One for Liam

MADISON

Liam smirked.

“Now that you guys are in relationships, I thought I’d give it a shot too.”

The casualness with which the words left his mouth made Madison almost jump out of her chair.

“I knew it!” she shouted at almost the exact same time as Ezra.

“So who is she?”

Liam rolled his eyes. “You’ll meet her soon enough. And before you ask, it’s been going on for a while…sort of. But I’m a better liar than the rest of you.”

Madison huffed. “Apparently! So are you happy?”

“I am. Everything seems to be falling into place, don’t you think? Except for our parents and Marta…” He waved his hand. “But we’ll figure it out.”

Ezra nodded. “I agree. We can’t predict what those three will do. But if we stick together, nothing can get past us.”

“I’m not worried about Marta,” Madison said fiercely. “She won’t break us.”

“I’m happy to hear that.” Liam gave her a serious look. “Ethan hated that I wanted him to wait to tell you about Marta until we were all together. But since it had to do with our parents, I thought it was important.”

“That’s what he told me,” she said, returning Liam’s stare. “And I understand why they didn’t tell me earlier. But since we’re trying to make a go of this relationship, it’s better to not have ~any~ secrets.”

There was a beat of silence, then Ezra broke it. “Oh, man. I can’t imagine having two Sams. Having a relationship with one of her is already complicated enough.” He groaned. “I don’t know how you do it.”

“Madison grew up with us four Neanderthals, Ezra. She’s had plenty of training,” Liam pointed out.

She noticed how quickly he jumped on the change of subject, but she went with it anyway.

“What’s weird is that it’s hard to get used to being with just one of them. You’d think it would be the other way around. But I always feel like something isn’t right when one of them isn’t there.”

Liam shrugged his big shoulders. “I guess that makes sense. You chose both of them from the beginning, so for you they’re equally important.”

“Yes. And also, we—” She stopped herself. It wasn’t smart to talk about her sex life to them. “Never mind. So tell us, Liam. Where did you meet your girl? And what’s her name?”

“Her name is Sara, and you’ll understand everything once you see her. She shouldn’t be far away now.”

“She’s coming?”

“Yes, and so is Levi.”

“I already knew that—oh, wait, wait, wait!” she shouted. “Redheaded Sara? Levi and Ethan’s assistant?”

“Yes. That’s why we had to keep everything a secret. She and I have been working closely together on some things, and she felt it was unprofessional to get romantically involved with a client. We tried to resist each other, but…”

He tried to suppress a grin. “We just couldn’t.”

“Wow, bro. Nice job,” Ezra said, leaning over and holding up his hand.

But before her brother could high-five Liam, Levi showed up at the table, looking diabolically hot in his expensive light gray suit and with his tie just a bit loosened.

“Hi, my love,” he whispered to Madison, bending down to kiss her. She stretched her neck to help him. She’d missed those soft, minty lips.

“Hey,” she purred, and when she scooted over to make room for him, her eyes lit on Sara.

The twins’ assistant was just Liam’s type: smart, confident, and gorgeous.

Her slender but curvy body was perfectly wrapped in a knee-length black dress with a short slit on the right side.

Her wavy red hair was cut into a textured bob that framed her huge bright green eyes.

“Hi, everybody,” Sara said politely as she sat next to Liam. He kissed her cheek and she blushed.

“Liam was just filling us in about you two,” Madison explained.

“Wait, you didn’t know?” Levi asked her.

“You did?” The shock on her face made everybody laugh.

“How could I not? Sara and I have been working together since forever,” he reminded Madison. “Though they didn’t ~officially~ confess until last week, right before the whole blowup with Ezra. I guess it got overshadowed…”

He shook his head. “I thought you knew what was going on. I swear, my love.”

“Well, I didn’t. Besides, ~he’s~ the one that should have told me before.” Her eyes landed on Liam, who had his hands up in surrender.

She hadn’t seen him so happy in so long, so she decided to cut him some slack—no more digs about keeping secrets.

It had been a long time since they’d all had a nice, relaxed evening as they were doing now, and she didn’t want to ruin it with her suspicions that he was still keeping something from her.

She just wished Ethan and Sam were here.

That reminded her of something.

She pulled her phone from her bag and opened “The Three” chat. She attached a picture and quickly sent it with a message.

Madison

Hopefully this will help with your jet lag

Madison

And make you want to hurry home

The picture was one she’d taken that morning before leaving the twins’ house.

It was of her seated at the edge of the bed, wearing the bodysuit they’d given her and nothing else.

Her hair was loose on her shoulders, barely covering her nipples.

Her legs were slightly parted and bent, showing a hint of her intimate region covered by the silky fabric of the suit. It left very little to the imagination.

Levi’s phone immediately pinged next to her, and he picked it up.

“Fuuuck,” she heard him mutter, and she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

Then her own phone lit up.

Ethan

Are you trying to kill me?

Madison

When did you wake up?

Ethan

Just now, and this was the first message I opened…I’m already hard.

Levi

Tell me about it

Levi

We’re at Club16 with both Ezra and Liam

Levi

Pure torture

Ethan

At least you’re going back home with her later

Ethan

I’m stuck here doing her brothers’ bidding

Levi

Not sure I can wait until later

Ethan

I need to grab something to eat, and then I don’t have to be anywhere for a bit since it’s early morning here. Make sure you’re both home in an hour. I’ll call you then.

Madison

Don’t let the jet lag get you down

Madison

Love you

The sly smile on Madison’s face slowly faded as Levi’s hand moved to her leg.

There was nowhere to hide at this table; otherwise, she was sure he would be trying to touch more than her thigh. Not that she’d mind.

“I can’t wait to get out of here,” he whispered hoarsely in her ear.

Luckily for them, the rest of the table was laughing at something Ezra just said.

“So, Madison…” Sara turned to look at her. “What about you?”

Madison smiled. “I’m so sorry. I got distracted talking to Ethan. He just woke up. What were you saying?”

Sara chuckled warmly. “I was asking how you managed to survive in a house full of men.”

“I honestly don’t know. I have to say though, separately they were great. All four of them together? Evil! They also had the nerve to be surprised when I ended up fighting better than them and dressing like a boy.

“I mean, they had zero clues about what girls like.”

Madison took the last sip of her drink. “But to be honest, if you take Nikolaj and Isabel out of the equation, I had the best childhood a girl could ask for. They’re great brothers.”

Liam and Ezra both shook their heads, Ezra looking embarrassed but suppressing a smile, and Liam with a huge grin.

“We’ve all been very lucky,” Ezra said. “She could have been way worse off, but she turned out pretty well, I’d say.”

He stood to go. “Even though this evening has been great—and Sara, it’s been a pleasure meeting you—I really need to go. Sam gets a little annoyed if I’m late.”

Madison burst into laughter. “Does she? I’ve known her all my life, and she’s never been on time once!”

While everyone stood to hug Ezra goodbye, Liam added, “We’re actually off, too. I have an early day tomorrow.”

He stretched over to hug Madison. “But we do live under the same roof, at least for now, so let’s try to see each other soon.” He shot a look at Levi that was half playful, half serious.

“Can’t promise that,” Levi said with a smirk. “But sure, I’ll send her home—at some point.”

After all the hugs, Levi hurried Madison back to their car. As soon as they were inside with the doors shut, he grabbed her chin lightly to first kiss, then bite her lips.

“Now, we’d better hurry up, or I’ll have to take you right here.”