Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection by Violet Duke Page B

A class act. I’m loud and extraverted and a little on the wild side.”
    Tony indicated his agreement of that last point.
    “She’s a brain who writes. I’m a jock who does business. She wants to live out the rest of her life in Wilmington Bay. I want to get the hell back to Chicago at the end of the month, preferably sooner. She wants four kids, and I don’t want any if I can help it—”
    “Whoa, big brother. Slow down.” Tony blinked his dark eyes at him. “You two talked about kids?”
    “Just theoretically.”
    “No, no, no . There’s no such thing with women.” His brother crossed his arms. “Who brought it up? You or her?”
    Rob thought back over their coffee shop conversation a few weeks ago. “I did, I think.”
    Tony nodded. “Bad move, bro. You’ve got her thinking and evaluating now. Plus, with all that playacting and your lovey-dovey hand massaging… Don’t fool yourself, Rob. This may be harder to break off than you think.”
    “Hey, I was totally open with my intentions. I’ve never led her on with this in any way. She knows it’s a game. I don’t think she’ll be heartbroken when it ends.”
    His brother laughed. “I don’t think she will be either. I wasn’t talking about her. I was talking about you .”
    “What? That’s—that’s—”
    “Not nearly as crazy as you may believe,” Tony finished for him, although that wouldn’t have been how he’d have chosen to end the sentence.
    He and Frizzy Lizzy together? For real?
    He thought about her kindness to his family, her understated prettiness, her sweet nature and the way she was slowly relaxing around him. He remembered her soft, soft hands and the attraction he’d felt for her that night of the coffee outing—an emotion he’d worked hard to suppress because, well, because they just didn’t mesh. They were too different. Right?
    A jolt of “So what?” smacked him in the gut.
    So what if they had polar personalities?
    So what if she could spin rings around him intellectually?
    So what if he did want to kiss her on the lips, just once?
    Not that he’d admit any of these things to Tony.
    “I’m going to get that ice cream now,” he informed his brother. “Either suggest a flavor or I’ll have to pick one for you.”
    Tony smirked. “Avoidance is the devil’s game. Play it at your own risk.”
    Rob took several pointed strides in the direction of the door. “I’m leaving.”
    His brother crossed his arms and leaned back against the sofa. “Okay, Peaches and Cream or Butter Pecan, then.”
    “How very wholesome of you.”
    “Not especially,” Tony said. “I just like what I like. But since you’re going out, could you do me a favor?”
    “I’m not picking up Happy Feet for you or any other heartwarming kiddie DVDs, no.”
    “Wasn’t what I was going to ask. Did you always jump to conclusions like this or is it a recent development?”
    He sighed. “What do you want?”
    “Maria-Louisa’s mom called earlier and their hair appointments got canceled for the morning. She’s either got her cell phone clicked off or it’s too hard to hear it at Hauser’s ‘cause I can’t reach her. Could you swing by there and give her the message? She’d appreciate being able to stay out later tonight knowing she’ll get to sleep in tomorrow.”
    “Yeah, okay,” Rob said, pondering how frightening it was that Tony was so taken in by his petite wife that he’d urge her to stay out later on a Saturday night and sleep in longer on a Sunday morning.
    And tomorrow was Father’s Day.
    He squinted at his brother and shook his head. The guy was whipped.
    He walked out of their House of Love and into Hauser’s a few minutes later still thinking about this. About having a totally loving, accepting relationship like Tony and Maria-Louisa’s. About what that would be like on a day-to-day basis.
    He inhaled the pungent aroma of extinguished cigarettes by the door mingling with half-empty pints of beer. He felt the