Free Playing with Dynamite by Leanne Banks

seem pushy to me. Maybe she’s simply a woman who knows what she wants. What’s wrong with that?”
    Russ laid a hand on Carly’s clenched one. “Nothing, but most men don’t like ultimatums.”
    â€œYes, and a lot of men besides you want a committed woman at the same time that they want their freedom.”
    Brick shook his head. “It wasn’t that way. I didn’t go out with anyone else once I started seeing Lisa.”
    Jarod leaned forward. “Then why not marry her?”
    Brick’s stomach turned over, and he pushed his plate away. “I don’t want to get married.”
    â€œEver?” Troy asked. “I don’t want to get hitched for the next ten or fifteen years, but I guess I might settle down by the time I’m forty.”
    â€œIf you can find someone who’ll have you,” Carly muttered.
    Troy glared at his sister. “Well, I’ve got fifteen years to do just that.”
    Impatient with the flippant exchange between Carly and Troy, Brick looked at Jarod. Although Jarod was younger than Brick, he respected him. Jarod was the quiet, deep thinker who was currently involved in an illicit affair with the recently divorced daughter of a Beulah County doctor. The affair was at odds with the steady personality of his brother. “What about you?”
    Jarod gave an ironic grin. “I’m not sure I’ll ever find someone who wants me.”
    Carly rolled her eyes. “Give me a break. What about Clarice Douglass or Amy Burkmeir or—”
    â€œSomeone who wants me—who I want too,” Jarod clarified. “But I don’t think that’s what Brick is talking about, is it?”
    Brick rolled his shoulders restlessly. “I don’t know. Don’t you ever get a sick feeling in your gut at the thought of marriage? What about you, Russ? Did you ever worry that you’d get trapped in something you hated?”
    Russ thought for a moment and shook his head. “I wasn’t afraid of marrying Carly. I think I was more afraid of being in love with her and depending on her.”
    â€œSame thing,” Brick said.
    Russ shook his head again. “No. For me the commitment wasn’t the issue. I wanted her committed to me if I had to hog-tie her to do it.” He grinned wickedly. “At one point I did threaten to tie her up, but—”
    â€œRuss Bradford!” Carly’s face flamed. “Honestly, do you think you could keep our private life out of one discussion?”
    Russ wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Sorry, honey,” he murmured in a voice that said he wasn’t.
    Troy shifted in his seat. “Jeez, could you guys cool it?”
    â€œGamophobia,” Jarod said suddenly.
    Brick stared at his brother again. “Gamowhat?”
    â€œI read about it in a magazine in the dentist’s office. Gamophobia is a fear of marriage or commitment. The symptoms include shortness of breath, nausea and an unexplained panic at the mere mention of marriage.” He lifted his hands. “I’m no shrink, but you might want to look into it.”
    Brick felt his whole world dip and sway. “Gamophobia?” he repeated in disbelief. It couldn’t be, he thought. A phobia? Not him. Absolutely, positively not him. “What else did it say?”
    â€œThat men suffered from this particular phobia more often than women and that it’s treated with some of the same techniques people use to get over claustrophobia, fear of flying and other phobias. It said something about how it correlates with other intimacy issues, but I didn’t get to read the whole article.”
    Brick’s stomach rolled again. “Treated,” he said in distaste.
    â€œYeah,” Jarod said thoughtfully, lifting his beer to his mouth. “By a psychologist.”
    Brick spent the rest of the evening trying to grasp the idea of gamophobia. The whole thing sounded like a bunch