Leo’s face closed off, and his eyes seemed to focus on something far away. “What if I don’t? What if I’m living exactly the life I want to live?”
Wolf didn’t believe him for a second, but now wasn’t the time to fight. He was just starting to understand what Leo’s real problem was, and he wasn’t going to push him now. “Then you won’t mind helping me with Shelley. I’m offering you the best of both worlds. I’ll take responsibility for her. You can just have fun.”
“Why?” Leo seemed to have a need to harp on that one question.
Wolf wasn’t sure how many times he would have to answer it. “Because I think she needs this. She talked about a man she cared about. She never mentioned his name, but I think it was you. I know it wasn’t her husband. One of two things is going to happen. You’ll either come around or she’ll screw you out of her system and we can move on.”
That was as plainly as he could put it.
Leo shook his head. “It won’t work.”
It had to work. Wolf was betting everything on the fact that this was going to work. “Then you will have lost nothing. Now, tell me what I should wear to this thing.”
Leo sighed. “It’s casual. Well, Julian will show up in a suit, but I swear he would wear one to hike through a swamp. The rest of the Doms usually wear jeans and T-shirts. It’s freaking Saturday after all.”
Good. Wolf could do jeans.
Leo started out the door and then turned back. “But, brother, we’re going to have to find you some clothes if all you brought is that one bag. You can have Shelley take you to the mall or I will.”
Wolf kind of wanted to barf at the whole idea of shopping. There had been plenty of shitty things about the Navy, but one of the good things had been the fact that he didn’t have to shop. His clothes had been provided for him. Uniforms. He liked uniforms.
Leo had a little shit-eating grin on his face. “A good black T-shirt with jeans or slacks. Consider that your uniform.”
Yeah, his brother knew him. “I’ll just let Shelley buy some stuff. She seems to like clothes.”
He would just wear whatever she picked out for him.
Leo’s smile became a sad thing. “She does.” He sighed and looked at his watch. “You now have ten minutes. Please take a shower. I think Jack Barnes is in town. He’s not terribly fond of me. I would prefer his first impression of my only brother be a good one, not that you have hygiene problems.”
“What did you do? Hit on his wife?”
A devilish light hit Leo’s eyes. “As often as possible. His sub is a lovely woman. Trust me, if you didn’t have Shelley, you would hit on her, too. Make a good impression, brother. It might keep the man from killing me.”
Leo turned and walked out of the room.
It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do. Time. That was what Leo needed. He needed time and patience. Their father had done a number on everyone in their little family. His mother had finally moved on. Of course, she’d moved on with one of the craziest people Wolf had ever met, but she was in love and happy. Wolf knew what he wanted.
Leo was floundering.
For all his brilliance and perfection, Leo was struggling in a way Wolf wasn’t.
Leo had spent half his life taking care of him. It was Wolf’s turn to look out for his big brother. Whether Leo wanted it or not.
Wolf grabbed his bag on the way out of the bedroom. Shelley might not know it, but her training didn’t end because they left the dungeon.
Logan looked up from the kitchen table. “Dude, your girl’s hot.”
“I can still kill you, Logan,” Leo shouted from the back of the condo.
Wolf gave Logan a thumbs-up. Logan really seemed happier since they had left Bliss, but Wolf wasn’t buying the act entirely. He’d let Logan be for the time being. It was another problem for another day. Shelley was his concern now. It was time to see how his hot girl liked having a plug worked up her ass.
Wolf had a grin on his face as he walked toward the guest bathroom. He would sneak into Shelley’s shower and show his sub a good time.
Because the good times never had to end when a man loved his family.
Leo took a deep breath before opening the door. The events of the night before weighed on him.
He’d watched Shelley come in his brother’s arms. He’d nearly lost her to a goddamn assassin’s bullet. He’d finally gotten inside her, and now he felt closer to her and his brother than he could have imagined.
The night before had been the best fucking night of his life. Why was he pulling away now?
“Leo,” Julian said with a broad smile. He pushed back his chair and stood. A long, dark wooden table dominated the elegant dining room. It was covered in a crisp, white tablecloth and some lovely china. Leo would have preferred paper plates because he was always worried he would break that damn dainty stuff, but he’d learned to deal with it. He’d become somewhat comfortable in Julian’s super-wealthy world.
Wolf, on the other hand, looked terrified at the ritzy spread in front of him.
Yeah, Leo was a little happy about that. His brother seemed to take almost everything with an annoying aplomb.
“Julian,” Leo acknowledged. “Nice spread.”
“Always,” Julian nodded, gesturing around the room. There were several men standing around the room talking as they drank coffee or orange juice. Well-dressed servers filtered through the room, offering drinks. “You know everyone. Jack, you remember Leo.”
Jack Barnes turned, his big body encased in a snowy white dress shirt and slacks that Leo was damn sure his lovely wife had picked out. Jack used to wear jeans and Western shirts to everything.
Jack reminded him a little of his brother. He had chosen well when it came to wives, and he was crap at dressing himself. Leo kind of admired both men.
“Oh, I can hardly forget Leo,” Jack said in his long, slow drawl. “And who’s the new guy?”
Julian looked thrilled to be able to answer. “That’s Wolfgang Meyer.”
Jack’s eyes went wide. “Wolfgang? Seriously?”
Wolf sighed beside him. “Our mom liked artists. She liked painters and composers. I was named after Mozart. Leonardo there was named after da Vinci. If she’d gotten knocked up again, we would have had a Giuseppe because she loved Verdi. I am so grateful she didn’t. We would have been defending that kid every day on the playground. Ma didn’t get that names are important when it comes to avoiding an ass kicking. Though I would probably be less tough if she’d named me Nick or Jake.”
Jack Barnes laughed out loud. “I like it. So this is Leo’s brother? The one who’s now screwing Leo’s girl? I like him. I don’t know him, but I seriously like him.”
Yeah, Jack Barnes wasn’t his biggest fan. “She isn’t my girl.”
Jack’s face went a little cold. “No, of course she isn’t. She’s your brother’s.” He turned to Wolf, a broad smile on his face. “It’s nice to meet you, son. You’ve been working with Jamie Glen out on the G. Nice ranch. I like having another cowboy around here. I heard you took care of some problems last night. I heard you did a real fine job with them.”
Leo watched as Wolf stepped up and started talking to the rancher. In mere seconds, Wolf had Jack Barnes laughing out loud and talking about everything having to do with cows.
Leo took a step back. Jack had never responded to him like that.
“It looks like your brother is fitting in,” Julian said, slapping him on the back. “And your charge is doing well, too.”