“Out there to pry her damn hands off him,” Robbie said. “Look at them. He’s actually laughing, smiling, for God’s sake. Who knows how many drinks she had to give him to do that.”
“A lot, I’m thinking,” Julien said. “I haven’t seen him dance like that for a long time.”
“I didn’t even know he could dance like that.” Robbie pouted, and then said in his best Priest imitation, “I have to behave in front of your parents, Robert. That’s what he said. To me. I’m going to kill her.”
Cue “It’s My Party,” because I’m one drink away from crying because I want to.
“Aw, don’t be too hard on her, princesse. When was the last time you ever saw Priest that…relaxed?”
Umm, how about never? If someone had asked him before tonight if Priest ever got drunk, Robbie would’ve laughed them out of the building. But that was exactly what he was seeing right now. He knew it as well as he knew his sister was absolutely going to pay for this.
“So what you’re saying is I should just let her dance all over our man?”
“What I’m saying”—Julien slipped his hand into Robbie’s—“is that you should come and dance like that with me. We’ll get our turn with Priest eventually, and more so than Valerie.”
Julien winked as he walked out into the crowd and tugged Robbie along with him, and Robbie shifted his attention to that plan and found his irritation left as quickly as it had appeared.
Really, there was no need for crying when Julien was pulling him into his arms. There was no need for anything at all except losing himself in the scent of Julien’s cologne, and the delicious way Julien felt as he spent the rest of the party dancing the night away.
After all, he couldn’t exactly blame Valerie, but that didn’t mean Robbie wasn’t going to keep a watchful eye on his handsy sister who just so happened to share his and Julien’s affections for a certain Priest.
“YOU’RE SO WASTED,” Robbie said as he pushed opened the door to the guesthouse and Priest came to a standstill in front of him.
It was closing in on one thirty, and everyone had left for the night except Robbie’s immediate family. His parents had headed off to bed around half an hour ago, and left him—along with his sisters—to lock up.
Priest tapped a finger on Robbie’s chest and nodded. “I think you might be right. Buuuut I made it up the stairs, didn’t I?”
Priest turned to walk into the room, and as he did, he veered to the left. Julien reached out, hooked an arm through his elbow, and chuckled.
“Actually,” Julien said, “I got you up the stairs. But who needs facts?”
“Me.” Priest aimed a megawatt smile in Julien’s direction. “I need facts because I’m a lawyer. Facts are my life.” Priest stopped talking, seemingly distracted by Julien’s face, and then ran his fingertips down Julien’s cheek. “Nope. That’s not right. You. You and Robert.” Priest looked at Robbie and pointed at him. “You and Robert are my life. My loves…” Priest drawled. “And my life.”
Robbie snorted and closed the door, then headed to his open suitcase for his pajamas. When a loud thump met his ears, he looked over his shoulder to see that Priest had just run into the end of the bed.
“Whoops,” Priest said, and laughed a throaty chuckle, and Robbie had to bite down on his lip to hold back his own laughter.
“Perhaps you should sit down, mon amour,” Julien suggested. “Before you fall down.”
“Mmm, keep talking,” Priest said, and ran a finger along Julien’s lower lip. “You have the sexiest voice. Have I ever told you that?”
“Oui, you have,” Julien said, and urged Priest toward the bed, but he wasn’t budging.
Priest leaned in and replaced his finger with his lips, and said against Julien’s mouth, “Especially when you’re turned on. It gets all raspy, and fuck, Julien—it makes me so hard. Doesn’t it make you hard, Robert?”
Um, always. But Robbie was too busy trying to process what he was witnessing to answer. Who would’ve guessed that Priest was such a flirty drunk? The intoxicating control he usually wielded was currently replaced by a smooth seducer’s charm.
Julien shook his head and slapped at Priest’s hands, as he reached for the buttons at the bottom of Julien’s shirt. “How about you let me and Robbie get you undressed, and then you can—”
“Fuck you both?”
“Non,” Julien said, and really started laughing as Priest wound his arms around his waist, grabbed Julien’s ass, and pressed his lips to his cheek. “Mon Dieu. You’re like an octopus tonight. All hands. Everywhere.”
“Let me take you to bed. Both of you,” Priest said, as he looked at Robbie. “Take off your clothes, sweetheart. I want to look at you.”
“Do not take off your clothes,” Julien said. “You do that, it’s all over.”