Wright with Benefits (Wright Series #8) - K.A. Linde Page 0,15
first time that I’d been on the property for an assessment. First time since Annie and I had been here three years ago.
Julian and Hollin were standing in front of the barn with their arms crossed, looking up at it with broad smiles. I wasn’t sure that we saw the same thing when we looked at it.
“You made it,” Julian said.
He stepped away from Hollin and shook my hand. My brother was the main reason that I was here. Annie had hit it on the head when she said that I couldn’t say no to Julian. I’d been his protector my entire life.
In the beginning, it had been in elementary school when other kids picked on him for siding with the less popular kids. He always had this charismatic way about him and love for those others saw as weaker. He could have handled it himself, but I scared the kids who’d picked on him, and it stopped. In high school, he was a star athlete, running circles around everyone else on the soccer pitch. Even away at college, I kept recruiters from taking advantage of his generous nature. All of that was easy. But it was our father who was the hardest thing to protect him from. Our parents had briefly split when we were younger, and our dad had started a parade of girlfriends. I took the brunt of it and kept Julian from as much of it as I could. And I tried to shield him from our father for the years of manipulative, narcissistic behavior that followed our parents getting back together. It had been a relief when we finally saw the worst of him and could cut ties after the divorce.
“I made it,” I told him. “I thought this was a business meeting.”
Julian looked down at his own fitted khakis, teal polo, and sharp dove-gray jacket. I was pure business, but Julian had style. And he prided himself on it.
“This is business attire for me.”
Hollin just laughed and stuck his hand out. “I don’t want to even know what you think about what I’m wearing.”
I just shook my head.
Hollin Abbey had been born and bred a Lubbock cowboy, complete with boots and belt buckle. I’d bet real money on his hat being in his truck. He wore Wranglers, a plaid button-up, and a jean jacket layered under a leather jacket. Cowboy who rode Harleys on the weekends. A conundrum of clichés. I’d thought that the first time my mother introduced us to her brother Greg and our three cousins: Hollin, Campbell, and Nora.
It was still strange to have all this family around now. For so long, it had just been me and Julian against the world. Now we had three cousins on our mom’s side and five Wright cousins on our dad’s side. I worked with Jensen, Austin, and Morgan through Wright Construction and Jensen Wright Architecture. Landon was my neighbor when he was in town and not out, golfing professionally. Sutton was the youngest and Annie’s best friend. So I didn’t see much of her…more of her husband, David, the CFO of Wright Construction. Either way, it was a lot of family, and I was still getting used to it.
“Have you heard from the agent?” I asked them.
Hollin nodded. “Yeah, Larissa should be here in five. She got caught with her five kids after her husband’s meeting ran over.”
“Perfect.”
“How’d it go with Sophia?” Julian asked.
“Well,” I said with a pause. It wasn’t like I could tell them about Annie. Not after she’d disappeared this morning. “It didn’t really happen.”
“What? You’ve been trying to get this meeting for weeks,” Julian said. “How can one woman give you this much runaround?”
“Yeah. Aren’t you some heartthrob?” Hollin joked.
“That’s Julian.”
Julian rolled his eyes. “Not anymore. Ashleigh and I have been together for almost two years.” He gestured back to me. “It’d be you if you didn’t fuck up all your relationships.”
“Solid point,” I said with a shrug. “Anyway, I saw her, and she gave me a case of wine to try before our next meeting. I know in one of our messages, she had a sommelier recommendation who lives in Houston but studied in France. So, we have options for hiring if we go through with this.”
“Oh, wine to try,” Hollin said eagerly. “We’ll all have to taste-test what she sent over.”
I frowned. “I might have already tasted all the red bottles.”
“Alone?” Julian asked in confusion. “You never drink alone.”