“Believe whatever you want. Even after you pulled that shit by inviting her upstairs to check out your area, I had her and it was fucking fantastic!” I bragged. “And now, it’s just a matter of time, Kane. I got the girl, and I’m getting your car and your place in this club. I’d say that’s a complete win.”
My half-brother stood stunned, his shoulders hunching slightly under the weight of my gloating. But he wasn’t giving up yet. “You know, Stefan, it’s way easier to get a woman to sleep with you than it is to get her to fall in love with you. Revel in whatever last night was all you want. You’re still miles away from winning.”
“What last night was, Kane, was just some of the best sex I’ve ever had with a woman. Face it. It’s just a matter of time. The woman is primed. I win.”
“Not so fast, Stefan. The hard part is only beginning, and you only have a couple months.”
I couldn’t believe this guy. What the hell? I’d bedded Shay and all he wanted to talk about were hurdles, as if I hadn’t overcome the most important one. “Maybe you didn’t hear me correctly. I slept with her last night. As in we had great sex and she’s going to want more and I’m going to want to give it to her.”
“Sex and love aren’t the same thing, baby brother. Our father was the poster child for that truth. No, getting a woman to sleep with you is easy. You’re going to have to work to get Shay to fall for you, and I still am willing to bet you don’t have what it takes.”
Suddenly, my day wasn’t looking as rosy as before he’d showed up. He was definitely harshing my post sexually triumphant buzz. I didn’t need to be reminded of the fact that a woman like Shay would be hard to break. I’d recognized that fact within thirty seconds of meeting her. But fuck, he at least could give me some credit for getting her into bed.
My head began to throb, which I suspected was all part of Kane’s intention in coming into my office in the first place. Taking a deep breath, I worked to keep myself calm. I didn’t need to let myself get goaded into some asinine argument with him today.
“Whatever, Kane. Just remember today as the day I told you this is all but won. She’ll fall into line like all other women do and that’s that. So go back upstairs to your miserable, lonely existence and know that soon I’m going to be in that shithole you call an office surrounded by gorgeous dancers and you’ll be down here dealing with bartenders, liquor orders, and all that comes with running the bar.”
My insults didn’t faze him in the least. Grinning like some cat who’d just eaten a canary, he leveled his gaze on me and said, “It’s not over till the fat lady sings.”
Turning on his heels, he headed out of my office, leaving me with the hard truth I hadn’t wanted to admit to him. Shay likely wasn’t going to fall into line like every other woman I’d ever been with. Those women would have lined up to fall in love with me. Some even had. Shay Callahan wasn’t those women, though.
Kane wasn’t entirely wrong. She was going to take some work. But I hadn’t met a woman I couldn’t get before in my life, and I didn’t plan to make her the first one. I might need to bring in reinforcements, though. This had “needs a woman’s touch” written all over it.
Olivia. Who better than my soon-to-be sister-in-law to help me get the girl and win my bet with Kane?
I beat a path over to her office and found her sitting behind her desk with her nose to the grindstone. Typical Olivia. Thankfully, Cash’s fiancée had liked me from the moment she met me, unlike Shay, so I figured she’d have some good ideas how to seduce her since my tried-and-true method likely wouldn’t work this time.
“Hey, Olivia! What’s up?” I asked as I sat down in a seat in front of her desk.
She looked up and gave me one of her terrific warm Olivia smiles that lit up her dark brown eyes. “Not much. What’s going on, Stefan?”
“I’m not bothering you, am I? If I am, I can come back later.”
My polite offer was met with a suspicious look. “No, we’re good. What’s up?”
“I want your advice on something.”
I figured it was best to try to ease into this conversation. Olivia and I were more than friendly, but it wasn’t every day your future brother-in-law with a man whore reputation came into your office to ask how to get a girl.
She closed her laptop and sat back in her chair. “My advice? Okay. What’s up?”
Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly and began. “Well…how should I put this?” Suddenly, easing into things seemed all wrong. Best to just jump into the deep end. “I need your advice on how to get a woman to fall for me.”
Olivia’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. Looking around like she was being punked, she shook her head. “What?”
“You heard right. I want to get a girl, but I’m pretty sure none of my tricks are going to work on this one. So I thought I’d ask you since she’s sort of like you and you know what you’d like a guy to do. Well, if you weren’t with Cash. You know.”
Nice. Two minutes in and I’d already devolved into some rambling teenage boy. All I needed was a big zit on the end of my nose to make this whole thing complete.
“You want me to tell you how to seduce a woman? Stefan, is this some kind of joke? I doubt anything I could tell you would be more effective than what you already do. Cash tells me everything, and I know how successful you are with women.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. I am. But this one’s not like those women. That’s why I want your help.”
Still confused, she seemed to consider what I’d just said and then she got a faraway look in her eyes. “Hmmm…so are you asking me what I’d like a man to do to seduce me?”
I nodded. “Yeah. What would a guy have to do to get you to want to be with him?”
“Well, when Cash and I began to get together, he—”
“No, no,” I said quickly, cutting her off before she gave me any details of how my brother had gotten her to fall for him. “I don’t think I’d ever be able to look at you the same way again if I knew what moves Cash put on you. Let’s just stay away from that, okay?”
Olivia giggled at my discomfort. “Okay. So you want to know what someone like me would like in general from a man to make me fall for him. Well, he’d have to be a good man first and foremost.”