LITMIR.BIZ

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      “I guess not.”

      “Good.” It was a start, anyway. “So, I’m going to barbecue a steak tonight. Want me to add one for you?”

      For one small second, she thought he was going to say yes. She could see it in his eyes. The hesitation. Then he apparently got over it.

      “No, thanks. Gotta go see Connor tonight. He’s uh…having some problems with his uh—”

      Tina smiled and shook her head. “You never were much of a liar, Brian.”

      He stiffened. “Who’s lying?”

      “You are,” she said, smiling. Then she turned for the gate leading to the backyard and the house. “But that’s okay, I’m not taking it personally. Yet. Come on, Peaches. Dinner.”

      Instantly, the little dog released her hold on Brian and scuttled for the backyard and her food dish.

      “Tina,” Brian said.

      She stopped at the gate and flashed him a smile. It was good to know she could still get to him so easily. If he hadn’t been worried about being alone with her, he never would have lied about having to meet Connor.

      And now, he looked…confused. Also good. If she could just keep him off his guard for a week or two, things would work out fine.

      “It’s okay, Brian,” she said, giving him a shrug and a brighter smile. “I’m going to be here for almost three weeks. I’m sure we’ll be seeing plenty of each other.”

      “Yeah.” He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and hunched his broad shoulders as if trying to find a way to balance a burden that had been dropped onto him without warning.

      She wasn’t sure she liked the analogy much, but it seemed to fit.

      “Have a good night,” she called out as she closed the gate behind her, “and say hi to Connor.”

      “Right.”

      Tina went into the house with the dogs, and once the back door was closed, she fingered the edge of the white Priscilla curtains until she could see the stairway leading to the garage apartment. Brian climbed those stairs like a man headed for the gallows.

      And when he reached the landing, he paused and looked back at the house.

      Tina flinched. It was almost as if his gaze had locked with hers instinctively. She felt the heat and power of that steady stare and it rocked her right to her bones.

      Long after he’d gone inside his apartment, Tina was still standing in the kitchen, looking out the window. And she couldn’t help wondering which of them was really off their guard.

      Two hours later, Brian was finishing dinner and listening to Connor laugh at the latest development. It was his own fault. Not that he’d been expecting sympathy, but outright hilarity was a little uncalled for.

      “So, Tina’s back in town,” Connor said, grinning. “Man, I can almost feel that money sliding into my wallet as we speak.”

      “Forget it,” Brian snapped, still feeling the effects of Tina’s smile hours later. “She’s not going to help you win this bet. I divorced her, remember?”

      “Yeah,” Connor said and signaled to the waiter for another beer. “Never did understand why, though.”

      None of his family had understood, Brian thought, momentarily allowing himself to drift down memory lane. Hell, even he’d had a hard time coming to grips with the fact that divorcing Tina had been the only right thing to do.

      It hadn’t been easy. But it had been right.

      He still believed that.

      If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to live with the regrets.

      Tina Coretti still haunted him. At the oddest times, his brain would suddenly erupt into images of her. Cooking, laughing, singing off-key with the radio while on one of their notorious road trips. He remembered arguing with her, both of them shouting until one of them started laughing and then how they’d tumble into bed and rediscover each other.

      The sex had always been amazing between them.

      Not just bodies coming together, but in his more poetic moments, Brian had convinced himself that even their souls had mated.

      And once she was gone from his life, he’d had to believe it, because he’d been left hollow. Empty. His heart broken and his soul crushed, despite knowing that what he’d done, he’d done for her.

      That hadn’t changed.

      He shoved what was left of his burger and fries to the edge of the table for the waiter to pick up, then leaned back in his seat.

      The Lighthouse Restaurant was packed, as it generally was. Families crowded around big tables and couples snuggled close together in darkened booths. Overhead, light fell from iron chandeliers bristling with hanging ferns and copper pots.

      Studying his brother across the table from him, Brian shifted the talk from himself by asking suddenly, “So how’re you doing on the bet front?”

      Connor choked on a swallow of beer and when he was finished coughing, he shook his head. “Man, it’s way uglier than I thought it was going to be.”

      Brian laughed.

      “Seriously,” Connor protested. “Getting to the point where I’m hiding from women completely.”

      “I know what you mean,” Brian said, though for him, hiding had just gotten a lot harder. Staying away from women at work was easy. There weren’t that many female pilots or female personnel assigned to the F-18 squadrons. And those that were there made a point of avoiding the guys. Couldn’t blame them. They had to work twice as hard as the men just to be accepted and they weren’t going to blow a career by flirting with their fellow officers.

      So work was safe and Brian had planned to hide out at home, staying away from the usual spots, bars, clubs and whatever, to avoid women in his off-duty hours. But now, home wasn’t a refuge. Instead, with Tina in town, home was the most dangerous territory of all.

      “It’s only been two weeks,” Connor admitted, “and already, I’ve got way more respect for Liam.”

      “I’m with you there,” Brian said.

      “Talked to Aidan last night and he says he’s thinking about joining a monastery for three months.”

      The thought of that was worth a chuckle. “At least he’s suffering, too.”

      “Yeah.” Connor narrowed his eyes, nodded at the waiter, who stopped by to deliver their check, then said, “At least I get to take out my frustrations by screaming at the ‘boots’ every day.”

      Brian smiled but couldn’t help feeling sorry for the new recruits under Connor’s charge in boot camp.

      Then his brother spoke up again.

      “Have you noticed the only one who’s not suffering is our brother the priest?” Clearly disgusted, Connor shook his head. “He’s just sitting back laughing at the three of us. How’d he talk us into this, anyway?”

      “He let us talk ourselves into it. None of us could ever resist a challenge. Or a dare.”

      “We’re that predictable?”

      “To him anyway. Remember, priest or not,” Brian said, “he’s still the sneakiest of us.”

      “Got that right.” Connor reached for his wallet and pulled out a couple of bills, tossing them onto the tabletop. “So, what’re you gonna do about Tina?”

      “I’m gonna stay as far away from her as I can, that’s what.”

      “That was never easy for you.”

      Brian tossed his money

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