Easy Melody(12)

“I had fun,” she says with a flirty smile. Her hair is disheveled from my fingers, her classy clothes rumpled from spending the night on the floor, and she looks even better than she did when I picked her up last night.

She looks thoroughly f*cked.

And damn if it doesn’t look good on her.

“Me too.” It’s the truth. I don’t remember the last time I had such a good time with a woman. Not to mention? I let her stay the night.

That’s rare.

She kisses me one more time, then turns and waves before she enters her building and disappears.

I’m gonna count last night as a success. Nothing much better in this world than sharing some laughs, conversation, and amazing sex with a beautiful woman.

I drive into the city to the head offices of Boudreaux Enterprises. I’m meeting my oldest brother Beau, along with our good friend Ben, for an hour or so of Krav Maga training and some good-natured ribbing.

What are brothers for, if you can’t give each other shit? I’m pretty sure it’s in the job description, and we all have an excellent work ethic.

When I reach the executive level, I toss a smile over at the receptionist and walk back to the gym with a spring in my step, humming a Keith Urban song. The others are already here, which is typical, given that I’m usually late.

“You’re chipper,” Ben says.

“And late,” Beau adds as he ties his shoes.

“I’m here,” I say simply and shrug. I snatch a bottle of water out of the mini fridge and take a long gulp. I always arrive dressed to work out. These idiots stop working in the middle of the day, change out of their monkey suits, then have to shower and change back.

Just one more reason that I wouldn’t be a good fit for a desk job. Suits make me twitchy.

“Has anyone heard from Eli or Kate?” I ask as I wipe water off my chin. “They should be in Aruba by now.”

“We won’t hear from them. They’ve gone radio silent,” Beau says with a smirk.

“I wouldn’t call you ugly *s 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 f*cks 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 f*ck, 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 f*cked her?”

“I didn’t f*ck her,” I reply immediately, then regret it when they both just stare at me speculatively. “I mean, I did f*ck 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.”