Brandon sent him a narrow-eyed glare, but allowed Dix to light the cigar. He took a few puffs. ‘You don’t call me that unless you’re my mother. And this is a very good cigar.’
‘Fair enough, Brandon. OK, so the question is, why the hell are you even considering another night in that roach-infested piss-hole when you could be in a bed with thousand-thread-count sheets next to a naked woman? A naked woman who loves you.’
Brandon sighed and took a swig of his beer. ‘Sometimes you have to do what’s right for the long run even if it sucks hardcore short term.’
Dix understood that. Some things were worth risking everything for. Because without them, nothing else mattered. Like this living-together thing. Damn it.
‘Christ, kid. Sorry! Habit.’ Dix held a hand up as Brandon grunted his way. They’d sort of bonded over the last two days. He liked Brandon and Dix believed without a doubt that the guy was a good thing for Leah. ‘I understand and I agree that sometimes you need to make a stand. Wow, the splits upside down. Impressive.’
‘Her breasts don’t move. I like her hair though. I bet those shoes hurt.’
‘Those aren’t walking shoes.’ He loved toweringly high heels on a woman. Kate wore them out to dinner a lot. Again because she knew he dug it. She told him, her body pressed to his, her mouth against his ear, ‘I didn’t buy them to walk, Charles. I bought them to make my ass look nice and to make you hard. Money well spent, I’d say, given the cock bruising my belly through your pants right now.’
She was so sexy, his perfect match in every way.
Why the fuck was he in this place, in the semi-dark with a hundred other men watching women they’d never actually touch without paying when he had a woman back at a luxury hotel who was more than willing to let him touch her wherever he wanted?
‘Why did Kate leave?’
Turn about and all that. ‘My ex-wife showed up at the lake house. Wedged herself between me and Kate. Manipulated our daughters to keep herself there. Kate got upset. Pissed off at Eve, frustrated at me.’
‘Not to be totally obvious or anything, but it has to be bigger than that. Kate’s levelheaded. She’s talked about your ex before. I have no doubt Kate can hold her own. Unless you did something with your ex?’ The look Brandon gave Dix was decidedly unfriendly and, even as he was offended, he liked that the other man felt protective of Kate.
‘Please. You’ve seen Kate, why would I want anyone else? Anyway, I want to make the next step. I want us to move in together and she’s using this situation to keep that from happening. Hell, I want to marry her, but I know she will want to wait at least another year for that. I know we can make moving in together work if she’d just let go of whatever Eve thinks. I’ll handle my daughters.’
He hadn’t meant to say all that, but it was nice to get it all out anyway.
Brandon took another long, appreciate puff of the cigar. ‘I was going to ask Leah to marry me. She saw the ring in my suitcase and ran.’
‘Not to be obvious or anything, but pot, meet kettle. Obviously she didn’t run because you wanted to marry her. You’re already living together and she seems very happy when I see her. Which is several times a week at work. So you want what from her now?’ Dix looked up to see the new stripper on stage start shaking her tasty ass to Fergie’s ‘London Bridge’. ‘I think I’m going to start talking over all my relationship problems while watching strippers shake things. It’s oddly relaxing.’
Brandon snorted but his gaze was locked on the woman on stage as he spoke again. ‘I want an answer from her! She’s not the only one of us who knows what the other one needs. I know what she needs and how to give it to her. She just won’t … let me.’ The last was an aside but Dix got a clearer picture of Leah and Brandon’s home life and he reminded himself to goad Kate about it. Clearly she’d been holding back.
‘How did you ask her?’
Brandon and Dix cocked their heads sideways as the woman on the stage bent and undulated around the pole. Once they left the club Dix planned to get his ass over to Kate’s and ravish her ten ways till daylight. He hoped like hell he and Kate could broker a peace deal between Brandon and Leah so he could sleep in that huge bed with a beautiful woman instead of that dump from the night before.
‘Is that even possible?’ Brandon murmured.
‘Dunno, but I’m gonna think on a way to ask Kate to try it.’
Brandon looked at him and then laughed. ‘She’ll cut you if you suggest it tonight after being here. That might be entertaining to watch.’
Dix chuckled. ‘She can be pretty vicious. But that’s part of the allure.’ He met Brandon’s eyes. ‘Isn’t it? Tough and strong but soft underneath?’
Brandon nodded and puffed the cigar. ‘But it’s not everything. Sometimes you have to take a stand.’
Dix agreed and he tended to think that’s what he needed to do with the whole living-together situation. He’d been making some tentative plans, working schedules around to see what was realistic. He’d get Kate high on endorphins from climax, bring over chocolate and some expensive champagne and at her weakest, most relaxed, he’d press his advantage. Sure it was sneaky, but this was war and his opponent was wily.
‘What are you going to do about your ex?’ Brandon asked, bringing Dix out
