"I mean, come on. She's hot, objectively speaking. Why would you marry her if you're not gonna bang her? I wouldn't bang her, but I also wouldn't marry her."
God, could Aspen be any more crude? I ran a hand through my hair, trying to figure out how to put it into words my dumbass little brother was capable of understanding. Apparently he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, and I would have to put in very simple words to get it through his thick little skull.
"Because," I started, speaking very slowly, "it's not fair to her. I only married her so she could inherit her due portion of her dad's company. It's not about sex. It's bad enough she had to marry me to get what was rightfully hers. I'm not going to force myself on her."
The way Aspen looked at me it was clear he still didn't understand. I wasn't sure how I could make the concept any more clear to him. Throttling him sounds like a good option, and I have to keep reminding myself we're out in public.
"Dude, she totally wants it," Aspen said, giving me an incredulous look.
Before I could tell him how much of an idiot he was, a voice spoke up from behind me. "Who wants what?" Christian asked as he slid into the booth next to Aspen.
I squirmed as both of my brothers pinned me with their gazes. When I'd agreed to meet up with them for drinks, I'd been hoping for a nice, relaxing afternoon of beers. I was not looking for an interrogation into my sex life with Gabbie.
"Nothing," I said, glaring at Aspen, hoping this time he would get the message. But either my brother is an idiot or he's just an asshole. Either was a possibility.
Aspen glanced over at Christian and grinned. "Dumbass doesn't think his wife wants to sleep with him."
"Seriously?" Christian raised an eyebrow as he looked at me. When I didn't respond right away, he let out a sigh and shook his head. "She wants to sleep with you. Why else would she stay married to you?"
I picked up my beer and downed the rest of it. If this was all we were going to talk about, I was going to need something a hell of a lot stronger than this. Maybe then I wouldn't have the urge to murder two out of three of my brothers.
"Maybe," I said through gritted teeth, "because being married has worked out well for us. We're comfortable together. Maybe she doesn't want to go through the effort of finding another husband. It could be any of a hundred things. But it doesn't mean she wants to have sex with me! Now, can we move on and talk about something else?"
Aspen opened his mouth, no doubt to continue the conversation, but Christian elbowed him in the ribs. At least one brother had common sense in his thick skull. "Is everyone meeting up at the house for Christmas this year?"
Letting out the breath I'd been holding, I nodded. "That's the plan. Mom is already going crazy with all the things she's going to make this year. I don't know how that woman still does it. She's going to spend the entire day running around that kitchen."
"And she'll love every minute of it," Christian added with a smile. "You know here. She's the happiest when she's cooking for everyone. And as the family grows, she has to cook even more and is even happier. I swear, that woman will live forever as long as she has family to cook for."
We all laughed at that, knowing it was probably true. Especially now that she had some grandkids on the way from Christian and his fiancé, Mom probably would live forever. Otherwise, who would be there to cook and bake for her precious grandbabies?
Once the conversation moved away from my relationship with Gabbie, I relaxed . The beers helped too, though I had to fight back the urge to order something stronger and get truly shitfaced. Still, it helped me forget all the shit going on at work and even helped put the situation with Gabbie out of my mind for a bit.
"What do you guys have planned tonight?" I asked as we waited to pay our tabs.
They both glanced at each other and shrugged. "Jade's visiting her family for a couple days, so I'm on my own," Christian said.
I grinned at them. "Good, then you should both come over to the house for dinner. If I know Gabbie, she's already cooking more food than the two of us are ever going to be able to meet."
It was a habit she'd picked up from Mom. Since she'd had all boys, Mom had latched onto Gabbie as her surrogate daughter. She'd grown up alongside us, was practically a sister to all of us. Which was all the more reason for me to keep my dick in my pants and not try to force myself on her. I'd already long ago accepted that fact. Now I just needed to get my brothers to understand that.
I doubted dinner would be enough to get it through their thick skulls though. But I was ever the optimist.
The drive back to the house gave me time to think. It was hard not to wish Aspen was right, that Gabriella really was interested in me that way. But it was wishful thinking, nothing more. Why would she ever be interested in me that way? The guys all thought of her as our sister. And she thought of them as her brothers. Why would she think of me any differently?
Hell, I should've been thinking of her as a sister. And I did for a while. I couldn't even tell you when that changed, when I started thinking of
