Leo turned to me, then to his brother. “Damn,” he said with a smile. “It’s sure good to see both of you. It’s been too long.”
Shawn sat back on the top of the couch. “How did you get the time away from your PR firm?”
“Kai and I just finished moving into the office yesterday. Our scrappy upstart days are finally over. I figured I’d earned a few days off, and I couldn’t miss an opportunity to see you both at once.” He twisted the cap of his beer, then held it in the air. “We’ve got three nights together, boys. Let’s have some fun.”
Shawn and I each raised our bottles and clinked the necks together, but I could tell he was just as thrown off as I was. There was a strain behind his smile that made him look nervous. It was cute enough to make me chuckle.
“Yo, Cass, come on,” Leo said, nudging my arm. “Stop staring at my brother. I want to see what you’ve been getting up to out back.”
I tried to think through the situation I’d gotten myself in as we walked toward the studio. I did not want to deal with the fallout of Leo finding out that Shawn and I were hooking up. The smart thing would be to just stop doing it while he was around, but I hated that idea. Things with Shawn were easy and fun, not to mention incredibly hot. How was I supposed to flip off that switch and stop riding that high, just because Leo rolled into town?
Typical Leo, to just show up and surprise us like that. He was always the one with the bright ideas that got us into trouble. Hell, the way he jumped on his instincts and always charged full steam ahead, that was who Leo was. I loved that about him, and I loved kicking it with his energy.
I just wished I’d had time to jerk off with Shawn first, if the guy was going to blue ball me all weekend.
When Leo saw the studio, he got all excited and ran around, looking at the work I’d done and asking questions about it. I saw my opportunity and flipped on the stereo, then whispered to Shawn the first chance I got.
“Do we tell him?”
“Oh god no,” Shawn whispered back. “Absolutely not.”
I let out a relieved puff of air. “Great.” I squeezed his side quickly, letting my hand linger along his hip, then tore myself away.
“I guess you two have been getting along,” Leo said, turning back to us. The overhead light I’d installed on the porch shone down onto him, and insects chirped in the trees.
“Excuse me?” Shawn asked after a slight pause.
“You both texted that you were having fun together,” he said. “You probably haven’t seen each other since high school, right? I’m just glad it worked out. I would have hated it if Shawn were here alone all summer.”
Shawn laughed. “So now you planned it this way, huh? That’s not what your last-minute phone call sounded like.”
I stared back and forth between them. “Wait, what? Leo didn’t check with you before he offered me the remodeling job? I thought he just forgot to tell me that you were here.” I caught Shawn’s eye. “I’m sorry, Shawn. I didn’t even know I was intruding.”
Shawn stuck his hand on his hip and pursed his lips at me, which made me blurt out a laugh.
“See, Shawn doesn’t mind. He told me it was fine. Sure, it was a week after you showed up, but it still counts.”
I rubbed the back of my head and risked one more smile to Shawn. “Well, I’m glad Shawn isn’t alone out here all summer, too.”
“Me, too,” Shawn agreed, then took a seat on the bench.
“Yeah, I can tell you’re comfortable,” Leo said. He stepped over, then lifted my boxers by pinching the waistband and dangling them in front of him. “You know, just because you’re straight, that doesn’t give you a good excuse to leave your dirty underwear all over the place.”
I laughed and tried to snatch them, but Leo pulled them away. “Isn’t that right, Shawn?”
Shawn rolled his eyes at his older brother. “You’re one to talk. I’m pretty sure you stored your dirty boxers on the bathroom floor until like, two years ago.”
“Oh, brother burn,” I laughed.
Leo yanked his arm back and before I could stop him, he launched the boxers at Shawn. They flew straight into his lap, and even in the shadows, I could tell that he was blushing as he fumbled to toss them aside.
“Seriously, Leo?” Shawn laughed.
Leo took a seat on the bench across from his brother. “Okay, okay. No more throwing Cass’s underwear at you.”
“Thank you,” I muttered.
“And don’t think you’re getting off this weekend without telling me about your project,” Leo added to Shawn. “I want the telescope out and everything.” He turned to me as I took a swig of my beer. “Shawn used to point out all the constellations to me when were kids up here.”
