Raw Deal (Larson Brothers #1)(14)
He chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. I’m glad you were able to go out and have some fun. We all need it sometimes.”
What did he like to do for fun? Had he thought more about retiring? What made this guy tick? All questions she probably shouldn’t be contemplating, but they plagued her nevertheless. She wanted to know him. Needed to know the scary, glowering man in all of his promotional press wasn’t the same one she was talking to right now. Tommy . . . well, he hadn’t been much different. He’d talked a lot of smack, had his own swagger, played to the crowds, but she’d always recognized her brother in all of it. This man at the other end of the call, though . . . she didn’t recognize him at all.
“Okay, well, I guess I’ll talk to you soon?” she asked hesitantly.
“I hope so. Good night, Savannah. Sweet dreams.”
Oh, God. He could have been lying next to her for the intimate tone of his voice then. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and shifted her thighs under the covers. Yes, time to hang up. “Good night, Michael.”
Once he was gone, she missed him, but she blamed that on the alcohol too. And striking out on the whole find a hot stranger who isn’t a creep thing. That wasn’t really her style, anyway.
Yeah, and neither are fighters with voices that can melt your panties off. Stop it.
Savannah rolled over, hugged her pillow, and hoped the only sweet dreams she had tonight were about fluffy bunnies.
“What do you think of this one?” Rowan placed another carpet swatch on the dining room table. It was barely indistinguishable from the one beside it.
“These are different?”
“Duh. One is toffee and one is amaretto. Focus.”
Savannah nodded. “Pretty. I still think it’s a little too early to decide on a color, though. You won’t find out if it’s a boy or a girl for a while. Are you sure you wouldn’t decide differently once you know?”
Rowan shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right. But it keeps me busy.”
Which was a blessing in itself. Rowan had completely thrown herself into the planning stage, and she excelled at it. A project for the house was exactly what she’d needed to make her feel a little better, and decorating the nursery was perfect.
“Naturally, I’ll pick a color scheme for a boy, one for a girl, and then one in case I do decide to go gender-neutral like these.” Naturally. “Which is always a possibility. I love this sage over here too. What do you think?”
“I like it all.”
“You are absolutely no help whatsoever.” Rowan shot her an aggrieved look and got up to go to the kitchen for more drinks: water for herself, sweet tea for Savannah. While she was gone, Savannah twirled her empty glass in her hands, rattling the ice, and debated.
Mike’s offer had been sitting on the tip of her tongue for a week. She was running out of time. And even though she’d decided on the best way to approach the situation, she still hadn’t worked up enough nerve to do it.
“What’s with you lately?” Rowan called from the kitchen amid the sound of pouring tea and crackling ice. “I’m usually the one down in the dumps. I actually feel okay today, and now you’re the zombie.”
“Yeah,” Savannah replied, gazing through the dining room window at the bright pink azaleas blooming outside Rowan’s house. No time like the present, right? “Um, Ro? I have something to tell you.”
Rowan reappeared with two fresh glasses and placed them on the table. As usual, she looked beautiful, even with her blond hair in a sloppy bun and without a trace of makeup. Pregnancy had given her a glow that her grief wasn’t able to touch. The light was gradually beginning to come back into her green eyes. “What is it?” She sat and began picking through her swatches again. Savannah noticed her fingernails looked freshly manicured, so there was another small return to normality.
She sipped her tea, feeling her heart thud heavily in her chest. “What if I told you”—she took a fortifying breath—“that you have a real chance to meet the singer of August on Fire?”
Rowan’s hands froze. Her gaze flickered up to meet Savannah’s through her dark lashes. “I would say you’re joking, of course.”
“Well, you do. All access in Houston, or really wherever you want to go until the tour ends.”
“Have you lost your mind? There’s no way.”
“There is. I am absolutely not joking.”
“No way. No freaking way.”
Savannah chuckled as each of Rowan’s protests ratcheted up a notch in urgency. “Look, I’m serious. I wouldn’t mess with you about something like this. And I can go with you, if you want.”
“All access? Like, I would get to meet him? For real?”
“That’s my understanding.”
For perhaps five seconds, Rowan simply sat and stared at her dumbly, and then she erupted with a shriek, her hands flying to her mouth. “Oh my God, Savvy! How?”
“Let’s just say . . . I know people?”
“Who in the hell do you know who can pull this off?”
This was the part she dreaded, but there was no going back now. Not telling her who’d made this offer would be unthinkable, practically a betrayal of some sort. She pushed the words out in a rush, keeping her gaze downcast. “I really don’t know how you’re going to take this, so I’m just going to blurt it out. I met Mike Larson for coffee after Tommy’s service just to hear him out. He mentioned the fact that the guy who was with him at the cemetery was his brother.” Now she looked up at Rowan’s blank face. “His brother being Zane Larson.”