Ryan

Refusing to move an inch, I watched Sofia drive off until she made a right turn and disappeared from sight. If I could have run to a rooftop to watch the rest of her drive, I would have. This woman was turning me into a desperate man. But then again, she’d said she was already planning on coming back to the bar. Which meant that before I’d begged her like a starved man, she had planned to come and see me again.

The thought alone filled me with a mixture of feelings, some I didn’t recognize and couldn’t quite name. But one distinct emotion stood out above all the others—excitement.

One time, that was all I’d need, and I knew it. One visit from her and I’d break down her walls, or at least start scaling them like a fucking boss. I would make Sofia see that I wasn’t who she thought I was. All her preconceived notions about me were wrong, and I planned to prove exactly that to her.

When I walked back inside the bar, I was met by Nick smirking at me. I’d forgotten all about him while I was lost in thoughts of winning my angel over.

“She’s pretty,” he said as he wiped the top of the bar, even though I’d already cleaned it earlier.

“I know she’s pretty,” I said as if that was the stupidest statement I’d heard all day.

The office door swung open and Frank stepped out. “Who’s pretty?”

“The chick Ryan won’t shut up about. You missed her, man,” Nick teased.

“I miss everything,” Frank grumbled.

“Maybe if you left the office every once in a while, you would’ve seen the pretty little thing our brother has the hots for.”

Nick sure was mouthy for being the youngest, but since there was an eight-year age difference between him and me, and Frank was two years older than me, we weren’t around much as he was growing up. Hence the reason Nick wasn’t scared we’d beat the shit out of him for being so lippy.

When Nick added, “She looks familiar too,” my jaw tightened in an emotion as foreign as it was intriguing.

Could I actually feel possessive over this woman I knew nothing about?

“What do you mean, she looks familiar? Familiar how? Like you’ve seen her on the street, or you slept with her, or what?” I knew I was ranting, knew I sounded like a fucking madman, but I didn’t care.

Nick raised his hands, patting the air. “Calm down, psycho. I have no idea. She just looks familiar. I’m not sure from where, but it’s definitely not from sleeping with her.”

He might have been cool about it, but I felt anything but calm as visions of Sofia and my baby brother going at it filled my mind.

“Dude, I said I didn’t sleep with her. Are you even listening?” He snapped his fingers in front of my face.

I snapped out of it, wondering how he knew exactly what I’d been seeing in my head.

Frank smirked at me. “I’ve never seen you like this.”

I knew all too well how much he was enjoying my current state of crazy. I’d enjoyed his idiotic behavior over his girlfriend Claudia in much the same way before they started dating, and I hadn’t hesitated to let him know. So I supposed I deserved all of this.

“I feel a little out of control and I don’t know why,” I admitted, feeling a little self-conscious. “But she said she’d come back, so that’s a good thing.” I tried to sound chipper, like my normal self, but I was off. My brothers knew it, and I knew it. There was no sense trying to hide it.

Nick’s eyes widened. “She did?”

“When’s she coming?” Frank cocked a brow and leaned against the bar top.

Shit. When was she coming? She didn’t say.

I shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea.”

Nick and Frank’s widened and they both howled with laughter, and I never realized just how annoying the two of them were until this moment.

“Did you get her number?” Frank managed to ask through his snickering.

“No.”

Nick bent over laughing, holding his stomach. “You’re so far off your game, it’s comical.”

I wanted to be pissed off, but he was right. Normally I was calm, completely cool when it came to women and how I handled them. I never got nervous or intimidated, but with Sofia, I was flailing, a desperate man begging for whatever scraps she tossed my way.

Under my breath, I muttered, “I’m aware.”

“What’d you say?” Frank leaned toward me, cupping his hand to his ear.

Narrowing my eyes, I glared at my older brother. “You heard me just fine the first time.”

“So, what are you going to do about it then?” He lowered his hand and shoved it in his pocket.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” both my brothers said in unison, sounding like an off-key boy band.

“Leave me alone,” I growled.

“Remember when you harassed me about a plan for Claudia?” Frank asked, and Nick nodded, egging him on. “Well, now it’s my turn. Payback’s a bitch. So, what’s your plan?”

I had an inkling of a plan, but not much else. It was more of an idea, really.

“You’ll laugh,” I said, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

It was all fine and dandy when I was making fun of Frank or harassing Nick for his stupid decisions, but being on this side of it wasn’t anywhere nearly as entertaining. At least, it wasn’t for me. They, on the other hand, were enjoying the hell out of it.

Nick rolled his hand in an encouraging motion. “Just tell us. You know I’m going to bug you until you spit it out anyway. Might as well just tell us now.”

A groan escaped me. I’d never hear the end of this, no matter how hard I tried to avoid it, so I might as well spill it.

“I’m going to woo her.”

“Woo her?” They both mocked me, imitating my voice before breaking out into hysterical laughter. Again.

The two of them might have been laughing at me, but the truth was that they didn’t know shit about women. Both of them were idiots and made huge mistakes before they finally got the girl.

Me, I didn’t intend to make mistakes when it came to Sofia. I planned on being the exception to the Fisher brother playbook they both seemed to follow. One that was apparently handed down from our father.

“Yeah, I’m going to woo her. Something you two clearly know nothing about.”

“Excuse me.” Frank’s laughter died and his jaw clenched. “I get that you’re trying to bash us here, but you’re inadvertently bashing our women in the process. Choose your next words carefully.”

“What he said.” Nick pointed his thumb toward Frank, but he was nowhere near as threatening as Frank could be.

There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that my brothers loved their girlfriends. And the personal hell that each of them had gone through in order to get their girl and stay together was nothing short of crazy. But I didn’t want to do things the way either of them did. If there was going to be some big dramatic implosion before my happily-ever-after happened, it sure as hell wasn’t going to be my doing.

I waved my hand in surrender, not wanting to genuinely piss my brothers off any further. I loved their girlfriends and knew that both Claudia and Jess would be my sisters-in-law one day. “I only meant to offend you two. Not the girls.”

“Hard to separate,” Frank bit out.

“Can we move on? Or back, actually?” Nick asked, leaning forward on the bar. “I want to hear all about this wooing you’re planning to do.”

“I just meant that I was going to romance her, okay? I want to be a gentleman when she comes in. Drive her home if she’ll let me, ask her on a proper date, bring her flowers. You know, all the things guys do when they actually like a girl.” I knew I sounded like a Hallmark Channel movie, but I couldn’t have cared less. They already knew I was an over-the-top romantic, so this was simply confirming it.

Nick caught my eye. “Can I say something?”

I glanced at Frank, who was already staring at Nick as I braced myself for whatever was about to spill from his lips. “Go ahead.”

“Can I just point out that you don’t even really know her? You can’t possibly like her like her already.” Nick looked to Frank for backup. “Am I right or wrong here?”

Frank offered a slight shrug but not much else as I allowed Nick’s words to sink in. He wasn’t wrong.

“You’re right,” I admitted. “I don’t know her, so I can’t really like her already. I guess liking her is the wrong word choice. Let’s just say I’m interested. I’m interested in getting to know her better so that I can like her. Better?”

I wasn’t sure why I was explaining myself, but I felt the need to. As much as I wanted to run away and hide in a corner where they’d leave me alone, I couldn’t avoid my brothers forever. And in their own way, they were only trying to help.

“What do you think you like about her? Why is she so different? Is it because she’s avoiding you?” Frank’s words were thoughtful, carefully chosen, it was obvious he’d been thinking on this longer than a second or two.

“That’s a good point,” Nick said. “Is it just the chase?”

Frank and Nick turned to each other and got lost in conversation about the thrill of the chase. They talked about not really liking a girl, but being intrigued for all the wrong reasons. I wasn’t included in the conversation, and neither of them looked at me until I cleared my throat loudly, reminding them that I was still here and this conversation was supposed to be about me.

The chase part had been something I’d considered already. Hell, maybe part of my pull toward her had initially been based on the fact that she kept pushing me away. We always want what we can’t have, right? But I wasn’t that kind of guy, never had been. And they both knew it.

“It’s not the chase. It’s not some game,” I said, then looked at Frank. “Was it the chase for you with Claudia?” I asked, knowing the question would strike a nerve.

“You know damn well it wasn’t,” he ground out through clenched teeth.

“Then what was it about her?” I asked. Frank wouldn’t like being put on the spot, but I did it to prove my point. “Can you put into words what made her so different from any other woman you’d met before?”

“You know it was something I felt. It wasn’t about words.”

I blew out an exasperated breath. “That’s how I feel. There’s just something there. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s real or some bullshit fantasy I’ve made up in my head, but I want to find out. I have to know for sure.”

Nick nodded, clearly wanting to contribute. “That’s how it was with Jess. I could’ve had any girl I wanted at State, but none of them made me feel the way Jess did.”

I glanced between them. “So you both understand that I have to do this. I just need to see.”

My brothers nodded in unison as the doors flew open and a rowdy group of guys sauntered in. I was tempted to give them a round on the house for their perfect timing, but decided against it as I took their orders and got to work instead.