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I immediately regretted it.
Because I knew the view outside. I’d been admiring it for the last few hours. Now, it was blocked by the thick, heavy shade, where a small rim of light seeped out from the perimeter along each side. It wasn’t sunlight; it was long past sunset. It was light from the adjacent buildings and the liveliness of Tampa.
It was a tease.
The sound of my phone caused my eyes to flick open, and I reached for my cell on the pillow next to me, checking the caller ID. I blinked a few times to make sure I was seeing the name correctly and connected the call.
“Hello?”
“Did I wake you?” Aubrey asked.
“It’s okay.” I rubbed my eyes. “Don’t worry about it.”
“What time is it there?” She paused. “A little past eleven, and you’re already asleep? On your night off? You’re worse than me, and I have a newborn.”
“I went out earlier.” I pushed myself toward the headboard, dragging the blanket up to my chest. The lie made me feel less pathetic even though I hated giving her one. “I had too many proseccos and tucked myself in.” I glanced toward the bottle of vodka that was two glasses lower than when I’d bought it. “How are you? How’s the baby?” I cleared my throat, trying to sound more awake.
“Colicky. I’m honestly wondering at this point if there’s a way I can push him back inside of me. At least when he was cooking in my oven, I could sleep for increments longer than twenty minutes, and no one aside from me was screaming all day long.” She sighed. “How’s Tampa? How’re the Daltons? How’s life without a baby crying twenty-four/seven?”
“Everything and everyone are great.” It occurred to me just then that if Brady frequently traveled with Dominick or one of the other Daltons, Aubrey could know him. “There was an interesting guy on board today. Brady Spade. Do you know him?”
“Do I know him?” She laughed. “I know him and his two brothers, Macon and Cooper, they’ve been friends with the Daltons for as long as I’ve worked for them.”
My thumb instinctively went into my mouth, where I chewed the skin off the corner. “What can you tell me about him?”
She laughed again. “Do I sense a crush?”
“No.”
“A visual crush?”
I filled my lungs, surprised that I could breathe, given the topic of our conversation. “He’s undeniably handsome.”
“That he is and very, very single as well. He’s the only Spade brother who hasn’t yet settled down. I’ve met Macon’s girlfriend and Cooper’s girlfriend—both are lovely.”
“But you’ve never met anyone Brady has dated or someone he’s brought on a trip?”
“You must not keep up with the LA gossip sites. The Spades and Daltons and Westons—another set of their friends—are constantly discussed, and Brady’s love life is a hot topic.”
“The only people I know in LA, aside from the pilots, are you and the Daltons.” I crossed my legs under the blanket. “It wouldn’t make sense for me to keep up with the gossip—I wouldn’t know anyone they’re talking about.”
Now that I knew Brady was a conversation piece, maybe I needed to check out those sites.
But why?
Did it even matter what they said about him?
If anything, that was even more of a reason why I needed to keep my thoughts far away from him.
“Well then, let me fill you in. Miraculously, the baby is down, which means I have approximately ten minutes before all you hear is screams.” Her voice was low, almost a whisper. “Brady Spade is quite the ladies’ man. But he’s never photographed with one on his arm, and he always attends events alone because he’s not even willing to commit for a couple of hours, long enough to take one to a gala or an opening—can you even imagine?”
I couldn’t imagine anything at the moment, and it wasn’t the vodka’s fault.
“Anyway,” she continued, “he’s seen around town with women—at concerts, restaurants, sporting events, just nothing major where there will be photographers. As for personality, he and his brothers are nothing alike. Macon is the bubbly, kindhearted one. Cooper is much more to the point and charming. Brady has the attitude of a lion. He’s not rude; he’s just extremely domineering and impatient and fearless. Fearless in a way where he knows what he wants and he’s unafraid to go after it.”
Nothing she’d said surprised me. That was precisely the way I’d suspected him to be.
“He’s not going to give you the warm fuzzies,” she went on. “Unless your idea of warm fuzzies is getting ravaged against a wall, after which it’ll probably take a few days before you’re walking straight again.” She giggled. “If that’s your thing, then that’s your man.”
