Page 78 of Singled Out
“Max is a nurturer,” Dakota said matter-of-factly. “He loves to help people, encourage them, teach them.”
What she said was true. I’d never considered that to be on my list of desirable traits in a man, but…God, it was hot. I loved all of that about Max. I didn’t get to see him with Danny very often, which was probably a good thing, because it turned me inside out and made me want to…
I caught my breath, then glanced around to see if anyone had noticed. No one paid attention to me, thank goodness, because I had, in that moment, realized a very bad thing.
I wanted more from Max. I wanted a real relationship. A long-term one, where we lived together, loved when we wanted to, and took care of Danny as a team.
God help me, I was pretty sure I’d fallen for Max.
Maybe it was just lust on steroids? It was so fast. It’d only been a few weeks since our date at the gala. But no. This wasn’t just wanting his body. It was more.
He came out of the bathroom at that moment, Danny walking at his side, his little hand in Max’s, and swear to God, that image did nothing to make me feel less.
My mouth went dry, and I was suddenly shaky inside. I turned my attention to picking up plates and tidying the living room. Anything to ignore the man who’d ravaged the hell out of me in the bedroom less than an hour ago.
In the kitchen by myself, I threw away the paper plates, my heart pounding.
I’d screwed up, and I couldn’t let Max know.
Because real feelings were never supposed to be part of our deal.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Max
I was dozing when I heard my bedroom door to the deck ease open. Rolling to my back, I watched Harper’s silhouette as she closed it behind her and locked it, then tucked the key I’d given her into her shoe when she took it off.
With a sleepy smile, I let out a contented growl and pulled my blankets back for her.
For the two weeks since she’d moved, Harper had continued to come over most nights once she closed the studio for the evening. With my sister as her roommate, it’d become twice as complicated. Sometimes she waited until Dakota went to bed. Sometimes Harper turned in early, then snuck out once Dakota was in her own room. And there were a few times when the two of them went out together or stayed up late talking, and we had to skip a night.
I kept my mind occupied with a movie or an audiobook on those nights, trying not to admit to myself how much I missed her. I knew we’d gotten reckless by spending so much time together, but then I rationalized that we both had needs, we liked meeting each other’s needs, and this arrangement would end soon enough, so why not enjoy the hell out of it for now?
I was bothered that she had to deceive my sister, so a few nights ago, we’d talked about coming clean to her. In the end, we’d agreed that would put too much pressure on what we had, so we were keeping the secret. I wasn’t proud to admit how relieved I was.
Harper wore running clothes when she visited me in case someone saw her en route. Normally she shed them first thing, then joined me. Tonight I couldn’t help but notice she crawled in fully clothed. I pulled her against me anyway and kissed her hello.
“Everything okay?” I asked, getting the distinct impression something was off.
She sighed as she snuggled into me. “Cambria heard back from two different banks today about a small business loan. Both of them said no.”
“Damn. I’m sorry to hear that.” I kissed her forehead.
“She has a big loan on her property, I have almost no credit history, and Dakota’s is limited and not stellar. On paper, we look like a bad risk. They apparently don’t care that the business plan Cambria created—with Seth Henry’s help, I might add—is incredible or that our products are locally made and have the potential to sell like crazy or that the three of us are determined as hell to make this work.”
I closed my eyes, genuinely upset for her. “Have you had time to come up with a plan B?”
“That’s why I’m so late getting here. The three of us went out for drinks to discuss it and ended up closing down Henry’s, then continuing at our apartment. We’re going to keep trying until we find a way to make it work. There’re a million banks out there, credit unions, and we found some small business grants we could apply for. We talked to Holden Henry about finding investors, and he gave us a few tips from when they were searching for the brewery.”
“Those are good ideas,” I said, caressing her cheek with one finger, wishing I could do more to soothe her.
In a different situation, I would seriously consider investing. I’d heard some of their plans and wanted to see both Harper and my sister succeed. I couldn’t exactly offer up seed money to my secret fling. Maybe I’d get Dakota talking about it and see if she brought up the idea. There was a fine line between being supportive of my baby sister and being domineering. She’d accused me of the latter many times.
“Worst-case scenario, we could ask for a much smaller loan, and Dakota and I could continue our current jobs and help Cambria when we can.”
“That wouldn’t be ideal. It’s not easy to split your time or your brain between two different jobs.”
“I bet you know something about that,” she said. “It’s our last choice, but we want this. I want this to work out so much, Max. I was scared to death to say yes, but ever since then, I’m in it one thousand percent. I can’t imagine not opening Earthly Charm.”