CHAPTER TEN

 

MAX

I slam the door closed and stalk through my apartment. Barclay’s asleep on the floor in the living room, stretched out on one of the old couch cushions. Can’t believe I talked Deanna into letting me keep him, but he’s become a fixture in my life. Somewhat like Evie has in the short space of time I’ve known her. He lifts his giant furry head as I pass, tugging at the stupid knot in my tie. “Yeah, I know. I miss her too.”

Until this morning it’d been days since I’d seen Evie, and all I could think about was that as soon as we were finished taping I was going to tell her how I felt about her. I was going to tell her everything, and hope she would understand why I’d let her believe I was just some guy who walks dogs. That it isn’t normal for me to pretend to be someone I’m not just to spend time with a woman. That I would have done anything to be able to be around her. Still would. I thought we might laugh about all this after a while. That it would end up being a story we told when people asked us how we got together.

But now everything is screwed. “What am I supposed to do?”

Barclay doesn’t respond with any encouragement, though he does drag himself off the floor to trail me into the bedroom.

“I should have just told Dee that she could take the job and shove it where the sun won’t shine.” Deanna has been in a hell of a mood since she got home, bent on making sure I understood that she wasn’t impressed with my role during shooting, but she would have gotten over it. Probably. Eventually. Once she realized I was serious. Once she could see that Evie was different from anyone else I’ve ever known.

I sit on the edge of the bed and pick up the lampshade Evie wore as a hat that afternoon we watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She looked so damn cute in it.

I don’t even know why I came home really. There’s a meeting in less than twenty minutes that I need to be at. But Christ, seeing Evie with another guy was such a kick in the gut. Watching him hug her and take her hands like they had something special made me want to throw up or throw down. The way he looked at her and she smiled back…I had to get out of there. Especially after the way she looked at me when she called me a liar. It was like she didn’t know me at all.

Barclay jumps onto the bed and settles there with his head beside my leg.

“What do I do now?” My hand sinks into his dense fur. I doubt she wants to see me or hear me out.

I could tell Deanna. Though I have no idea how I’d convince her that it took one woman less than a month to bring down her bachelor life loving brother, and that he didn’t even kick or scream as she felled him. There was no dragging him into these feelings, and from the very first time he met her while rescuing a small child from Barclay he knew she was going to be the one girl who mattered. That he’s ready to make the kind of commitment that involves giving himself to one woman and dog ownership.

“Humph.” I snort under my breath as I roll my gaze and turn the lampshade over in my hands. “Like she would ever believe that.”

And if I could somehow make her see? She’d still ask me to hold off. Just for a few days. A week. Long enough to wrap up the Evie and Holden Valentine’s Date that will conclude this ridiculous campaign. Deanna’s put so much into the company, sacrificed to give us both opportunities and a lifestyle we might not have otherwise. She’s given up so much for me over the years. Maybe she doesn’t know how much I watched her give up in order to raise me, but I saw the way her life changed, the friends she lost, the boyfriends who didn’t want to deal with me. How many people broke her heart because she put me first. This is the least I can do for her.

I just hope Evie will forgive me when I get a chance to explain to her why I didn’t tell her the truth. “Think I’m going to need a plan to get out of this mess?”

Barclay moves until his head is on my knee, his nose leaving a wet patch on the black shade. He yawns, making that high-pitched noise dogs sometimes do as my phone starts ringing. 

“We’ll win her over,” I tell him as I answer and lift the phone to my ear. “Yes, I know there’s a meeting. I’m on my way back now. Yes. Tell her I’ll be there in five minutes.”

***

“What are you doing in here?” Deanna walks in and puts her laptop on the desk before moving to the bar at the other end of the office that takes up at least a quarter of the top floor.

“I was waiting for you.” I put my feet on her desk, reclining in her ‘rule the world’ leather office chair. And yes, we once did joke over the original version, that it was the perfect chair for an evil world ruler. Or in Deanna’s case a villainous puppy loving ruler.

“Can you remove your shoes from my work space?” She wrinkles her nose as she pours gin into two lowball glasses. A spritz of tonic and she sways toward me.

I kick off my shoes, putting my feet back on her desk. It drives her crazy, but she catches herself before she goes parental on my bad behaviour. “What do you want, Maxwell? You missed the meeting with the investors.”

“I am sorry about that.” I accept the glass she hands me and take a mouthful. Fucking hate the stuff. She knows it. That’s why she’s not enjoying her usual scotch.

She smirks while I try to get over the taste. “I had to tell them you were sick.” She sits on the edge of her desk. “That you caught rabies. Or was it syphilis?” She shrugs it off. “At any rate, they send their condolences.”

“At least I didn’t miss the marketing meeting.” I toss the liquid from my glass into her waste paper basket.

“That’s true,” she muses, completely ignoring the fact gin is leaking onto her carpet while she leans closer and presses a finger into the file in front of me. “I heard a little rumor about you.”

“You did?”

“My little brother, who can’t be trusted with the human female, has lost his ability to charm a woman’s underwear clean off.”

“Well, obviously you can’t believe everything you hear.” I shove my hands behind my head.

“Oh, that’s not all I heard.”

“You’ve had way too much free time on your hands.”

“I hear you haven’t even tried to in weeks. That’s unheard of.”

“It’s a dangerous time of year for guys like me. And now it’s Valentine’s Day. Women everywhere have declared it man hunting season, and you know they all want to tie a fellow down and mount his head on a wall.”

“I don’t think so.” She pushes my feet off her desk. “We’ve been playing on each other’s nerves since I got home, waiting for the other one to crack, but your heart’s not in it. You’ve barely put in any effort.”

“Sorry, I’m just not myself.” I sit up, stick my feet back into my shoes and get out of her seat. She walks around to sit down. I hesitate, tap my fingers on the edge of her desk with a grimace. “Is everyone happy with the campaign?”

“Almost.”

“At least that’s something.”

“I’ve started watching the tapes. The unedited parts as well. So I am guessing at least one person isn’t particularly happy. You kept her in the dark about who you are?”

“I couldn’t keep away from her, Dee.” I turn around to face my sister. “But you talked about suing her for breach of contract if I kept seeing her. You threatened to get her in trouble with her employer. I get it. You’re protecting our interests, but they don’t mean much to me when Evie’s involved. Instead, I was protecting hers.”

“They don’t mean much?” She sits back and the leather rasps as it settles around her.

“Or anything,” I say. “Not a damn thing. I can do without any of this.” I wave an arm to indicate the room around us, the floor we’re on, the whole building. “I can’t say the same about her.”

“Well,” she says.

“I’m going to fix it,” I tell her, walking backward to the door and shrugging because there’s nothing that will change what is going to happen.  “I’m going to explain why I didn’t just tell her that I was the guy running the show. I’m going to tell her how I feel. I will grovel if I have to. Whatever it takes for her to realize that I am the guy she needs, and she can trust me.”

“My little brother.” Deanna shakes her head, a watery smile breaking across her face, her eyes suspiciously bright. The pride in her voice is unmistakable. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Me neither.” I grin. “Not until I met Evie.”

“When are you going to put this plan in motion?” she asks.

“Now.” I check my watch. She’ll be arriving at Novo Greco any minute to meet Holden and the film crew. They’ll be already in the middle of their date when I show up.

Deanna grabs her purse and pulls on her cashmere coat as she follows me out of the office and into the elevator. “They’re already shooting.”

“I know.” I punch the lobby button. “I wasn’t going to leave you hanging. You’ll have the footage you need. But that’s all. Not a minute more. You’ll lose a segment. The one about what she thinks of the guy she picked, but you’ll—”

“We’ll make it work,” she says.