Page 3 of The Best Thing (Kent Brothers 3)

"How should I know? I don't schedule his liaisons with women."

"Oh, please. This is a small town. Everyone knows who everyone is sleeping with. Gossip runs rampant. And with hot stuff like Brody, the rumor mill is on alert every time he's seen around town with a new woman on his arm. Have you heard anything--anything at all about him hitting on a woman since the night of the Christmas party last year?"

Tori chewed on her bottom lip and thought about it. "Well, actually...no."

Calliope pointed the stir stick at her again. "Aha! And that's because he wants you."

"He does not. He never even asked me out."

"Because you've been such a mean bitch no one wants to get within twenty feet of you. Can you blame him?"

Okay, maybe Calliope had a point about that. She couldn't help her natural self-preservation instincts. But she still thought Calliope was crazy. Brody was a sought-after commodity. All the women flocked to him. Surely there'd been someone in all these months...

Then again, maybe there hadn't. There was a network of gossip--especially when it came to who Brody was sleeping with--that would rival network entertainment sites. Some of the women in this town had such finely honed stalking skills they could easily get jobs as paparazzi. If Brody had been sleeping around, or sleeping with anyone since last December, it would have made the rounds of the gossip mill and Tori would have heard about it.

"You know what, Calliope, you might be right about that."

Calliope lifted one half-drunken brow in question. "I am? Right about what?"

"Brody. Not having been with anyone since December."

"'Course I'm right, Tori. Told ya. You should jump him."

Tori laughed. "And I'm cutting you off margaritas. Let's have some dinner."

Calliope frowned. "Buzz killer. I had a hard week. Children are evil, you know."

"You love those kids at the day care center. And you adore your job."

"I do." Calliope grinned. "And I love Wyatt. And you. And my sister. And Wyatt's whole family. And..."

Tori rolled her eyes and signaled for the waitress. Definitely time to put some food into her inebriated best friend.

After some food and several glasses of water, Calliope had sobered up--at least a little, though she did order a post-dinner margarita. And why not--it was Friday night, after all, Calliope had had a miserable week, and her friend deserved to let loose a little.

Tori had thought a lot about what Calliope had said about Brody. Her job would be a lot easier if she and Brody could at least go back to the way things used to be. What had happened between them had been a fluke--a onetime kiss and nothing more. He'd obviously put no expectations on her, she hadn't lost her job, so nothing had really changed. There was no reason to act as if the world was coming to an end just because they'd kissed, and he never needed to know how she felt about him.

Men were easily clueless, since most of the time they didn't want to know the truth that was right in front of them anyway.

She decided she'd go back to being her normal self on Monday.

By the end of dinner it was obvious Calliope was not going to be able to drive herself home. When she got back from the restroom, Tori said, "Since you picked me up, I'll drive you home. Then I'll bring your car back to your place tomorrow."

Calliope shook her head. "I already called for a ride home. I'm very smart and I know better than to drive myself home when I've been drinking."

"I'd have driven you home, Calliope."

"It's okay. There's my ride now."

Tori looked up and her stomach dropped.

Brody. She'd called Brody to drive her home.

Chapter Three

Brody hadn't expected to run into Tori tonight, but when Calliope had called saying she'd had some cocktails and needed a ride, he had no problem giving it to her, especially since Wyatt was on an out-of-town job this weekend.

What he hadn't expected was for Tori to be with her, though that shouldn't surprise him since Calliope and Tori were best friends.

He pulled up a chair at their table. "Celebrating tonight, Calliope?"

She nodded, her curls bouncing. "Yup. I'm celebrating an end to a hellish week. Parents are mean."

He laughed and tugged on one of her curls. "They can be sometimes. This is a good place to unwind though. Great margaritas."

Calliope grinned. "I had four."

"Awesome." He looked over at Tori, who surprisingly wasn't ignoring him, just studying him. "How about you?"

"I figured I'd have to drive the lush home, so it was iced tea for me tonight."

"Hey. Not a lush. I was sober enough to give you love advice, wasn't I?"

Tori glared at Calliope. Brody gave her a quizzical look. "Love advice?"

"Drunk talk. You ready to go? Calliope picked me up, so I can drive her car home and I'll bring it back to her house tomorrow."

"It's okay. Just follow me to her place and we'll drop her car. Then I'll drive you home. Save you a trip back over there tomorrow."

"It's not a problem."

"I need my car early, Tori," Calliope said. "I have a meeting."

She hesitated then nodded at Brody. "Okay, fine. I'll meet you at Wyatt and Calliope's house."

Brody scooped Calliope out of her chair and led her to the parking lot.

"Calliope, do you want to ride with me in your car?" Tori asked.

"Oh. No, I'll ride with Brody. See you at the house." Calliope gave Tori a wave.

Tori gave them a worried look, then said, "Uh, okay. See you there." She headed over to Calliope's car and Brody put Calliope in his truck. She started to sing and he rolled his eyes. Wyatt owed him for this one. It was a good thing he adored his sister-in-law, because he'd left a warm house and a football game on TV for this.

"You need to talk to Tori," Calliope said as they made the turn down the highway toward Wyatt's house.

"Huh?"

"Just...well, I can't say more than that, other than you need to talk to her."

"Is this about the Christmas party again?"

"Sort of, but it's about a lot of things, Brody. Open your eyes."

"My eyes are wide open, Calliope."

While they sat at a stopligh

t, she looked over at him, her glasses askew on her face. She slid them up her nose and gave him a stern look. "Men's eyes are very rarely wide open. You only see what you want to see, not what's really there."

"What the hell are you talking about? See, this is the problem with women. You talk in metaphors instead of straight talk, then we're supposed to figure out what the fuck that all means."

She laughed. "I know. But Tori's my friend and I can't say any more than that. But trust me, you want to talk to her."

"I've already talked to her. She won't give me the goddamn time of day."

Calliope looked out the window. "Try again. She might know the time now."

"There you go again. Fucking metaphors."

They pulled into the driveway and he helped Calliope slide out of his truck. Brody walked her to the door and helped her find her keys in her purse. She giggled--a lot.

"You really did have a good time tonight, didn't you?"

She tilted her head back. "Have I mentioned I had a shitty day today?"

"Yup."

"Then yes. I had a good time tonight."

"Sounds like you needed it."

Her head bobbed up and down. "You have no idea."

He opened the door and turned on the lights, then made sure she got safely inside. By then Tori had pulled Calliope's car into the garage, so she met them in the kitchen.

"Thanks for picking me up," Calliope said, giving Brody a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You're the best brother-in-law ever."

"Anytime. You know that."

Calliope threw her arms around Tori and hugged her, then whispered in her ear. Tori shifted her gaze to Brody, her eyes widening.

"Okay. I'm done for. I'm going to bed. Love you both and lock the door on your way out."

Brody shook his head as he watched Calliope's weaving form disappear down the hall. "Night, Calliope."

Tori gave him a look. "Give me just a second. I'm going to run upstairs and make sure she's okay. If you don't mind?"

"I don't mind. Go ahead."

He made himself at home by heading into the living room and turning on the television. The game wasn't over yet, so when Tori came downstairs he asked her to wait as the last few minutes ticked down. When the game was over, he clicked off the remote and turned to her. She was perched on the edge of the leather sofa.

"She okay?"

"She's out. Not much of a drinker anyway, so when she decides to put one on, it generally throws her for a loop. I just wanted to make sure she wasn't going to end up sick. She got into her pajamas and she's already snoring."

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