Smolder (Steel Brothers Saga 22) - Page 41
I choke back a laugh.
A woman I turned down.
I’m still not sure I was myself Monday night.
Except I was.
Something inside me wants more with Rory Pike.
Tonight. Tonight has to go well. I can’t piss her off again.
I shower, and boy, does that feel good. Getting the grime of that horrible tract of land off me.
Red fingernails. Guard dogs. Bones.
Dale has the bones. And it’s time. It’s time to have them analyzed. The experts will be able to tell how old they are, maybe even get some DNA. We just talked about all this, but something is niggling at the back of my neck. Time is of the essence.
“Dale,” I say into the phone after punching in his number.
“Yeah, Brock?”
“We need to get those bones checked out right away. Like today if possible.”
“I know that. We probably should’ve done it before now. But I just…”
“You don’t have to explain. We don’t really want to know who they belong to, but if they can help us…”
“Yeah. You’re right,” he says. “I get it. We do it ASAP.”
“You got any contacts?”
“Not off the top of my head, but Aunt Ruby used to be a cop. She’ll know who we can talk to about it.”
“Dale… Don’t tell her about the bones.”
“God, no. I’ll just get some names of people who can analyze them for us.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“I’ll think of something.” He sighs. “Anything else?”
A lightbulb explodes in my head. I need help for tonight, and Dale is recently married to a beautiful woman.
“Yeah. Tell me how to…” God, am I really about to ask him this? “Woo a woman.”
He laughs then. Dale laughs heartily, the kind of laugh I seldom hear from him.
“Seriously? You’re asking me?”
“Yeah. I mean, I know how to get a woman in my bed. That’s not what I’m asking.”
“Hell, I may not have been a womanizer in my youth like you, but I don’t know anything about wooing a woman. Ask Ashley. I was a mess. I didn’t even know how to hold her hand at first.”
I hold back a chuckle. Being laughed at is probably not what Dale needs right now. “Who would know, then? Not Donny. He was exactly like me.”
“But he sure got Callie.”
“That’s true.”
“What about your brother?” Dale asks.
“Brad? Yeah, maybe.”
“He’s been with Marie for what… Two, three years? Clearly he’s kept her happy.”
“Yeah. I’ll call him. Thanks, man.”
“Don’t mention it. I’ll let you know what I find out from Aunt Ruby.”
Brad and I are close but not close, if that makes any sense. We’re close because we’re brothers. We love each other. We have each other’s backs at all times.
But we’re opposites in a lot of ways.
Which is why he may be able to help me. I punch in his number.
“Hey, Brock.”
“Brad, bro. How’s it going?”
“Okay. What do you want?”
“I’m shocked,” I say in mock sincerity.
“You know I love you, man,” Brad says, “but you never call me just to call me and ask how it’s going.”
“Touché. I have a question.”
“Okay. What?”
“I have a date tonight, and I want to impress her.”
“And you’re talking to me? Just do what you always do.”
“No. I don’t want to bed her. I mean, I do”—God, do I, after the day I had—“but this woman means something to me. I want to impress her. I want to…”
Brad laughs. “Seriously? My little brother? Never thought I’d see this day. At least not for another ten years or so.”
“Neither did I.”
“Who is it?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it matters. Do I know her?”
I sigh. Why not tell him? “It’s Rory. Rory Pike.”
Silence for a minute.
Then silence for two minutes.
Finally, “Wow. Rory Pike. Not only do you choose the most beautiful woman in town, but also the one where you have twice the competition of a straight woman.”
“Yeah. So?”
“Hey, I like Rory Pike. Everyone does. The Pikes are good people.”
“So tell me, then. What do I do?”
“Is it your first date?”
“Second, actually.”
“What happened on the first?”
“Well… She basically invited me into her bed, and I… I turned her down.”
Laughter then. Joyous and jovial laughter.
“I’m really glad my life is funny to you, bro.”
“What can I say? This is hilarious.”
“Thanks a lot. I can’t believe I listened to Dale. He told me to call you.”
“Hold on, hold on. So you’re totally serious?”
I don’t answer at first. What a stupid question. Of course I’m serious. Would I bare my soul like this to my only brother if I weren’t?
Brad finally speaks, after clearing his throat. “All right. First, you need to get to know her. Ask her a lot of questions about herself.”
“We talked a lot about that last time,” I say. “About how she wanted to be a professional opera singer, but she didn’t make it.”
“Good. She already knows that you’re interested in her, not just her awesome body.”
“Except she thinks I’m not interested in sleeping with her, which I totally am.”
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