“That’s cool. I just wanted you to know that we’re on it.”
“Hey, man, all I want to know is who the hell trashed my place. Then I want your family’s lien off my property.”
I nod. “I understand. I hope you trust that none of us have a clue what’s going on.”
“I’d like to trust that.”
“You can. We were just as surprised as anyone.”
“Even with all the rumors?”
“What rumors?”
“That the Steels own this damned town.”
“Yeah, we’ve all heard the rumors. None of us ever thought it was true.”
“I never thought it was true either. But then I found this lien.”
“One lien doesn’t mean ownership of the town.”
He nods. “Excuse me. I need to take an order.” He walks out from behind the bar to a table where two guys I haven’t seen before sit down.
One lien doesn’t mean ownership of the town. I play my own words back in my mind. Brendan only knows about the lien affecting his property.
He doesn’t know about the research that Donny and Callie did that proved our family has liens on almost every property in town.
I’m not going to be the one to break that to Brendan. At least not tonight.
I glance again at Dave flirting with Maddie, and I take a drink of my martini. Then I set it down as my phone vibrates on the wooden bar.
“Hey, Donny,” I say into the phone.
“Brock, hey. Where are you, man?”
“I’m at Murphy’s with Dave.”
“Yeah, okay. Listen. I need to go to Grand Junction tomorrow. Something to do with my dad’s case. You in?”
“Don’t you want to ask Dale?”
“I did. He’s finishing up the move to the new place.”
“Did I seriously just hear you correctly? This has something to do with your dad, and Dale doesn’t want to go?”
“Oh, he wants to go. But he had to make a choice, and his new wife trumps just about everything. Plus, I think my big brother is finally trusting me to handle things.”
“What do you need me for, then?”
“I don’t want to go alone.”
“Are you meeting someone big and scary?” I chuckle.
“For God’s sake, knock it off. It’s a nurse who worked on my dad’s case. But I think we should appear in numbers. Callie can’t go because she promised Rory she’d hang out with her tomorrow.”
“This means we can’t go back to the land near the Wyoming border.”
“It means we put it off another day, anyway.”
Yeah. Putting off looking for rotting corpses on Steel land? I can handle that. “Sure,” I tell him. “Count me in.”
I end the call and set my phone back down on the counter.
A hottie approaches me, brown hair, pretty blue eyes, and a seductive smile. “Hey,” she says.
“Hey yourself.”
“Buy a girl a drink?”
“Sure. What’ll you have?”
“What you’re drinking looks nice.”
Nice? A Cap Rock martini is not nice. It’s smooth and herbal and full of alcohol. “You think you can handle what I’m drinking?”
“I think I can handle three of what you’re drinking. And you.”
She’s coming on strong. Women who come on to me seem to have two types. There’s the I’m going to come on strong and dare you to turn me down type, and then there’s the I’m going to flirt softly and let you make the first move type.
I like both types, to be honest. And tonight? I’m horny as hell after kissing Rory and grabbing her ass, so the come on strong type is just what I’m looking for.
“What’s your name?” I ask.
“Sadie.”
“Are you new around here? Not sure I’ve seen you before.”
She closes her eyes demurely and then opens them. It wasn’t a natural blink. It was forced, and it was meant to show me her long eyelashes.
Yeah, I know the type.
“I just moved here from Denver. I’m staying with my friend. Nora. She’s a waitress.”
“Nora. Right.”
The name sounds slightly familiar. I think she was at our last party, totally hitting on my cousin Henry. I don’t recall seeing her at the party tonight, but I don’t recall seeing this woman either.
I signal to Brendan. “I’ll have another, and the same for the lady, please.”
“You got it.” Brendan gets busy behind the bar.
“What’s your name, cowboy?” she asks.
“Brock.”
“Brock. You look like a Brock.”
“Brock Steel,” I say.
Her eyes widen slightly, but then she gets control over them. “So you’re one of the Steels.”
Right. Like she didn’t know that when she approached me. Like I said, I know the type.
“Yes, I’m one of the Steels.”
“Is it true you guys own this town?”
“Don’t believe everything you hear, Sadie.”
Brendan pushes our drinks toward us.
“My tab,” I say.
“Already done.” Brendan begins mixing another drink.
“So what is this, exactly?” Sadie asks. “Looks like a martini.”
“Give the woman a gold star. It’s not just a martini, but the best damned martini this side of the Mississippi. It’s made with Cap Rock gin, an organic gin made here in Colorado, and very dry vermouth that my uncle makes at his winery.”
She brings the martini glass to her lips and takes a small sip. Again with the wide eyes, and again she tries to make it look like she had no reaction. “Tasty.”
“Not too strong for you?”
“Cowboy, nothing is too strong for me.”
I smile.
Rory Pike may have left me horny, but Sadie is just the prescription I need.
Chapter Five
Rory
It’s after midnight, and I can’t sleep. I head through the Jack and Jill bathroom and into Callie’s room. She’s still awake as well.
“Feel like a drink?” I ask.
“Not really.”
She’s still in her clothes—which for Callie consists of skinny jeans and a button-up blouse that I can’t wear.
“You sure? I’m buying. To celebrate your engagement.”
She sighs. “Why the hell not? It’s not like either of us can sleep.”
“Just what I was thinking. You want to head over to Murphy’s?”
“Yeah. Donny’s helping his mom clean up, and then tomorrow he’s got something going on in Grand Junction.”
“You’re not going with him?”
“You asked me to spend the day with you, remember?”
“Yeah. Right. Except that was your idea. You’re going to work on talking me out of the whole Brock Steel thing.”
She chuckles. “Yeah.”
“Let’s go.”
We make our way to the driveway and get into my car. “You want me to drive?” Callie asks. “I’m not planning to drink.”