Bidding On The Billionaire (The Sherbrookes of Newport Book 8) Read Free Page A

too.”
    “Never seen either of them happier.”
    “I’m not sure the world is ready for another generation of Sherbrooke men,” she said with a chuckle. “Three in less than a year. Is that some kind of record for your family?”
    Derek considered her question. All his cousins were around his age, but Brooklyn didn’t think any were as close as the babies born recently.
    “Might be,” he said.
    “Do you think anyone else will be adding to the family tree soon?”
    He shrugged and took another swig from his soda can. “Don’t think so. Sara’s wedding is this month, but I don’t think she’s ready for children. And Gray and Kiera don’t plan on getting married until next year. But who knows? My family has been full of surprises lately.” Stretching out his long legs, he said, “So how was your sister’s wedding?”
    Brooklyn couldn’t contain her eye roll. “It fit Paris and Seth to a tee.” The entire affair had been elaborate and over the top, much like her supermodel older sister.
    Derek grimaced, an indication he understood her comment. “That bad, huh?”
    “I don’t think you’d call it bad , but not anything I would ever want. Paris looked radiant though. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her so emotional. It might have been a trick of the light, but I think I saw her shed a few tears as my dad walked her down the aisle. And Seth couldn’t keep his eyes off her. They’re a perfect couple.” She spoke the truth. Paris was the second-oldest daughter of Scarlet Knight, now Scarlet Novak, the supermodel of the late seventies and early eighties. A beautiful model herself, she’d recently started to dabble in acting. Seth Vallencourt was a Hollywood hunk and the son of former actor Cal Vallencourt. Today Cal directed some of the best movies out of Hollywood. It was a match made in heaven.
    He broke the tab off his soda can before he spoke again. “And you hated every minute of being out there. That’s why you came home early.”
    Derek knew her well.
    “What did your family do this time?”
    She heard the annoyance in his voice. Her family was not on the top of his favorite people list. And the feeling was mutual. At least it was as far as her dad was concerned. He didn’t care for any of the Sherbrookes, especially Derek’s father. The fact that she and Derek were such good friends irked him to no end. Her mom never said much about their friendship. Then again, she never said much about any of Brooklyn’s friends. Brooklyn considered it a positive thing.
    “They were just themselves.” Since she’d graduated college, her mom and sisters had been constantly trying to set her up with men. Men they would never even give the time of day to. Brooklyn suspected they figured, since she wasn’t as drop-dead gorgeous as them, she’d never land a man herself and needed all the help she could get. Even worse than assuming she needed help was insisting she needed an unattractive man since she’d inherited her father’s looks, rather than her mom’s like both Paris and Milan had. No Hollywood hunks for her; at least that’s what she’d surmised, based on the men her family set her up with. Not that she needed a Hollywood heartthrob. She’d rather be with the ugliest man on Earth if they shared similar interests and he treated her well, instead of a self-absorbed jerk who looked hot in jeans. However, her mom and sisters routinely set her up with not only unattractive men, but men who turned out to be creeps as well.
    “At least it’s over and you don’t have to worry about them anymore.”
    She wished. Her date—no, she wasn’t going to think of it like that—her dinner out with Trevor Jones on Friday proved Derek’s statement wrong.
    “It’s good to be home. I’m actually looking forward to going in to the office tomorrow. I did a lot of work while I was away, but it’s not the same. Anything new and exciting happen there while I was gone?” Hale and Associates had hired them both,