Hot 4 (Multiple Love)

1

"Do you have any idea what is in this?" I ask the gorgeous man standing next to me at the wedding buffet. I've decided to be brave and chose from the Asian section, but everything looks unfamiliar, and I don't want to load my plate with food choices that don't go well together. He turns to me, his ethereal gray eyes as soft as clouds on the first day of fall, his full lips quirked into an amused smile.

"It's green curry," he says. "It looks like it's chicken. It shouldn't be too spicy if that's what you're worried about."

"And this?"

"Those are rice noodles with prawns. It's called Pad Thai. Those will be good too. And take some of this." He points at another dish as the woman next to him tuts at our slow progress. If we weren't at my best friend's wedding, I'd be telling her to take a chill pill. It's not as though the food is going to run out or anything. I don't think she's related to Natalie, but who knows. There are four hundred people at this extravaganza, and I know hardly any of them.

I haven't officially met the man I'm currently debating cuisine with, but I do know his name. It's either Kane or Karter Banbury. He's an identical twin, and first cousin of my BFF's new husbands. Yes, I said husbands. This wedding isn't just an extravaganza because of the setting, or the number of guests invited. It's because my bestie has just made history and committed herself to three men.

Three.

I would never have pictured Natalie in such an arrangement. Polyamory has always been my fascination. In fact, she used to tease me about my Kindle library and how stuffed it is with Reverse Harem Romance. And here she is, living my dream. Married to her three stepbrothers!

I smile back at Kane or Karter, all six foot three of gorgeous man dressed in a light gray suit, with an opened collared dress shirt. Just the little section of his throat that's on show is enough to make me want to squeeze my thighs together. Damn.

"So you're an expert in Asian cuisine?"

"Not an expert. I have a friend who cooks really good Thai and Vietnamese dishes."

"Lucky you." I help myself to the food he's identified and watch as he selects some strange-looking orange round things.

"Thai fishcakes," he says, and without asking, he drops two on my plate. "You have to try these. Dip them in sweet chili sauce."

"Okay, I will. I'm Connie, by the way."

"I know," he says. "Natalie's maid of honor."

"Maid of dishonor more like." I wink suggestively because I have an ulterior motive for interrogating this man about food. Before I left home, I spent hours at the beautician’s, making sure that every part of my body is smooth because it's my first ever vacation abroad, and I absolutely intend to make it memorable.

He snorts, but there's a little sparkle that finds its way into his eyes that tells me he's picking up my signal. "Kane," he says.

"Mason, Max, and Miller's hot cousin," I say.

He almost drops his plate when he laughs. "Nobody's ever called me a hot cousin before."

"Well, it looks like I just popped that cherry. Where are your hot brothers?" Kane turns to the far corner of the outdoor seating area. It's a table filled with more of the grooms' family. In contrast, I'm heading over to sit with some of Natalie's work colleagues and a few of our friends from high school. "Well, I'm over here." I point to my table, and Kane's eyes follow my gesture. "Maybe I'll see you later?"

"Maybe you will." Kane raises his eyebrow, and I notice a tiny scar through the right one that will help me distinguish him from his brother.

I sashay away, feeling his gaze taking in my ass as it jiggles in my floor-length figure-hugging gown. There's no VPL for me. I opted for my tiniest powder blue thong to preserve my silhouette and because I'm hoping that someone will be removing it with their teeth later. When I return to my table, the girls who are sitting next to me eye my food. "You're brave," Mary says. She has a plate of chili and rice in front of her, the food she could get in any restaurant back home.

I glance over at Kane's table and find four heads turned in my direction. My heart skips in my chest as I quickly knock back a glass of champagne and then smile and wave in their direction. Three men whose names I know wave back: Kane's twin Karter and their twin brothers Holden and Harris Banbury. Their father is brothers with the father of the grooms from today's wedding. When God was cultivating ultra-gorgeous DNA, he shook his stick at the Banbury family for an unfairly long time. I could have done with a little more sprinkled in my direction, but hey, you've got to work with what you've got.