I go willingly into the embrace and squeal when he lifts me from the ground to spin me around. When he puts me down, I turn to see Viv's mouth has dropped. I guess I should have introduced them sooner. It's a little rude to do it right when I'm leaving.
"Hey, I'm Kode Sterling," he says, flashing her the prize-winning grin I've seen stronger women than Viv dissolve under.
Her lips clap shut several times after falling back to a gaping position. Obviously Kode is gorgeous—I'm not blind—but to me he's just... Kode. Dane's brother. My friend. In the past six years, he's become my best friend. Well... sometimes it's a toss-up between him and Maverick.
Speaking of Maverick...
"It's about fucking time your pretty little ass comes back home," Maverick says through his excited chuckles as he scoops me up and slaps a sloppy kiss on my lips.
I groan as I curse him, and he snickers while I wipe my mouth. I change my mind. Kode is definitely my best friend all the time.
Corbin is next, swiping me from Maverick's embrace and pulling me into his. I giggle when he swings me the way Kode did. Then I see Dale. I can't believe it. He got out without his fiancée being out of town.
I've got numerous cousins, but I'm not close to them the way I am these boys. Kade Colton is probably my favorite cousin, but I rarely see him. The Sterling boys... I don't know what I'd do without them. They're my family.
"There's that whooped boy. Straying from home on a school night?" I tease, making Dale roll his powder blue eyes.
"Funny," he snarks before jerking me to him and hugging me close. "I wouldn't miss escorting you back. Besides, it's not every day I get to ride in Pretty Boy's plane."
Kode groans, and I laugh lightly. He hates being called pretty.
Kode's soft, dirty-blonde hair is shaggy, but perfectly sexy. His lean, tanned body, perfect prince posture, and cockiness all add to his appeal. It's too bad I can't see him as something other than the boy who used to cheat off me in math class and helped me sneak into his and Dane's house when I had nightmares and needed to be held. It was always Dane's bed I went to.
Maverick... He's tall, gorgeous, and so damn arrogant, but he's also sweet, funny, and giving—once you get to know the real man behind the thick facade. His jet-black hair sweeps his forehead, bringing out his deep brown eyes, and his favorite thing to do is flex all of his muscles.
Corbin looks like a NFL quarterback. Tall, dreamy, and trimmed with all the right ripples. With his longer brown hair that shags down to his shoulders, he has a surfer-boy vibe as well.
Dale is the shortest of the boys, even though he's still six-feet tall. His hair is militant, as always. I half expect him to salute at any given time. I sometimes wonder if it hurts to stand so straight and tense all the time. That's just Dale, though. He's also the only one of my boys to have a real relationship.
It's sort of annoying, since I'm selfish like that. I'm moving back home, and I want to spend time with them—all of them. My four boys and not their fiancées that hate my guts for no real reason.
"Should you be worried about her not breathing?" Kode asks, nudging me in the direction of my forgotten assistant who is still wide-eyed and drooling over the four men staring at her with mild amusement.
"You okay, Viv?" I ask, biting back my grin.
She just nods when she can't seem to form words, and I walk over to give her a quick hug and a peck on the cheek before looping my arms through Kode's and Maverick's proffered arms.
I'm going home.
Chapter 2
RAIN
"You four are the biggest damn babies, I swear," I gripe while putting away the final box of my stuff on the fourth day in my new home.
"You've worked us to death, woman," Maverick mumbles, collapsing to my couch as he covers his face with his arm. "I'll never move again."
It comes in handy to have four men move in all your furniture, unpack your heavy boxes, and plug in all your appliances. Now if I could just get them to stay out of my groceries and beer.
As I glance over some of the newspaper bits, I see something that sparks my interest. Really? We have a club in Sterling Shore? Hell yes.
"You guys want to go to Silk tonight?" I ask, reading over all the sexy promises of a good time.
Maybe if I live a little like I used to, then I'll find that missing spark.
Dale strangles on his beer, coughing and sputtering it all over the place, while Corbin trips and stumbles on his way toward the sliding glass door of my large condo on the beach.
Kode walks in, eyeing the strangling Dale curiously, and then he looks to me.