Taking Chances(138)
“Um, no! Where is the little munchkin?” One of the twins called from the dining room.
I laughed and when Kate and Laura walked into the kitchen, I went to hug them both. “He’s at Mom and Dad’s for the night, figured this would be a little much for him. You girls remember Konrad and Bree?”
Laura jumped over to Bree’s side for a hug and Kate crossed her arms and failed at glaring at me, “I wanted to see my little Liam though.” She pouted and drug her feet to hug Bree.
“Next time,” I promised them, “besides, we have four or five single guys fresh out of the Marine Corps coming today, you really want to be playing with a baby that whole time?”
“Oh my God, really?!” They both said at the same time.
I laughed and nodded. The twins were Brandon and Jeremy’s cousins, only a year younger than myself and insanely beautiful. They had a good half foot on me, had blue eyes and unnatural blonde hair, but they rocked it pretty well. Other than their eyes, I still hadn’t found a way to tell them apart, thank God Kate had one eye that was half blue and half brown, or I’d always wonder who I was talking to.
“Well then!” Kate said and grabbed her sister’s hand, “We’re going to go change into our bikinis!”
“You do realize we don’t have a pool, right?” I called to their retreating forms.
“Don’t care!”
“I’m going to end up punching someone, aren’t I?” Brandon grumbled from behind me.
“Probably.” I sighed and looked up at him, glad to see he was smiling. “When are you going to start the grill?”
“Already did after I let them in. I’ll put the burgers on a bit after everyone else gets here.”
“Thank you.” I kissed his soft lips and relaxed further into his chest, “And thank you for this, I think it’ll be a good day.”
“I think you’re right.” He lifted me up and sat me on the counter, gave me another kiss that almost reduced me to a puddle and walked over to Jeremy, “Come help me with the ice chests.”
“Brandon! I just barely got down from the counter, and Jeremy had to help me!”
“I know.” He smiled wickedly and walked out to the garage.
I turned to Konrad, “Care to help?”
“Ya know, I forgot to get the ice from the store…wanna go with me baby?” He grabbed Bree’s hand and led her quickly out of the kitchen.
Jerks.
Looking to the only person left in the room I added dryly, “Want to join?”
Aubrey walked up next to me and had to jump three times before she got enough leverage to lift herself all the way up.
“They’re really high up, right? It’s not just me?”
“No, it’s definitely not just you.” She said softly and tucked her hair behind her ears, “Thank you so much for having us, this is really sweet of you.”
“Of course! It’s fun to do. I apologize in advance if it gets rowdy. I don’t know much about the guys coming.”
She laughed and swung her legs back and forth, “That’s fine.”
Man, did I talk this soft too? “So tell me, how did you meet Jeremy?”
“Um, school.”
“Oh yeah? How long have you been dating?”
Aubrey blushed fiercely and looked over to the door leading to the garage, “Only a week. He asked me out a few times last year, we were Chemistry partners, but I don’t know…he scared me.”
“What? Why?”
“Well I mean, besides his size, he’s really popular and outgoing. He was already popular after his first week at the school, and I knew a lot of girls liked him. I don’t know. Guys like him don’t date girls like me, I thought it was a joke.”
The first half of that didn’t surprise me one bit. He’d really filled out in the last year, was built just like Brandon, and looked exactly like him. Their size was intimidating, and they were incredibly handsome. But what the hell? “I’m sorry, I must be missing something, girls like you?”
“He plays football and is the captain of the soccer team, I’m not into sports or anything school related really.”
“If he’s dating you, then I’m pretty sure that doesn’t matter at all to him. You’re gorgeous Aubrey, and you seem really sweet, it’s not hard to see why he likes you. Jeremy doesn’t just date girls…actually, he hasn’t had a girlfriend in the two years that I’ve been with Brandon. So for him to ask you out is a big thing for him. And those boys don’t have a cruel bone in their body, he would never date you as a joke. He’s just like his brother, they’re extremely protective and devoted to the girls in their life. Nothing less.”