Instant Bliss: The Moore Family Book 3

by Brooks, Abby

  James puffed out his cheeks and turned to his brother. “It’s definitely not just you.” He grabbed Ellie by the waist and pulled her close, staring deeply into her eyes in an exaggerated parody of his oldest brother.

  “Wow, you two. Get a room.” Ian’s voice came from the doorway. “You guys are always doing that, you know. You should be more mindful of other people—” He stopped in his tracks as the kitchen dissolved in laughter. “What? What did I say?”

  Harry threw an arm around his shoulders and leaned in conspiratorially. “They were making fun of you and Juliet because Julz was making fun of me and Willie.”

  Ian shook his head. “Apparently we’re all annoyingly in love.”

  Lilah reappeared in the doorway, clapping her hands. “The kitchen isn’t for socializing.” She took Ian by the shoulders and guided him out of the room. “I have a perfectly good sitting room where we can all laugh at whatever’s so funny.”

  “But Lilah…we’re all laughing already…” Harry choked on a chuckle as his sister’s face turned a violent shade of red.

  The family filtered out of the kitchen in a stream of good-natured ribbing and Willow took in the smiles on the faces of her friends. These people would soon be her family…and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Harry slipped an arm around her waist as he passed. “Everything okay?”

  She stared into those old soul eyes, the ones that had looked instantly familiar the day they met. “Still think I’m ridiculous for believing in signs?”

  “Oh, great. Are we answering questions with questions again?”

  “Would you rather I answered them with explanations?”

  Chuckling, Harry drew her close and pressed his forehead to hers. “Nothing between us,” he murmured.

  Willow cupped his cheeks and nuzzled his nose, then laughed as Ian arrived, wrapping an arm around each of their shoulders. “I found them, Lilah! They got…err…distracted…”

  With that, he led them to join the family, where they spent the rest of the evening enjoying good food, good wine, and the promise of being together.

  * * *

  Don’t think you could ever love Lilah Moore? I’ll take that bet! Check out her story in ENEMIES-TO-BLISS. You’ll swoon as she falls for Cole Bennett, a blue-collar man with a big…heart.

  One click ENEMIES-TO-BLISS now!

  Looking for signed books or more information on all things Abby Brooks? Check out my website!

  www.abbybrooksfiction.com

  Turn the page for an excerpt from ENEMIES-TO-BLISS…

  Enemies-to-Bliss Sneak Peek

  Chapter One

  Lilah

  Caterers laid out food on marble countertops. Maids flitted around in a flurry of feather dusters. And Lilah Moore stood in the middle of it all, annoyed that she couldn’t trust people to just do their damn jobs. She should have known better than to believe she could leave the help alone. Life never skipped a chance to remind her that if she wanted something done right, she would end up having to do it herself.

  What was so hard about following a simple set of instructions to prepare her house for a party that night?

  Apparently everything.

  She’d even had to tell the girl at the salon how to do her nails properly. Nail polish belonged on the fingernail. How difficult was that?

  Apparently very.

  At least her hair had turned out well—the only easy thing about the whole day. Antoine was a genius and that was all there was to it. He’d blown out Lilah’s long, blonde hair and managed to make perfectly wonderful waves that looped their way down her back without looking like she spent the better part of her morning at the stylist.

  Which she had, of course.

  Such was the genius of Antoine.

  If she could just get the caterers and maids in line, she might actually have a decent party. And, as everyone knew, a decent party in Lilah’s estimation was actually a fucking fantastic party. Which was exactly what her three older brothers deserved. A fucking fantastic party.

  Life had been clicking into place for each of them. Ian was married. Harry was getting married. And James was about to become a father. Which left Lilah as the last unattached Moore—a status that was fine with her. Finding a decent match was more challenging than it was for her brothers. Lilah had standards. She wouldn't settle for just anyone. She was fine to wait until she found someone who would treat her the way she deserved to be treated. Someone who could provide the lifestyle she was accustomed to.

  Finally, after all the flower arrangements were in just the right place, after every pillow had been fluffed and straightened at least twice, after the food lining the counters looked just as mouth-watering as it smelled, Lilah shooed the help from her house. Then she wandered around, checking and double checking that everything was exactly as it needed to be.

  Ever the punctual first-born, Ian arrived first with his new wife, Juliet, clinging to his arm as if he were her life raft. Next came Harry, accompanied by his fiancé, Willow, looking perfectly waifish and wide-eyed as she took in Lilah’s home. Finally, in sauntered James—late as usual—with his very pregnant girlfriend, Ellie, waddling in after him.

  Lilah was in tip-top, positively perfect form, ushering people to the chairs she’d arranged specifically for each person in the living room. Not that they knew she had a seating arrangement in her head. God, no. James would never let her live that down. But just because she didn’t tell anyone there was a plan didn’t mean she hadn’t made one. She understood the ebb and flow of socializing, and the need for the perfect arrangement of, well, everything, to make a gathering go well.

  After exactly twenty minutes of conversation, Lilah was back up, ushering everyone out of the living room and into the dining room for dinner and—thank God—the food tasted just as delicious as it looked. Which was only appropriate, considering how much it all cost.

  As dinner wound down, Lilah held up her drink and waited for all eyes to focus on her. “Thank you all for coming...” She smiled and squared her shoulders. “I’m just so happy for my brothers. good, strong men who have taken such good care of me. Sometimes too good…” She paused, waiting for the light laughter she expected.

  “We wouldn’t have to take such good care of you if you didn’t make such bad choices with boyfriends.” James leaned forward and crossed his arms on the table. “I mean, we’re the reason you made it through high school without getting your heart broken.

  “Or, you know, actually falling in love.” Lilah shrugged, still mildly annoyed with her over-protective brothers and the bossy gene that came with being a Moore. “Six of one, half dozen of the other, really.”

  “Here we go again.” Ian rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair, running a hand through his dark hair. “Come on, Lilah. You were crazy in love with Braydon Fletcher.”

  She hit him with her most condescending look. “I might have been, if you hadn’t broken his nose right after Junior Prom. I never saw the guy again after that.”

  “Hey! I was the one who broke his nose.” James thumbed at his puffed-up chest. “These guys just made sure good old Braydon knew why he got the shit beaten out of him.”

  Ellie, James’ girlfriend, leaned forward and placed a hand on his arm. “You broke his nose? Why?” She sounded more awed than appalled, which had Lilah shaking her head. There was nothing awe-inspiring about James’ quick temper.

  The truth of the matter was that Braydon Fletcher had his nose broken because that night because the guys came home a half an hour earlier than she expected. They found her on the couch, a little drunk, a lot undressed, and completely hidden under a very handsy guy in a rented tux. It didn’t matter how fine she was with what was happening, poor Braydon was brought to the full and complete realization that her brothers were not.

  “None of that’s important right now.” Lilah laughed as she silently willed her brothers to shut up. The night was not supposed to be about her. It was for them.

  And
if they would just shut the hell up and let me talk, she thought to herself, we can move on to the next thing I have planned.

  She plastered a bright smile on her face. “What’s important is that you’re all here and you’re all happy. I couldn’t have picked a better set of women to be with my brothers.”

  There.

  That settled everyone down.

  “To love.” Lilah held up her glass. With beaming smiles, her guests echoed her toast and drank. “You girls must feel like you won the lottery, getting to join the Moore family,” she continued, lowering her glass to the table. “Even you Ellie, although officially it’s only your baby who’s part of the family.” Ellie’s jaw dropped, but Lilah didn’t notice. “It must be nice to have everything just fall into your lap like it has.” She smiled at each of the three women in turn before casually sipping her whiskey sour.

  “Lilah!” All three brothers barked in unison, none of them sounding pleased, and all of them glaring at her across the table.

  “What?” She flinched, taken aback by their sharp tone.

  “You need to think about the things you say,” Harry said, as if that was enough clear everything up.

  “What did I say?”

  “Everything just fell into their lap? What are you implying?”

  “They did each manage to pull off a pretty major Cinderella story without having to work for anything. And now, they’ll never have to work again.”

  There. That should make everyone feel better.

  Simply put, Juliet, Ellie, and Willow each gained access to a lot of money and the opportunity to spend their days stretched out on the beach when they landed her brothers.

  James leaned his elbows onto the table and leveled a finger at Lilah. “Who are you to talk? It’s not like you’ve ever had to work a day in your life.”

  “I worked very hard on this party! Frankly, I’m kind of exhausted!” Lilah looked to the other women at the table for support. Surely, one of them would jump in and come to her rescue. They had to know she didn’t mean anything bad by what she said. The truth was the truth even if it was hard to hear.

  “Did you cook this meal?” Harry lifted his eyebrows and gestured toward the plates littering the table.

  “Well, no…”

  “What about the cleaning, did you do that?” Ian had that smug grin on his face that sent Lilah’s blood boiling.

  She ducked her chin. What did any of this matter? She was just trying to do something nice for her brothers. “No…”

  “I bet she didn’t even do her own hair.” James was in full attack mode, biting off his words and shaking his head as if her party was something to be ashamed of.

  “What the hell, guys? I was trying to do something nice for you.” How had they gone from having a great time, enjoying the nice evening she created for them, to everyone being mad at her for doing it? It always happened that way. Everyone was so damn touchy about everything.

  “And you did do something nice for us.” James sat back and grabbed Ellie’s hand. “With Mom and Dad’s money. But then you managed to offend everyone.”

  “It’s okay. I’m not offended at all.” Willow leaned forward and sought out eye contact with everyone, a wide smile on her face as she tried to defuse the situation.

  “Here’s the thing, dear sister.” Just by the way Ian sat his glass down after taking a drink, Lilah knew she wasn’t going to like what he had to say. “You have a lot of stuff, but you don’t have the first clue what it means to work for what you want.” He gestured around the house. “You live in Mom and Dad’s guest house. And decorated the place with their money. And drive a car they gave to you. And eat the food they cook. And buy clothes with the money they put in your account.”

  Lilah frowned. “So I take advantage of being born into a wealthy family. James did, too. He didn't even work until he met Ellie. I don’t see you giving him a hard time.”

  “He wasn’t busy being a condescending ass.” Harry smiled to take the sting out of his words, but there was no mistaking they were meant to hurt. Lilah opened her mouth to say she wasn’t a condescending ass and Harry held up a hand. “Plus, ever since Ellie came into his life, James has been a total rock star, hasn’t he?”

  “Hell yeah, he has.” Ellie nodded emphatically. “He does the books at the café. He man's the counter when I can’t manage standing anymore. He hired more people to help in the kitchen. I don’t think of Good Beginnings as just my café anymore. I think of it as ours. James is…” She threaded her fingers with his and stared deeply into his eyes. “He’s the best.”

  Lilah couldn’t care less how much hard work James had done, but she was offended her brothers didn’t think she was capable of doing the same. She crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in her chair. “I can take care of myself.”

  All three men broke into laughter and Juliet stared at the table, covering her mouth with her hand. Willow nodded in agreement, while Ellie looked at Lilah like she was a kid who just announced she wanted to be Superman when she grew up.

  “I can!” Indignation squeaked in Lilah’s voice.

  How dare they!

  There she was, exhausted from creating an entire evening to celebrate their happiness and how do they thank her? By calling her lazy and spoiled?

  “Okay…” James cleared his throat and Lilah didn’t like the twist of his lips. It was the look that always ended with someone in trouble when they were little. “Prove it.” He gave a curt nod. “I’m throwing down the gauntlet right now. Prove that you can take care of yourself.”

  “Fine.” Lilah thrust her chin up and pursed her lips. “I’ll totally prove it.” She gave a little shrug of her shoulders. “How?”

  Another bout of chuckling around the table sent a ripple of irritation rolling through her belly. How wonderful for them all that they found her so entertaining.

  James met Ian and Harry’s eyes in turn, before shrugging and turning back to Lilah. “Move out of the guest house. Get a job. Pay your own bills. You know. Actually support yourself.”

  Ian made a sound that was more gunshot than laughter. “Be reasonable, James. We don’t want to traumatize our dear sister.”

  “You don’t think I can do it?” Lilah looked around the table at her guests who all seemed to think that was the funniest thing they’d ever heard. That was bad enough, but it was the sympathy on Ellie’s face that really burned her. She looked like she felt sorry for Lilah. The woman who, just one year before, was struggling to keep the lights on in her apartment felt sorry for Lilah.

  That was so not okay.

  “It’s hard out there,” Ellie said. “I know better than anyone, especially now that I’ve got everything I ever wanted.” She placed a hand on her belly and smiled at James which, for some reason, made Lilah even angrier. “I don’t think you know what you’re signing up for.” Lilah made a face and Ellie hurried on. “And that’s a good thing! You should be glad you don’t know how hard it is to have to work for what you want.”

  Ellie smiled as if she had just said the nicest thing ever, but it didn’t feel nice to Lilah. It felt condescending and snobbish. A look around the table at those six heads nodding agreement and making different versions of the same judgmental face made up Lilah’s mind.

  They didn’t have any faith in her?

  She would show them just how wrong they were to underestimate the Lilah Moore.

  She sniffed, then shook her head and pursed her lips.

  “I can so totally do this,” she said and meant it with every fiber of her being.

  Chapter Two

  Lilah

  “I so totally can’t do this.” Lilah gaped at the dingy walls in her brand-new box of an apartment.

  Why had she ever agreed to her brothers’ stupid bet?

  Because I’m a Moore and Moores are stubborn, that’s why.

  She plopped down on the couch—one of the few pieces of furniture she’d been allowed to bring—and dropped her head into her hands.
>
  Maybe she’d had more to drink that night than she thought. Maybe the wine had gone straight to her head and that was why she’d been so gung-ho about the whole thing. Whatever the reason, she was screwed. Utterly and completely screwed.

  As if to prove her point, Lilah wandered into the kitchen. “I didn’t even know countertops could peel,” she muttered to the wall.

  As soon as her brothers realized she was determined to prove she could make it on her own, they drafted an official Moore Brother Bet. The stakes? Lilah had to make it six months, supporting herself, completely on her own. To make matters worse, they placed limits on what she could bring with her. And because she’d been in the middle of being a stubborn ass, she agreed with everything they said.

  When they stipulated she could only bring basic pieces of furniture like the couch, her bed, and her dresser, she just nodded her head like that made total sense. Easy peezy!

  When they decreed she could only bring a week’s worth of clothes and only one pair of pajamas—nothing from a designer label, of course—she accepted that horrible limitation without thinking. No big deal!

  That night, Lilah learned that when she set her mind on winning, she lost the ability to think more than ten minutes ahead. Not only did she concede to the furniture and clothing, but she also agreed her car was too luxurious. From that point forward, she’d drive Ellie’s old junker in order to get the full, out-on-her-own experience. The thing had to be a million years old and smelled a little funny…

  Okay…

  It smelled a lot funny.

  Ellie warned her not to trust it on long trips, but that didn’t faze Lilah. Oh no!

  All the better, was her motto.

  Bring it on, she declared boldly and at every opportunity.

  “What was I thinking?” she asked the empty apartment.