Rule #3: Wine and friends is a dangerous combination.
Maggie
Two hours later, the six of us are sitting on my still plastic-covered sectional, exhausted from unloading the truck, when a car horn blares outside.
“The girls are here,” Hunter announces as he lifts a cold beer up to his lips.
“The girls?” I ask.
“Yep. They wanted us to let them know when we’re done so they can surprise you,” Garrett replies.
“No…” I say carefully.
Emerson laughs. Maybe he’s the only one who picks up on it, but I don’t do so well with the girls. I work with men. I’ve always worked with men and I’m used to them. It’s easier this way, and Ilovethe girls, I really do, but they are exhausting in the best way possible.
But still…exhausting.
“Housewarming party!” Mia exclaims as she bursts through the door with a stack of pizza boxes in her hands, and as much as I’d like to tell them I’m too sweaty and exhausted for company—not to mention everything I own is in boxes—their energy is too infectious to ignore. Oh, to be twenty-two again.
Charlie follows behind Mia with a box of wine and a package of plastic cups.
And behind her, Isabel waddles in, looking far too sexy in those yoga pants to be pregnant. Meanwhile, I’m a hot mess.
“You guys did not need to do this,” I say as I stand up, greeting the girls with a hug. The four of us head into the kitchen, leaving the guys in the living room, and Mia wastes no time cracking open the wine.
While they busy themselves with small talk and dishing out food and drinks, I settle into the corner of my kitchen, checking my work email, just in case anything has popped up today. The guys keep to themselves in the living room as the girls go on and on, mostly talking about Isabel, who is now resting her forearms on the kitchen island and letting her belly hang, looking relieved from the weight off her legs.
“Oh my gosh, Isabel, let me get you a chair!” I say, jumping away from the corner.
“I’m fine, really,” she argues, but I wave her off as I rush into the dining room. It’s littered with boxes, but the chairs are stacked along the wall, just out of reach. If I lean over this wall of boxes, I can probably hoist one of the chairs off the pile. But as I stretch, nearly toppling over, I feel my shorts riding up my backside and the cool air from the air conditioner brushing against the lower side of my ass.
“Need some help?” a deep voice asks, making me scream as I lose my balance and fall head first into the pile of boxes. Just before I’m completely vertical and upside down, I feel a pair of firm hands latch onto my hips, pulling me back up until I’m pressed against a solid wall of warm muscle.
“Are you okay?” he asks, his cool and slightly unfamiliar voice just next to my ear. As I turn my head, staring directly into the piercing eyes of Beau Grant, I let the mortification wash over me.
It couldn’t have been Drake. Or Hunter or Garrett, or even Emerson. It had to be Beau.
“I’m fine. Thank you,” I say, trying to jerk away from his hold, his hands still gripping my hips. When he finally backs away, I swear my internal temperature is about a hundred degrees too hot.
“Can I help you get something?” he asks with a slight smirk on his face, and I glance around his large frame, hoping no one else just saw Emerson’s son in a very precarious position behind me, probably looking like he was trying to hump me into a pile of boxes.
“Um…yeah. That chair for Isabel, please.”
He nods. “Yes, ma’am.” Then I watch as he deftly reaches over the mess and grabs a chair. His shirt rides up enough to reveal a peek of sharp ab muscles, and a delicate tuft of dark hair shows through as he does.
What the fuck, Maggie?I scold myself as I force my eyes away.
With his large hand tightly gripping the leg of the chair, he carries it over my head and sets it on the floor in front of me.
“Thank you,” I mumble as I pick it up and take it into the kitchen. As I disappear through the doorway, I feel Beau’s eyes linger until I’m out of sight.
“Okay, Maggie, we have to know,” Charlie says enthusiastically as I re-enter the kitchen, setting the chair down for Isabel.
I pause, staring at her skeptically.
“Have to know what?”
“When on earth we’re going to see you with a hottie of your own!” Mia finishes for her.