Bargain in Bronze Read Online Free PDF

about his Total Handsomeness already.
    …
    So he’d dropped her off and could now forget all about her, right? No problem. Except if she did end up with Tom, Jack reckoned he’d take that year-long overseas trip he’d delayed for so long. Walking back into apartment, the lingering smell hit him. Yeah, there’d be no forgetting yet. The burnt hazelnut bitterness had long gone and what remained was the subtle scent of maple. That syrup inspired many tantalizing thoughts. But the sight of his brother scattered every one of them.
    Tom was in the kitchen, clearly having just showered, using a soup ladle to spoon cereal from the cooling tray into a salad bowl. Good grief.
    “How was it?” Jack turned on the coffee machine, deliberately delaying mention of Libby.
    “Good,” Tom muttered out of the corner of his mouth as he munched. “Game on.”
    Jack smothered a grin. Tom was a champion—double sculls rowing, lightweight division. In these final few weeks of training he was ramping up not just the physical fitness, but the mental strength. He had to preserve the unshakable belief that he could do it. No distractions allowed.
    Jack flexed his shoulders to ease the tension that had been coiling there the last couple of hours. The pressure on his kid brother was immense. The country had gold hopes for the rowers, for Tom and his partner in particular. And here he was in pajamas eating muesli. If the nation could see him now…
    “Where’s Libby?” Tom asked through a mouthful of milky oats.
    “Gone.”
    “You scared her away?” Tom swallowed with difficulty given the frown he had on. “What about my muesli?”
    “You’re eating it, aren’t you?” Jack leaned back against the counter, trying to exude a relaxed air. “She didn’t need to hang around.”
    Tom chewed, not looking impressed. “But there’s something missing.”
    Oh he had to be kidding. But Tom’s face was registering confused thought.
    “Hazelnuts.” Jack told him, not believing that they’d make that much difference.
    “Yeah,” Tom chewed some more. “It needs the hazelnuts. Damn .”
    Jack watched Tom attack the contents of the giant bowl as if the faster he ate it the better it’d get.
    “What happened to the hazelnuts? There really aren’t any?” He searched with his spoon like a leprechaun hoping to find the gold at the end of the rainbow. “We need to get her back.”
    Because of some missing nuts? It wasn’t just nuts that were missing. Tom seemed to have lost a few brain cells in training camp too.
    Jack watched Tom’s increasingly manic shoveling with growing concern. “This is really about muesli?”
    “Of course it’s about muesli,” Tom snapped. “What else would it be about?” A frown grew as he looked at Jack’s raised brows. “You thought I was after her?” He jabbed his spoon towards Jack’s chest. “Like I’ve got time for that?”
    Jack rubbed his jaw with the back of his hand, hiding his involuntary smile and straightening away from the bench as a burst of adrenalin surged through his muscles.
    Tom took in the last spoonful of the hazelnut-devoid cereal and chewed. Slowly a sly look replaced his indignant frown. “Actually, she is a bit of a babe,” he muttered. “I didn’t notice so much at the time because I was just so damn happy to get more muesli.” He swallowed and his grin went impish. “But you thought she was a babe.”
    “Explain the muesli.” Jack growled impatiently, ignoring Tom’s perception. It really was just the food his brother was interested in? No way.
    Now Tom’s expression turned sheepish and he ladled another heap of cereal into his salad bowl and added a splash of skim milk. “You’re going to think I’m an idiot.”
    “Nothing new there,” Jack said blandly. “Tell me.”
    Tom sighed. “I’ve been eating it the last year or so. Every morning for breakfast. And snacks. Go through bags of the stuff.” Tom hesitated.
    Oh hell, Jack rubbed the back of his neck. He