Priceless (Forbidden Men #8)(61)

Oh, right. Seth.

I’d started this whole stupid crusade because I wanted to show that jerkface I could attract a man without him being paid to do me.

But the more I wanted to shove Brandt into the role of the doer, the crappier I began to feel about the whole idea, especially after the way he’d reacted the first time I’d asked him.

“Oh my God, my husband is a genius,” Caroline squealed, looking up to shake my arm. “With Eva going into labor and Reese and all them leaving to babysit the other three Ryan kids, you know what this means, don’t you?”

I wrinkled my brow, having no clue what that meant. “That Eva and Pick will now have four kids?” I guessed lamely.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “No. It means you’ll be home alone for the next few days.”

“Oh,” Zoey gasped, catching on. “That’s perfect. I thought we’d have to wait weeks to organize seduction night, but...wait, does Brandt have to work tonight?”

“Nope.” Caroline read the screen of her phone with a grin. “Colton says he’s off both tonight and tomorrow.” She looked up and wiggled her eyebrows at me. “So that gives us two nights to work with.”

Uncertainty churned through me. “You know, I’ve been thinking. Maybe trying to force Brandt into—”

“It’s a great plan,” Caroline cut in. “Just trust us.”

Trust them.

Sure, my mind screamed very uncertainly.

I have no idea why trusting Brandt’s siblings felt like the worst idea ever. Shouldn’t they know what he needed more than I did?

No, I was his best friend. Not them. I knew him better. And he would not appreciate this...at all.

I think that was when I decided I wasn’t going to go through with Operation Bang-Brandt, even though I’d just let Caroline believe otherwise.

*

When Caroline encouraged me to follow them to Zoey’s house from the mall, I agreed. I didn’t think there’d be any harm in it, since the alternative was me going home alone.

Ten was waiting by the door when we arrived. For some reason, Caroline had grabbed my bag-o-sin from my SUV when I’d parked. I had no idea why—I certainly wasn’t changing into anything here...maybe even anywhere. I was probably going to “lose” the entire bag as soon as I got home.

“Hey, Hot Wheels,” Ten greeted me first thing. “Did you pick out something really naughty?”

“Oh my God,” I gasped, my face going beet red. I guess I should’ve known everyone would be in on Operation Bang-Brandt.

Yeah, now I really couldn’t go through with it.

“Leave her be,” Caroline groused, jerking the bag out of his reach when he tried to peek inside.

“Where are the kids?” Zoey asked, glancing around.

“In JB’s room, watching a movie,” Colton answered as he emerged from the hall.

When Zoey started back that way to check in on them, Caroline called after her. “Hey, grab your makeup kit while you’re back there.”

“So...” Colton grinned as he wandered to me. “Was my plan genius, or was my plan genius?”

Beyond embarrassed that everyone was acting so blasé about me trying to seduce their brother, I muttered, “This whole thing is growing more ridiculous by the second.”

“Nonsense.” He surprised the crap out of me by pecking a quick kiss to the top of my head before whisking his way toward the exit. “Just trust us.”

I ground my teeth, tempted to call after him that I was getting sick of everyone telling me that, but Caroline was still right there, and she’d been so nice to me today, I didn’t want to hurt her feelings by claiming I couldn’t trust her.

“Where is he going?” I asked instead as I watched Brandt’s whistling brother stroll from the house.

“He’s putting stage two into effect,” Caroline answered before grasping my chin and forcing me to lift my face. “Close your eyes.”

I blinked at her, only to realize Zoey had returned with her makeup kit, and Caroline wanted to doll me up.

“Why?” I asked uncertainly, moving my face backward. “What’s stage two? And what was stage one?”

“Don’t worry about it, honey,” Caroline answered right before Zoey said, “Ooh, that’s the perfect color for her.”

“I know, right? I had a feeling jewel tones on her would kick ass.” Caroline turned back to me. “I just want to play around a little,” she reassured me.

“Oh.” I obligingly closed my eyes but still jumped when she began to apply foundation.

“Why did you get her three different pairs of lingerie?” Ten asked, making me crack open the eye Caroline wasn’t working on to realize he’d gotten hold of my bag...and was browsing through everything inside.

He lifted three hangers full of unmentionables. “You do realize it’s only going to take one of these bad boys to bring Brandt to his knees, right?”

“Oh my God,” I moaned, sinking lower into my wheelchair.

Caroline growled. “Stop poking through Sarah’s underwear.” She snagged the three hangers full of matching bra and panty sets from his hands where he was holding them up to examine them. “Give the girl some privacy.”