Billionaire's Touch(35)

He mourned the days when all three of them had been close, thinking no amount of distance would ever tear them apart. Admittedly, distance hadn’t been the only thing that had separated them; one nightmare tragedy was the biggest factor. They’d all handled it differently, and separately. The one who had come out of it the worst was Xander, and Micah still wasn’t sure his youngest brother would recover from his emotional and physical wounds.

Looking around the room, he noticed that the men, and now their brother-in-law, Jason, were deep in conversation about how they could help Evan. Grady and Jared were in a heated conversation, with Jason throwing in his occasional opinions. Dante was out handling calls and checking on the elderly in the community because he was a police detective, and the force here in Amesport was fairly small. Micah had no doubt that it would be even more chaotic if Dante were here.

Micah stood, knowing he had to get back to the guesthouse to make a couple of calls. He’d decided to stay until the party on Saturday night, but he still had to conduct business while he was away from his company.

A big part of him wanted to stay, wanted to keep talking to his cousins. He’d felt more relaxed being here with his extended family than he’d experienced in a long time. But he had responsibilities to his own siblings, and he couldn’t ignore them any longer.

Julian had delayed his arrival since he couldn’t get through the bad weather, but he should get here by Friday night. Even so, Micah knew he wouldn’t share many of his burdens with Julian, who was finally accomplishing everything he’d ever dreamed about in the film industry. He deserved his time to bask in the limelight without worrying about his family right now.

Bidding the guys good-bye during a rare moment of silence, Micah ducked out the sliding rear door and sprinted to the guesthouse, the cold wind whipping around him as he covered the short distance to the smaller house.

Closing the door quickly behind him as he entered to block out the wind, he leaned against it, still in awe of the winter storm they were experiencing.

It should make him feel gloomy or at least a little bit on edge. Instead, it exhilarated him, made the adrenaline pump through his body just a little harder. He was a risk-taker, an adrenaline junkie. Although he’d stopped some of the crazy things he’d done when he was a little younger, he still took calculated risks. For him, there was no better feeling than accomplishing something that had previously been considered impossible.

Pulling the sweatshirt over his head, he moved toward the bathroom, knowing he really needed a shower. He’d popped over to Jared’s house because Hope had asked him to come over for a few minutes so he could join the conversation about Evan. He’d grabbed coffee next door, but he hadn’t had a chance to shower before he went to the big house.

He turned on the water and stripped off the rest of his clothes, wadded them into a bundle, and shot them across the bathroom, raising his arm in victory as they all landed squarely in the hamper. “Two points,” he announced to himself, grinning as he opened the shower door and stepped into the enclosed space.

Tempted to linger because the hot water felt so incredibly good, Micah forced himself to make short work of showering so he could get to work. Punching the rounded handle that shut off the water completely when he was done, he turned to push the door open, but ended up stopping short before shoving the shower entrance open.

Completely nude, water dripping from his body, Micah stood stock-still as he heard someone singing very close to the shower.

Who in the hell is that?

Listening closer, he noticed the voice was a clear soprano, and that she was slightly off-key. It didn’t seem to matter to the songbird. Her voice got louder and surer of herself as she reached a crescendo in the composition.

What. The. Fuck.

Was somebody crazy trying to rob the house? How many cat burglars struck during a blizzard and sang badly at the tops of their lungs?

More curious than afraid, Micah pushed slowly on the door and slipped silently out of the shower.

She was there, right in front of him, her shapely ass in the air as she cleaned the toilet. He was looking directly at her rear end, as her back was to him.

He grabbed a towel off the bar. “Could you wait until I’m finished?” he rasped, wondering what had possessed her to start cleaning the bathroom with him in the shower. He didn’t know her. Micah never forgot a great ass, and he didn’t remember ever seeing someone with hair that spectacularly blonde. It was made up of several different shades, from honey to platinum.

She didn’t respond, never hesitated at the sound of his voice.

Micah got irritated as he quickly dried his body. “Did you hear me? Jesus, woman. Are you hard of hearing?”