Brandon (Anderson Billionaires #3) - Melody Anne Page 0,15
without hesitation.
“I’d think so from what I know about her. But at the end of the day, it would be you and her and your own compatibility. She might be perfect, and you might be close to perfect, but maybe you aren’t a perfect couple,” Noah pointed out.
“I haven’t even thought about that. I can’t imagine we could be anything less than spectacular if our one night together is any indication.”
“I thought you weren’t going to kiss and tell,” Noah pointed out.
“I didn’t,” Brandon said with a grin. “But what’s the point in trying to hide the amazing chemistry between the two of us?”
“We all know she’s beautiful, smart, and talented. But is she the one?”
“I’d like to find out,” Brandon told him.
“You’ve tended to lean toward the Barbie-type girls for a long time. I believe this might be the one, ’cause she has you tied up in knots, and she’s nothing like the typical girls you’ve had on your arm before.”
“Hey! I’m not a playboy. I don’t treat women with disrespect,” Brandon said, somewhat offended.
“I didn’t say you do. But you haven’t exactly brought a woman home for Christmas,” Noah pointed out again.
“Maybe this is the year I do just that,” Brandon said.
“I hope so,” Noah said, shocking him.
“Why is it so damn hard to admit I might want more?” Brandon finally said. He was frustrated and maybe speaking out more than he normally would’ve done before. He almost expected his brother to laugh. But Noah shocked him.
“Because I think this one matters. It’s up to you to figure out what you want to do about it and what that means. I do know that it’s useless to fight it, though.”
“What’s useless to fight?”
Brandon and Noah turned to see Crew approaching. He stopped at the cooler and grabbed a beer before joining them.
“No way am I telling you anything,” Brandon said.
Crew was a psychologist, and unless Brandon wanted to pretend he was in a stuffy office and have his brother pick apart everything he was saying, he was keeping his mouth shut. They’d always teased Crew, saying he needed to loosen up. But it was somehow different now. His brother had loosened up. They just couldn’t figure out why or what was happening. Crew had even bought an old ranch and was fixing it up. He was the last person on earth any of them would’ve thought would do that.
“Come on—you both know I’m the smartest one out of all of us. Maybe I can help,” Crew said. He took a long slug of his beer, and Brandon was again surprised. It wasn’t that Crew didn’t drink; it was just that he didn’t often do it during the day.
“What is wrong with you?” Brandon asked. For once he wasn’t trying to deflect when it came to his brother. He was just trying to figure him out—and he couldn’t. Something was seriously off. It took several moments for him to put his finger on it. “You haven’t shaved.” He paused as he looked at his normally well-put-together brother. “And you’re wearing a hoodie. How in the world did I not catch that immediately?”
“I’m with Brandon here—what in the world is going on?” Noah said.
“Maybe I’m making some changes,” Crew said.
They gaped at him. It was nice for Brandon to not have the full extent of his brothers’ attention on him, but this was truly odd behavior from Crew.
“I don’t buy that for a second. You know what they say about leopards and their spots and all,” Noah said.
“I’ll tell you about it when I can,” Crew said.
That shut both brothers up. Something was going on with Crew, and they immediately wanted to help him. But they had a code among each other that if one said they couldn’t talk about something right then, then they had no choice but to respect it.
“It really sucks you’re invoking the ‘Can’t talk about it now.’ You realize we’re going to be obsessing on this, right?” Brandon said.
“Yes, I know that. And I know you’ll respect me,” Crew said. Then he took another drink before focusing his laser eyes on Brandon. “Now tell me about your problems.”
And that was the end of that.
They sat back in silence for a while. Then Brandon pretty much outlined to Crew what he’d been talking about with Noah. Crew listened without offering advice. There wasn’t a time in history Brandon could remember that ever happening. They grew very quiet after that.