Julian knew if Micah weren’t so nervous, he’d be hard pressed not to laugh. Micah Sinclair, one of the greatest businessmen Julian knew, was reduced to a puddle of fear over one petite woman who adored him just as much as he adored her.
“Nope,” he said simply. “You two were made for each other.”
He chugged some of his beer from the bottle, just soaking in the fact that he and Micah were actually in the same place at the same time. They’d seen so little of each other during the years he’d been trying to build his career. Living on opposite coasts had made their visits few and far between. Even when they did meet up, it was usually brief.
For the most part, he had spent more time with Xander because they both lived in California, but since his parents had died . . . not so much. His younger brother had rarely visited, and Julian should have suspected something more was going on than just grief over their parents’ deaths.
I wanted to give Xander his space after what happened, but I ended up giving him way too much. If I’d only known what was really going on . . .
He watched Micah down half of his beer in moments before his brother finally answered, “She could do better.”
Julian did smile then, wondering how in the hell a woman could do better than his brother. “Dude, for some reason, she wants you. Don’t rock the boat.”
Micah’s expression formed into a grin. “She’s crazy.”
“So you’re perfect for each other,” Julian teased. Since Micah was an extreme-sports mogul, and he participated heavily in some of those activities, he needed a woman who could accept him exactly as he was. Tessa did.
“Smartass,” Micah said happily.
“How are your headaches?” Julian scrutinized his brother’s appearance, but he didn’t see dark circles under his eyes anymore, and he looked nervous but healthy. Hopefully, he hadn’t had another migraine.
“Been good. Haven’t had another one since Tessa agreed to marry me.”
Julian still felt guilty that Micah had taken on most of the responsibility for the family. Xander had overdosed several times, but Micah hadn’t wanted to rain on Julian’s parade. His older brother had wanted him to enjoy the success he’d sacrificed so much to achieve. Nevertheless, to Julian, the whole situation with Micah constantly needing to take care of Xander was bullshit. Julian was in the same state as his younger brother, for Christ’s sake. Yeah, he traveled a lot, but he still should have been there for Micah to help share the responsibility. With their parents gone, Micah and Xander were all Julian had left of his immediate family. They were brothers.
Julian took a deep breath before he spoke again. “I have to do some time on location and then the movie will wrap. I want to be there to help you with Xander after that.”
“You can’t,” Micah insisted. “You’re at the peak of your career, Julian. I can handle it. If he finishes rehab, he can come back to Amesport. He has a home there now.”
“I can come back to Amesport, too. I heard I have a home there now, too.” He shot his brother an amused look.
“The builders are getting there. Since we’ve had a mild fall and early winter, they’re almost done. I always knew you couldn’t live there, Julian. Not with your career in Hollywood. I guess I just wanted you and Xander to know that you always had a home where I was going to live.”
Just the fact that Micah had purchased land outside of Amesport to build a house for himself and each of his brothers caused Julian to swallow hard to get rid of the lump in his throat. His brother wanted what their cousins had now: all of the family in one place again. The influx of Sinclairs to Amesport had started with Julian’s cousin, Grady. Then Grady’s brother, Jared, had built homes for himself and his brothers. Then came Micah. The Sinclair branches were on opposite sides of Amesport, but it was a small town. After years of seeing no family, Julian was drawn to the place where they’d all settled down, in the same coastal town in Maine.
“We’ll talk about it later. Let’s concentrate on getting you married off.” Julian would deal with Xander when the time came. Right now, he wanted Micah to focus on his wedding.
Micah looked around curiously. “Where’s Kristin?”
“Taking a bath,” Julian replied abruptly, trying not to think about all of that soft skin relaxing into a pile of bubbles.
“You okay with her staying in the same suite?”
No. Fuck no. She’ll never be safe with me!
“Yep. We’re good. It’s a big place and it has two bedrooms.” He was lying to his brother, but he wasn’t about to share his problems with Micah right now.
Micah rose and chugged down the rest of his bottle of beer and set it lightly on the table. “I’d better get back. I left Tessa in the bathtub, too. What’s with women and big bathtubs?”
Even though Micah was grumbling, Julian was pretty certain that his brother had probably built Tessa a bathtub the size of an Olympic swimming pool in their new home, and he told him so.