Free Totlandia: The Onesies, Book 1 (Fall) by Josie Brown Page A

Onesies moms: red for legacies, and white for those six moms who would be competing for the four other slots. She grimaced at his audacity and signaled Bettina with a wave.
    If anyone was going to tell this guy that this was a private party, it had to be Bettina. Kimberley was much too shy to the point of blushing as deep red as her hair, Mallory would be rude about it, and Joanna was too big a flirt to tell him to get lost.
    Bettina sighed as she straightened her shoulders. By the time she’d reached the intruder, her lips were pursed into a benign smile.
     
    10:25 a.m.
    “Wow, Oliver, look at all the cute babes that are here.” Brady Pierce’s murmur was low enough that he may have truly been addressing his son, but certainly loud enough for the stately blonde with the SnoCone simper to hear it, too.
    It was for her benefit, anyway.
    As Brady had expected, it didn’t exactly stop her in her tracks, but the pale pink flush rising from her neck to those high cheekbones was proof it had the desired effect.
    For a second, at least. Then the icy smile was back. “I’m sorry, but this is a private party.”
    “The Pacific Heights Moms & Tots Club, right?” Steadying his son with one hand, Brady reached inside his jacket pocket with the other and pulled out the official PHM&T invitation. “I’m Brady Pierce. My son, Oliver, made the cut.”
    By now he was used to the effect his name had on others. The cloud of wariness that had darkened her cornflower blue eyes now brightened in anticipation of how she could use this new relationship to her advantage.
    Brady was not above letting her take advantage of him—if it got him what he wanted, too.
    Bettina honored him with a dimpled smile. “Oh! But…well, we assumed he would be here with his   mother . It’s Jade, isn’t it?”
    “This is Jade’s charity morning. She sits on Save the Children’s Celebrity Council.” He shrugged modestly, as if on his wife’s behalf. “But this is so important to her—to us —that I promised I’d stand in for her.”
    He was lying. Wherever Jade was—and his security team had yet to figure that out—more than likely she was sleeping off a hard night of clubbing.
    Not to mention that Jade hadn’t seen Oliver in months.
    No matter. Had Jade shown up, this ice queen, and all these other buttoned-up mommies, would have been appalled at the way she’d try to navigate the mansion’s stone steps in her too short, too tight skirt and thigh high boots. He could just imagine them rolling their eyes whenever her oversized breasts jiggled under whatever clingy, low-cut top she’d chosen to wear that day.
    Not to mention the gasps they’d give when one nipple just happened to pop out.
    If that happened, she couldn’t even use the excuse that she was still nursing Oliver.
    Brady wondered if he was nuts to presume these sorority types would arrange play dates with a platinum blond bombshell who thought the Kardashians were high society. He might have been stupid enough to fall for a big-titted pole dancer with a face like an angel, but none of them would.
    Unless he was successful in winning them over first. Otherwise he couldn’t accomplish his end game: to get Oliver into the group.
    At least he had Madame Ovary on his side. She had winked slyly at him when he entered and then pretended to be surprised to see him there.
    SnoCone was there for him, too. That was obvious by the way she patted his arm gently and purred, “I’m the club’s founder, Bettina Connaught Cross.”
    “Nice to meet you.” He drilled her with his best “I’m all yours” gaze for a full ten seconds before scanning the room. “And which of these little angels is yours?”
    Bettina sighed mightily. "Unfortunately, Lily—she’s in the Foursies group—had to miss this year’s Onesies inauguration. She still has four more weeks of ballet camp, in St. Petersburg."
    "Isn't Florida a long way for a four-year-old to go by herself?" Brady asked.
    “Florida?