Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
After Chef Donovan finished his food preparation, Parker shooed him away to rest for the remainder of the evening while they gathered up all the food to take into the lounge with the bar. Parker made more drinks for us, and we sprawled on the furniture, gorging ourselves on delicious food and gossip.
It was well after midnight when we were all dressed in our pajamas, picking at the scraps of food that remained.
“Trust us, Pierce is going to make you totally swoon. It might take him a couple of days, but it’s going to be amazing,” Parker declared, his words slurring after the many drinks he’d had.
“Plus, he’s got all the guys there to help him,” Byron said. His eyes were closed, and he was clutching a pillow to his chest as he was curled up in a ball in the corner of the long sofa. “I know Sebastian had help from Pierce and Rome. I love that man to death, but there’s no way he organized that giant digital billboard above Fountain Square by himself.”
A soft hum left me. “I heard about that. It was so sweet.”
“Byron was the one who gave me the nudge in the right direction for Declan,” Parker admitted.
Byron grunted. It sounded as if he were half-asleep already. I had no doubt that wonderful bedrooms were prepared for all of us in this big house, but I was stretched out on the other side of the sofa Byron was on. Liam had a love seat all to himself. And Parker was lying on the floor. We were all in different states of intoxication, showing no interest in climbing stairs.
“Do you really think Pierce will come around?” I asked in a small, quiet voice.
“What?” Parker lurched upright, his hair standing up in every direction, looking dazed and very confused. “Are you serious?”
Liam gave a jaw-cracking yawn. “Of course. He adores you. He tries to hide it, but you can hear it when he lets himself talk about you.”
“But he also loved Sawyer like a brother. He made some dumbass promise to protect me. I don’t want to be protected. I want to be loved as his boyfriend. I want sex!”
Byron sighed happily and shifted so that he was lying more on the couch. “Mmmm…sex with Sebastian is the best.”
I muffled a giggle, but Parker and Liam had no qualms about nearly falling over laughing.
“Fuck. I’ve gotta remember Byron is a lightweight.” Parker cackled. “He’s too adorable.” The larger man shoved to his feet and shuffled to Byron. “I’ll get him up to a bed. He’s partied out.”
“I’ll get all these plates and glasses to the kitchen for Chef Donovan and Franks,” Liam offered. He stood, swaying only slightly.
I rose at the same time as Liam. “I’ll help.”
We made quick work of getting things tidied up. It wasn’t perfectly clean, but we also didn’t leave it a pigsty.
“Seriously, Simon, I believe Pierce is going to come back here with the desire to make a genuine effort at dating. It won’t be perfect. Pierce strikes me as the type to get bossy, but I’m sure you can whip him into shape.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. I just might like Pierce’s bossy side. However, I was also a fan of arguing with him when he was feeling bossy, so it was a win-win for me.
“Are you saying that you and Rome still get into arguments?” I taunted.
Liam had finished rinsing out our glasses in the sink, and he shot me the most unamused look over his shoulder. “All the fucking time.”
I snickered, and that only egged him on.
“I love Rome with everything I am, but there are days he can’t sit still. It boggles my mind to this day that he’s a librarian. I don’t know how they deal with him at the library, unless he saves up all that energy until he’s with me.”
“That’s probably the case,” I agreed.
Liam leaned his hip against the sink and folded his arms across his chest. “And sometimes we fall into the trap of clinging to old, distrustful thoughts. There were a lot of years when we hated each other for all the wrong reasons. Sometimes our brains conjure that shit up when we’re tired or frustrated. We’ve learned that we have to take a step back and remind ourselves that all that shit is done. Pierce will need more time after this trip to still deal with old pain.”
“So, be patient.”
“Exactly. It’ll be worth it.”
Liam and I stumbled our way through the house to the second floor, where we poked our heads into different bedrooms, trying to locate the ones that contained our belongings. I flopped onto the comfortable mattress, so grateful that I hadn’t tried to stick the night out on the couch. This was so much better.
But the best thing was sleeping in Pierce’s bed, his larger body spooning me, his arm draped across my waist, his lips kissing the top of my head when he thought I was already asleep.