Page 302 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
Lennox has told me about the occasional opportunity he’s had to meet high-profile celebrities through his brother. But the guest list of today’s housewarming party for Flint reads like a guide to who’s who on Hollywood’s A-list. It’s a private party. No press, and Flint only expected a handful of his friends and associates to travel across the country to attend. But apparently, nearly every single person whom Flint invited jumped at thechance to come see the secluded house he’s built for himself in the mountains of North Carolina.
Even I’m feeling a little star struck, and I grew up in Hollywood Hills.
An hour later, Flint greets us at the door of his stunningly perfect home. Vaulted ceilings, long range view of the mountains, a kitchen that makes me want to weep with envy. It’s ridiculously extravagant, but somehow still comes across as understated. Earthy tones, comfortable fabrics. It’s the kind of house where you feel like you can rest your feet on the coffee table without offending anyone.
“Tatum!” Flint says, pulling me into a hug. “Good to see you again.”
I am fully and completely dedicated to Team Lennox as far as the Hawthorne brothers are concerned. He’s definitely the most handsome, the most charming, and he feeds me, which, the discussion can really end right there.
But I’m not blind to the magnetic star power of the youngest Hawthorne brother. With his dark hair and those broody eyes he shares with Perry—I’m just saying. It’s not a wonder the world is obsessed with him.
Flint hugs Lennox next. “So glad you guys are here. Also, just a heads up? The Hemsworth brothers are in the kitchen. And Harry Styles is outside in the pool.”
“Wait, what? Are you being serious?” I peer over his shoulder toward the large living room windows that look over the pool and the mountains beyond.
“Nah,” Flint says with an easy grin. “It’s too cold to swim.”
He turns and heads toward the kitchen. “Come on back. I’ve got the smoker warmed up and ready just like you asked.”
I grab Lennox’s arm. “Wait. Does that mean Harry Stylesisn’tat this party right now?”
Lennox chuckles and leans down for a quick kiss. “Nah,” he says, mimicking Flint’s tone. “The party hasn’t started yet.”
“Lennox!” I whisper yell at his retreating form. “That’s not even an answer!”
He lifts a hand, waving over his shoulder as he turns the corner and disappears, leaving me in the foyer with exactly zero information about Harry Styles. “I love you when you’re flustered!” he calls, and I roll my eyes.
I’m halfway to the living room to look for Harry when Lila and Kate appear in front of me, tugging me around the corner and down the hall to a guest bedroom. They stop outside the closed bedroom door. “Hi. Sorry for the ambush,” Lila says. “We have a surprise for you.”
“Is it Harry Styles?” I ask.
Kate frowns. “No. But I heard he’s out by the pool.”
“But it’s better than Harry Styles,” Lila says. She reaches for my hand. “Come on. You have to close your eyes.”
A surge of love fills my chest as I yield control to my sisters-in-law. These women, and Olivia, too, have become my closest friends over the past eighteen months. We’ve bonded over Kate’s struggle with unexplained infertility and her subsequent pregnancy success through intrauterine insemination. She’s four months along now and is finally through the worst of her morning sickness.
We rallied around Lila when she lost her grandmother and took turns watching Jack when she and Perry spent a week moving her grandfather into their guest room.
We were all in the delivery room when Olivia had her second baby when Asher was only eighteen months old—way earlier than she and Tyler had originally planned.
But mostly, we just do a lot of laughing. Texting. Joking about small town life in Silver Creek married to men as intense asthe Hawthornes. I know these women, and they know me. And that’s a pretty amazing feeling.
The door cracks open, and Olivia pops her head out. “Are her eyes closed?”
I lift my hands to my face and cover my eyes all the way. “They’re closed! I promise!”
“Okay,” Olivia says. “Take four steps forward.” One of them—I can’t tell who—grips my shoulders and turns me a different direction. “Okay. Now open your eyes,” Kate says from directly behind me.
I open my eyes and immediately scream. Bree is standing in front of me.
Here. At Flint’s house.
Tears immediately fill my eyes. I haven’t seen her since the wedding.
I rush forward and pull her into a hug. “Oh my gosh! What are you doing here?”
“Are you kidding? The Hemsworth brothers are here. I’d have crawled naked to be here if I had to.”
