Highland Fling by Shelli Stevens Page A

otherwise.” He’d rather stick a hot poker through his foot than go through that kind of pain again. “Spouses and wee ones may be in the cards for the rest of you, but it became evident that it was not my future.”
    “What about Delonna?”
    Aleck stilled and arched a brow at his brother. “What about her?”
    “You two have a thing going yet?”
    Yet? Apparently it was common theory that even if they didn’t they soon would.
    “Delonna is an employee at the pub, and a friend at best. There’s nothing more there.”
    “No?” Amusement flickered across Colin’s face. “All right then. I’ll let it drop for now.”
    He’d damn well better. Aleck had a difficult time as it was trying not to think about what had happened between him and Delonna in the office. Now his younger brother was going to poke fun at him?
    There was no point dwelling on it. Delonna had shut that door to their attraction as quickly as he’d opened it. But she was right. Best forget it had ever happened.
    “Hey, so you talk to Da lately?” Colin asked randomly.
    “Aye, late last night. Called and spoke to him and Ma.”
    “I called in the morning Sunday. He didn’t sound quite right, did you notice?”
    “Aye.” Aleck frowned, unsettled that his brother had noticed the same thing. “I’d assumed he was tired because I woke him, but he seemed distracted. Come to think of it, Ma did most of the talking.”
    “That’s what I noticed.”
    “Not completely uncommon.”
    “No, a bit normal,” Colin agreed with a small laugh. “But still.”
    “Still. I’ll call them later and make sure everything’s all right.”
    “Good.” Colin pulled his phone that had vibrated and glanced down. “And this would be Hailey, ready to be picked up from Girls’ Night it seems. I should head out.”
    When his brother went to hand him money, Aleck waved it away. “You ought to know better by now. Give Hailey a kiss for me.”
    “Aye, on the cheek. Her lips are mine.” Colin winked and turned away, calling out, “Thanks for the beer, brother.”
    After Colin had left the pub, Aleck turned his attention back to work. CJ was holding down the bar, and Theresa and Betty were working the floor.
    It was slow enough he could potentially offer Betty the opportunity to go home early.
    Unfortunately, he really shouldn’t send himself home, though the idea was tempting. Not that he had anywhere exciting to be. He’d killed any chance at getting laid with Melissa. Not that he really regretted it. It would’ve just been a couple nights of fun and then likely nothing else.
    It was getting tiring. Boring. Colin’s words floated back to him, that maybe he’d want more.
    No. He’d had more, and in the end it had given him nothing but regret and pain. Maybe it was a shallow existence, but the deep end of the romance pool was forever off limits to him.
    Aleck set his jaw and went out to the floor to find Betty and offer her the choice to go home.
    “You’re sure you’re okay with this?”
    Delonna gave Kenzie a look of disbelief. Sarah and Hailey had gone home an hour ago, and Kenzie’s man Brett had shown up to drop something off but had ended up staying.
    “I’m fine. I promise I have no issue with Brett staying the night. You crash at his place enough, I’m sure he appreciates you returning the favor. Seriously, Kenz, don’t sweat it. The walls are thick, I won’t hear anything.”
    Kenzie turned slightly pink, even as she rolled her eyes. “Even if we do that we’ll keep it down.” She glanced down the hall. “Or I could just join him in the shower, right quick.”
    “Now that sounds like an excellent idea.”
    Half joking, she laughed as Kenzie nodded and made her way to the bathroom. She winked at Delonna, before slipping through the door.
    A small pang of jealousy swept through her. Not necessarily at the sex her friend was about to have, but just that Kenzie had found someone she was so absolutely in love with.
    Love. She wanted it