Page 14 of Knocked Up by my Best Friend's Brothers

“Then you obviously know that I know… that you all know about what happened at the wedding,” I manage, feeling less intelligent with every word I utter.

River takes a deep breath and gets up from his chair. I watch him like a hawk as he cautiously moves around the conference table like a panther on the prowl.

“My brothers and I don’t keep secrets from one another. We share everything.”

“Figures,” I mutter. “Well, the cat’s obviously out of the bag. It happened. It’s not going to happen again. Of that, I can assure you.”

“I don’t think she heard you,” Nathan tells River.

“Nope, she did not,” River says.

My gaze bounces from one hot Hawthorne to the other. “What didn’t I hear?”

“We have no secrets. We share everything,” River repeats.

“Yeah, I heard that.”

“We share…everything.” He gazes into my eyes.

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room becomes charged. And as I look across the conference table, I can tell precisely what he means. It turns me on so hard, it scares me.

“Wait, hold on. What are you saying?”

“We know about what happened at the wedding,” Cassius says. “It was profoundly consensual, right?”

“Absolutely.”

He gets up, too. My core tingles as I sit up straighter in my chair. The anticipation builds, setting off every alarm in my body. Whatever is happening between us thrives on the intensity andis impossible to control. Once the fire is kindled, common sense and reasoning go up in smoke.

“And since we’re clearly adopting a bullshit-free zone here,” Cassius says, now making his way around the other side of the table to reach me, “I guess we should be honest with you, too.”

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

“Did you enjoy what happened at the wedding?” River asks upon reaching me.

I look up, my breath faltering as I meet his smoldering gaze. “You know I did.”

“Would you like to take things to the next level?” he inquires.

“I’d like to get this job and keep things professional,” I say.

Nathan clicks his pen and closes my folder, then leaves his chair as well. “Consider this interview completed. You’re hired. We’ll have HR reach out before the end of the week to get your paperwork started. Now we’re on personal time.”

“So we just flip a switch?” I mumble as River cups my face with both hands and plants a light, feathery kiss on my lips.

“I look forward to dealing with this beautiful, smart mouth of yours on a daily basis,” he says, fingers gently tracing my jawline.

Cassius comes beside me and pulls me out of my chair. I look at him, and he looks at me. For a moment, he says nothing and I hold my breath. He captures my mouth in a kiss, and stars explode behind my eyes. It’s an instant surrender.

“I remember how you looked at us, Christa,” Cassius tells me with a low growl that sends a lightning bolt to my belly. “Whenyou were a teenager, your hormones raging. I remember how you lit up like a firebug whenever we met. And I know what I saw in your eyes when we saw each other again at Teagan’s wedding. It was as plain as day.”

“You want us,” Nathan adds.

“You want us as much as we want you,” River says.

“I do?” My nipples struggle against my bra.

River’s gaze drops as he discretely takes my jacket off, a slow smile appearing on his handsome face. “It’s obvious.”

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