Page 71 of Enticing Her Love

“Yes, it is,” Clay said.

“How’d they forget?” Leni asked. “I mean, that’s kind of a big deal.”

“Our childhood wasn’t typical,” Seth said. “Our parents were traveling to Indonesia with five little kids, and our days sort of blurred together. When we got settled and they realized they’d missed Flynn’s birthday, my mother made a big deal of celebrating, but he hasn’t enjoyed them since.”

“Aw, that’s so sad.” Sutton reached over and patted his cheek. “Was your little heart broken?”

“No, but our mother’s was.” Flynn looked at his siblings’ amused expressions. “Don’t you guys remember Mom crying when she realized she forgot it?”

“No,” Seth said, and his siblings agreed.

“Then you blocked it out,” Flynn said.

“Is that why you don’t like birthdays?” Sutton asked.

“I don’t know,” Flynn admitted. “It seems silly to celebrate them when we didn’t do anything other than being born. We should be celebrating our mother tonight. She did the hard work.”

“We can’t celebrate with Mom. She and Dad are traveling across Europe,” Seth said.

Flynn took a drink. “I know.” Their parents had been planning this trip for a year. “I sent her flowers at the hotel.”

“Aw, that’s really sweet,” Sutton said.

“Thank you.” Flynn looked smugly at his siblings. “See? Someone understands.”

“I said it was sweet,” Sutton said. “But make no mistake, I’m a total birthday girl. Give me all the cake and the hoopla. I want gifts and cheers and everything else that comes with it.”

Everyone laughed, but Flynn remembered what she’d said about it being hard to stand out in her twin-filled family. He wondered if her affinity for birthdays had less to do with gifts and cake and more to do with having her family’s attention for the day.

“So, Sutton. What was it like being stuck in the rainforest with Flynn?” Noah asked.

“I thought it was going to be kind of a nightmare.” Sutton sipped her wine, eyeing Flynn. “But it wasn’t that bad.”

“You mean he didn’t try to control your every step?” Noah asked.

“Well…” Sutton laughed softly.

“He’ll never change,” Noah said.

“You were a wild kid with the attention span of a gnat,” Flynn reminded him. “I had to rein you in or you would’ve gotten hurt.”

“It wasn’t just him,” Clay chimed in, and Seth nodded in agreement.

“Flynn was always bossing us around and lecturing us about safety,” Victory said. “But, Noah, you didn’t seem to mind. You followed him around like a puppy.”

“Because he did cool shit,” Noah said. “All Clay wanted to do was play ball, and you and Seth were doing boring big-kid stuff.”

“Here we go again.” Seth glanced at Sutton and Leni. “Excuse us while we hash out our childhoods.”

“We know a little something about bossy brothers,” Leni said.

“If it makes you feel any better, Flynn is still a bossy know-it-all,” Sutton said with amusement. “I got my fair number of lectures while we were in the rainforest. But I’m thankful he’s so knowledgeable. He saved my life.”

Leni lifted her glass. “To the snake slayer.”

“I thought I heard you say that earlier,” Clay said. “Dude, did you wrestle an anaconda?”

Flynn shook his head and glanced at Sutton, the amusement in her eyes telling him she was thinking of their private anaconda joke, too.