Another nod, his imagination threatening to run away from him with thoughts of Reese waiting for some woman at the altar, preparing to pledge his life and love to her.
“Thought I’d make lasagna for dinner.”
He didn’t even bother to nod this time, surprised that he’d been able to keep his thoughts to himself for this long. And he damn sure wasn’t going to sit here and talk about what they were having for dinner when what he wanted to know was why the fuck he hadn’t known Reese had almost been married.
Brantley turned his attention to Reese, cocked an eyebrow. “Engaged?”
“What?” Reese cleared his throat as though he was shocked by the change in subject. “No, uh… No, I wasn’t engaged.”
Patiently waiting for Reese to elaborate, Brantley continued to hold his gaze.
“Never made it that far,” Reese added. “I asked. She turned me down.”
Brantley swallowed the hot ball of emotion lodged in his throat, letting it sink in, hating that there was a gnawing jealousy in the pit of his stomach.
“It was a long time ago, Brantley.”
Sure it was. “How long?”
Reese’s gaze lowered. “Two years. Almost.”
“Two—?” They’d been seeing each other for a little more than four months now, living together for the past two. And it had beenalmosttwo years?
“Howalmostis almost?”
Reese’s attention remained on his lap. “Sixteen months or so.”
Sixteen months? Sixteen. Freaking. Months. That meant—
Brantley swallowed hard. “Ayearbefore—? You were engaged a year before I met you?”
“A little more than,” Reese countered, then sighed and added a subdued, “But no, I wasn’t engaged.”
Right. Because she’d turned him down. Otherwise…
“And you didn’t think this was somethin’ I should know?”
Reese’s head snapped back like Brantley had slapped him, his eyebrows slamming down. “I don’t remember you askin’.”
Touché.“Who is she?”
“You don’t know her.”
Brantley waited for Reese to look at him, then hardened his stare. “Who?”
Reese sighed heavily, obviously resigned to answering. “Her name’s Madison Adorite. We dated for a while. Long-distance. She lives in Dallas.”
“How’d you meet her?”
“Through Travis.”
Fucking figured. “And it got serious enough that you asked her to marry you?”
“No. It didn’t.”
Okay, now he was confused.
“That was the problem,” Reese continued, his voice rougher. “She was breakin’ it off because she needed to focus on … the family business.” Reese stared at him for several long seconds before finally saying, “She’s an Adorite. As in the Adorite crime family, also known as the Southern Boy Mafia.”
