Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 93942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
“You wouldn’t,” Ash said flatly.
“Excuse me? Have you ever met my twin before?” I pointed out. Ash grumbled and finished his beer. “You’re up,” I said to Zoe.
In a way, I admired my brothers’ villainous side. Once we got too old to ski, he had the makings of a fine evil genius.
Zoe looked torn as her gaze went from Kai and me, then over to Asher and then back again. “It’s a really good secret,” Kai taunted. “And once you know it, you’re not going to be able to stop thinking about it.”
She looked intrigued in spite of herself. “The secret about you and Landon or the secret Asher doesn’t want you to tell?”
“Both.” Kai’s voice was smug.
“All right,” she finally said. “He—”
“Wait,” I interrupted. “Say it to him.”
She glared at me with a stern expression she usually reserved for the other two. “All right. That duck you served last night, with those fondant potatoes? That was really good.”
“I know that,” Ash said.
“Drink,” Kai and I said together. When he held up his bottle, showing it was empty, I handed him mine. “Go on,” I told Zoe.
“That was it.”
“That’s the best you can do?” Kai asked. “Calling his food good?”
“What am I supposed to call it? Delicious? Better than life itself? Orgasmic?”
Silence descended after that last word, and her cheeks heated, but she didn’t take it back.
“It wouldn’t be the first time someone called it that,” Asher remarked.
“Your turn,” I told him. “Say something good about Zoe.”
He glared at me. Jesus, was it really that hard?
Finally, he sighed. “She’s good with the guests.”
Instead of taking the compliment, Zoe challenged him. “How the hell would you know that?” When I looked pointedly at her beer, she took a drink. “I’m just saying that he just said the first thing he could think of to get you off his back.”
“No, I didn’t,” Ash said. “I mean, yes, that’s why I answered, but it’s true. I heard some guests talking about you in the dining room.”
“You did?” In her surprise, she forgot to sound mad.
“Yes. A woman at table seven said that you gave her suggestions for what to send her grandson for Christmas. And my sous chef said you told her about a couple’s anniversary and how at their wedding, they had carrot cake. They were thrilled when we brought a huge slice out to them.”
“You did?” Zoe looked pleased.
“Yes.” Ash’s voice was clipped, clearly showing the subject was closed.
Zoe turned to us. “Okay, now, you have to tell your secret.”
“And, as agreed, not tell mine,” Ash muttered.
Kai looked at me. “Are you still wearing it?”
It took me a moment to realize what he meant, and I groaned. We’d gotten up to so much trouble over the years that there were any number of things he could’ve told Zoe. But he wanted to go for that? But I nodded.
Trying to change Kai’s mind was like trying to keep the tide from coming in.
“Wearing what?” Zoe said, leaning forward.
Kai’s eyes gleamed at her interest. “Wearing a piercing. We each have one.”
Zoe’s eyes widened and she nearly tumbled off the edge of the chair. “Where?” she asked breathlessly. She could see it wasn’t on our heads.
“Guess,” Kai said smugly.
Zoe looked us over, and my skin heated under her scrutiny. “I don’t know,” she said slowly, her eyes roaming all over us—from the neck on down. “Is it…” she gulped, her gaze settling on my crotch.
“It’s a nipple-piercing,” Ash said gruffly.
“Spoilsport,” Kai muttered.
“Really?” Zoe asked, her eyes wide. “Can I—can I see?”
Kai grinned. “I knew that would be her first question.” He lifted his shirt to show her but didn’t stop there. No, my classy brother had to peel it completely off. Then he tossed it away, and it almost landed in the fire. I sighed. Kai had never been subtle about anything in his entire life.
Zoe gasped, her mouth dropping open. But from the dazed look on her face, she hadn’t even noticed the little barbell piercing his left nipple. If I wasn’t mistaken, she was more focused on his toned muscles.
Kai, of course, let her look, puffing up his chest. Finally, he tapped the pad of his index finger over his left nipple, and she focused on the piercing. “Did it hurt?”
“For a while, yes. Now, I don’t even notice it. Women always do, though.” His smirk returned.
“I’ve never seen one before.”
“Want to touch it?” He leaned forward. “Or taste it?”
I shoved him back onto the couch. “So now you know our secret.” It was a lame attempt to get things back into more innocent territory. But all it did was make Zoe turn those flashing dark eyes on me.
“You have one too?”
“Yes.”
“Show her,” Ash said. Though clearly Zoe had been dying to say that, he wasn’t doing it as a favor to her. No, it was revenge for us threatening to reveal his secret. Not that I’d been the one to do that, but I was used to getting blamed for things my twin did. Look what had happened the first time I met Zoe.