Priceless (Forbidden Men #8)(90)

“I have to say that’s never happened to me before,” he said as he tugged his shirt on.

“Me neither,” I agreed before grinning. “Obviously.”

He grinned back. “So, I guess we’d better go out there and, uh, set the record straight before she ends up telling Mason, huh?”

I looked at him as if he were insane. “What do you mean...set the record straight?”

“Sarah.” His eyes widened meaningfully. “Your brother’s going to find out eventually. It might as well be from us.”

“What?” Oh hell no. He wasn’t seriously suggesting I tell my brother I was no longer a virgin, was he?

But he just kept staring at me with that look and I realized...

Crap, he was.

He hopped off my bed to roll my wheelchair to the edge of the mattress where I was sitting.

“You don’t have to come with me,” I mumbled, realizing, yeah, I should probably be the one to tell Mason, instead of letting him find out through Reese.

“Like hell,” he growled. “You and I are in this together. If he has to find out, he finds out from both of us.”

In that moment, I realized how very lucky I was. Not many men would be willing to stand up to a woman’s brother with her. Anyone else probably would’ve let me deal with this by myself.

Secretly glad I’d been with Brandt when this happened, and no one else, I nodded up at him with trusting eyes.

He nodded back. When he opened the door for me and sent me a reassuring smile, I rolled into the hallway and heard him follow behind.

We entered the kitchen seconds later to find Mason sitting at the table with Isabella on one knee and Gracen on the other while Reese grabbed a carton of ice cream from the freezer and carried it to a counter where four empty bowls sat.

“Babe, I told you I’m not hungry. You don’t have to make me a—”

He glanced over when we entered, and his voice died when he saw who was standing behind me.

“Hey, Brandt.” He frowned, obviously confused. “I didn’t know you were here. I didn’t hear anyone at the door this evening.”

Brandt cleared his throat as he moved out from behind my wheelchair to stop at my side. “I didn’t come in through the door.” Calmly he reached down to take my hand. “I climbed in through Sarah’s bedroom window.”

I choked on my surprise, unable to believe he was admitting that.

All the while, Mason zeroed his attention down to where Brandt was holding my hand. When he looked up, he was scowling suspiciously.” Her bedroom window,” he echoed.

When Brandt nodded, Mason narrowed his eyes. “Have you done that a lot?”

“Only a couple times,” Brandt answered. “A week...for the past seven years.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered, closing my eyes and slapping my hand over my face. “You really plan on telling him every single detail, don’t you?”

“Tell me?” Mason repeated, glancing between me and Brandt. “Tell me what?”

“Well...” Brandt blew out a long, slow breath. “Recently, like five days ago—”

“Oh my God,” I squeaked. He was even going to confess what DAY it happened?

Brandt’s fingers tightened reassuringly around mine as he continued, “Sarah and I decided to change...the status of our relationship.”

Mason only wrinkled his brow as if he had no idea what that meant. “The status of your relationship?”

“Honey, you’re repeating everything he says,” Reese murmured.

Her husband swerved his attention to her with a wide-eyed look. “What?”

Without responding to him, she clasped her hands together to her chest and grinned at me, then Brandt. “I for one am very happy for you two. I mean, Brandt...I couldn’t have chosen a better man for our Sarah.”

Mason zipped his gaze between me and Brandt, waiting for an explanation or more likely for one of us to say we were only joking.

“She’s an adult now, Mason,” Brandt said. “She makes her own adult decisions. And you know I love her, and respect her and would give my life to protect her. Please do not tell me you have a problem with this.”

For a moment, Mason appeared to be too stunned to speak. Then he blew out a breath and lifted his hand to rub the center of his forehead. “I just...I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting this. You two have always been close, but you’ve never...I’m just really shocked.” Then he met Brandt’s gaze and asked, “You’re with her exclusively, right?”

Next to me, Brandt bristled. His eyes went hard as all his muscles tensed. I found myself squeezing his hand in the hopes of calming him. But he still sounded pissed as he gritted out, “I can’t believe you seriously thought you had to ask me that.”

Mason let both Isabella and Gracen slide off his lap. As they scampered into their own chairs to eat their ice cream, my brother rose to his feet. Reese skipped to his side and took his hand as if she too felt the need to calm her man.

“You have to admit,” he said, “you’re not exactly known for being a one-woman kind of guy.”

“That was before Sarah,” Brandt said, making my heart nearly leap out of my chest. I looked up at him, sure I was going to wake any second.