This business about Angelica’s brother seems to have cropped up out of nowhere, and something about it needles at my mind.

I have Stuart drop me off at the penthouse, then send him off to a place down the block to pick up dinner. Rush hour traffic is going to make for a long trip back from Brooklyn. She’s got to be starving, and I want to know more about her brother.

We never got around to talking about it after I surprised her the other night as she was sneaking in the door.

Angelica comes through the door fifty minutes later, shoulders slumped, face pink from the heat.

“Hi, sweet thing.”

“Hey,” she says, kicking off her shoes and dropping her purse on the table in the foyer. Then she gives a little sigh.

“Glad to be back?”

“Glad your air conditioning never fails.”

I shrug. “If it did, I’d go to another one of my places. Are you hungry?”

Angelica brightens. I was right. “Do you have food?”

I laugh at that. “Twenty-four hours a day, and I have a personal chef on standby. Do you want to stand around talking about what’s in the pantry or do you want to eat?”

“Eat,” she says, and makes a beeline for the breakfast nook. I’ve laid out an impressive array of sushi and chicken katsu. It’s not quite Sasabune caliber, but Angelica doesn’t seem to care in the slightest. She fills her plate and digs in.

We eat in silence for a few minutes.

“Tell me more about your brother.” There’s no point in skirting the issue.

Angelica stops with a forkful of chicken katsu halfway to her mouth and looks at me, one eyebrow raised. “What about him?”

“I’m guessing you’re close.”

“You could say that.” She draws the bite off her fork with her teeth, chews, swallows.

“You took care of him growing up, right?”

“Yeah, I did.” She sips at the plum wine I had brought up to go with the meal, then leans back in her seat. “Why are you interested?”

I follow her lead, putting down my fork.

“He’s come up a lot lately. And now that we’re...” I make a gesture indicating the space between us. “I thought I should learn more about him. Things seem to be a little rough lately.”

“He’ll be fine. He always makes it through.”

Angelica looks out at the skyline.

“You’re older, right?”

“By three years.” She leans over her plate again, then spears a piece of sushi with her fork, dips it delicately in the soy sauce, and puts it into her mouth. Closing her eyes, she lets it linger on her tongue for a moment before swallowing.

My cock twitches inside my boxers.

“Does he plan to be out of the city for a long time?”

“I don’t know,” Angelica says, her brow furrowed. “He didn’t tell me exactly how long his visit was going to be.” She eats another section of the sushi roll, then looks into my eyes. “Really, Jett, why do you want to know all this?”

“I want to know about you. And lately you’ve been focused on your brother, so it’s been on my mind.” I take a stab in the dark. “You don’t have to be embarrassed if he’s got...other issues.”

“Other issues like what?” Angelica’s eyes flash. “He’s not some kind of drug addict, if that’s what you’re saying.” Her tone is spiked with anger, but a different expression altogether flickers through her aqua blue eyes. It looks like fear.

I give her a little nod, conceding. “Well, if there’s anything I can do to help...”

“He doesn’t need your help.” Angelica’s cheeks flood with color. She opens her mouth, closes it, and then opens it again. When she finally raises her gaze from the tablecloth, she looks mortified. “I’m sorry. That was...that was out of line. I—”

I hold up one hand. “You don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to. It seemed like something that was important to you.”

“My brother is important to me.” She bites her lip. “I told you about...the hard times we had growing up.”

“I remember.”

“Well, we spent a lot of time together. My mom couldn’t afford a babysitter, so from the time I was nine I stayed with him after school. He was...” Angelica takes a deep breath. “He was a sweet kid. Very sensitive. And the other kids in his grade were pretty ruthless.”

The puzzle pieces start to click together.

“My mom wasn’t around very much right after school, so I was the one who picked up the pieces. She’s always struggled to make ends meet so we had to rely on each other.” She shakes her head a little like her explanation might be inadequate. “I want to protect him, that’s all.” Her eyes bore into mine, and there’s a tiny quiver in her chin.

“I can understand that.” I don’t know what it’s like, not exactly, not having any siblings of my own, but Angelica brings out that instinct in me.

I try to lighten the mood. “What would you have done if someone was robbing his apartment? Don’t tell me you’re some kind of superhero in disguise and you’ve been hiding it from me all along.”

Angelica lets out a short, barking laugh, and the heaviness of the conversation lifts a little. “Did you want to know anything else? Can I go back to enjoying this incredible meal now?” She stabs a piece of chicken katsu and waves it in front of me, a small smile on her face.

She’s so attractive that I can’t deny her this small request. “I won’t stop you any longer. Is there something else you’d rather talk about?”

“Yeah,” she says, after she swallows another bite, sips more from her wine. “What we’re going to do in bed later.”

That sly vixen.

It’s not until the next day that I realize she never told me what was up with Adam.