Chapter 17
Rayne
The whole household hadn't gone to dinner in ages. Certainly not with someone like Piper. A part of me wanted nothing more than to have her to myself, while the other part didn't want to be selfish. My brothers hadn't had the greatest luck with finding love and it seemed that Piper was made for us. She was certainly made for me.
"How many?" the hostess asked, eyeballing our group with obvious lust in her eyes and on her mind. When her eyes moved to Piper, her smile dipped.Lucky whore.
"We have a reservation." Antoine stepped in. "Durand. Party of eight."
The hostess looked down at her podium, and then with a large smile said, "Just give us one moment, I'll check and see if your table is ready."
"Eight?" Piper questioned, looking around and then spotting Darren. "Oh, right."
"Did you think we'd make poor Darren wait out in the car?" Drake grinned, throwing an arm over her shoulders. "He's been with us longer than you have. Though, I never wanted to fuck him."
"Draconius," Antoine chastised with a shake of his head. "Children. After all these years, you're still children." Piper blushed hard at the enormous twin. "Uh, no. Just haven't seen him out of the house...like, ever."
Darren snorted before stopping next to Piper. "Just because you do not see me leave the house does not mean I do not have a life. I play chess with a very nice group of men down at the park every Saturday."
Beaming over at Darren, Piper waved a finger in his face. "Would that happen to be the old men's club I see out there? You wouldn't be playing with them, would you?"
With a frown, Darren adjusted his gloves and then his jacket. "I'll have you know that I am three times their age and they are far more stimulating than this lot. Well, some of them." Antoine and Darren exchanged a look and a flash of something I never wanted to see hit my head.
"Oh, my god. I'm scarred for life." I covered my eyes and groaned. "Please, no thinking about naked fun time with my brother around me."
The others laughed at me before going on to talk about what they planned on eating when we were seated. The hostess thankfully reappeared a few minutes later and we were escorted to our table. Walking through the restaurant, I scanned the crowd. For a Wednesday night the place was pretty busy. Almost every table was filled with people, and the thoughts pouring in from around me made me wince and want to cover my ears.
A small hand slipped into mine, giving it a squeeze. I glanced down at Piper's concerned face.
"Are you okay?" she asked, raising her voice over the crowd.
I leaned down next to her ear and said, "You don't have to raise your voice, I can hear you even over this deafening nonsense." I squeezed her hand in return and had the urge to kiss her, so I did. Pecking her on the lips, I was happy to feel her trying to linger in the kiss, but it wasn't the time or place to be making out so openly.
Pulling back, Piper stared at me hotly and licked her lips.When we get home, I'm going to rip your clothes off.
Distracted by her words, I didn't see the guy pushing his chair out and my foot caught on the edge of it, sending me careening onto the floor. The area quieted for a second, and Piper rushed to my side, half laughing and half concerned.
"Oh, my god. Are you alright?" she inquired through her laughter. "You really should watch where you're going."
I shot her a warning look before reaching out and grabbing her hand, and pulling her to my chest on the floor, tickling her sides. "I'll show you, watch where I'm going indeed. If someone wouldn't have been trying to distract me."
Piper giggled and fought against me, pushing at my chest. "Stop, stop. I'm sorry. Just stop tickling me."
A throat cleared next to us, followed by a silent demand of,Rayne,from Antoine, finally made me stop. I sighed and stood up before helping Piper off the ground. I brushed myself off and tried to help clean Piper up but she batted my hands away with a smirk.
The restaurant guests were still staring at us. I held my hands up and shifted around. "Sorry, my bad. Nothing to see here." Thankfully, the silly humans returned to their meals and we were brought to our table.
Sitting at a circular table with Piper at my side and the others lined around the rest of it, our waiter greeted us. With a bright smile and a good boy attitude that poured into his demeanor, he announced, "Hello, I'm Phillip and I'll be serving you today. What can I get you started with?" Everything would have been fine had Phillip not been staring at Piper the entire time he was talking, ignoring the seven other men around her.Look at that rack. God, what I would do to those if I had some butter.
Before I knew it, a low growl was coming out of my throat and Phillip startled, his eyes going wide and more importantly, getting off of Piper. Drake, who sat next to me, nudge me with his elbow, making me cough. I picked up my water and took a drink before turning my eyes back to Phillip. "Sorry, something was in my throat."
Giving a nervous chuckle, Phillip nodded while holding his order pad close to him. "Can I get you all something to drink?" He looked around the table and frowned. In his head, he wondered if we were some kind of boy band or modeling group. Then his eyes landed on Piper again.Is she fucking them?
"Yes, yes she is," I answered out loud, freaking Phillip out.
Fuck, did I say that out loud?"Oh, my god, I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that. Please don't tell my manager," Phillip rushed to apologize, thinking that he had indeed said it out loud, because who would believe I could read his mind?
Smirking, I threw my arm over Piper's shoulder and shrugged. "It's cool. Just don't let it happen again. I want a beer. What about you, baby?" I turned my eyes to Piper, giving her my best smolder.