Page 25 of Flirting with the CEO

"That's a great idea," I said. "I think they’d be happy if we went to one of their galleries."

I had to review my account to see if I could afford an overseas ticket. If I bought it well in advance, maybe I could find a deal. I was making good money and had a decent nest egg. But growing up the way we did, I always had a deep fear that I might end up without any money at all.

"Do we know if Mom and Dad are actually selling anything?" Alex asked.

I took another swig of margarita as Dean cleared his throat. "I asked them, and they avoided the topic.”

"Do you think they might need help?" I inquired.

Alex shrugged. "Could be. You know how these things go. Everyone thinks that if your stuff is in galleries, you’re making bank. But most of the paintings just move from one gallery to the next. That doesn't put money in their pockets."

We knew that well. When we were growing up, our parents struggled to make ends meet. They held down small side jobs while they tried to achieve a breakthrough with their art. We got evicted many times.

As kids, I'd shared a room with Dean and Alex right up until they left home. I respected Mom and Dad for never losing their passion, but it did make life more difficult. Now we were all in a position to pitch in and help whenever they needed it. My brothers had solid, well-paying jobs.

"And they don't always tell us stuff," Alex said.

"I can try and get it out of them, then. I think I might just offer to pay for their next hotel or something," Dean said.

Out of all of us, he was the best one at finding ways to help our parents without them realizing what he was actually doing. They never said if they needed money or not, but we liked to help whenever we could.

"All right, so we’ve talked about our parents and about me and my crazy life. What's up with you two?" I asked.

"Work's fine," Dean said quickly. He was an investment banker, so work was taking up most of his life. "I might have started seeing someone."

"Might?" Alex asked.

Dean glowered at him. "I'll share details at some point."

"How can you not be sure?" Alex said.

"Hey, stop badgering him. We each go at our own pace," I said. "And not everyone lets their client kiss them until their skirt falls apart at the seams—quite literally."

Alex shook his head before saying, "Dang, you’re making me blush. Well,Iam dating someone."

"Since when?" I asked, perplexed.

"It started last week."

He sounded so confident that I wondered if he was going to introduce her to us soon.

I stayed with my brothers until late into the evening. Then they waited until I got into an Uber before calling their own. They always did that whenever we stayed out late. I was a little bit tipsy, since I'd ordered a second margarita before we ate our fried chicken, and it went straight to my head.

Dean's words were playing in my mind. Was I stupid for kissing Colton today? It wasn't like I'd planned it, but still, I could have stopped it. My God, I didn't want to. The second his mouth was on mine, I’d completely forgotten where we were and what we were supposed to be doing. I didn't regret it, not at all.

When I arrived home, I took a long shower, and that completely woke me up. Afterward, I pulled my wet hair into a bun. It was my favorite trick to make my hair wavy.

Instead of going to bed, I went to the living room, turning on my TV and putting on one of my favorite Netflix shows about detectives. I had no idea how watching people commit murder and others solve it relaxed me this much, but I could practically feel my legs getting lighter as the scenes grew more intense.

My phone screen lit up just as the lead detective made an important discovery. I pressed Pause, not wanting to miss a moment. I'd forgotten to confirm to my brothers that I'd gotten home and figured it was them and that they were worried. It was probably Alex calling. The number on the screen was unknown, but I answered anyway.

“Hello!”

“Good evening, Zoey.” It was Colton.

I shimmied in my seat, grinning. "Hey.”

“What are you doing?”

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