Zane (Alluring Indulgence) by Nicole Edwards Read Free Book Online Page B

drawl met Zane the moment he stepped
through the door of the small office of Walker Demolition. “Glad you could
grace us with your presence.”
    “Fuck
off.” Zane grinned, saying the words without heat.
    He’d
missed this too. He would be the first to admit that working with his brothers,
day in and day out, could grate on his nerves like fingernails down a
chalkboard, but he wouldn’t change a thing.
    “Well,
you look better anyway, Bubba. I have to say, there for a while, you kinda
looked like shit,” Braydon chimed in, grabbing two energy drinks from the
refrigerator and tossing one to Brendon. Like they needed that shit.
    Zane
didn’t need any more energy than they did, but he was smart enough to know
better. He didn’t drink anything with caffeine in it. Or at least he tried to avoid
it at all costs. Hell, he hardly drank anything other than water, which his
brothers liked to give him hell about. It seemed they all had their own vices.
Hell, he had his as well, but he just tried to keep those to himself as best he
could.
    “What
the hell? You guys having a spa party or what?” Zane ribbed as he grabbed one
of the empty chairs and turned it backward, straddling it and facing three of
his six brothers. “Kaleb, I’m disappointed in you. Zoey’s turned you into a
pussy.”
    Kaleb’s
rumbling laugh filled the space. “I’m not going there, man. Not gonna do it.”
    “If
you’re not doing your fucking nails, is this a book club or something? Why are
you two here? Shouldn’t you be out on a job somewhere?” Zane turned his
attention to the twins, leaning his forearms on the chair back.
    “ Why did the doctor clear you to come home?” Ethan asked as he walked in the
back door. “Or was it because they couldn’t take any more?”
    “Probably.”
Zane grinned. Despite their constant ridicule, he sure had missed this shit.
“Where are Sawyer and Travis?”
    “Sawyer’s
on his way,” Kaleb added, glancing down at his computer screen. “Trav had to go
to Dallas. He’s meeting with Luke and Logan again this week.”
    “How’s
the resort coming along?” Considering the ground breaking ceremony was so long
ago, Zane had expected to see something happening with the construction, but
when Travis brought him home last night, he hadn’t seen much of anything, other
than some clearing of the land.
    Apparently,
Travis had brought in an environmentalist to survey and find the best place for
the resort, that wouldn’t affect too much of the land. Zane wouldn’t have
thought his brother would’ve cared much about it, so he’d been a little taken
aback. Not that he didn’t agree, he just didn’t expect as much from Travis. His
brother was a hard ass, in so many ways. Had been for as long as Zane could
remember. The others had tried to tell him that Travis wasn’t always like that,
but Zane wasn’t much of a believer
    “We
should see a lot more in the coming weeks,” Kaleb answered, turning away from
his computer.
    “How’s
the wedding planning?”
    “We’ve
set the date.” Kaleb grinned.
    “Again?”
Zane knew that Kaleb and Zoey had pushed out their wedding until the beginning
of the year because he’d been in the hospital. It still irritated the shit out
of him that he was the reason they were delaying their momentous day, but no
amount of arguing with them had done any good.
    “We
never were happy with the original date.”
    His
brother was lying, but Zane smiled anyway. That’s what his brothers did. They
had each other’s back, no matter the reason. And, in this case, every one of
them stood beside Zane during a really touch and go point in his life. And now,
despite the little white lie, Zane didn’t fault Kaleb. “Bachelor party planned
yet?”
    “Oh,
hell yeah!” Braydon stood, his restless energy palpable in the small room.
“Bren and I are handling that one.”
    Oh,
hell .
Zane laughed again, noticing how good it felt to be able to smile a real smile
for the first time in a