It’s Thursday night and Westin has a weekly tradition with his siblings to have a family dinner in the conference room of their business. His father started it when they were kids and they’ve kept up the tradition after he passed.
This is the first time he’s invited me, so it feels like a big step in our relationship. I want to make a good impression, so I’m really nervous as he grips my hand while we walk down the hallway.
“I’m not imposing, am I?” I ask as the butterflies start fluttering in my stomach.
He stops and turns to me with those fierce dark eyes that always feel like they’re peering into my soul.
“You’re part of me now,” he says as he grips both of my hands like he’s never going to let go. “You’re part of my soul. You’re my other half, you understand?”
I nod as I gaze into his beautiful eyes. Of course I understand. I’ve been feeling the same way for the past month. Ever since he picked me up at my condo (the condo I’ve barely seen in a month). I feel like he’s an extension of me, like another limb or a part of my heart that’s now on the outside of my body.
“I know my brothers and my sister are going to love you as much as I do. Well, maybe not as much as I do. No one can match that.”
I smile as he leans forward and kisses me softly on the mouth. All of my worries seem to just wash away whenever this man has his lips on me. The butterflies stay, but they’re different butterflies now. They’re the good kind.
“Okay,” I say as I lick his delicious taste off my lips. “I’m ready now.”
We head inside and I gasp when I see two men wrestling on the conference table. It’s Eli and Luke. Luke is on top of him, pressing Eli’s head into the table with his thick forearm as Nolan scrolls on his phone, not even watching the fight.
“That’s enough!” Westin snaps as he pulls out a rolling chair from the table for me. “There’s a lady present.”
All three of them turn to me with a smile. I don’t know what they were fighting about, but they seem to forget all about it as soon as I sit down. Luke gives Eli’s head one more dig into the table before he gets up and straightens his suit out.
“Sorry about that,” he says with a grin. “I’m heading back to the Caribbean tomorrow and I was giving my brother a proper goodbye.”
Eli rubs his head as he slinks into a chair beside him. “It’s not going to be the same over video conference,” he says with a frown. “I don’t think I’ll get used to fighting with a laptop.”
I smile as I look around the table. I love all this brotherly love.
Gabriel and I don’t fight like these guys, but we have our own way of showing love. Our relationship has been much better since the morning after the fashion show.
He’s handed over the running of the company to me, but has been great in helping me out with anything I need. We’re working together and have been closer than ever.
The first thing I did as the boss was to show up at Mr. Jones’ house with a homemade apple pie and we got him back as a client. I think his wife was on my side and helped push him back to us. She was always good friends with my mother.
“Give them another chance, Walter,” she said as she cut him an extra big slice of the pie. “How many times did their father let you pay wholesale when things were tight?”
He frowned as he took a bite, but eventually he caved and gave us another shot. I think the pie helped.
Gabriel agreed to shut down the whole fashion wing of the company and we’ve written it off as a loss. We took all of the clothes that Gabriel had made and sent them to flooding victims in Africa.
“Haven’t those poor people been through enough?” Eli asked when he found out. “Now they have to look ridiculous on top of everything else?”
He’s right, but I don’t ever want to see those clothes again. I’m just happy they’re gone.
We restructured the company and got it back to the basics. Westin has been helping with that. He’s a real genius when it comes to all things business and I’m constantly amazed by the things that come out of his mouth. It’s no wonder his company has done so well. It’s clear that he’s the brains behind it.
“Where’s the foooooood?” Nolan whines as he glances at his phone.
“Did she text you?” Eli asks with a groan.
“Nope.”
Brooke arrives a few minutes later with a few pizza boxes and tosses them onto the table. The boys are like animals, diving in and yanking pieces away like they’re going to vanish any second.