Page 58 of The Brothers Next Door

“Nothing wrong with that,” Nate added, stepping out from the dining room.

Both men looked amazing. Darrin was wearing a buttoned down blue shirt that matched his eyes perfectly, along with a pair of blue jeans. Nate had on his typical black t-shirt that hugged his torso wonderfully. Damn, these men were drool-worthy specimens.

“What was the big rush?” I asked, stepping into Darrin’s place and being assaulted by the delicious aroma of lasagna and garlic bread. It was one of my favourite dishes. “You boys didn’t make lasagna just for me, did you?”

“Fuck no. Who said you’re staying for supper? We’re just going to have a quick chat with you and throw you out,” Nate teased, taking my hand and leading me into the dining room.

I gasped as I entered the dining room. The lights were out and there were candles lit throughout. The table was set as if they were having royalty over, with full settings and even napkins folded as little swans sitting on the plates.

“What’s the occasion? You guys did all of this just to talk?”

“As my brother said, this isn’t for you,” Darrin said from behind us, appearing at my other side. “We like to romance each other every once in a while.”

I shot him a doubtful look, but at the same my heart was fluttering in my chest. They wouldn’t have gone through all this effort if they didn’t want me, despite the misunderstanding. “Thank you, guys.”

“Sit.” Nate guided me to a chair and pulled it out for me. Once I was seated, he pushed it in. “And we’ll bring out the dinner.

I watched them as they disappeared into the kitchen and a few minutes later re-appeared with what I’d guessed earlier—lasagna, garlic cheese bread, and Caesar salad. I absolutely loved Caesar salad, it smelled almost as good as it tasted.

Once they were seated and the portions served, the room grew silent. I didn’t know where to begin, and by judging from their expressions they didn’t know either. There was so much ground to cover to clear up the misunderstandings.

Halfway through the meal I couldn’t handle the silence any more. “Look, guys, I’m really sorry about the Craig thing this morning. There’s nothing going on, I swear to God. It’s just you two. I swear it.”

The brothers exchanged a look. I’d gotten to know them very well over the past few months, but from time to time they’d share a look as if they knew what each other was thinking and they were having some sort of mental conversation. Maybe one day I’d be able to figure out what those looks were all about. Though that day wasn’t today.

In unison, they both dropped their cutlery and each one took one of my hands in theirs, giving my hands a squeeze.

Darrin was the one that spoke first. “We know. We’ve discussed it at great length and this past week has been a series of miscommunications and assumptions. We don’t want that any more.”

Does that mean they don’t want me?

“Okaaay.” I looked from one brother to the other. “Which means?”

Nate took over. “It means that we were stupid to set a bunch of rules when it came to this relationship. That is on us. Shit happens, especially when it comes to people in love. It’s not realistic to limit sexual contact or expressions of feelings.”

“In love?” My gaze pierced into him as I waited to hear the exact words. Sure, Darrin had told me the other day, but he’d spoken for both men and I hadn’t heard those three words directly from Nate before.

“It means I love you. I’m in love with you and have been for a while, even though I wasn’t willing to admit it, not to myself and certainly not to you. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve said those words, and perhaps part of me thought I wasn’t even capable of that emotion.”

Smiling, we shared a look. The look was warm and promising. It was the look of a man who wanted nothing more than me to love him back.

Darrin squeezed my hands, directing my attention to him. When our eyes locked, he said, “We’re both in love with you, Layla.”

“What about… the future? Can this work?” I’d also been doing a lot of thinking when it came to the technicalities of this and I saw the difficulties.

“We’ll make it work, honey. Who marries who or whose babies you bear is irrelevant as long as we’re all together.”

Marry? Babies? They’d really thought this through. My heart soared. This was for real.

“You’d both do this for me? Me?” I’m sure I was sounding pathetic, but I needed 100% clarity. My heart was on the line. These past few days had been sheer torture.

“Layla.” I turned my head to look at Nate again. “There’s no other woman we’d even consider doing this with, you’re special. There’s so much love in you to give.”

“More than any man can handle on his own,” Darrin chimed in.

Tears welled up in my eyes and I looked from one man to the other. Damn this table for dividing us. I wanted to jump up and kiss them, but couldn’t make the choice as to who to go to first.

They made it easy for me. Both men stood and came to me. Nate got to me first, and helped me up from the chair. I was surprised to find myself weak in the knees, needing his assistance to rise from the chair. As I stood, I fell into his strong embrace, his arms wrapping around my waist. Looking up, our gazes locked and his lips came down onto mine.

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