“Hey, big brother.” I greeted him with agrin.
He let me go and smiled at Gray. “Are you settling in?” heasked.
“Yes, I love the apartment. And the job.” I hadn’t told him Ellion had practically moved in. I’d wait another day or two. “Where’sGriffin?”
Wes, Gray, and Ellie walked over to us after their hugs were done. Ellie tucked herself under Arch’sarm.
“He took a separate flight, headed back to Alaska,” Archsaid.
My hopes shattered. If he’d wanted anything to do with me, he would’ve come. “Well, okay. Let’s goeat.”
Ellion and Chandler exchanged a dark look out of the corner of myeye.
We headed to a nearby restaurant, and they caught us up on the case inGrenève.
“It went well,” said Arch. “In the end, we got his money back to him, another piece of property in Grenève, plus the one inAlaska.”
Our waiter walked up with ourfood.
With seven of us there, it took a while to get us all served. Finally we went back to our conversation as weate.
“Of course, he’s selling the property in Alaska,” Wesadded.
I froze. Why would he sell it? They’d obviously built it together. I darted my gaze over to Ellion, questions in myeyes.
He shrugged. “He wants to move to a warmer climate and start a PI business. Or maybe do some bounty hunting. We haven’t really decidedyet.”
“Where were you thinking of settling?” I askedcasually.
Chandler took my hand. “We’d actually been looking at Texas. Now that you’re here, it’s definitely higher on thelist.”
I smiled at him while my heart melted. What would I do if Griffin put his foot down and made them live farther away? I’d decided to live near my brothers and I didn’t want to change that. I’d cross that bridge when I came toit.
“What about the marriage clause?” Ellion asked. “I know he wanted to fight particularly hard forthat.”
“Since the suspicious circumstances surrounding her death were shown to have nothing to do with him, he’s clear,” Gray said between bites. “He can remarry. Actually, we managed to get him free. He has no more restrictions from the Grenèviangovernment.”
“He’s free,” I murmured to myself. Free to not choose me, Ithought.
Chandler squeezed my handagain.
“Well, let’s talk about something closer to home. How’s the home renovation going?” I askedEllie.
She laughed and launched into a story about a dishwasher mishap, but my mind wasn’t on it. Damn that man. I was in a budding relationship with Chandler and Ellion. Why was I letting Griffin ruinit?
Dinner passed in a flurry of conversation I didn’t remember. I forced myself to think about the coming days. Both guys were going to stay with me one more week, then fly to Alaska to get to work on their businessplan.
The evening before us loomed intimidatingly. I didn’t know how I’d approach our sleeping arrangements. I was used to sleeping with Ellion. He didn’t snore or hog the blankets. What would Chandler want todo?
Ellie saved the day. “Linda, would you mind if I borrowed Ellion for the night and maybe part of tomorrow? We’re working on our security system at the new house, and his expertise would be invaluable.” She gave me a huge grin and stared pointedly at Chandler, clearly telling me she was giving me the night withhim.
Ellion blinked, as it was the first he was hearing of it. His head swiveled back and forth between us, and I saw his brain light up in hiseyes.
He nodded magnanimously. “Of course! I’d be happy tohelp.”
Before we all parted ways, Ellion riding with Ellie and my brothers, he gave me a hug. “You okay withthis?”
Inodded.
