Free The Brat (The Playgirls #3) by May Sage Page A

guy was pretty decent, actually; he brought beer, so he was in, particularly when Shane recognized him from Brooke’s double date.
    As the girls were busy, he took the time to probe:
    “Didn’t I see you at Bella Dona a few weeks back with Brooke?”
    “Sure. Dana was delighted to bump into her. I’ve dragged her back to San Francisco and she’d lost touch with most of her old friends from here.”
    Super interesting, but…
    “Mhh… And the guy…”
    Ryan Johnson smiled, understanding where he was coming from.
    “My brother, Matthew. If he was here, we could be drooling over your ass. Or your hair. Maybe over the cats – the only kind of pussies he tolerates in his bed.”
    God, he was an idiot. How many times had he taken a step back when there had been no need to?
    “Thanks. Brooke and I are… complicated.”
    Ryan smirked.
    “Dana and I were, too. So I got drunk in Vegas with her.”
    Damn, that guy was clever.
     
    The Johnson left around eleven, and Brooke ran to Shane, to give him a huge bear hug.
    “Thank you. Thanks so much. I swear I’ll try to give them away as soon as I can. There will be just one, for a little while. When I’m gone…”
    Ok, enough of that.
    “When we move from this place, we’ll take him with us. No worries.”
    She lifted her head from his chest, confusion obvious in her expression, so he got on one knee and said what needed to be said.
    “Brooke Barnes, I can’t recall a time when that name hasn’t made me smile. You’re the one woman who has always supported me, the first who ever made a blip on my radar and the last one who will ever matter. I love you more than anyone.”
    As it didn’t look like she could understand a word of what he was saying, he reached out for the ring in his pocket and clarified:
    “So, marry me?”
     

Epilogue
     
    Brooke
     
    “And then, he proposed!”
    She still couldn’t believe it had actually happened.
    “That’s all well and good… but why is there a cat peeing on my handmade leather loafers?”
    Brooke rolled her eyes, handing Jack a wipe.
    “They are still training.”
    “ They.”
    Shane emerged from the kitchen, dropping a kiss on her forehead, before turning to Jack.
    “Dude, someone had put them in the bin.”
    That was that. Jack did a one-eighty, going from angry grouch to doting cat lady.
    His eyes suddenly lit up with something that made Brooke say “oh oh” out loud.
    Last time she’d seen that look, he’d gone to tell Shane she was going to hire a hooker boy, for kicks.
    “You need to give them away, right?”
    “Sure. Some of them.”
    He got his phone out and called someone, before winking at Brooke.
    “Hey,” he said, using a tone she’d never, ever heard. He’d suddenly lost the whole overconfident prick thing. “Hi Aria. It’s me. Jackson. I mean, Jackson Barnes. From VandB.”
    He let the person on the other end let a word in, before breaking into a huge smile.
    “Oh, good. Listen, I wonder, what’s your take on kittens?”
     
    The girl was stunning. Drop dead gorgeous. Small frame, a golden skin and jet black hair; green almond-shaped eyes… Hell.
    “Look at them! Dios mio, they are fucking adorable.”
    Brooke could tell her what was adorable: her, when she launched into a volley of insults – some in Spanish, other French, and the occasional English ones, too – when Brooke explained how she’d found them.
    And Jack’s enamored glances over his laptop.
    Aria chose hers, probably the smallest, ugliest of the lot, who’d tucked into her shoe and promptly pissed on it as soon as she’d arrived.
    “He chose me,” she said.
    “Hey, didn’t that one wee on me, too?”
    It definitely had. Brooke managed to hold of smirking until she was gone.
    Then, she started.
    “Jack and Aria, sitting in a tree…” 
     
    Shane
    Three months later
     
    There would be hell to pay when he got his hands on her.
    Shane had disappeared for all of two minutes to take a leak, and upon his return, every