Black

Hands on hips, Shae narrows her eyes. “You planned this, didn’t you?”

“That’s absurd. I had no idea you work here.”

Clearly, she doesn’t believe me.

“If you wanted to see me again, you could’ve just called. You have my number.”

I recline on the crazy teal couch, propping one ankle on my knee and stretching my arm across the back. I want to appear calm and relaxed, though I’m anything but. Her feisty mouth and assumption that I set this up somehow have my cock twitching in my pants.

“I could’ve. You could’ve called as well.”

“This is fantastic,” Dante murmurs, scooting his chair closer. He pats the chair next to his and looks at Shae. “But I’ve got a hot date, so if you don’t mind.”

She drops onto the chair next to him, her gaze holding mine. “Right. Sorry. The party.” She grabs a pad of paper and pen from the table and settles them in her lap. “Tell me what you have in mind.”

Leaning forward, I drop my voice. “We’re not finished.”

She takes a deep breath and nods.

“It’s our parents’ wedding anniversary, and we’d like to throw them a party,” Dante says.

Shae laughs. “Well, I sort of figured that much. But what are you looking to do? Do you have a theme in mind? A certain venue you’d like to use? We need to figure out a color scheme, food, music. There are a ton of different things we can do, but I need to know where you’d like to start.”

“Well…” Dante blinks, looks at me, and I just shrug because what the hell do I

know about throwing a party? Isn’t this what we hired her for?

Men.

I swear that without females, they’d fail at life.

“Listen,” Dante explains. “We love our parents, but we don’t know the first thing about planning a party. All we know is that this party can’t be anything short of perfect, or we’ll never hear the end of it. Oh, and money isn’t an object.”

Rex nods, agreeing with his brother as his phone rings. He digs it out of his pocket and looks at the screen. “I have to take this. Excuse me.”

Putting the phone to his ear, he strides across the room.

In my head, I’m telling myself to look away, to stop staring, but for the life of me I can’t. His body shifts easily beneath his thin cotton shirt, and the blue jeans cup his ass perfectly. I know if I close my eyes, I’ll be able to remember how it felt to dig my nails into the firm flesh.

Once he’s out of sight, I manage to roll my tongue up and shove it back into my mouth. I turn toward Dante.

He’s beaming at me, his eyes wide with amusement, and he looks so much like his brother it’s a little scary. Dante doesn’t have Rex’s height, but he has the same thick shoulders, the same dark brown eyes, and that cocky smile that’s been invading my dreams.

“You and Rex couldn’t deny each other if you wanted to.”

He leans back, crossing his arms over his chest. “I am the cooler, sexier Ambrosi brother. But don’t tell Rex I told you that because it’d just start a fight, and I’d hate to kick his ass in front of his girl, because I’m also the stronger one,” he adds, puffing out his chest.

I imagine if Cami and I had grown up together, I would’ve been the Dante of the relationship, and she would’ve been the Rex. That thought makes me smile.

Refusing to say anything he could use as playful ammunition toward his brother, I decide to switch topics. “So, the party. How about we start with a head count.”

“Screw the party. How about we start with you and my brother.”

“Excuse me?” I stammer.

“I see the way you two look at each other. It’s disgusting, but interesting.”

“Interesting how?”