Easy Melody
Page 12

“We won’t hear from them. They’ve gone radio silent,” Beau says with a smirk.
“I wouldn’t call you ugly assholes if I had a hot woman on a warm island all to myself,” Ben says then looks over at me and frowns. “Something’s up with you.”
“Nothing’s up with me,” I deny.
“Yeah there is,” Beau agrees. “You’re humming.”
“I’m a singer.” I roll my eyes and drink more water.
“You got laid,” Ben says with a wide smile. We’ve known Ben since we were small kids, and he’s really more of a brother to us. He’s not quite as tall as the three of us, but as a Krav Maga master, he’s much stronger.
Ben is badass. No one fucks with him. I’m just happy he likes me.
“The fact that you say that with surprise in your voice tells me that I haven’t gotten laid often enough lately.”
“Who was it this time?” Beau asks as we take to the mat. “Some chick you picked up at the bar?”
Close.
“What do you care?” I duck as Ben comes at me, but he’s a slippery fuck, and he switches tactics and has me on my back in about two seconds.
“Hey, I’m engaging you in conversation,” Beau replies with a grin, standing over me.
“Her name’s Callie,” I say and sit up.
“The owner of The Odyssey?” Ben asks.
“That’s the one.”
“The one you were telling us about a couple months ago, when we gave Rhys the what-for?” Beau asks, making me grin. That was a fun day. Our youngest sister, Gabby, fell in love with Kate’s cousin, Rhys, and we had to scare him a bit.
Because that’s what brothers do.
Except I don’t think we scared him much. Either way, Rhys stuck, and he and Gabby are disgustingly happy, which makes me happy.
All of my sisters should be happy.
“Yes, that’s her,” I reply.
“I didn’t think she wanted to have anything to do with you,” Ben says before he wraps an arm around Beau’s neck and tries to take him to the mat, but Beau twirls and slips out of the hold, pulls Ben’s arm behind his back and plants him in the mat face-down.
“Good one.” I clap once and rub my hands together. Today is going to be fun. “And I told Callie I was going to take her to dinner, and she didn’t argue.”
“You told her?” Beau says.
“I did.”
“Huh.” Beau scratches his cheek and scowls. “I thought you were supposed to ask.”
“If you ask, they can say no,” I reply with a smile.
“True. So, what did you do?” Ben asks.
“I took her to the football game, then back to my place.” Ben and Beau exchange a glance, then both scowl at me.
“Of all of us, you’re the romantic one,” Beau says and takes a swig of his own water. “You took her to a game and then fucked her?”
“I didn’t fuck her,” I reply immediately, then regret it when they both just stare at me speculatively. “I mean, I did fuck her—”
I break off and sigh, and these two yahoos just grin. Damn it.
“So, which was it?” Ben asks.
“And I thought you said you told her you were taking her to dinner?” Beau adds.
“I did. I bought her stadium food.” I walk over and punch the punching bag. “She likes football.”
God, why do I sound so defensive?
“Okay.” Ben nods. “And she was so impressed by your season tickets and popcorn that she begged you to fuck her?”
“It wasn’t that stupid. Or disgusting.” My voice is hard now, and I’m starting to get pissed. I know that in the past I would have laughed with them, and we would have moved on to another topic, but this time it grates. And I’m not sure why. I mean, Callie is a beautiful woman. I set my sights on her, took her out and tumbled her around in my bed.
No harm, no foul. Pretty much the standard operating procedure for me.
“You like her,” Ben says quietly while Beau busts up laughing.
“Of course I like her. I wouldn’t have slept with her if I didn’t like her,” I reply.
“No, you really like her.”
“You sound like a sixteen-year-old girl,” I reply and punch the bag again.
“So, she really was just a quick lay.” Beau nods, wiping his arm over his sweaty forehead.
“I didn’t say that,” I reply, again cursing myself for my fucking mouth. Why can’t I just shut up? Or change the subject?
Ben and Beau simply stand, arms crossed and watch me.
“Shouldn’t you be beating each other up?” I ask.
“This is more interesting,” Beau says.
“Why?”
“Because you’re not the one to get a crush. You enjoy women, you’re good to them, then you move on.”
“Who says I’m not moving on?” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, my stomach rolls. I don’t want to move on. I don’t have Callie out of my system yet. Not by a long shot.
“Have you already told her you’ll be taking her to the zoo?” Ben asks with a smirk.
“No, asshole. We didn’t make plans.”
“So what is the score?” Beau asks. “Are you going to actually pursue a woman?”
I frown. “Why do I have to decide this right now? I had a good time last night. I dropped her off thirty minutes ago. It’s a little soon to go shopping for china patterns.”