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"G!" Jarod chided, sharply, though quietly, fidgeting uncomfortably in his chair.

Ethan and Gemini watched their brother in silence, each pondering his reaction.

Gemini suffered a twinge of conscience. He thought back to his memories from earlier in the evening. Meeting Miss Parker had taught him to ache with loneliness. A loneliness Jarod felt as well? Maybe Jarod didn't deserve this manipulation? Maybe the two of them were not meant to be together? Maybe Jarod was relating to Miss Parker in the only way he could?

Then Gemini noticed that Ethan had closed his eyes and tilted his head as he had a habit to do when he was listening to his inner sense. After a moment he nodded and opened his eyes to look at his brothers.

"What did you hear? Is everything okay?" Jarod had also noticed the stillness that seemed to surround Ethan. He knew that Ethan's inner sense could be cryptic at times.

"Not yet, but it will be," Ethan replied cheerfully with an intense look at Gemini.

Gemini took heart from Ethan's encouragement and cast his doubts aside. "So, we were talking about women," he reopened the conversation. "Speaking of women . . . what happened to Zoe?"

Jarod stiffened.

"Oh come on, Jarod. It's just us guys," Gemini chided him, watching the vein in Jarod's forehead throb. "Why did you break up with Zoe anyway?"

Jarod fixed his best glare on Gemini who met it with a grin of amusement, not intimidated at all.

Ethan broke the impasse with a soft sigh. "I have to admit that I'm curious about that as well. What happened on the Island, Jarod?" he asked the softer question.

Jarod broke his staring contest with his youngest brother and glanced at Ethan before looking down at his ice cream. "I missed mom by minutes. You know that."

"And that caused you to break up with Zoe?"

"No." He sighed. "We didn't really break up. Not really. It's just that . . . we agreed that we wanted different things and we parted company, that's all. No big emotional scenes," Jarod stressed, deliberately not mentioning that moment with Zoe and the tears. Tears that he caused and tears that he could not stop or deny. Just as he could no longer deny the emotions that tormented him in regard to Miss Parker. It wasn't fair to Zoe to be with her while he was thinking of Miss Parker. That was one exorcism he needed to perform first. Then he could get on with his life.

There was a moment of silence around the table as the three of them thought about Jarod's words. All of them knowing/sensing there had been more to it than what litte he had said.

"So," Gemini stretched out the word, breaking the silence. "Back to Miss Parker," he redirected the conversation back to his favorite topic, ignoring Jarod's tiny whimper of protest.

"Oh come on, Jarod," Gemini chided again, with an apologetic glance at Ethan. "Don't tell me you've never thought of her that way. After all," he paused and considered for a moment, knowing his phrasing had to be just right. "She's a dream woman, isn't she? A tall, slender, leggy woman with a penchant for leather with sharp claws and a sharper tongue. The perfect dominant."

Jarod glared at Gemini, internally shocked by Gemini's precise quoting of his description of Miss Parker during his 'interrogation' of Mr. Broots while chasing Alex.

Ethan chuckled. "That's an interesting description, quite apt I would think."

"I think she might be interested in having her own Pretender to train," Gemini picked up the goading. Turning slightly in his chair, he looked at Jarod. "Just between us men," he nodded at Ethan and looked back to Jarod. "That's what you do, isn't it? You study each woman you want and then you give her what she wants? You become her dream lover? Is that something I could do for Miss Parker? Become the man of her dreams? After all, I'm young, strong, full of stamina, certainly eager and . . ." he paused before he slipped in the knife, "I look just like her childhood sweetheart. I figure I'm a GO."