Wishful Sinful (Rock Royalty Book 5) by Christie Ridgway Read Free Book Online

excursion, leaving the guys to clean up. They made short work of it, and Walsh found the activity and the absence of Honey resulted in a lessening of his tension. When Cleo’s boys wanted to swim in the pool, they all headed in that direction. He stretched out next to his brother on a lounge chair where they could both keep an eye on the kids.
    Payne, Ren, Brody, and Bing unearthed a Cornhole game set and propped the board on the grass nearby. Sighing, Walsh let the sunshine sink into his bones as he tuned out the thunk of the bean bags and the trash talk among the competitors.
    Maybe he could truly relax now.
    “I got a call from Beck,” his brother said.
    Walsh glanced over. “Yeah? You didn’t try to three-way me?”
    “He kept breaking up. It was a sat phone and I didn’t want to chance losing him altogether.”
    Straightening, Walsh shot his brother a sharp look. “That sounds ominous. Is there something you’re not telling me?” The oldest of the Hopkins brothers, Beck had been exploring the Nile River for an adventure magazine article he was writing when they’d lost contact with him for several months. They’d told themselves it was nothing to fret over—due to their separate lives, long stretches went by when they were out of touch—but after a time even their father had worried.
    As they’d expected, however, Beck had finally surfaced.
    Reed stacked his hands behind his head and settled into his chair. “He sounded fine, and is planning on returning soon.”
    “But…?”
    “I don’t know. It was just…odd.”
    “Odd in what way?” Beck was the oldest of the three brothers, each named by their father after his favorite guitarists: Lou Reed, Joe Walsh, and Jeff Beck. Their Beck had been the leader of the three siblings, and sometimes the only one who remembered they needed to eat. Walsh would be glad to have him back in town.
    “He had lots of questions about Gwen.”
    Puzzling. “He knew she’s passed.”
    “We’d told him when he first made contact a couple of weeks ago. And he knew about her cancer diagnosis before he left on his trip. But it was as if…I don’t know. As if he’d forgotten the details.”
    Beck’s concern was transferring itself to Walsh. Damn, where was that peace he wanted? “That doesn’t sound right. Beck has a mind like a steel trap.”
    “Yeah.” Then Reed shrugged. “I guess we’ll figure it out soon enough. He said he’d spoken to Ren and swore to him he’d be back for his and Cilla’s wedding.”
    “Well, there you go.” Walsh made a dismissive gesture. “The explanation of the odd. Our brother’s got to be unsettled by the idea that the most entrenched bachelor of our group is engaged.”
    Reed laughed. “The ‘most’ entrenched? Like any of us had any example of monogamy to go by. Not one of us believed we were suited for marriage—or were interested in it.”
    “Speak for yourself,” Walsh said.
    His brother laughed again. “Oh, yeah, you’re such a candidate for husbandhood.”
    “I’m not against it.”
    Reed stared.
    “I’m serious. It would be good for business to show I have a stable relationship—and a family―someday.”
    His brother snorted.
    “I like kids,” Walsh said, annoyed with the defensive note in his voice. “I would raise them better than what we had here.”
    His brother glanced over at the little boys splashing in the shallow end of the pool. “Okay, kids. I get that. And you wouldn’t have to go far to do better than our upbringing. But you’re making it a business decision?”
    “Describe the alternative. You think I should make a commitment because my dick’s pointing the way like some divining rod?”
    “So…what? You’re going to advertise on a dating site? ‘Corporate wife-types need only apply’?”
    “I don’t have any trouble meeting women. When the time comes, I’ll make a catalog of the qualities that will work best for me and find the female who ticks off the most on the