CHAPTER 51
She blinked. "What do you mean why? Because I’m not interested in moving."
I took a deep breath. When I first met her, she said that she was desperately looking for a fresh start. "Would it be a good opportunity for you careerwise?"
"It would be a higher income than right now, but London is also a very expensive city."
"There has to be a reason you applied for it."
"I didn’t realize I’d have to move for it. I thought I could do it remotely."
“You already told them no?”
“No. I only received the offer today.”
“Then do me a favor and think about whether it would be a good move for you, okay? I don’t mind doing long distance if it would help your career.”
Her eyes bulged. “You want me to go away?”
“What? Hell no. If I could, I’d tie you to my bed forever. But I’m not a complete Neanderthal.”
William
On Friday evening, I picked up Sarah at seven o'clock as promised.
"I can't believe that your grandparents are missing this event," Sarah exclaimed once she got in the Uber. I decided booking a car service was easier than driving.
Grandmother declared that tonight was as good as any for Ben to sleep at their place. Agatha was there too, of course. I felt more at ease that my grandparents weren’t alone with him.
"I know they're happy for me and Gabe, anyway. They wanted to spend time with Ben, and if that's what’s important to them, I'm glad I can make them happy.”
“When are they bringing him back to the house?”
“Tomorrow morning. They wanted to keep him the entire day too, but Naomi is coming to visit.”
“Busy day,” she murmured.
“When are you and Taylor leaving?”
They were going away on a girl’s trip and coming back on Sunday evening.
“Whenever I wake up tomorrow.
I feel like such a genius for already bringing my suitcase to her place.”
“You are.” Leaning closer, I whispered, “That way we can have a lazy and delicious morning in bed.”
She exhaled a sharp breath, laughing softly. “William!”
I straightened up. “Anyway, tonight is going to be insane with so many Grand palazzos around you. I think my grandparents guessed you might be overwhelmed."
She laughed nervously. "What do you mean? You and Gabe will be the center of attention. No one will notice me."
I took her hand, kissing it. "I can promise you, nothing is further from the truth."
"Right. I can't wait to meet everyone."
"I can't wait for them to get to know you and then take you back to the house," I whispered in her ear. "We finally have the place to ourselves. I can make you scream louder than ever before."
She gasped, glancing at the driver. I followed her gaze. He didn’t make any move that indicated he was listening.
“There is no way he could've overheard me.”
She shook her head just as the car stopped in front of Gabe’s bar. She got out first, and I followed.
After closing the door, she said, "You and your dirty mouth should come with a warning sign."
"You look like a wet dream. I can't help myself."
She was wearing a gold dress, and she had on sandals, or whatever they were called. They had straps. "Let's go inside," I said.
The place wasn’t crowded yet, but it was early. I’d asked some of my team members as well as Jenna, Juliet, and Diego to come. No one was here yet. Gabe had also invited most of his staff.
He'd shut off the distillery as well and was using parts of it for the party.
Cade, Jake, and Gabe were waiting with Natalie and Meredith by the entrance. I figured that meeting my brothers’ women would put Sarah at ease.
“Sarah, these are my brothers Cade, Jake, and Gabe.”
"And I'm Natalie," my older brother's fiancée said.
"And I'm Meredith. It's good to have another girl in our midst. We can be a trio. It evens the playing field against eight guys."
“So nice to meet all of you,” Sarah said.
“Who else from the family is here?” I asked.
“Everyone. They’re at the bar.”
"I can't believe we're so late," Sarah said.
"No, you're not," Jake explained. "Everybody was just excited and arrived early."
Gabe made his way to us. "The man of the hour, along with the star of the evening, of course."
"This place looks amazing, Gabe," Sarah said.
"We can do a tour of the distillery later if you want to see it."
"Sure," Sarah said, nodding. "I've never been to one." She was genuinely curious about what my brother did.
Colton joined us too. "Figures you'd be late to your party," he said. "Sarah, I'm Colton. We've heard so much about you."
Sarah glanced at me nervously and then back at him. "You have?"
"Yeah. Oh, not just from him, but also from our grandmother. She likes you."
"Thanks, I like her too," Sarah said. "Let me just make sure I’ve got this straight. You are Colton, Gabe, Jake, and Cade, right?"
"You've nailed it," Gabe said. "Our half-brothers are somewhere around here too. We'll introduce you to them. Ah, there they are. Come in here so you can meet them.
Nick looked like he was about to burst out laughing, and Leo was just smiling smugly.
"What?" I asked. "Spit it out."
"The first time we heard about Sarah, we envisioned something like this happening," Leo said.
"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked. I’d warned Gabe not to embarrass me, but I hadn't thought about these three.
Maddox shook hands with Sarah. "I'm Maddox. And to answer your question, when we played tennis some time ago, we learned that you and our brother dearest had something going on. We were all wondering how long it would take until he'd introduce you to the rest of us. You know he’s serious about you if he even introduces you to us three.”