Page 47 of Places I've Never Been

Brandon scoffed. “Group dating is a really bad strategy. How are you going to get her naked if you’re never alone?”

“Get every thought of her naked out of your head.” Adam narrowed his eyes. “She’s not an idiot, Brandon. She notices when all of you get up and leave at the same time when we’re not done with dinner, and she sure as hell noticed that you were all an hour late to the session yesterday. What did you do, tie Flynn to a chair? He hates being late. When you finally showed up I thought he was going to break the drum.”

“I didn’t tie him to anything.” Brandon beamed. “I switched the time zone on his phone. Can’t do it again, though. When he figured it out, he changed the passcode.”

Adam stepped closer. “This. Stops. Now.” He poked Brandon in the chest for emphasis. “She’s going to think I’m some kind of stalker if you keep this up.”

“Hey! Knock it off.” Brandon slapped Adam’s hand away and rubbed his chest. “If you’d just get out of your own way,she’d see you for the overly assertive, clueless-around-women man with a fantastic circle of friends that you are.”

“I’m not clueless. I’m a professional performing artist in need of new material.”

“Uh-huh. Because it’s so professional to whisk your crush away to a tropical island so she can’t be distracted by the men she left behind. Right.” Brandon glanced over Adam’s shoulder. “Someone’s coming. Seriously, if you don’t make a move soon we’ll leave this sideshow before you even get to third base. We’ve all decided to take pity on your barren love life and give you a hand.”

“I’m trying to—” He registered what his brother just said. “Give me a hand how?”

Brandon rocked back and forth on his feet and looked so smug that Adam felt a knot tighten in his stomach. The last time he’d looked like that, he’d taken Dad’s car without permission, dented the fender, then blamed it on Adam.

“Brandon…” He put as much warning into his voice as he could without shouting.

Flynn rejoined them looking satisfied. “It’s all set.”

“What’s all set?” Adam narrowed his eyes at Flynn. “Whatever you have cooking, knock it off.”

Flynn and Brandon exchanged looks. “Bayo says she’ll make sure it works.”

The golf cart driving up the path carried a single rider with long, honey-gold hair.

Anticipation and nervous energy surged through his gut. “Make sure what works?”

“Operation Help a Brother Out is on.” Flynn leaned in and spoke in low undertones like he was in a spy novel. “Bayo will offer us two activities. All we have to do is let Mattie choose what she wants first. Whatever she picks, the rest of us do theopposite. Got it?”

“Perfect,” Brandon said. “Then we all get lost for the rest of the day and they can have some quality alone time.”

“No.” Adam saw exactly where this was headed. He and Mattie would wind up alone on a beach somewhere just like he’d tried to do before. Every bit of trust he’d built with her would be gone. “We can’t do that. She’ll be so pissed! Just stick together.”

“At least this time you can’t be thrown into the ocean. Not if you’re driving.” Brandon chuckled. “Though I’d pay a million to see it. I wonder if we can get her to do it again just so we all can watch?”

“If you bring that up to her, I’ll break your arm.” Adam bared his teeth.

Brandon grinned back without a hint of shame. “You’d have to catch me first.”

Flynn’s eyes widened, and he waved at someone behind Adam. “Hey, Mattie.”

Adam turned to see Mattie coming up the walkway. She wore a long-sleeved rash guard covered in pink flowers and black shorts. Without the usual flowy fabric covering her body, she looked athletic and strong.

He could imagine those legs wrapped around his waist—

No. He could not think like that right now.

Mattie waved back at Flynn, and a soft smile curved her lips, but something about her walk was less buoyant than usual.

“She looks nervous,” Adam said in a low voice.

“Yes!” Brandon pumped his fist in triumph. “Remember, make sure you’re driving so she can hold on tight.”

“This plan is ridiculous.” Adam wanted to pace back and forth like a caged animal, but it would make Mattie even more nervous if he did that. “She’ll see right through it, and I’ll look like an asshole.”

“Not if you play your cards right.” Flynn grinned. “I mean every other girl seems to want to bang you so I don’t see why this should be so hard.”

---