Fucking gorgeous.
No time tonight, I remind myself.
“See something you like?” Dale says.
I clear my throat. “Maybe later. Right now, I want to see what Brendan wants.”
“Right. You’re aching to talk to Brendan Murphy when Callie Pike sits there, all gorgeous and ripe for the picking.”
“You think she’s gorgeous, huh?”
“Who doesn’t? All the Pike girls are gorgeous, but Callie…”
“You’re a married man now.”
“I didn’t say I want to take them to bed. I’ve still got eyes, you know.”
“I can’t believe I never noticed Callie before the other night.”
Dale scoffs. “I can. You had your eyes on…easier prizes.”
“What is it about her?” I say more to myself than to Dale. “Rory and Maddie are beautiful too—and built—but Callie…”
“It’s the eyes,” Dale says. “Rory’s and Maddie’s are brown, but Callie’s are…”
“Golden,” I say softly. “Big, round eyes of reddish gold.”
Dale chuckles. “You’re waxing all poetic, Don.”
“She’s thinner than her sisters,” I say, though I’m not sure why. It’s true, but in my book, Callie Pike has it all over her sisters. That gorgeous hair, and those eyes. I saw a flower that color once. I think it was a poppy.
Damn. What is wrong with me?
Dale nods. “And not as…well endowed.”
“Are you a boob man?” I shake my head. “Ashley’s beautiful, but she’s hardly well endowed.”
“First, you are never to look at my wife’s tits. Got it?”
I hold my hands up in mock surrender. “Got it. Back off, bro.”
“Besides, I have eyes,” he says for the second time. “Rory and Maddie Pike are fucking stacked.”
I can’t fault his observation. But Rory’s involved with a woman at the moment, and Maddie’s still in undergrad. Way too young for me.
Then there’s Callie…
Man, I want her in my bed something fierce.
“She lives at home right now,” Dale reminds me. “And so do you.”
He’s not wrong. Hardly the recipe for a romp in the hay. “I can work around that.” I sip my water.
Dale eyes the staircase in back. “You’ll have some time to think about your moves. There’s Brendan.”
I rise. “Hey, Murphy.”
“Hey, Don, Dale. Good to see you guys.” We all shake hands as if we’re mere acquaintances, when in fact, we’ve known Brendan since we came to Snow Creek twenty-five years ago. Brendan and Dale were in the same class.
“So what’s up?” Dale asks. “You’ve piqued our curiosity.”
“Not here,” he says. “We’ll go up to my place.”
I glance in Callie’s direction. Damn. I have no idea how long we’ll be, and she’s liable to be gone by the time we come back down to the bar.
Though Dale’s right. Where the heck would I take her? There’s always the Snow Creek Inn, with its four guest rooms. Usually only one is ever filled at any given time except when someone in town has family visiting for a special occasion.
Dale and I follow Brendan up the stairs to his studio above the bar. He pushes the door open.
“Come on in. Excuse the mess.”
The place is definitely a bachelor pad, but it’s not messy at all. Even his bed is made, which is more than mine ever is. Mom tried her best, but out of the four of us, only Diana got the neatness gene.
“You want some more water?” he asks.
I hold up my bottle. “Still good here.”
“I’m good too,” Dale says. “What’s this about, Murphy?”
“Have a seat.” Brendan gestures to a couch and a recliner.
“Do we need to be sitting down?” I ask.
“Your choice.”
Dale and I plunk onto the couch, and Brendan takes the recliner.
Silence for a minute or so, until—
“I found something under a plank here. By accident.”
“What’s it got to do with us?” I ask.
“Not you two so much. But your grandfather. Bradford Steel.”
Chapter Six
Callie
“Dale’s married,” I say, “and I got over him long ago.”
“I’m not talking about Dale.”
I take a drink of Diet Coke.
“I saw you and Donny together at the wedding reception.”
Had she? She and Raine had been hanging with Jesse’s band most of the evening.
“Donny Steel’s a known womanizer. Maybe I was just interested in talking law with him.”
Rory smiles knowingly. “Did you talk about law at all that night?”
I can’t help a chuckle. “Not once.”
I find my gaze glued to Donny’s tight ass as he and Dale follow Brendan Murphy up the stairs to his place. “I wonder what that’s all about.”
Rory sips her drink. “Beats me. I didn’t know they were close to Brendan.”
“They’re not, as far as I know. He and Dale were in the same class, but that was”—I count on my fingers—“seventeen years ago.”
“Dale comes in here to play pool sometimes,” Rory says. “Raine and I see him every now and then. But Donny’s hardly ever here.”
“Because he doesn’t live here,” I tell her. “Until now.”
“He does?”
“Yeah. Didn’t Mom tell you? He’s moving back and taking over Mary’s position as assistant city attorney.”
“Working with his mother?”
I laugh. “I know. Weird, huh?”