When he said stuff like that, how was I not supposed to fall for him? I knew this was an arrangement, but riding together hadn’t been a part of that. Him making sure I got the New York Times in the mail every morning wasn’t a part of it. Then there was his whole, ‘three orgasms a day keeps the doctor away,’ mantra. I was pretty sure that had never been a part of the program, either.
“Well, I’m glad you called.”
“Me too.” He clucked his tongue when Princess Plum decided to get sassy and veer off course. Not unsurprisingly, that and a soft squeeze of his knees was enough to elicit her compliance. For me, she was a real bitch. For Brennan, not so much. ”We’ll have to take a trip somewhere, a dude ranch or something. Don’t you get sick of the same trails?”
“Not really. But we can. I’d like that.” I peeped at him. “For our honeymoon, maybe?”
He scratched his chin, flashing his watch at me as he did so. “Sounds good.”
It did? Excitement filled me, but I dampened it down, curious now about something else. “Your watch...” My voice waned a second before I decided to stop being a wuss. “Where did you get it from?”
He blinked. “This old thing? From my uncle. He bequeathed it to me when he died.”
That was my kind of gift. I’d never heard of Vacheron Constantin before, but when I’d googled them, out of curiosity, my mind had been blown.
“When we were at your parents’ place, I saw a picture of your dad with someone who had to be his brother. They were at Coney Island.”
His lips twitched. “Eating hot dogs, right?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
He nodded. “That’s one of Da’s favorite pictures. He doesn’t have many pictures of Frank.”
“He’s the one who gave you the watch?”
“No, that was Patrick.” He pursed his lips. “Patrick was the wild card, Frank was strong and steady.”
“He’s dead too?”
Brennan pursed his lips. “Yeah. They both died when they were real young.”
“Do you have any cousins?”
“Only two. Do you?”
“Unfortunately, a few. I don’t want anything to do with them though. They’re from Father’s side of the family and just as bad as him. Mama had two brothers but they died when they were children.” My lips twitched as something occurred to me. “I think our children will have a lot of cousins.”
He snickered. “I think so too.”
“Well, there’s already Shay,” I pointed out softly.
“Jake as well.” He cracked his knuckles. “Little fucker is going to be a brilliant fighter by the time I’m done with him.”
“How did the training go last night?”
He grinned. “Got two good punches to the gut. Nearly got kneed in the balls too.”
“You’re teaching Shay how to fight dirty!” I accused. “You shouldn’t do that. You’ll get him into trouble.”
Brennan snorted. “That’s the only way to fight. Never leave a mark on your opponent if you don’t have to, Camille.” He tapped his nose after he winked at me. “That’ll stop the bastards from going to the teachers.”
“Will you teach Jake too?”
“If Finn asks. He used to be a nasty fighter though. He’s getting soft, but he might want to handle that himself.”
I thought about the man I’d seen at church the other day and arched a brow at him. “He didn’t look soft to me.”
Brennan scowled at me. “You shouldn’t be looking.”