15. Harper
HARPER
The guys left me to get ready in the bathroom alone while they dressed for our night out.
As I looked at myself in the mirror, putting on makeup for the first time in a week, I felt excited.
The glow my skin had from being out in the sun made it easier for me, so I only had to worry about my eyes and add a little blush for that extra pop.
With the humidity, the natural wave came out in my hair, so I decided to leave it be, pinning it back on one side so it cascaded over one shoulder.
My blonde highlights had brightened, pulling out the golden tones that complimented the earrings I slipped into each ear.
Slipping into the dress, I tied the leather cord around the back of my neck and pulled up the zipper that stopped at my lower back.
Twirling, I looked in the full-length mirror and grinned.
The dress was a deep emerald green that plunged to the end of my sternum and fell into a floor-length skirt.
The whole back was open, and when I moved, a slit from the top of my hip down showed off my tanned legs on either side.
This dress could stop traffic on a highway, and I couldn’t wait to see the triplets’ reaction when I walked out in it.
When I exited the bathroom, I didn’t see them, so I headed out to the kitchen, then came to a screeching halt when I saw them.
The vision of them dressed in black slacks with various jewel-toned button-down shirts hugged their bodies like they were painted on greeted me.
I’d always thought these men were handsome, but this put them into a god-like status.
“Wow, you’re fucking hot,” I blurted, then covered my mouth, blushing at how stupid I sounded. “I mean…”
Ghost grinned, walked up to me, tucking a finger under my chin, and placed a delicate kiss on my lips. “Thank you, angel. You look stunning.”
A giggle that would make any schoolgirl proud escaped my lips, increasing the heat on my face. “Thank you,” I whispered, afraid I would say something else moronic.
He offered me his arm and escorted me out the front door. Instead of the Jeep we’d been using sat a sexy red sedan. Jaxson jogged past us and opened the back door for me to slide in. Ghost went to the front passenger seat, and Jaxson joined me in back while Magnus drove as usual.
“I’m really glad you suggested this,” I said, unable to keep the smile off my face. “I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about a date.”
Magnus looked at me in the rearview. “We’re excited to take you out as well. Just remember, this is the last first date you’re ever going on because you belong to us.”
While that would normally irritate me in this context, it reminded me of all those books and movies where people moon over the romantically possessive males. Somehow I’d stumbled upon my very own version in real life, but not just one of them… three of them.
I rolled my window down, letting the rich fragrance of nature around me waft over my face.
Even though I didn’t know where I was when we left, I felt like I was going to miss it.
Things here were so simple, no worries about getting an order done, tracking down leads of new clients, dealing with last-minute changes, or needing to make a whole different dress because what they had wanted was no longer in.
I might have argued with the guys daily while they pushed me to experience new and different things, but it was bound to happen.
Even still, I didn’t think I’d ever felt more at peace.
Magnus brought us into town and pulled up to an incredibly fancy hotel. Ghost opened my door for me while Magnus handled the valet. Then Jaxson took my other arm, making it to where I had one brother on either side as we entered the hotel.
They led me over to the restaurant, and a hostess walked up and gave a little bow. “Welcome. Did you have a reservation?”
I glanced up at Ghost, but it was Magnus who had the answer. “We are on Mr. Lesmana’s list, Magnus Wright.”
The woman’s eye widened as she hurried over to pull a file from the hostess stand.
Her finger glided down the page until it came to a stop, then she looked back over to us.
“Yes, I see your name right here. Allow me a moment to get things set up, and I’ll be right back. Will it just be the four of you?”
“Yes,” Magnus answered with a nod.
The woman scuttled off, waving urgently over at a man who was dressed in a suit with the hotel logo on it. Looking at the dining room, it seemed to be quite full, with one or two open tables for parties of two.
“I don’t think they have a place to put us, list or no list,” I whispered to Jaxson.
He patted my hand reassuringly. “The list isn’t for this room. There is another space reserved for those who are friends of the owner of this hotel.”
“Seriously, I’m beginning to get the sense there isn’t a person you don’t know in the world,” I huffed, slightly irritated with how connected people in the criminal world could be.
The man in the suit came back to escort us through the restaurant into a lovely grotto area with a bubbling water fountain, fairy lights, and a table for the four of us.
Everything was extremely high-class, down to the fabric of the napkins.
Jaxson pulled out my chair for me after shooing off the suited man who’d tried to do it.
The night sky glimmered with stars, adding to the romantic setting along with the aroma of roses floating in the breeze.
“This is like something out of a fairy tale,” I whispered, taking in the view.
“You are our princess. Only the best is what we want to provide you when we can,” Ghost commented with a grin and wag of his eyebrows. “The food here is amazing. One of our favorite places to eat when we get the chance.”
Looking around the space, a thought occurred to me. “What would we have done if someone from the list was already here?”
Ghost waved that off with a swish of his hand. “That list is an incredibly short one, and we would have known if they were in town. Most of them would have been staying at the hotel, unlike us who have our own place.”
“What does that have to do with it?” I questioned, scrunching my brows.
Magnus leaned forward, meeting my gaze as he answered.
“It would have been easy for us to get information on their itinerary because they are staying at a hotel. They are some of the easiest systems to hack. Not to mention we have people we pay to keep their eyes and ears open in certain places… this being one of them.”
My jaw fell open at this. Honestly, nothing about what he said should really shock me, but I was blown away at the fact he was so honest and blunt about it. “How can you just come out and say that to me?”
Now it was Magnus’s turn to look confused.
“Why would we hide things from you? Our plan is to spend our lives together, Harper. It wouldn’t do us any good to lie about who we are and what we do.
While you might not participate or condone what we do for a living, that doesn’t mean I’m going to hide the fact it happens or the world we interact with.
In fact, you being best friends with Dax changes how you need to view the dark underbelly of the world. ”
I opened my mouth to argue but found he was right. Now that I was aware of Dax’s other life she’d been hiding from me, she no longer needed to keep me in the dark. Clearly, it was leaking out into every part of my life, landing me where I sat today.
“You make a fair point, Maggie, but you’re going to have to give me time to adjust. All of you talk about things that are so illegal like it’s common practice.
” I held up my hand to stop Jaxson from speaking as I finished, “Yes, I get it is normal for you to hack into a hotel database, use a drug dealer’s gym, and get paid to kill people.
What I’m trying to say is you’ve had years of doing this, and I’m going on a week.
A person’s moral compass doesn’t change that fast.”
Ghost reached out and took my hand, sliding his fingers through mine, giving it a slight squeeze.
“Angel, we don’t want you to change. The thing we love about you is that you are true north.
Like you said, we’ve been in this too long.
We don’t even second-guess doing things to get the answers we want.
Seeing you react to them reminds us to take a second look at something to see it from your point of view.
I won’t lie to you… the three of us aren’t going to change.
We are killers, some of the fucking best in the world, but if we were ever to have kids, we want to teach them about right and wrong.
My brothers and I ended up like this because we didn’t have a loving family to show us another way.
Now we are just too deep. There’s no way to get out. ”
“You want to have kids?” I blurted, my brain having zeroed in on that specific statement. The three of them each bobbed their heads yes without a second’s hesitation.
“Not just any kids, our kids, with you,” Jaxson clarified. “Obviously, we know you have the implant but don’t think it hasn’t crossed our minds to remove it and make it happen.”
I snatched my hand away from Ghost and scooched my chair back a bit so they couldn’t touch me. “You didn’t, did you?” I demanded, my tone brusque.
The two younger brothers looked at Magnus like he was the only one who could answer that question. Magnus stood and came to kneel before me, which didn’t help the panic building in me, but when he reached out for my hands, I gave them to him.