Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Never trust a redhead with a blender.
~Ethan
“HELLOOO, IS ANYONE home?” Chloé pushed through the front door of her old house, with Ethan and Zayne hot on her heels. “We’re about to come upstairs. Make sure you’re decent.”
Zayne chuckled, and Chloé glanced back at him.
“You can laugh, but you weren’t the traumatized fifteen-year-old bringing home a friend only to find her fathers shirtless and pretty close to—”
“Chloé…” Her dad’s voice at the top of the stairs cut off her story midway. He headed down and kissed her on the cheek. “Are you trying to scandalize these young men before we’ve even opened a bottle of wine?”
Chloé snorted. The idea of anything she said to Ethan and Zayne scandalizing them, after what they’d done last night in the cabana, was downright laughable.
Not that she was going to tell her dad that.
“I suppose you’re right. We should save the many ways you three have embarrassed me for when we’re a few glasses in.”
“Or bottles.” Her dad waggled his brows at them, and Ethan and Zayne laughed.
“Speaking of wine…” Ethan held out a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. “I grabbed this from our cellar before we headed over. I’m told it’s a wonderful year.”
Dad looked at the label and whistled. “Impressive. We had some at the restaurant lately. Julien will be thrilled.”
Chloé rolled her eyes. “In other words, we’ll be lucky if he lets us have any.”
Dad grinned at Ethan. “Oh, he’ll share with the one who brought it.”
“Looks like I’m in luck, then.”
Chloé eyed Ethan’s smug smile and shook her head. She had a feeling he would’ve been in luck with or without the bottle of wine. Her père had a soft spot for stoic, controlling types.
“Is everyone here?” And by everyone, she meant Justin. If he’d punked out on her tonight, she just might kill him.
Right on cue, Justin’s loud laughter filled the air and Dad nodded.
“They sure are. We were just waiting on you, so come on.”
He turned for the stairs, and they followed him up. When they reached the main living floor, she spotted Papa, Père , and Justin in the kitchen. Her fathers were seated at the counter and Justin was standing on the opposite side of the island, beer in hand—and suddenly the nerves kicked in.
It was ridiculous, she knew, to be nervous about her brother meeting Ethan and Zayne. But she was one of those people who wanted everyone in her life to get along, especially those she loved.
She took in a deep breath and reminded herself that if she was calm then everyone else would be too. Hell, they’d made it through meeting her papa, and he was the scariest man she knew—though also one of the most loving.
“Look who’s finally here,” Dad announced, sashaying his way into the kitchen. “They might be a little late, but all’s forgiven—look what Ethan brought us from their cellar.”
He presented the bottle of wine like it was the Ark of the Covenant, and Père ’s brows rose. “You just happen to have a bottle of this in your cellar?”
Chloé didn’t have the heart to tell them that he had several. Hell, for all she knew, Ethan might own the winery that produced said bottle of wine. It wasn’t that outside the realm of possibility—after all, he owned the store that most of the items and food in this kitchen came from.
Holy shit. Now that was a mind trip.
“We did, and I have it on good authority it will pair brilliantly with what we’re cooking tonight.”
“ Oui , it will. Merci .”
“Of course.”
Papa got out of his chair and came over to shake Ethan and Zayne’s hands and kiss Chloé’s cheek.
“Can I get you gentlemen anything to drink?”
Ethan looked at the glass in Papa’s hand. “I wouldn’t say no to whatever you’re drinking.”
“Scotch. That work for you?”
“Sure does.”
Papa then looked to Zayne. “And you?”
“I’ll take the same.”
“Sounds good. Chloé? Your dad mixed you up something special.”
“Special, huh?” she said.
“That’s what he called it. So, I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
As he headed off to the bar, Chloé noticed Justin eyeing them quietly from the other side of the kitchen counter, and decided it was now or never.
God, why am I so nervous about this?
But as she walked closer to the kitchen area, she knew why.
Justin was her person. The one she could count on no matter what kind of bind she found herself in.
He’d come into her life and stolen her little heart as the brave boy she’d instantly looked up to, and pasta night had always been their night—family night.
Now here she was bringing two new people in on that tradition, and her only hope was that everyone she loved would get along.
“Finally cleared up that busy schedule of yours, huh?” she said as she walked around the counter to give him a hug.
“Yeah, well, someone begged me, and I didn’t have the heart to let her down.”
“I didn’t beg you.”
“Hmm, that’s not how I remember it.” He took a swig of his beer and looked to where Ethan and Zayne stood. “So, you gonna introduce me to your boyfriends, or stand here and run interference because you’re scared I might steal them off you?”
Chloé scoffed, but then a wide smile stretched her lips and she mouthed, Thank you.
Justin winked at her, then she turned on her heel and all but skipped back to Zayne’s side. Justin followed, his eyes traveling over her two men, and she preened like a peacock, proud of what he was seeing.
“I’ve heard a lot about you two.”
“Vice versa,” Zayne said, holding his hand out. “The famous brother. Have to admit, it’s nice to see there’s no shotgun behind your back.”
Justin’s lips crooked and one of his dimples popped. “Nah, that’d be too obvious. I prefer the element of surprise.”
Zayne chuckled. “Good to know. I’m Zayne, and this is Ethan.”
“I figured.” Justin turned his attention to Ethan and held out his hand. “Chloé went into great detail on how pretty your faces are.”
“Oh my God .” Chloé shoved him in the arm.
“What? You haven’t shut up about them since they came to the restaurant that first time and—”
“Seriously? Dad, do we have any food I can shove in his mouth to shut him up?”
Dad held up a cheese platter. “Justin, eat a cracker.”
They all laughed as Justin took two and a couple slices of Brie, then Dad held it out to the rest of them.
Once they all had a snack to eat, and Papa had brought over their drinks, Chloé decided the best way for her brother to get to know her men was to do what their family always did—cook together.
But too many cooks in the kitchen could get ugly, so she quickly shooed her fathers into the living room and told them to get comfortable.
* * *
PASTA NIGHT.
IT was an experience unlike any Zayne had had throughout his life, but one that was quickly becoming his favorite.
If someone had asked him if he would enjoy spending a good hour planning and cooking his meal before eating it, his immediate answer would’ve been a hell no.
But something about getting in the kitchen with this group made the experience an absolute blast.
It’d also taught him a hell of a lot about making good pasta—and by good, he meant it’d ruined store-bought pasta for life.
He was on dough duty tonight. It was something Chloé had taught him the first time they’d attended this little shindig, and after doing it a couple times, he was getting pretty damn good at it.
Flour, eggs, mix until it’s a “shaggy” dough, then dump it out and start kneading. Easy enough, right? See, even he could do that.
As he was kneading away, he glanced over to where Ethan was busy washing and chopping up mushrooms for the filling. They’d been told that tonight’s dish was mushroom tortellini in a garlicky cream sauce with parm, and holy hell, had his stomach growled in excitement.
Chloé’s fathers had been sent away to the living room to relax, but Zayne had a sneaking suspicion she had orchestrated that so they could have a little alone time with big brother.
Zayne snuck a peek at Justin across the kitchen, where he was working with his sister on dessert. He’d been looking for some kind of family resemblance between them but hadn’t been able to spot any just yet—unless you counted the confidence and attitude.
There was quite the age gap between them, too.
Not that that was unheard of, but it was interesting just the same.
It wasn’t like they had Justin and then one day whoops, Chloé came along—that would’ve had to have been planned out, given the circumstances, which then had him looking to their fathers.
Call him curious—or nosy—but Chloé bore a striking resemblance to Priest, so he was trying to see if Justin had any distinguishing features of the three men. But there was nothing as obvious as Chloé’s eyes or confirmed red hair. Not unless you counted the dimples. Then maybe…Julien?
“How are you doing over here?”
He whipped his head around to where Chloé stood smiling at him, and he felt a stab of guilt over his nosiness.
Not that she knew what he was thinking.
“Uh, good, I think?”
She looked down to the smooth dough and nodded. “It looks perfect, actually. If you want to ball it up and wrap it, we’ll let it rest and come back in a few.”
He grabbed the cling wrap and pulled out a section, then placed the dough inside and wrapped it up nice and tight. Once that was done, Chloé gestured to his empty cup.
“Would you like another drink?”
“No. I’m going to drive us home tonight, so one is enough for me.”
“Anything else, then?”
“What was the special drink your dad made for you?”
Chloé grinned. “A passionfruit and elderflower spritz.”
Zayne screwed his nose up. “Okay, not that. How about a club soda?”
“I can get you that. I’ll be right back.”
As she headed off to the living room, Zayne made his way over to where Ethan and Justin were getting the filling ready for the tortellini. The mushrooms had been chopped and Ethan had moved on to the rest of the vegetables, while Justin was hunting around for a frying pan.
“You must have the patience of a saint,” Ethan said as he grabbed a shallot and started to chop.