Page 48 of Punish Me

So, I know his team isn’t ready for us today.

As I come down the stairs and head towards the man cave, I can hear the excitement already, and I hear Brayden over everyone else.

“Come on in here and take this ass-whooping, Ro!” Brayden says the moment that he sees me.

“That’s why guys like you will never be CEO. You’re making second-level decisions and not big money moves,” I say, laughing as I head into the room.

Everyone in the room laughs or “oohs” my comment.

“Man, sit your ass down and take a seat. My boys are coming harder this year!” Brayden says, waving a dismissive hand at me.

I look around for an empty seat and find only two. One is near Brayden, which I’m sure belongs to Shayla, and that’s confirmed the moment she steps into the room behind me and takes her seat.

The only other seat is beside Brynlee. I head in that direction and take the armchair beside her.

“Don’t be crying on my sister’s lap when your team loses, either,” Brayden calls out.

Brynlee looks uncomfortable as she forces a smile on her lips and squirms in her seat. She’s wearing a short, light blue denim skirt, a sleeveless orange turtleneck, a long brown cardigan that’s hanging off her shoulders, and a pair of brown booties.

I swear I have no idea how I’ll make it through this afternoon. She smells delicious.

“Hey,” I say, taking the seat beside her.

“Hey yourself,” she says, smiling at me and then turning back to the TV.

I look around the room noisy room and count off seven couples, and then there’s Bryn and me.

“I didn’t know you would be here.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? It’s my brother’s party,” she says simply with a shrug.

“Yeah, but you didn’t come to any of them last year.”

“I wasn’t living here last year,” she says simply. “I haven’t seen you at any of them this year.”

“That’s because I’ve been busy traveling and getting acclimated to my new role. This was the first Sunday I’ve had off in a while.”

“I think you need to do something about that,” she says.

“Like?”

“Introduce some more fun into your life. Maybe take weekends off now and get into something.”

Smirking, I mutter, “Oh, I’m about to get into something all right!”

Brayden jumps up and hollers, dragging my attention from Brynlee and back to the game.

***

The score is seventeen to fourteen and the Forty-Niners are winning. Despite the game being close, Brayden talks big shit.

Everyone is talking about the game, and I glance over at Bryn.

“Follow me,” I say.

She lifts an eyebrow and looks at her brother and then back at me frowning.

“Now?” she whispers.

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