All He Really Needs by Emily McKay Page B

then he damn well better be
willing to take it, too. Besides, if Cooper was also searching for the missing
heiress, Griffin wanted to know about it.
    “No,” Cooper said simply. Then his mouth spread into a wide
grin.
    “Any chance you’re still in town because you’re looking for the
heiress yourself?”
    Cooper’s smile broadened without necessarily softening any. “Do
you really think I’d tell you if I was?”
    No, he didn’t. They’d never been close, so why would Cooper
share information, even if he had it?
    “Are you leaving soon, though?” Griffin asked as Cooper headed
for the front door.
    “My flight leaves tomorrow morning.” Cooper pulled his hand out
of his pocket, extracting his keys. He sent a last look back through the door to
the kitchen, which he’d just walked through a few minutes ago. “But I’m
considering changing my plans. Extending my stay a little longer.”
    Cooper had almost made it out the front door when Griffin said,
“Hey, if you’re going to be in town, we should get together.” Cooper turned to
stare at him, his mouth slightly agape, his surprise so obvious, Griffin felt
obliged to add, “You know, hang out or whatever.”
    That cynical smile flirted across Cooper’s lips again. “And not
talk about the heiress at all.”
    Griffin laughed. “Yeah. I can see why the offer looks
suspicious. But I mean it. You’re not in town that much. Dalton and I don’t see
you often enough.”
    “Oh, but you and Dalton hang out all the time?”
    “I wouldn’t say all the time. But after the divorce he moved
into my building, so, yeah, I see him. Not that he’ll be around much this
week.”
    “Right. ’Cause of Laney.”
    Because Cooper had lived in their house for a couple of years
after his mother had died, he knew Laney, too, and, as far as Griffin could
tell, they’d even been close back in high school.
    Cooper had looped his key ring on one of his fingers and he
gave the ring a jostle so the keys flipped around his hand and he caught them
again. Griffin smiled because he did that same thing with his keys.
    “What do you say? There’s a great sushi place not far from the
office.”
    Cooper shrugged, though he still looked surprised. “Sure. We
should do that.”
    But, in truth, the invitation had surprised Griffin, too. He’d
never before had the impulse to bond with Cooper. Neither he nor Dalton had ever
been particularly close to Cooper. Yeah, they’d lived in the same house for
Cooper’s last two years of high school and during summers before that. They’d
wrestled and fought. They’d played touch football more roughly than they
probably should have. But had they ever really talked? About anything?
    For the first time in his life, that bugged Griffin.
    It occurred to him now that once Hollister died, Cooper might
never again come down to Texas. Unless there was some major shift in his
relationship with his brother, once Hollister was gone, he might never see him
again.
    Suddenly, he thought of Sydney and all that he’d learned that
morning from that damn file. Of the foster mother she still kept in touch with.
Of the other kids who’d grown up with her in that foster home with whom she
still kept in touch.
    It wasn’t the kind of thing Sydney talked about. Hell, he
shouldn’t even know about it, but he did. And he couldn’t shake the impression
that if Sydney knew just how lazy he was in his relationship with Cooper, she’d
be disappointed. Why that mattered, he couldn’t say. All he knew was that if
Sydney had a half sibling, she’d damn well have done more than have her
assistant send a card at the holidays.
    He didn’t stop to ask himself why it mattered what Sydney would
do. Instead, he followed the faint sound of clattering dishes into the kitchen,
where he assumed he would find his mother. Yes, it was rare for her to cook and
even odder for her to clean, but he figured that must be where she was because
the house was otherwise quiet.
    However,