Crashing into Fate (Maple Grove #25) - Lynn Hagen Page 0,25

from your mouth, little brother. I’m at the motel. You’re not.”

Crap. Busted.

“Why are you there?” Had something happened to one of their parents or the kids? Arlan stood, alarmed, ready to demand that Lewis take him to Charles’s house.

“To take you to dinner.”

Aw. Now Arlan felt bad for snapping at Charles. “You’re so freaking sweat.”

Too bad Charles’s wife wasn’t. Arlan was still trying to figure out how Charles had ended up with someone like her.

“So, where are you?”

Arlan walked into the hallway. He didn’t want Lewis to hear this part of the conversation. If his brother wanted to be this nosy, Arlan would tell him the truth. His brother knew he was gay, but that didn’t mean Charles wanted to know these things. Too bad. “If you must know, I’m getting laid.”

Charles made a gagging sound. “Dude! TMI.”

“You’re the one who asked,” Arlan argued.

“You could have just said you were busy.”

His brother was full of shit. Charles wouldn’t have accepted that answer. He would have hounded Arlan until he’d told him the truth.

Arlan erupted in laughter at the sound of Charles’s obvious discomfort. “I was busy. I was bouncing on—”

“Finish that sentence and I’ll strangle you in your sleep,” Charles warned. “Do you want to hear about my sex life?”

Now it was Arlan who gagged. Not because of heterosexual sex but because he didn’t want to imagine his brother fucking Chloe. “That’s a hard no.”

“Well, it’s nonexistent these days, anyway. Shit, I didn’t mean to say that.”

Arlan was stunned. As far as he knew, Charles was deeply in love with his wife. That had been part of the problem. Whenever Chloe went on a rant, Charles would always take her side. Arlan had suspected it was just to keep the peace.

Now he wanted to go to dinner with Charles to find out what was going on, but he didn’t want to leave Lewis with this mess. “How about you meet me at my room later this evening? Say around eight?”

“Do I bring food?” Charles asked.

“No, just your good-looking self.”

“I’ll see you then.” Charles hung up.

Arlan lingered in the hallway, trying to figure out what was going on with his brother and sister-in-law. Although Arlan didn’t like Chloe, he didn’t want to see their family torn apart. They had kids together.

Then again, it might not have been that serious. Didn’t all couples go through rough patches? That didn’t mean they would divorce. Arlan was just projecting his hatred for that woman into their marital issues.

“Everything okay?”

Startled, Arlan shouted and jumped back, pressing a hand against his chest. “Wear a freaking bell if you’re going to sneak up on me.”

“How was I sneaking up on you?” Lewis asked. “I was noisy as hell before I came out here.”

Arlan had been so absorbed in his conversation that he’d blocked out everything else. “Yes, everything is fine. My brother wanted to take me to dinner.”

“Then you should go,” Lewis said.

“Nice try, buddy. I’m not leaving here until we talk.” He spun around and walked back into Lewis’s bedroom. The mattress was no longer on the bed. It was propped up against the wall. How had Arlan not heard him moving it?

Lewis walked up behind him and curled his arms around Arlan’s waist, resting his chin on Arlan’s shoulder. Instinctively Arlan leaned back, sighing, telling himself he could get used to this.

“A mate is someone fate handpicked for you. You’re my mate. Which means your happiness and health is my number-one priority.”

God, Lewis made that sound too good to be true. Who wouldn’t want something like that? Arlan had been so freaking lonely that he’d forgotten what it felt like to be held, to be cherished by someone.

“And you’ll live as long as I do,” Lewis added. “You’ll never get sick or contract human diseases.”

Arlan turned in Lewis’s arms. “How have you not marketed this yet? Do you know what people would pay for their health and longevity?”

Lewis’s eyes darkened. “Plan on marketing it?”

“What? No!” Arlan hadn’t meant to give that impression. He would never do anything like that. Since he’d been clueless about the nonhuman world, Arlan was smart enough to know they kept their existence a secret. “You’re blowing my damn mind, and I’m allowed to say the first thing that pops into my head. So get that vengeful look out of your gorgeous green eyes.”

Lewis smirked. “You think my eyes are sexy?”

“Honey, everything about you is sexy,” Arlan admitted. There was nothing wrong with stroking Lewis’s ego since Arlan had made him