“Where would you take Aubrey to dinner?” he asked Justin, deliberately not making eye contact. Just trying to pretend it was a theoretical question, no big deal.
“Right now?” His older brother bounced the ball on the court. “Anywhere with a burger and fries. She can’t get enough cheeseburgers, plus throw in a chocolate shake and we’ve got a date.”
Not what he was after. “No, no, no, I mean if you wanted to take her for a nice dinner, something special?”
Justin turned his head to look intently at Leo. “Special? You want to take a woman somewhere special?”
“Cut the commentary.”
Justin dropped the ball and served. The screech of rubber bouncing off the wooden floor repeatedly sliced through their huffing and puffing until Justin slammed the ball into the wall and scored.
“You were saying there’s a woman in your life who warrants a special dinner.”
“Forget I asked.” Leo grabbed his towel and scrubbed it over his face. Like he needed his brother busting his balls.
“No, no, it’s just I never hear you mentioning taking a woman somewhere special for dinner. I thought your type of liaisons involved Chinese takeout and king-sized beds.”
“I have, on occasion, taken a woman out.”
“To an event yes, but those aren’t usually relationships, are they? Would you be seeking out a special place to take those women?”
Justin was right, yes. With the convenient arrangements he’d had with the assortment of exquisitely polished women he took to events, they often dined in all the right places but didn’t really do special things. But again those had been mutually agreed-upon convenient arrangements, disposable relationships. When he and whatever actress, model, or heiress he was bedding at the time worked through the physical attraction, the entire involvement ended. Those women were just as ready to move on to the next man as he was to move on to the next woman.
“What about flying her somewhere? That’s kind of impressive, isn’t it? Use the corporate jet and take her somewhere unusual.”
Leo shook his head. “Don’t think she’ll be impressed.”
“Seriously?”
Leo nodded. “It’ll take a show of the heart to impress her, not a show of capital.”
“Oh.” A knowing grin spread across Justin’s face. He stuffed his towel into his bag. “I see.”
“You see what?” His older brother’s superior attitude annoyed Leo.
“Well, when a man wants to do something special for a woman that involves an emotional component, that usually means there’s something deeper going on than just a ‘convenient arrangement.’”
“This…yes…well…this person may mean more than that,” Leo admitted.
“Well, well, well,” Justin cocked an eyebrow. “Who knew?” He slung the strap of his gym bag over his shoulder and headed through the door to the club’s locker room. “The reports that you have no heart are indeed false.” Justin dropped his bag in front of his locker. “I told everyone they were wrong, you just hadn’t discovered the right woman yet.”
Leo grumbled. Who was Justin to give Leo shit about being a womanizer? Before Aubrey had reentered his life, Justin had been a bigger player than Leo.
“Have you considered cooking for her?” Justin opened his locker and pulled out a fresh towel.
“Cooking? Me? Cook?”
“It’s a special thing for a man to cook for a woman. Or they think it is.” Justin tossed his clothes into his bag. “Not sure why, maybe it’s us showing them our domestic side. Or vulnerability. Maybe it’s vulnerability.”
Cooking, eh? Leo’s cooking entailed a microwave and leftovers. He did not cook. Couldn’t even boil water.
“I don’t know that’s the way to start out…I…well, I can admit that I’m not a very good cook.”
“Neither am I, and to be honest, neither is Aubrey. You know what she did? I thought it was pretty genius. She’d bring the food in from Rockwater and then heat it up and put it in regular dishes. Took me about four meals before I figured out that she wasn’t cooking for me at all, but faking me out with her sister’s food.”
“Brilliant.”
“And breakfast, have bagels and cream cheese in the fridge. No one can mess that up.”
“I’m not sure I’ll need to worry about breakfast. I mean, I think it’s unfair to assume—”
“Wait, so you want to have a special meal with a woman, maybe even cooking for her, but you won’t assume there’ll be a need for breakfast?”