I kiss her cheek. “I had a great time.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
“You think about that recital. I want to do that for you.”
She nods. “Thanks for dinner. And the dancing.”
“Anytime.” This time I kiss her lips, making a concerted effort not to use any tongue. “I’ll call you.”
She mumbles something I can’t make out.
“What?”
“Never mind.” She opens her door and disappears behind it.
Chapter Fifteen
Rory
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Callie says as she wipes sleep out of her eyes.
“Totally not kidding. He did not try to get me into bed.”
“Were you out with Brock Steel? Or his evil twin? Scratch that. His polite twin.”
“Brock Steel, or someone who looks exactly like him.”
“Yeah, like I said. The polite twin.”
“Maybe because it’s a work night.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s never stopped any of the Rake-a-teers before. It sure never stopped Donny.”
I shake my head. “It was strange. We were really clicking. At least I thought we were. So I asked him if he wanted to get out of there.”
“And what did he say?”
“He brought me here.”
Callie raises an eyebrow.
“Not to sound full of myself or anything, but I’m not used to being turned down. By men or women.”
“And certainly not by Brock Steel,” Callie adds.
“No kidding. If there was ever a sure thing, he is it.”
“What else happened? What did he say when he dropped you off?”
“He said he’d call me.”
“Well, that’s a good thing, right?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. He said he didn’t want to be my rebound guy. What the heck is wrong with being a rebound guy? What the heck is wrong with some hot rebound sex? Most guys would be all over it.”
“Yeah…and Brock would be at the front of the line.”
“Right?”
Callie pauses, tilting her head a bit. “What else did he say?”
“You’re not going to believe this. He wants to produce a recital for me.”
“A recital?”
“Yes. I want him to father my child, and he wants to throw me a recital.”
Callie laughs then. A sleepy laugh. “Did I just hear you right?”
“Yes, he wants to throw me a recital.”
“No. Did you actually ask him to father your child?”
“Of course not. I briefly considered it, but then I didn’t.”
“Thank God.”
“Yes, I know your feelings on the matter.”
“My feelings on the matter aside, it almost sounds like…”
“What?”
“It sounds like he might want to make something work with you.”
“That’s ridiculous. He’s a Rake-a-teer.”
“Yes. But so is my fiancé.”
“True, but your fiancé is thirty-two as opposed to Brock’s twenty-four. There’s a difference.”
“Maybe. But I don’t know, Ror. I’m as surprised as you are by Brock’s attitude. Maybe he actually feels something.”
The thought sends a tingle through me. Brock? Feels something? The truth is I’m feeling something too. None of which makes any sense. For me maybe. But for Brock?
“How could he feel anything? We barely know each other.”
“Still, you never know.”
I scoff. “He’s playing some kind of game, and I’m not going to be a part of it.”
“What kind of game could he be playing?”
“I don’t know. Make the bisexual homecoming queen fall in love with him? Laugh about it to his friends? Before he dumps me?”
“That would just be…mean.”
She’s right. I’m not sure why I’m thinking that. Brock isn’t that guy. I hope. “Yeah, it would.”
“Brock Steel is a lot of things, but he’s not a mean person. None of the Steels are.”
She’s got me there. The Steels have been nothing but generous to us.
I sigh. “So what do I do? Date him?”
“That’s up to you, I think.”
“What about my baby?”
“I don’t know. If you want a baby more than anything, and you’re not willing to wait to have it the natural way—”
“The natural way? It may not happen the natural way for me, Cal. You know that. I could very well end up with a woman as my life mate.”
“Right. I don’t know, then. If it’s the most important thing to you right now, you should go to the sperm bank.”
She’s right. Absolutely. “Right. I will go to the sperm bank. Tomorrow. I only have lessons in the morning. There’s just one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I want you to go with me.”
“I have this little problem,” she says. “It’s called my job.”
“Let’s get real, Callie. You’re engaged to a Steel. You’re going to be starting law school in the winter, as planned. You don’t need the job.”
“Am I really hearing you, Rory? You want me to just walk out of my job because I’m marrying money?”
I sigh. “I didn’t mean it that way, and you know it. But you know as well as I do that Jade Steel created the job for you.”
“I do know that, but I also know that Jade is not coming back, so now we have a workload problem. Donny’s the only city attorney, and we’re used to having two.”
“You’re not an attorney yet, Cal. You can’t fill that void yet.”
“Not as an attorney, no. But I can help with the workload.”