Read Online Double Dare by Melissa Whittle - Free Book Online Page B

needed me to come in early. Lunch. Meeting some guy named Roger.”
    “Roger?” He missed another step, but managed to get back into the rhythm by the next one.
    “Some lawyer. She called him on the phone.”
    His chest started to burn and he evened his breathing before asking, “For lunch?”
    “She was laughing and blushed a few times. Is that normal for a woman her age?”
    He’d noticed the blushing habit, but that was a cue Tobias was telegraphing his thoughts in his eyes. “For some people.”
    Lunch? He knew attorneys. No false gods came before the billable hour unless they could at least charge a .02 of an hour for it. “And she’s not old.”
    “She’s your age.”
    “Dear baby brother of mine…” He punched up the treadmill’s speed. Rubber slapped against rubber as he ran. “If you don’t see it, I can’t describe it.”
    As if speaking of the devil, he could see her again on the street. A better nickname would have been Lucky, and he could have seen her blush scarlet. But calling her Lucky would have thrown them into a sexually charged No Man’s Land he was trying like hell to avoid. Mallow, made her laugh, and that was fine because you laughed with friends and associates. Secret jokes didn’t cross the line.
    I used to laugh with my lover .
    “I’m not blind,” Josh said, insulted. “She’s a ten. Just for her age. Are you and her―are you ok?”
    Tobias slapped the abort button on the treadmill. “I’m fine. Stop asking me.”
    “Yeah, ’cause you’d tell me if something was wrong.”
    “What?” The comment stilled him.
    Josh kept his focus on what he was doing as Tobias had taught him. “Like I said, I’m not blind.”
    Blood roared in Tobias’ ears. Reality wavered and slipped into memory.
    He couldn’t see her face. Whenever he tried to see Gabriella’s face, her lifeless eyes would super-impose on the memory. But he could see her sculpted form, chiseled by the miles she ran in the morning. He could hear the huskiness in her voice. The white sheet wrapped around her leg, leaving her bare from the knee up.
    The livable sheets.
    Sweat clung to the hollow of Gabriella’s stomach as she breathed out heavily. “Partners, no matter how close, don’t live in each other’s pockets like we do. He’s sixteen.”
    Gabriella’s laugh filled the room, filled him. The interior of the room he couldn’t see, but knew was bare, so bare. “I’m conveniently here when he gets home from school. Boys are born with a sixth sense to know when sex is happening.”
    “Our parents just died. He’s the one who found my dad after the heart attack, and then my mom a week later. He needs time to adjust. He’s scared I’m going to leave him, too. Every day I go to work he’s frightened one of you are going to show up and start with the I’m-sorry-but speech. You’ve seen it. He’ll see you as a threat.”
    “Me? A threat?”
    Her delicate hand hung limply in his, covered in blood.
    “Tobias!” There was a note of tension in Josh’s tone.
    “Yeah?” The white walls and mirror came back into focus.
    Josh searched his face and then his shoulders hung with relief. “Are you going to start something with her?”
    He rubbed a hand over his face. “Of course not. We’re giving each other’s business a boost. That’s it.”
    Josh picked up the weights. Tobias’ forehead scrunched up. Confused, he tried to remember when his brother put the weights down.
    “Are you an eunuch?” his brother asked.
    His head snapped back at the question. “What?”
    “You don’t date.” Josh shrugged and picked up the reps where he left off. “You don’t get late night calls. Do you pay for it?”
    Disgusted, Tobias said, “Not your business and no.”
    “It is when all you do is breathe down my neck. You spend time with a ten and don’t look twice at her.” Josh hesitated, “And zone out.”
    “Sex would cure all this?” He shook his head. “Thought I taught you