Page 238 of Five Brothers

“Until?” he gasps.

But he already knows.

Grabbing me in both hands, he lifts me up and pins me to the tree. I wrap my legs around him. “What was one of the rumorsabout me that you said you heard?” he whispers over my jaw. “That I’m gonna breed you all out?”

I hold his face in my hands. “I love you.”

His scent fills my head, and I close my eyes, my hair like a curtain falling between us.

“You could be carrying one of ours right now,” he says, hovering his mouth over mine. “My brothers and I had a lot of fun with you, after all.”

I brush my nose to his. “I love you,” I whisper.

“He’s going to get you nice and used.”

I kiss him softly on the lips, and I feel his body tremble under my hands. “I love you.”

“I would father all of your children,” he murmurs.

I press my lips to his forehead, trailing kisses down his temple, down his face, and to the corner of his mouth.

“Summon me every time you want one.” He breathes hard, digging his fingers into the backs of my thighs. “I’ll happily work for you.”

Leaning in, he kisses my forehead, sets me back on my feet, and leaves me there.

“I love you,” I mouth long after he’s gone.

32

Macon

I sweep through Mariette’s kitchen, Aracely keeping pace behind me. “When does the menu change?”

“January.”

I flip through her inventory, scanning the numbers and cost. “You getting orders in?”

“Already done,” she says.

I shoot out my arm, passing her the papers. She should’ve asked me before she bought a bunch of shit she wasn’t sure I’d approve.

But that’s what I hired her for, right? To take initiative?

She’s wasting no time, either. In the last two days, she’s redesigned the restaurant menu, moved the accounts over to a new system I can access on any device, and hired a new server. To replace Krisjen.

I push through the back door of the empty restaurant, the night air cool and loud with life.

“I also want to talk to Mariette about extending hours starting in the spring,” she says behind me.

“Whatever you want.”

It’ll cost more to stay open longer, and we’ll need a bigger staff, but let her see if she can make it worth it. I’ll know in the first month.

She disappears off somewhere, and I look over, seeing Torres heading into the bar with his arm around his wife.

“Macon, come on!” he calls out.

I flash him a dirty look, to which he laughs and heads inside. I’ve never been fun at bars. That’s what he knows.

---