Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) by Giulia Lagomarsino (an ebook reader txt) 📕

that’s a bad thing!” she rushed on. “To each his own. I mean, Derek and I like to pretend that he’s a superhero and it gets us off, so maybe a murderer gets you off. It’s not a big deal at all.” She peered into the backseat and her eyes went wide and giddy. “You must be the murderer. Or is it murderess? Either way, it’s so good to meet you. Maybe we can trade secrets on our favorite weapons. Derek’s been teaching me all sorts of things. Right now I really like using guns, but he’s also teaching me to throw knives, which I bet is a specialty for you. Not that—“

I watched with humor as Derek snuck up behind Claire and slipped a hand over her mouth, essentially cutting off what she was saying. Her face turned bright red as she looked over her shoulder at Derek.

“She rambles,” he said by way of explanation.

I opened the door and then helped Lorelei out of the back, even though she didn’t ever need my help.

“Lorelei, this is my brother, Derek, and his wife, Claire.”

Lorelei smirked. “So, you must be the brother that likes to dress in tights. Not really my thing, but I suppose everyone has their kink.”

I cleared my throat and leaned in closer. “Derek is also the brother that is ex-military and kills people for a living.”

“I do not,” Derek refuted. “Maybe a little for fun, but never for pay. I work in security.”

“Where he kills people,” I added, just to egg him on.

“Only if they get in my way.”

He looked Lorelei over, like he was inspecting a weapon, then held out his hand. “So, you’re the deadly seductress.”

“I would hardly call myself a seductress.”

Derek’s eyebrows rose and he smirked. “I don’t think I’ve ever been terrified by a woman bringing me flowers and placing a frozen bag of peas on an injury.”

I rolled my head toward the sky and sighed. “I’m never going to live that down.”

“Not likely. Anyway, Ma’s waiting for you, along with the rest of the town.”

“Why?”

“Yeah, why?” Lorelei asked curiously.

“Oh, you’ll see,” he smirked, walking off with Claire and leaving us on our own.

“You know, we could just get out of here.”

“And go where?” I asked. “They’re at your house.”

“They have to leave eventually.”

“You don’t know my family very well. Come on,” I said, holding out my hand. “It’s best to just get this over with.”

We headed toward the house, surprised to see that there were a bunch of folding chairs set out, along with most of the town lingering around, talking with each other. And they were all dressed really nice, like they were going to a wedding.

“Uh…on second thought, maybe we should—“

“Andrew!” Ma yelled, running toward us.

“I’m guessing that’s your mother,” Lorelei leaned in and whispered.

“The one and only.”

“Anything I should know?”

“She’s going to try and get us married with kids before she leaves.”

She nodded and put a smile on her face as Ma ran up to me. “Andrew, I can’t believe that you waited so long to show off your fiancé.”

“My—“

“Oh, I’m just so happy to meet you,” she said, turning to Lorelei. “I told him that he needed a good woman to take care of him.”

“Ma, I think you’re misunderstanding—“

“From what I hear, you’re very handy around the house.”

Lorelei looked at her funny. “You do know that I just got out of jail for murder.”

Ma nodded. “For trying to save your hometown. Such a strong, brave girl.”

“Ma, I thought she was a serial killer up until a few weeks ago.”

“And that’s because you were behaving like a fool. Honestly, one look at this woman and you can tell she’s a wonderful person.”

I frowned. “The first time I looked at her, I thought she had the eyes of a killer.”

Lorelei smacked me. “If you’re trying to get your Ma to like me, maybe start talking me up instead of trying to convince her that I’m a killer,” she said through clenched teeth.

“Oh, who cares.” Ma through her hands up in the air. “Besides, in just a few hours, you’ll be family and—”

“Sorry, what?”

Ma turned to me and pursed her lips. “Now, I have dealt with all of your brothers running off and finding their women, but never going through with marrying them. Well, let me tell you something, that’s not going to happen anymore.”

I swallowed hard and looked around at all the other people. “Ma, please tell me that you didn’t…”

“Oh, I did, and not just for you, but for your brothers too.”

My eyes widened and I shook my head slowly. “You mean…all of us are getting married today?”

“That’s right. I won’t go another minute waiting for one of you to finally get this right. And if I have to wait any longer for Eric and Kat to get married, I’m going to die of old age.”

I was trying not to let the panic seep in. Lorelei and I hadn’t even begun to talk about getting married or even where this would go past us both wanting to go home. Well, we were home and we were getting more than we bargained for. I barely noticed Ma running off and then my brothers and their girlfriends were all around us, arguing about what was about to happen.

“We can’t let this happen. I won’t be ruled by the town,” Eric argued. “Kat and I are getting married when we want to.”

“Which is never,” Robert muttered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, come on. Your first wedding was hijacked—“

“By you!”

“And your second wedding, you were pushed off a bridge,” Robert said incredulously. “Let’s face it, if Ma doesn’t push you into this, there’s no way it’s happening.”

“You like that Ma’s pulling this shit,” Eric shot back. “Because you know it’s the only way you’ll get Anna down the aisle.”

Anna whistled loudly, stopping them from arguing. “Boys, you’re both pretty. Now, we all knew this was going to happen eventually. Let’s face it, your mom has been planning this since the moment you were all