gone to class and kept his grades up because it was required to be on the football team.
“We’re a Granger family,” she said, breaking into his thoughts. “Both my parents used to work here.”
“Did they?”
“Yes. Mom went back to school for a nursing degree. She works at Virginia General. Dad divorced Mom eight years ago, quit the company and then moved to Texas.”
He was about to ask her something he shouldn’t...like what plans she had for tonight...when there was a knock on his office door. “Come in.”
Jace walked in, and when his brother’s gaze lit on Brandy, who’d gotten comfortable enough to prop her curvy ass on Dalton’s desk, a frown settled on Jace’s features. And when she kept sitting there as if her butt were glued to the spot, Jace said, “I believe Melissa is looking for you, Miss Booker. She has plenty for you to do.”
It was then that she eased off the desk. Dalton followed her every movement and appreciated his twenty-twenty vision.
“Yes, sir.” She turned to Dalton. “Will you need me for anything else, Mr. Granger?”
Dalton smiled. He would just love to give her an earful of ideas. However, none were decent enough to say in front of his straitlaced brother. “No, that will be all.” And then he watched as she sashayed her delectable backside past Jace and right out of his office.
Dalton shifted his gaze to his brother. “Do I have to remind you that I’m a grown-ass man who doesn’t need you for a watchdog?”
Jace walked to the middle of the room with his arms folded across his chest and his feet braced apart. “Yes, go ahead and remind me.”
Dalton’s face split into a sudden smile. “You’re crazy, you do know that, right?”
“Not until you told me just now. I thought I was perfectly sane. And I know you can take care of yourself, Dalton, but when it comes to Granger, we have to draw a fine line on certain things.”
“You don’t say?” Dalton said, picking up a pencil and toying with it while looking at his brother with shrewd eyes. “Does that apply to you, as well? Don’t know if Hannah mentioned it, but I dropped by last night.”
Jace moved to sit down in the chair across from Dalton’s desk. “And?”
“And you weren’t home.”
Jace shrugged. “Not a crime that I went out for the evening.”
“No,” Dalton said with a mocking grin. “But I know for a fact you never made it back home. At least, you hadn’t arrived when I left this morning.”
Jace’s face registered surprise. “You were there?”
“Yes. I arrived late yesterday afternoon and decided to stay the night.”
Dalton figured there was no need to tell him he’d known he could count on leftovers since Hannah was known to prepare a feast for Sunday dinner. She hadn’t disappointed, but Jace was nowhere to be found and hadn’t told Hannah where he was going. Dalton figured Jace would return at a decent hour and had hung around, caught a ball game on television and eventually dozed off. When he’d awakened, it was past midnight, so he’d decided to stay for the night. He’d gotten up around six this morning to return to his place, and Jace still hadn’t come home.
“Surely, you’re not questioning my comings and goings, Dalton.”
“No more than you’re questioning mine. But I am curious who you spent so much time with. One-night stands are my specialty, not yours.”
Jace held his brother’s stare. “Do you know that for certain?”
Dalton’s gaze was sharp and assessing. “No, I discovered that, in this life, nothing is for certain. Do you want to know what I think?”
“Not really.”
“I’ll tell you anyway, and since you don’t kiss and tell any more than I do, you don’t have to confirm anything. I think you were with your wonder-woman.”
Jace frowned. “Your thinking is wrong.”
Dalton didn’t think so, mainly because his older brother couldn’t lie very well. He had the word cover-up written all over his face. But Dalton would leave it alone for now. “Okay, my mistake. I just hope whoever the lady was that she was worth your missing Hannah’s delicious dinner. She wasn’t too happy with you, and was glad I dropped by so dinner wouldn’t go to waste. I even brought some in for lunch today.”
Jace nodded. “You came into the office early. Why?”
Dalton chuckled. “Definitely not for the same reason you were late. I happened to notice your wonder-girl was late, as well.”
“Was she?”
“Yes. Makes you wonder.”
Jace stood. “Don’t be a pain in