STEPBROTHER: The Bride's Surprise (FMM Menage Stepbrother Romance) (Contemporary Women New Adult & College Menage Short Stories) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Livy.”
     
    Suddenly Julia looked worried.
     
    “Mama, what is it?” Julia looked at her daughter. “Nothing, darling. I know how much you’ve had to do since my father died. I worry you are living life for yourself.”
     
    “Mom, please,” said Livy. “We won’t look like sisters anymore if you get crows’ feet and a forehead that wrinkles from worrying.”
     
    Livy hugged Julia.
     
    “My word. What did I ever do to get a daughter as precious as you? You go on with your day. I’ll find someone to come and share some of these lovely flowers. You sure a handsome rogue isn’t behind this?” Julia said toying with a bunch of sunflowers.
     
    “Oh, please,” said Livy. “I think the only thing I should be wondering about is how to help you with granddad’s business.”
     
    “Money isn’t everything,” reminded Julia.
     
    “Tell that to the Foxtail Ad Group. They’re the ones who want to take away the family legacy,” Livy kissed her mother. “Be back in a few,” said Livy.
     
    *****
     
    “What are you saying? How can I possibly find a husband in 23 days, and prove I’m an heir? This is insane!” Livy told Simon Sallow.
     
    “There is another clause you can use during the injunction,” said Simon.
     
    “I’m all ears.”
     
    “The clause about joint partnership says you must remain married for a year. You can marry but you don’t have to stay married.”
     
    Livy looked to the Heavens. “You’re saying I could have something like, some sort of shotgun, marriage?”
     
    “What you do, you’ll do with the understanding you will have fulfilled Donovan Lee’s wishes. Anything afterwards, including starting a family, is negotiable.” Livy listened to Simon.
     
    “Simon Sallow, are you kidding me, or are you straight up, bona fide for real,” asked Livy.
     
    “Straight up,” Simon cleared his throat.
     
    Livy hung up with Simon and she texted Poppy. She told her mom Julia she’d see her in the morning.
     
    *****
     
    Livy sat at a diner with Poppy for sopapillas and honey. “Told you,” Poppy said between bits of the fluffy fried pastry.
     
    “Gosh, Mexican is so good, and you don’t have to think about asking for seconds, because they always come,” smiled Livy.
     
    “You did. You said I could get hitched and it wouldn’t be a thing or a travesty of the institution of marriage.” Though Livy was thinking seriously whether she should be committed into one for considering what Poppy told her.
     
    “Yeppers. You can get hitched with a hubby, then bust it up like a Vegas annul, or irreconcilable differences,” stated Poppy.
     
    Livy looked at Poppy. “How do you know so much about everything, and continue to walk dogs? It’s obvious you know plenty when it comes to relationships, life, and getting along. Why do you do so little, when you know you could do and have so much more..?
     
    Poppy slathered honey onto a sopapilla. “I tell you why—.”
     
    “Oh no,” Livy said starting to laugh. Livy shook her head, tearing off a piece of a sopapilla.
     
    “That’s right. I’m an independent woman, and I do what I want—.”
     
    Livy mimicked Poppy in tandem. “I know. ‘I’m an independent woman, and I do what I want—.’
     
    “So are you going to?” Poppy chewed on her pastry.
     
    “Oh…my mother thinks I’m doomed to live with cats, and I made dirty sex with a man who’s planning to steal my family’s agency. I dunno. Is a fake marriage without love any crazier? So, what’s the address?”
     
    Poppy texted Livy in the middle of the restaurant. The name ‘Happily Ever After’ matching service popped up, and Livy frowned.
     
    “Oh, come on,” Livy said.
     
    Poppy looked at Livy and she wriggled her eyebrows.
     
    “Oh, gosh. I’m going to be doomed to riding the Irish plains as a Pooka, terrorizing innocent faerie folk wherever I go—.”
     
    “Would you stop with the Irish gloom? You’d think we were in Ireland and you were the