Jensen knew his brother was right. A frenzy of possessive rage began to brew as he imagined her talking to some other man the way she’d talked to him. “Fuck,” he groaned.
“Yep.” Jason slapped Jensen on the back. “Get off your ass and call that woman.”
Jensen pulled his cell phone out of his shirt pocket. “I believe you might be right, bro.”
He pulled up her number in his contact list and hit the Call button. She answered on the second ring. “Hello?”
“Hi, beautiful.” She sounded winded. Had he interrupted her? “Is it a bad time?”
“Jensen?”
“Have a lot of men calling you beautiful, do you?” he asked, unable to contain the riot of emotions running through him at the sound of her voice.
She laughed, and Jensen’s jeans suddenly felt very restricting. “No, just one very persistent man.”
God, he loved her laugh. It was music to his ears. “This persistent man would like to see you.”
The line went quiet for a moment, and Jensen thought maybe they’d been disconnected. Finally, she replied, “I’d like to see you too. And, again, thank you for the flowers.”
His heart sped up at her softly spoken words. “Are you busy tonight?” he asked, willing her to say no. “I can make dinner. Say around eight?”
“Eight sounds perfect.” She paused, then added, “Give me a second, and I’ll get a pen.”
After he gave her his address, they hung up. Jensen looked over at his brother and noticed him staring. “What?”
He pointed to the cell phone Jensen still had clutched in his hand. “You really like her, don’t you?”
“To be honest, I don’t know what I feel,” he said, uncomfortable with the whole conversation. “All I know is I can’t stop thinking about her. She’s the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met, and yet I can’t wait to see her again. Makes no sense.”
Jason whistled low. “Man, you’re falling for her.”
Jensen got to his feet and tucked his phone back in his pocket. “Whatever. This little heart-to-heart has been real touching, but I’d rather go look at that rental property.”
Jason let out a breath. “’Bout time you pulled your head out of your ass.”
“Come on,” Jensen said, heading for the door. “Let’s go check out those offices.”
Jason grabbed his keys off an end table. “I told the three musketeers we’d meet at Pete’s later.”
“Sounds good to me.”
After visiting both properties, Jensen and his brother sat in Pete’s Pizzeria with Ames and Seth. They were still waiting on AJ to show up.
“AJ’s on her way.” Seth checked the door for the hundredth time. “She got stuck in line at the bank.”
“Anyone want a refill on their drinks?” their perky brunette waitress asked as she approached the table.
Jason was the first to speak up. “I’ll take another beer.” He held up his glass and looked at the waitress’s name tag. “Emma,” he murmured. “A pretty name for a pretty lady.”
Oh Lord, was he flirting with her? When she all but ignored Jason, Jensen had to bite back a laugh.
“Did someone mention beer?” a female voice asked. “I’d love a Corona.”
Jensen noticed AJ striding toward them and watched as Ames stood to hold AJ’s seat for her. Once again, AJ seemed totally oblivious to the underlying currents arcing back and forth between Seth and Ames whenever AJ was near the two of them.
“Two beers coming right up,” the waitress said as she hurried off.
“Sorry I’m late, guys,” AJ said as she put her purse on the floor beside her. “I would’ve gone to the bank after our meeting if I’d realized how bloody long it would take to make a deposit.”