“Hey, Steel boys,” Laney, a Murphy’s staple, says from behind the wooden bar.
Laney Dooley is a hot little number and a professional bartender and waitress. She’s tall and blond with legs that go on forever. Four years my junior, and ready and willing when we’re both horny and available. She has that familiar glint in her dark-blue eyes. Unfortunately, I’m not buying tonight.
“What are you doing in town?” she asks.
Dale, of course, doesn’t reply. I’m the spokesman when we’re together. Always been that way, always will be, apparently. Marriage may have opened Dale up a bit, but some things will never change.
“We actually came to see Brendan,” I say. “Is he here?”
“He must be upstairs. He’s off tonight.”
Brendan lives in the apartment above the bar. Must be nice to be able to roll out of bed and simply go downstairs to get to work.
“What can I get you?” Laney smiles at Dale. “Wait. Don’t tell me. You’re going to order your own wine.”
I can’t blame Laney for trying, even though she and I have been together. Women have been trying to come on to my brother since he hit puberty. I’m used to it. Must be that ridiculous long hair of his.
“Actually,” Dale says, “just water for me.”
“Donny?” Laney smiles knowingly.
Any port in a storm. Dale’s off-limits for sure now, and I’m way more of a sure thing. He may be prettier, but I’m a hell of a lot more fun, and women are always more than happy to slip into my bed when they can’t get Dale.
Yeah, I’m pretty okay with that. No time for it tonight, though.
“We had drinks with our dinner, so I’m going to stick with water for now as well.”
She pulls out two bottles of Aquafina. “Here you go, then. You want me to call Brendan for you?”
I look at my phone. It’s a quarter to nine. “Nah. We’re a little early.” I turn to Dale. “What do you think? Want to grab a—”
I stop abruptly as I peruse the tables. In the back sit Callie Pike and her older sister, Rory.
Damn. If possible, Callie looks even better than she did a week ago.
Her hair is the same color as my mom’s—light brown—but there the similarities end. Callie is tall and slender, long and lean, and her eyes are the color of amber. Seriously. The lightest brown I’ve ever seen. Almost like an orangey-gold. Her hair is pulled into a low ponytail at the back of her neck. Classic and stylish, like Callie herself. While her mother and sisters are voluptuously built, Callie is perfect supermodel material.
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.”