The weekends were the one time Levi could count on Adam to loosen the Armani tie. His brother was always cool and collected and dressed to the hilt. Except on the weekends. And Adam tended to be a hell of a lot calmer around Hayden. Adam’s fiancée had a nice effect on his little brother, which Levi thought he’d never see, because Adam was a stubborn bastard.
Adam glanced at the mug in Levi’s hand. “Got another one of those?”
“Sure, come on in.” Levi crossed the room to the kitchen of his one-bedroom cabin, and Adam took a seat on the dark brown couch each of his brothers had passed out on at one point or another over the years.
Levi had moved out of his dad’s home as soon as he could. He’d wanted to provide a safe haven for his brothers—a place they could get away to when living beneath their father’s roof became too much. Before they’d moved out of their father’s place, one of them was always sleeping on his couch.
Grace went over and sat at Adam’s feet, abandoning her favorite place in the sun in exchange for petting.
Adam’s hand went to her soft brown mutt ears, rubbing in just the right spot. Grace’s eyes lulled shut. “That’s my girl. Give your uncle some love.”
While Grace basked in Adam’s attention, Levi poured Adam a cup of coffee and glanced around his house. He’d rented this place first, then bought it from the owner once he’d joined the fire station and could afford to. Sure, his father had provided trust funds for each of them, but Adam had been the only one to touch that money. Levi and the rest of his brothers hadn’t gone near the Cade wealth and all it represented. To Levi, it meant losing his family—his mother first and then his father.
So why hold on to Club Tahoe when it was the reason for his father’s absence?
Levi couldn’t answer that. All he knew was that when the lawyers had read him the will, stating that Levi was to run Club Tahoe, he couldn’t back away. He saw his brothers’ futures before his eyes. The families they’d someday have…their kids, who would need money for college. They still had the trust funds that hadn’t been touched, but how long would they last? And what would happen to Club Tahoe’s employees if the business failed?
If Levi could provide security for his brothers and their future families, he’d do it. And all it took was running Club Tahoe to ensure the place and its profits lived on.
No small task.
He’d been working at Club Tahoe for a few months now, earning more than he’d ever made in his life, but nothing had changed inside his cabin. The big brown couch was the first thing Levi had purchased. Adam’s buddy Jaeg made the dining and coffee tables at cost when Jaeg was just getting started with his wood design business, and they were still the finest things Levi owned. The best part about his cabin, though, wasn’t the interior. Anyone with eyes could see that Levi had no sense for décor. No, the best part about his cabin was the location.
Levi owned the house and the land it sat on a mile north of Club Tahoe. The land was surrounded by native trees and shrubs and had a private road, with distant views of the lake. The views, the trees—those were the things that made this place home and one of his favorite getaways to help decompress. When he wasn’t working late and dunking in the lake, he’d walk his property and gaze up at the stars from a fire pit he’d built a little ways up the road.
“So,” Adam said, crossing his ankle over his knee, “what’s up with you and Lisa’s pretty little sister?”
Levi carefully set the decanter back on the coffeemaker and carried the mug to his brother, taking his time before replying. He sat in the leather recliner across from the couch, and Grace came over and tucked her head between her paws, dropping her bottom down. “Emily is my employee. Dad wanted it that way. Other than that, nothing’s up.”
Adam chuckled. “I don’t think so. Fess up, man. There’s something going on there.”
Levi leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He had a couple more inches on Adam and about twenty extra pounds, thanks to the regimented gym visits he hadn’t given up since leaving the fire station. “You don’t believe me?”
“Don’t try and intimidate me with your hulkish muscles. We both know I’m right, and the sooner you admit it, the sooner we can discuss how jacked it is that you have a thing for your ex’s little sister.”
Levi set his mug on the coffee table and was about to show his brother—physically—to the door when Adam raised his hand and sighed.
“Ease up, big guy. Since when have we not been honest with each other?”
“Since never. Which is why I can tell you that there’s nothing going on between me and Emily.”
“But you want there to be?”
The muscle in Levi’s jaw twitched. “No. Are we finished here?”
Adam tapped the couch armrest. “She’s pretty. Not exactly your type. You like them—” He mimicked large breasts with his hands.
“You’re on my last nerve, Adam. I don’t have much patience left after working at the club all week.”
“All right, fine. And for your information, I was sent over by Hayden. She’s the one who insisted there was something going on there. I tended to agree once I thought about it. Therewassomething about the way you put your arm around Emily.”
Levi stretched his neck, popping it. Grace glanced up at the sound. “Emily was wobbling. Had too much to drink.”
“She seemed lucid enough to me.”
Levi shot him a warning look.
“In any case, now that I’ve warmed up to the idea, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Kind of weird dating your ex’s little sister, but you haven’t dated anyone since”—he snapped his fingers—“what was her name? The one you met at a club a few months after Lisa. Didn’t she leave for a trip and end up getting married?”
