by Melody Anne
“It’s always good to make an entrance,” Arden said.
“Isn’t that a girl’s line?” Keera asked.
“Nah, men like to make an entrance too.”
“That’s for sure. When you guys walk into a room together it definitely is a show-stopper,” Roxie said as she gazed at her husband.
“That’s because I’m so dang cute they don’t have to look at my ugly brothers,” Kian told them.
“Mmm hmm, we all bow to you, Kian,” Declan said with a smirk.
“I know. I am a doctor,” he said with a waggle of his brows.
“Yeah, we’ve been told that a time or two,” Arden said.
Angela loved listening to them banter. It was one of her favorite things in the world. The love between them was more than obvious, and they knew each other so well there wasn’t a dry moment when they were together.
“Yes, we all know how hot you boys are. But the secret that makes people turn their heads is the hearts of gold you try so hard to hide,” Roxie said.
“Damn, I love you, babe,” Kian said. He pulled Roxie to him and kissed her long enough to make Angela squirm. No one else seemed to even notice. When he let go of his wife, her lips were red and her eyes were sparkling.
“I love you too,” she said as she reached up and brushed a bit of lipstick off his bottom lip. For all the two of them knew, no one else was around.
“Do you guys need to get a room? I’m sure Joseph has one or two to spare in this place,” Declan asked. But then his arm wrapped around her, and she didn’t know what to do. They weren’t there as a couple. But she liked having his arm around her. It felt good—it felt right.
A gleam popped into Kian’s eyes. “From what I’ve heard it’s not us who need to get a room,” he said with a chuckle. Angela tensed as she shot a warning look at Roxie, who gave her an innocent smile.
“Kian, I think I hear your name being called,” Declan said.
“Yes, I think all your names are being called,” Eden said as she and Owen joined them.
“Huh?” Arden asked.
“That is girl talk for get lost,” Declan said. “I thought you would’ve learned that by now. The ladies want to talk without us.”
“Oh,” Kian said with a fake pout. “I guess we could disappear for a little while. But not too long. I want to swing you around on that dance floor.”
“That’s a date, darling,” Roxie said. Then she shooed the men away.
And Angela was left alone with the women, exactly what she’d managed to avoid all day. She wondered if she could claim she needed a bathroom break and run for it. She figured these women were a lot smarter than she was, and they’d simply follow her.
One part of Angela didn’t want to share with these women and another part wanted to tell them everything. She needed other women to talk to, and she had no one else. In the past few years she’d grown close to each of them. They had a unique friendship, and it felt good to be a part of the group.
That made it all the scarier. What if things went seriously wrong with Declan and she lost all of this because of it. Was it worth taking that chance? She wasn’t sure she had a choice any more.
“All right, I’ve been waiting all day to talk to you. When did you and Declan get intimate?” Eden asked.
“Yeah, you have no idea the amount of restraint it’s taken us not to quiz you all day,” Roxie said.
“I knew there were fireworks between the two of you, but I didn’t know it had reached the sheet-tangling stage yet,” Keera added.
Angela could honestly say she’d never been asked these types of questions before. She was utterly out of her element and didn’t know what to think or say. She finished off her wine, and as if by magic, a waiter was there refilling. She liked this barbecue more and more by the second.
“I . . . um . . . well . . .” She found herself stuttering without having any answers for them. Should she spill it all?
“Look, these Forbes men are a pain to deal with. Each of us understands that, and each of us has had our own moments and stories, so just know there will be no judgment from any of us. We only want the scoop. Maybe we can work through it with you. If I’d taken the time to talk instead of running away I wouldn’t have wasted years I could’ve been with Kian. It’s my biggest regret in life,” Roxie said.
“I didn’t want to like Arden at all,” Keera said. “But he was always there, and the more he was, the less I could control what I was feeling. The first time we made love, I realized that’s what sex was supposed to be like. Oh, and it only gets better and better as time goes on. I hate leaving his bed.”
The other two women giggled, and Angela felt herself blushing at those words.
“I grew up in this town and knew Owen most of my life. He broke my heart. But we had to grow up, and I’m grateful for our time apart, but even more grateful to get to be with him every day now. I know they all have faults. You won’t get judgment from us,” Eden assured her. “I promise.”
“Declan feels he needs to protect me,” Angela said. “This isn’t a relationship. He’s just helping me and Timothy. I admit he’s going above and beyond, but this isn’t a love story.” They looked at her with unbelievable looks. “I’ll admit I have feelings, but I haven’t had time to process them. And I don’t see how this could work out to becoming more than it is.”
“That’s what all of us thought,” Roxie said. “Love isn’t always a choice, as some people say. I believe we can choose to love someone and we can choose to stop loving them, but sometimes, no matter how much we don’t want to, we can’t help it. I didn’t want to love Kian, but he was the only one for me. When I quit fighting that, my life became a lot better.”
“The way Declan follows you with his eyes has a lot more to do with attraction than protection,” Eden assured her. “I’ve seen it for years now, and it’s only grown more intense. I don’t think he’s going anywhere, even when this case is solved. I’ve never seen him like this with another woman.”
“Really?” Angela asked. She didn’t want to feel hope. She was scared that would be a bad, bad idea. “Even if that’s true, it’s not just me I have to think about. I can see Timothy falling in love with him as well, and I don’t want him hurt if this doesn’t work out. But we aren’t in a relationship. We’re just sort of thrown together right now.”
“But you’re also sleeping in his bed,” Eden said.
The three women stared her down as if daring her to deny it. She let out a sigh.
“Okay, yes, we’ve slept together . . . twice.”
“Ah, now we’re getting to the good stuff. How was it?” Keera asked.
Angela’s face turned scarlet as she looked around, glad no one seemed to be paying attention to them.
“It was amazing, unlike anything I’ve felt before. It was so much more than sex,” Angela admitted.
“Yeah, once you have really, really great sex, there’s no turning back. You can never settle for mediocre again,” Keera said.
“Then I’m probably screwed,” Angela said.
“You are if he’s doing it right,” Eden said with a giggle.
“And they say men are bad,” Roxie said with a laugh. “If they heard the way we talk, they’d be in shock. I love it.”
All four of them giggled at that. The conversation wasn’t nearly as bad as Angela had thought it would be. Maybe she really could tell these ladies anything. Maybe they could help her work through it all. She felt as if she belonged in this group and it was a great feeling.
“Let’s go raid the snack table. I’m starving,” Eden said.
That’s when Angela noticed Eden was only drinking non-alcoholic beverages. The light dawned.
“Are you pregnant?” she asked.
Eden beamed. “Yes, but only three months. We’re about to announce it. So much can go wrong in the first trimester I didn’t want to say anything. But I’m eating three times as much as I normally eat so people are going to start noticing me getting re
ally fat.”
“Congratulations,” Angela exclaimed. The women all hugged. Angela was a little jealous because she’d never again feel what Eden was feeling now. That reminder told her she couldn’t ever have anything serious with Declan. He’d want to have children, a legacy of his own. And she couldn’t give it to him.
She kept the smile on her face, but part of her joy dimmed at that cold reality. Luckily no one seemed to notice. She had a long night to get through, and she hoped she could shake off the gloom she was now feeling. She’d done it before and she was sure she could do it again.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“You’re a goner.”
Declan was trying to tune out his brothers as he watched Angela walk to the food table with his sisters-in-law. He was pretty sure he was an absolute goner, but he wasn’t going to give them the pleasure of admitting it.
As her smooth legs flexed while she walked, he realized he’d only seen her in a dress once before at a dinner a couple of years ago, and that dress had reached the floor. She’d been stunning then as she was always.
But the dress she was wearing now rested a few inches above her knees showing the smooth curve of her thighs and the muscled contours of her calves. She was wearing two-inch heels and looked good enough to devour.
All he wanted to do was walk over to her, lift her in his arms, and run his hands up that skirt, over the firmness of her ass, and around to that sweet spot that was making him hard even thinking about it.
He was fantasizing about the color of her panties, desperately wanting to know if they were lace or silk. He wanted to slide his fingers over every inch of her body. He knew the feel and taste of her, and he hadn’t gotten nearly enough.
There was a breeze blowing in off the ocean and he watched as the skirt fluttered, giving him more of a peek at her olive skin that wasn’t covered by nylons. He hated nylons. He’d rather she was bare and ready. That train of thought wasn’t helping his condition at all. It was a good thing his shirt was untucked. In her presence that was a much smarter route to take.
“He’s so gone he isn’t even listening to us. Do you think he’ll get a stalking order for ogling the witness?” Arden asked.
“I know I don’t look at my patients the way he’s looking at his protectee,” Kian said.
“Yeah, I’ve saved a few women from fires and never undressed them with my eyes like that,” Owen added.
“None of the people you’ve been around have been as delicious as Angela,” Declan finally muttered. “But stop talking about her.”
“What’s going on between the two of you?” Kian asked. He was always the one to get to the point the quickest.
“Nothing. I’m protecting her,” Declan said. There was a lot going on but he didn’t think it was any of his siblings’ business. Thinking that made him regret how much crap he’d given his siblings when they’d been going through relationship troubles.
He had no doubt it was payback time, and he was going to get it in full force. For one, he was the oldest and it was their pleasure to flick him crap, and for two, he’d always thought he was more advanced than them in being smart about not getting sucked into anything messy.
It didn’t get any messier than it was right now.
However, he was a grown adult who’d been around the block a time or two and could control himself. He could take this nice and slow. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to burn up the sheets while they were doing just that.
Hell, he was confused. He didn’t know what to think or say. And he didn’t want to tell his siblings that.
“Well, if you don’t make a claim soon, it might not be an issue. There are a few single guys hanging around tonight at this party, and they are definitely noticing Angela’s smoking hot legs. She gets hit on regularly at the diner as well. I don’t know how she’s still single,” Owen said. He loved poking his brother the most.
“Does your wife know how you like to check out other women?” Declan asked.
Owen laughed. “I have zero desire to check other women out when I’m married to the most amazing woman on the planet. She gave me a second chance when I’d been an utter fool and I won’t ever blow it with her again.”
“You sure notice a lot about Angela,” Declan growled.
Owen couldn’t seem to stop laughing. “I notice a lot around me, and I hear even more from my very beautiful wife.”
“Yeah, in case you haven’t noticed our wives really like to talk,” Arden said. “But I’m glad they’re all so close. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be one of those families where no one gets along.”
“That wouldn’t happen because we’d never be attracted to women who were like that,” Kian pointed out.
“Well, to be honest, I’ve been attracted to some pretty bitchy women before,” Arden said. “But the romance died off real quick . . . as soon as they started speaking.”
“I remember when I was younger I was attracted to a woman whether I liked her personality or not. The older I’ve gotten, personality determines how a woman looks.”
“Now you do sound like an old man,” Owen said.
“Or a mature one, unlike you,” Declan told him.
“Growing up too soon sucks,” Owen replied. “That’s why I fight fires. I want to stay young forever.”
“You’re doing a damn fine job of it,” Kian said. “Some of us have professional careers.”
“You play with knives all day. You’re no more mature than the rest of us,” Arden said.
“Maybe you became a teacher so you could pretend to be a teenager forever,” Declan told him.
Arden laughed. “No, if anything, hanging around teenage girls and boys all day makes me more grateful than ever that I’ve evolved. I don’t know how our parents survived our childhood.”
That got a grin out of all of them. “Because we’re the world’s greatest kids. I think we should give them a plaque that says so,” Owen said.
“You would give them something that cheesy. I can’t imagine what this conversation sounds like to an outsider,” Declan told them.
“They’d probably assume we’ve had too much to drink,” Arden said with a shrug. “Which happens on occasion.”
“We’ve gotten off track here,” Owen said. “Back to Angela and her singlehood. Are you going to stake your claim?”
His three brothers stood there and waited while he thought about his reply. He could make another joke, or he could be honest with them. He wasn’t sure which would be better.
“She’s mine,” he said simply.
His brothers didn’t mock him after that. They understood it wasn’t easy for him to utter those words.
“Okay then. I can’t wait for the wedding,” Kian said with a smile. He might be joking, but Declan wondered if his brother was right. You didn’t play with a woman like Angela. You didn’t carry on a casual affair with her.
She had a son and she’d been through too much tragedy already in her life. Did that mean he was ready to commit? He never had before. He’d dated, of course. He was far from a monk. But the longest relationship he’d ever had lasted about a month, and he’d only seen the woman a few times during that time. He didn’t do well with relationships. He didn’t do well with compromise.
Declan was used to getting his way. And he knew compromise was the biggest word in any relationship. So he was now claiming Angela. What in the hell did it mean?
Chapter Twenty-Three
“My friend, you have always thrown a great party,” Lucian Forbes said to Joseph as the two of them sat back, away from the rest of the partygoers so they were able to look out at the crowd and see all of their family members.
“You as well. We haven’t talked much the last few months. I don’t like that,” Joseph said. Then he looked around and Lucian laughed. Joseph scowled at him.
“I saw Katherine go in the house about ten minutes ago with my wife and a few other women. You might have ten more minutes to sneak a few puffs in,” Lucian
said.
“It’s not sneaking,” Joseph thundered. Several heads turned their way and Joseph quieted his voice. “I can have a cigar anytime I like. I just prefer to cut back on them.”
But even as he said this he pulled one out of his pocked and inhaled its sweet scent. Lucian pulled one out too. There was nothing like a nice glass of brandy and a sweet cigar on a beautiful night filled with family.
“My wife gets on me when I have too many, too, so I know exactly how it is,” Lucian said.
“What are you two yammering on about?” George asked as he came up and sat down. Joseph pulled out another cigar and handed it over.
“We’re just talking about how blessed we are,” Joseph told his brother as he leaned back. George laughed.
“I’m sure you are. But who are we matchmaking? That’s the heart of the matter,” George said. “I’ve been restless lately. I need a new project.”
“Declan has been taking his sweet time with Angela, but we think it’s finally moving forward,” Lucian said. “She’s been in town for three years now and the looks these two send each other are enough to melt paint, but neither have made a move no matter how many times they get thrown together. Now, with all this criminal activity, she’s moved in with him. She and that beautiful son of hers.”
“Nothing like the added bonus of an instant grandkid,” Joseph said. He truly meant that. Family didn’t have to be blood.
“You’re smoking without me?” Richard asked as he joined his brothers and Lucian.
“We knew you’d be along,” Joseph said. Joseph, George, and Richard were triplets, and though Richard had been taken at birth, you’d never know they grew up without him. The three of them were so well matched in personality that when they got together the world had better watch out.
Not only were the brothers as close as could be, but they were loyal to their friends as well. Once a friend, it was for a lifetime.
“I heard that last bit,” Richard said. “So Declan and Angela are finally making sparks happen?”