The Bachelor Pact Read Online Free PDF

three, the calmest, the wisest, the one who'd taken care of her and Reid when her parents had died. The one she worried about. The one she knew would be crushed if he learned about the argument her parents had had the night before they'd died.
    Concern showed in the set of his jaw. "And you—maybe you could cut us all a slice of cake and make some coffee." She gestured toward the box on the table. "It's chocolate éclair."
    He brushed his hand along her chin in that protective I'll-always-take-care-of-you way he had. "Whatever you want, Mad. You know I'm here for you."
    Maddie nodded, blinking at the unwanted sting of tears that moistened her eyes. She didn't know whether to hit them both or hug them.
    She should have killed them both and put them out of her misery, Maddie thought an hour later. Murder would have been easier than enduring their hovering. The boys polished off the éclair cake, gave her a pep talk that she did not need, and over a pot of coffee hinted that Jeff might change his mind and warm to the idea of marriage.
    Yeah, with a little more of your intimidation tactics, Maddie thought sourly. She didn't want warm, she wanted hot. Someone hot for her and hot over the idea of loving her for the rest of his life. Someone who wouldn't ask her to trade her independence for his own goals. Someone who'd like it when she took control, even in bed.
    "Breaking up with Jeff is the best thing I've ever done. Now my life can be my own show; I'll star in it and I won't have Jeff telling me what to do." Maddie lay down her fork, determined to put a positive spin on the humiliating day. "I'm going to date around, explore the single life in Savannah. Maybe I'll get some friends together and we'll make a single women's pact like you guys made that dumb bachelor pact when you were twelve."
    "That pact was a good thing," Lance said.
    "Yeah, I like my life." Reid mumbled. "I don't have to worry about putting the toilet seat down, have the remote to myself, and a different woman every night."
    Maddie laughed. "I'm going to call Sophie and see if she wants to go to Barebones tonight, and there's that drag bar where the Lady Chablis performs, I can't wait to see—"
    "You are not going to Barebones," Lance said in a no-nonsense tone.
    "Or to see the Lady Chablis," Reid said curtly.
    Maddie bristled in spite of the fact that she'd intentionally named the most outrageous bars she could think of to taunt her brothers. "Why not? I'm of legal age, and almost everyone in Savannah has seen—"
    "You're a woman, and you're not going," Lance said as if that explained everything.
    Reid stood, wincing when his head hit the bottom of a hanging fern pot. "Women like you are meant for places like the Tea House. In a bar, you're prime targets for... for—"
    "Sexist bachelors like yourselves?" Maddie asked sweetly.
    Chase halted the movement of the swing, threw his head back and laughed, cutting off Lance's reply. "Guys, I think Maddie's pulling your leg here."
    Maddie shot him a wicked look. "Who says? I missed out on a lot of things dawdling around with Jeff. I'm going to have some fun now."
    Lance and Reid groaned. Chase's dark eyes turned blacker than the night. "Then call one of us, and we'll take you, shortstop."
    Maddie pointed her fork at them. "Right. Every guy in the place would be all over me, asking me to dance with the three of you hovering around like mother hens."
    "We are not mother hens," Reid mumbled. "We're just more experienced."
    "And you don't need guys all over you," Lance growled.
    "Oh, pull... eeease," Maddie moaned. "The only difference between men and women is that you have a—"
    "Don't say it, Mad," Lance warned.
    "A Y chromosome." Maddie smiled smugly. "Now, let's change the subject."
    Lance and Reid quickly shouted, "Here-here."
    Chase didn't voice an opinion. In fact, he remained suspiciously silent again, merely giving Maddie another one of those dark, unreadable looks that made her wonder if her black thong