“Good evening.”
“Your table is ready.” He hands two menus to a hostess in a long black skirt who leads us through the dining room to a secluded private table.
She hands me a menu first and then one to Brock. “Your server will be with you soon.”
I take a quick look. No prices are listed. I lift my eyebrows.
“What?” Brock asks.
“It’s just… This menu doesn’t have any prices on it.”
“Yeah. I asked them to print special menus for us.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want price to be an issue with you. I want you to order what you want, regardless of the cost.”
“Except that doesn’t really work,” I tell him. “I know Wagyu beef is a heck of a lot more expensive than chicken piccata.”
He laughs. “Smart girl.”
“You don’t have to be smart to know that.”
“Rory Pike, for the most beautiful girl in Snow Creek, you have the worst time taking a compliment.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I compliment your intelligence by calling you smart. You tell me everyone knows what you know. This afternoon at lunch, I told you how wonderful I thought your voice was. You proceeded to tell me how you never made it in opera. I tell you you’re gorgeous. At least you don’t have a comeback for that one.”
Heat flows into me. I’m sure I’m blushing. I look down absently. Yeah, my chest is pink. What do I say to that? Do I say I know I’m beautiful? That makes me sound conceited. Do I throw it back in his face? That just proves his point that I can’t take a compliment.
“Have I rendered you speechless?” His dark eyes twinkle.
“I’ve been told since I was a kid how pretty I am,” I say. “I guess I learned not to throw that one back. But then Callie came along, and you know how smart she is. Just brilliant. A different kind of mind from Jesse’s and mine. She is logical and analytical where Jess and I are creative and emotional. He and I heard from the day she started talking how smart she was. So I guess I just learned to think of myself as second best when it comes to intelligence. And then, when I didn’t make it in opera, second best when it comes to talent as well.”
It’s a stark admission, and I don’t make it lightly. And I find myself wondering why I made it to Brock Steel, a man I hardly know.
“So you were typecast,” he says. “You were the pretty one and Callie was the smart one.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“I get that.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah. My brother, Brad, is the smart one.”
“Really?”
“That surprises you?”
“Well, yeah. All the Steels are so brilliant and so gorgeous. I guess I find it hard to believe any of you are the”—air quote—“smart ones.”
“Brad runs a nonprofit corporation. He’s a genius in business. Me? I’m a rancher. I raise beef.”
“You make a heck of a lot of money raising beef,” I say. “Surely that takes some smarts.”
“Of course it does. I think there are different kinds of smarts.”
“So why does Brad get credit for being smarter than you are?”
“Because of the type of intelligence he possesses. He’s got a business mind. He helps Dad on the business side of the operation, and he runs the Steel Foundation with Henry. He’s a workaholic, frankly.”
“All the Steels have great work ethics.”
“There’s a difference between work ethic and being a workaholic. Brad does nothing but work. Me? I believe in balance. I help Dad run the ranching side, and when I’m working, I’m all in. But I take time for fun while Brad lives and breathes work. He’ll probably take over as CEO when Dad steps down.”
“He’ll leave the foundation?”
“Yeah. Henry is primed to run the foundation on his own.”
“So you get it.”
“I do. That doesn’t mean I believe it. The world can think Brad is smarter than I am, but I know the truth. We’re equally intelligent, just in different ways.”
“So you think Callie and I are equally intelligent?”
“I’d stake my fortune on it.”
I smile. I can’t help it. Brock Steel makes me smile. Brock Steel makes me feel good about myself. I hope in some small way I do the same for him. Though he already has an ego the size of the universe.
“So tell me,” he says. “If you’re the pretty one and Callie is the smart one, what does that make Jesse and Maddie?”
“Jesse was a star athlete, as you know. Plus he’s the oldest and the only boy, which already gives him a leg up. Maddie, she’s the vivacious one. The one with all the personality.”
“I’m pretty sure I remember you being vivacious in your day. Ms. Homecoming Queen, Ms. Star of Every School Play and Musical.”
“There’s a difference. I’m an actress. I was acting vivacious.”
“Well, if I’m honest, you are beautiful. The most beautiful in your family. But Callie and Maddie are also beautiful, and Jesse is very good-looking.”
“Something you want to tell me?” I lift my eyebrows.
“No. You’re the only bisexual person at this table. That doesn’t mean I don’t know a good-looking man when I see one.”
Nice. I’m impressed. This is a man who’s completely comfortable in his own skin. Why shouldn’t he be? He’s male perfection.
I smile. “I’m only teasing.”
“I figured.”
The ease of the conversation surprises me once more. I’m telling this man things I don’t normally talk about, especially on a first—or is this the second?—date.
I want to share everything about myself.
Yes, it’s scary, but it also feels good. Really good. It feels almost…right.
What the heck? Let’s go all in.
Chapter Twelve
Brock
“You can ask me about it,” she says.
“About what?”
“My bisexuality. I know you’re curious. Most people are.”
Understatement of the year. I’m curious as hell about everything Rory Pike, but I never dreamed she’d tell me anything about her orientation. “I am. But…it’s a personal thing.”
“True. But it doesn’t feel all that personal to me. It’s just part of who I am. It’s as natural to me as my brown hair.”
I clear my throat and adjust my junk discreetly. At least I hope it’s discreetly. “That’s really interesting. When did you discover your…you know?”
“My bisexuality? You can say the word, Brock.”
“Yeah. Right. Your bisexuality.” For God’s sake, stop acting like a horny teenager.
“Looking back, I think I always knew. Back in middle school, when everyone was having their first crush, I found myself thinking about boys and girls in the same way. I wanted to kiss the cutest boy in the class, and I also wanted to kiss the cutest girl in the class.”
“Really?”