Me:Nashville.
Maya:Fun! What are you doing there?
Me:Just getting away. A change of scenery kinda thing.
Maya:Ugh! It’s not even going to feel like home without you there.
Me:Your next trip back, I’ll be here, promise. Or maybe I’ll fly out and see you while you’re on the road. Ohh, actually I kinda love that idea, I need to make that happen.
Maya:I want that.Please.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Gavin
“Jordan,” I said as I connected the call, the Bluetooth picking up, so my brother’s voice would soon be blasting through the speakers of my SUV. “What’s going on, brother?”
“Just checking on things. Seeing how everything is at the office. You must be leaving for the day, no?”
Our corporate headquarters flew by the back seat window as Denis drove toward my place, and I finally reached for the knot at my throat, loosening it, along with unbuttoning the top of my shirt. “All is good.”
“That’s all you’ve got for me? That things are good?”
There was a vibration in my hand, and I glanced down at the text on the screen of my phone.
Emily:Blue or red?
Me:What am I picking out?
Emily:A dress I’m buying for Nashville. I can’t decide which color will look best on me.
“Since you’ve been on the road, you’re copied on no less than a hundred emails an hour,” I said to him. “You get a daily report from our assistant, and you speak to her probably every hour or more. I can’t imagine, out of all the things you could ask me, that you’re generally curious about the climate at the office.”
Me:Red. Always red.
Me:And you’re not buying a dress, I’m buying the dress.
He chuckled. “Always such a fucking dick.”
Emily:Nice try, but no.
Me:Emily, I’m buying the dress.
Emily:You can fight with me when you see me tonight. And when you fight me, I hope you use teeth because that would be so hot.
“I’m just speaking the truth,” I said to my brother. “You must have a reason for calling. Instead of beating around the bush, how about you tell me what it is.”
Me:You want me to bite you ...
Emily:Yesss.
Emily:See you soon.
“All right, then. Here’s what’s on my mind ... I’m staring at Maya’s engagement ring that I just picked up from the jeweler, and I’m thinking to myself,When the hell is my brother going to tell me about him and Emily?”
As Denis’s eyes connected with mine in the rearview mirror, my head leaned back, pushing into the top of the seat. “You’re proposing. It’s about goddamn time.”
“Don’t avoid the topic. I’ll just bring it right back up.”
