easy to detect now, but I had to wonder how many times before he’d shot me the same look.

“Today is yes day,” I replied, turning back to the hot plate and sliding the spatula under the fried eggs before depositing them on a plate. “You want eggs over easy? Yes. You want them scrambled. Yes.” I shot him a sidelong look. “I guess I discovered that a lot of good things can come my way if I start saying yes to things, so yes it is today.”

“Yes to everything?”

Gage loomed behind me, hands going to my hips, his body following mine as I worked.

“Well, please don’t make me say yes to anal with that monster.” I pushed back with my arse and then gave a little wiggle when I felt the anaconda in his pants. “Because I think that will have me ending up in hospital.”

“Fuck yeah!” Van shouted. “In your face. I told you that having a big dick has its drawbacks.”

“That’s exactly what a guy with a small dick would say,” Gage shot back, pulling away.

“My dick is not small,” Van spluttered. “It’s just not freakishly thick like yours is.”

“It’s perfect.” Gage was about to say something else to rile Van up, but I appeared at Van’s shoulder with the frypan. “Now, eggs?”

“Damn straight,” he replied. “Hit me with them. It’s been ages since I’ve eaten your cooking, then maybe afterwards—”

“You could take me to work?” It might be yes day, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t manipulate the situation. Van pretended to frown, but his lips twitched up into a smile pretty quickly.

“Yeah, I can. Now, can I have some crispy bacon?”

Connor and Gage weren’t satisfied with just sitting there, helping me by making toast and then plating up food so that minutes later we all ended up around the table, ready to have breakfast. Right as I grabbed my knife and fork, I looked around at each one of them. Van had already dug into his food with gusto, but Gage was slicing up his sausages much more sedately as Connor watched me.

“I just wanted to say something.” Would they always stop everything that they were doing so they could focus on me like this? It was kind of exciting to know I’d find out. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it to dinner last night.”

“It’s fine.” Connor was waving it away without a thought, focussed now entirely on the toast pile.

“It’s not. If I’d known… If I’d thought…” I sucked in a breath and then let it out slowly. “I’d have been here. I thought the other day was just… blowing off steam. I didn’t expect…” My eyes went to my plate, so I didn’t see Connor slide his hand across the table and take mine. I never expected to find comfort in holding his hand, but as I turned to look at him, I saw what we could be rather than what we were. “I didn’t expect you guys to go all out for me, so I figured I’d do something nice in return.”

“You didn’t have to,” Connor told me.

“But I won’t complain if you do.” Van shoved some more bacon into his mouth. “Damn, that’s good…”

“You’re gonna choke.” Gage watched him with the same kind of weird fascination that people used when they saw a boa constrictor dislocate its jaw to fit more food in.

“That’s what she said.”

It took us several seconds to realise what Van said because he’d sprayed bacon over the table as he mumbled the words.

“Oh my god.” I groaned along with the others. “I take it back. This is no day. Absolutely freaking no day.”

“You don’t mean it.” Van had swallowed his bacon, but the grease still stained his chin as he advanced on me.

“No. No.” I got up and held a hand out, but he kept on coming. “Connor!”

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