Page 7 of Turbulent Fires

“I did meet someone on the flight and had a hell of a conversation,” I admit, knowing I’ll most likely regret bringing up Audrey. My brothers are like piranhas, and they won’t stop until everything before them is consumed.

Drake only briefly pauses. “From the confusion in your voice, I take it this someone was a hot woman? Are you ditching the brother-bonding weekend and rushing off to a hotel?”

“Again, that only happened one time,” I say with a laugh. It really does take something pretty spectacular to make me forgo plans, especially for a woman.

“Well, you sound as if you’ve been hit upside that big head of yours with a frying pan, so I need more details,” Drake demands.

I smile. “She spilled red wine on my lap.”

“You don’t seem displeased by this,” Drake says with a chuckle.

“Nope, best thing that’s happened to me in a while. A lot of flirting ensued after.”

“And?” Drake draws out the word, growing impatient with how slowly I’m telling the story.

“We had a great time. She held her own in an impressive way. I asked her out... and she turned me down... then disappeared before I could counter.”

“How did she disappear on the plane?” Drake asks, his delight in me being turned down very evident in his happy tone of voice.

“We’d landed, and she said no thanks and was gone before I could blink.”

“I almost don’t have words,” Drake says with a deep laugh. “Is your ego okay? Do I need to send help STAT? Maybe you should head to medical to have your vitals checked. I don’t know if this has ever happened to you before.”

“Shut up, moron,” I tell him with another shake of my head. I’d be flicking him the same crap if our roles were reversed though.

“Jayden needs in on this.” I hear him hitting keys on his phone, most likely texting in our group chat. Great. Now this will be the topic of the weekend. Why did I open my big mouth? Probably because I’m going to be obsessing about this woman for the entire trip, and one way or the other, they’d get it out of me. It’s better to rip the bandage off right now.

“This woman was different,” I tell him. “I don’t know why, but she’s unique.”

“Well, that explains your confused voice. You really might need to get your head checked. You’re all sorts of dizzy right now.”

“She might’ve told me no, but not in a disinterested voice. She also said she never accepts afirstoffer.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to find her and extend a second offer,” I say, excited at the prospect of doing just that.

He pauses. “I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever heard you talking about giving a woman a second of anything.”

I’m a bit awed myself. “I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted to before.”

“What information do you have on her?”

“Her name’s Audrey Beach.” I love her name. Of course, I like everything about this woman right now.

“Beach? Sounds like a perfect match of unusual names.”

“I agree.”

“Where’s she staying? Maybe we need to stop in for a drink.”

“I don’t know,” I admit.

“You got her number, right?”

“Nope.”

He pauses again. “What information besides her name did you get?”

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