10. Leah
LEAH
“Are you sure that you want me going with you?” I ask.
And all three brothers seem taken aback by my question, almost as if they’re hurt by it.
“Yes, of course,” Rowan answers. “You’re supposed to be my girlfriend, remember?”
How could I forget? I muse.
“And this new property launch is a big deal,” he continues. “My girlfriend should be attending important company events with me.”
“Besides, this will be fun.” Emmett grins. The mask that slipped in his penthouse the other night is firmly back in place. “Free food, open bar, and a room full of people you’ll never have to see again. Soak it up, Little Mouse.”
The nickname triggers a primal response, and I clench my thighs together.
Rowan notices and raises a brow, but Declan isn’t paying attention to his brothers at the moment. He’s too busy reaching into his pocket to pull out his credit card.
“This is a big event,” Declan says. “This property has been in the works for almost two years. A lot of important people will be there, including the media. Take the card and buy whatever you want for the event—dress, shoes, jewelry.”
“Are you serious?” I stare at the black credit card being offered to me.
“Yes. You’re dating a billionaire. Play the role convincingly. We need you to look the part.”
He’s telling me to play a role. But the playfulness in his eyes says something different. He wants to spoil me, which is unexpected.
I take the card. “Thank you.”
A credit card to buy anything I want, and an afternoon of free time between my freelance gigs. This gives me a reason to call my best friend, take a break from the insanity that is my life, and have some fun for a day.
Delia throws her arms around me when we meet up. “I’m so glad you called!”
Her red hair practically glows under the boutique lights, and her green eyes are already darting from one cocktail dress to the next.
“Do you really have a billionaire’s credit card?” She laughs. “You really are lucky. You must be doing something right.”
I laugh. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”
But that’s not exactly true. My mind drifts to my night with Emmett, and I’m looking forward to an encore.
Declan doesn’t know about it, though. At least, I don’t think he does. And that’s definitely not the reason he gave me his credit card.
Delia arches a brow in response to whatever expression moves across my face. “Okay, Leah, fess up. Something is going on.”
“Nope. Nothing,” I say as a quick reflex.
Her eyes glisten with curiosity. “Have you forgotten that I’m your best friend, and I can absolutely tell when you’re keeping something from me?”
I laugh because I know she’s right. But since the guys’ launch party is tonight, I do need to find a new dress before it gets too late.
“Okay, okay. But the juicy details will have to wait until after I find a dress. This event is important, and I still have to get ready,” I insist.
Delia definitely understands getting ready for parties, so she doesn’t push further. Instead, she refocuses on helping me find the perfect dress, along with the right matching accessories.
Delia comes back to my condo as I get ready. I brace myself for the interrogation. And surprisingly, she lasts a full hour before it starts.
“Okay.” She flops onto my bed and props her chin on her hands. “Your ex’s billionaire brothers. Go.”
I have to tell her—at least part of it.
I finish curling my hair and say, “Rowan is my fake boyfriend. You know that part.”
“Yes, yes.” She waves a hand dismissively. “I know that part. I want to know the part you haven’t told me yet. Who are you sleeping with?”
I don’t answer fast enough, and her whole face lights up.
“I knew it. Is it Rowan? Please tell me it’s Rowan. The quiet ones are always—”
“It’s not Rowan,” I interrupt.
She sits up. “Declan? The scary one?”
“He’s not scary, and no.”
“That leaves the funny one!” She squeals, and I drop the curling iron and cover my ears.
I pick the curling iron off the floor and remain silent, but my silence doesn’t matter—she knows. I turn the curling iron off and slip on my shoes. The guys will be here any minute.
Once my best friend has recovered, she continues. “Okay, you’re fucking one of them. But, Leah, I know you. He’s not the only one you’re into. You sounded disappointed it wasn’t Rowan, and you defended Declan awfully fast. You like all of them, don’t you?”
The knock on the door saves me from answering.
“Come in,” Delia calls out.
And when I step out of the bedroom, they are in my living room. Rowan in a charcoal suit with no tie. Emmett is in a navy suit, also without a tie, and with the top button of his shirt undone.
Swoon.
Declan wears a perfectly tailored black suit with a tie, looking completely delectable.
None of them says anything.
Rowan’s lips part. Emmett actually stops smiling. And Declan takes in one slow breath and doesn’t seem to let it out.
“Well,” Delia says. “This is my cue to leave.”
I give her a farewell hug, and she grabs her purse, then squeezes past them to go.
Still, nobody says anything.
My hands go to my hips. “You guys are going to have to say something, or I’m going to be self-conscious all night. Is the dress wrong?”
“The dress is not wrong,” Declan says.
“The dress is very right,” Emmett adds. “It’s the rightest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Then, Emmett hands me a bag. “There’s something in there for tonight, and there’s something else in there that I think you might want.”
“Why?” I ask. “You guys can’t keep buying me things. At this point, I won’t ever be able to pay you back.”
“You don’t owe us anything,” Emmett responds. “We don’t give gifts to expect something in return.”
I bite down on my lower lip and peer in the bag. And when I see what’s in there—two black lace chemises and two pairs of matching underwear—I clasp the bag shut immediately.
My cheeks go red, and I don’t know how to respond.
“I owe you those.” He smirks. “Now, dig down deeper in the bag. That’s your gift for tonight.”
“We told him not to give those to you. Underwear is a completely inappropriate gift,” Declan says, and by his tone, I have a feeling he doesn’t know that I slept with Emmett. “The other gift is from all three of us.”
I reach back into the bag and pull out a small powder-blue box. I open the box to find a pair of diamond earrings, each one big enough to catch the light from across the room.
“This is too much. Way too much. I can’t accept these.”
“You can, and you will,” Declan says, leaving no room for argument.
“Put them on,” Emmett tells me.
I look down at the earrings, and then back to each of them. “Thank you. I love them.”
Then I put them on.
Declan and Emmett both say simultaneously, “You look beautiful.”
Then Emmett looks to his other brother. “Rowan, use words.”
Rowan doesn’t speak at first, and instead grabs my hand, threading our fingers together. “I’m glad I get to show you off tonight, like you’re mine.”
I open my mouth, and nothing comes out.
Emmett looks between Rowan and me. “See, Little Mouse. I told you.”
Rowan and Declan look at Emmett, who just shrugs. “Don’t worry about it. Leah knows what I’m talking about.”
He told me they were falling for me, too. And I think he might be right.
But I’m falling even harder for all three of them.
The launch party is spectacular. It’s also, in every way that matters, nothing like the gala. For starters, Kian and Madeline aren’t here, which is a breath of fresh air.
Even though the relationship facade needs to stay intact, I don’t feel as much pressure. I’m at an event full of people who are essentially strangers to me.
The dusting of freckles across the bridge of my nose catches my eye in the mirrored backsplash of the bar. Even wearing a jade-green designer dress to bring out my eyes and diamond earrings the size of small stars, it doesn’t cover the freckles.
“Having trouble deciding what you want to drink?” Rowan asks as he steps up beside me.
“No.” I motion toward a bottle of Pinot, and the bartender starts pouring. “Just hoping the diamonds would draw attention away from the freckles.”
He frowns and reaches his hand up to gently touch the top of my cheekbone. “Don’t hope for something like that. They look like stardust.”
Admittedly, it’s hard to be the slightest bit self-critical after a remark like that.
“You sure do make a good fake boyfriend,” I tease him, so I don’t have to think about whether he meant it.
Maybe I imagine it, but Rowan’s face tightens at my words. It would be a lot easier to keep my heart out of this if he’d remind me that this is fake. Instead, he keeps acting like it’s real. And he’s very good at it.
“Oh please,” a woman’s voice cuts above the other conversations going on around us. “She’s essentially a nobody with no family of her own. She can’t even tell her own boyfriend apart from his brother.”
I whip my head around to find who said that.
A few feet away stands a cookie-cutter socialite, all filler and cheekbones. She stares right back at me, not the least bit bothered that I heard her.
Rowan’s hand finds mine. His face barely changes, but I’ve learned to read it, and her words affected him too. She didn’t just insult me. She reminded him that to people like her, he and Kian are the same man. I can’t imagine what it’s like to spend your life wearing someone else’s face.
“You got one thing right,” Declan says, his voice carrying as he walks toward us, his attention fixed on the socialite.
“This is our world. Mine and my brothers’.
So let me remind you of your place in it, Cecelia.
You’re here as a plus-one, and the man you came with barely made the bottom of the list.”
The woman’s cheeks turn instantly pale.
“And as for the family remark,” Declan continues, not letting up. “You mocked a woman you’ve never met for growing up without one. That tells me everything I need to know about you, and it tells me I’ve set the bar for these guest lists far too low. Consider that corrected.”
Her mouth hangs open. Declan turns his back on her and looks at me. He wasn’t even on this side of the room when she opened her mouth. But somehow, while I stood here holding his brother’s hand and playing my part for a crowd I don’t belong to, Declan was watching me the whole time.
Then he motions for security, who make their way over to Cecelia. Her mortified expression as they escort her out gives me a little sense of pleasure that I will never admit to.
Rowan has stood beside me. Emmett has made me laugh and made me come. And Declan has been protecting me since the night we met.
He gives Rowan a nod, gives me one quick look to make sure I’m alright, and disappears back into the crowd, as if defending me was nothing more than a reflex.