Page 116 of Love Undiscovered
Chapter 31
Remi
I look at the beautiful blonde women who have ambushed me and pulled me into the kitchen with them. Chance’s mother, Annalise, looks young enough to be his sister. I’m having a hard time keeping them all straight. I’m not sure if the wine on an empty stomach is going to help me in this situation or not. I square my shoulders and prepare myself for the worst.
Bring it on Bauer ladies. I can take whatever you’re going to throw at me.
I think.
Audrey, the oldest sibling, puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes it, putting me at ease.
“Relax,” she says softly. “We are a lot at first, but it’s also because Chancey never brings girls home. Not since… well, not for a long time.”
“Since Helen?” I ask.
“He told you?” Audrey asks, her bright green eyes searching mine. The only Bauer sibling with her dad’s eyes. She should be a model for pregnancy magazines with her flawless skin and short pixie-cut blonde hair.
I nod.
“That was hard on all of us,” Audrey says. “But it’s good he told you. It means he’s moved on.”
“What are you two whispering about over there?” Eliza turns toward us from across the kitchen island, her blonde bob-cut hair swinging as she moves.
“The benefits of a D-cup. You wouldn’t understand,” Audrey says to her, gesturing toward her much smaller chest.
Eliza and her mom are built like Lexie: short, compact and petite. Whereas Audrey is tall, thin, and willowy, but with big tits. Charlie is like the perfect blend of them all but with much longer hair, and the only one who got their mom’s curls. I can’t even imagine how beautiful their family photos must be.
“At least mine are staying perky after having a baby,” Eliza says to Audrey.
“Burn,” Charlie says.
“Girls,” Annalise admonishes. “Can we try to act civilized for at least the first hour that our guest is here?” She turns toward me with a smile and blows her shoulder-length curls from her face. “Is it hot in here?”
“Mom’s going throughthe change,” Charlie whispers loudly.
“Charlotte Ann,” Annalise says, then turns toward me. “I apologize in advance for my family’s behavior, Remi dear. Try not to judge us too harshly.”
Me judge them? Ha! They are perfect.
“Oh, we are far from perfect,” Audrey says. I look at her, my brows raised.
“You said it out loud,” she says. “Don’t worry, I do it all the time.” I decide then that I like Audrey, and we’re going to be friends, no matter what happens with Chance.
“So, Remi,” Eliza says, leaning over the kitchen island, and chewing on a carrot stick. “What do you do for work?”
“I work in chemical engineering.”
“Is that…” Annalise starts.
“It’s a lot like how it sounds, yes,” I tell her laughing a bit. I go on to explain what I’m working on currently and how it’s going. I stop talking once I see their eyes start to gloss over.
“Oh, you’re way too smart for Chancey,” Charlie says. “I don’t think he can even spell engineering.”
I laugh, remembering that Chance said almost the same thing. He’d told me before we got here that he was closest to Audrey, but that he and Charlie had similar personalities. I can see that now after meeting them all. I’m starting to feel a lot more comfortable with these women, which is nice. Audrey refills my wine glass that I hadn’t realized I’d finished. No wonder I feel more at ease.
“You’re drinking for me,” she says as she tops it off. “And I’m a three-glass girl. So, do me a favor, have four glasses and get loose enough for the both of us, huh?”
“I’ll work on that,” I say as I point a finger gun at her, then wink and make a little clicking noise with my mouth.
