Part of the Family

by Cristina Grenier

  “I got interested in radio and podcasts after that, and have been expanding the company’s focus there as well. And last but not least I’ve opened a small publishing house for independent authors. It’s more of an umbrella organization which allows the authors full autonomy in terms of their profit margins. They get to use my publishing company’s name, we provide them with editors and sales reps if they wish, we do the designs, promotions, whichever of our full array of services they choose to use. Each author’s contract is tailored to suit his or her needs. We make a lot of money off them, even the ones who use the fewest of our services. It’s a win-win situation for both of us.”

  Maxine’s eyes were sparkling as Ev spoke, and it had pulled much more out of him than he might normally have chosen to share. She was an involved listener, which made speaking about himself a less self-conscious thing.

  “Wow! That all sounds quite fascinating. And you seem to be doing what you’re passionate about as well. I can tell you love what you do.”

  Ev smiled. “I do. The day it begins to get old is the day I retire.”

  “You don’t seem like the kind of guy who can sit still and not be doing something,” she said, looking quizzically at him.

  “I didn’t say I wouldn’t work,” he corrected her. “Just that I’d retire from the business. I don’t need to work another day in my life if I don’t want to, but you’re right, I would need something else to do.”

  She seemed to consider for a moment, tilting her head to one side before saying, “Maybe instead of giving up the business, you could add to it. You’ve already got a music section going. Why not focus on bringing in a particular set of individuals instead of just bands? Or start something new…maybe something like Netflix or Hulu, but with a twist? What are your favorite tv shows and movies?”

  Ev considered for a moment, floored by her interest. “I love anything in speculative fiction, so sci fi flicks and series, fantasy ones are always on my list. And I love war stories based on actual historical events.” He paused, then added, “You know, you’ve just opened up a can of worms, because I also love documentaries, and classic cartoons.”

  She laughed, making Ev laugh with her. “Sorry, my bad.”

  He loved the way she entered fully into the moment, so much so that she was startled by the arrival of the server with a request for their dessert order.

  “None for me, thanks,” she said. “I’m full.”

  Ev asked for the bill and once he had sent his card off, he said, “So tell me about the women you’ve lined up for me to see.”

  He watched as Maxine blinked, and he hid his grin with difficulty. It took her a few seconds to catch up with him, and then she said,

  “Oh. Well, one is a grandmother who became homeless after her husband died. She couldn’t afford to keep paying the mortgage on her fixed income, even with her husband’s pension and insurance, because their jobs hadn’t been high-paying jobs to begin with. And her only child is in prison. She has custody of her grandchildren, both of whom are in high school. She would be perfect for the day job when Jeff has therapy. The other one is about our age, and recently lost her job in a company that was downsizing. She would prefer a full-time position, but she’d be good as well, because she’s a calm and steady individual.”

  “Send me their information and I’ll contact them. And once I’ve decided, I’ll let you know.”

  Once the bill was paid, Ev led her out into the cool night air. He was reluctant to leave as it would mean ending their time together, and he didn’t want to do that just yet. But he could find no further reason to delay taking her home. All the way back to her condo, as she sat quietly, he thought about how, if she were any other woman, the evening would end. Kisses by the door would lead to an invitation to stay the night, which he would take full advantage of, making sure to leave before the woman woke the next day. If they had a second encounter, he’d stay for breakfast at least.

  But this was Maxine Cousins, a woman he was coming to respect, a woman he was coming to admire, a woman he wanted more with than a quick roll in the hay. He needed to move much more carefully with her, to go at her pace, if he ever hoped to get to the place where she would even permit him to kiss her the way he already wanted to do. He turned in through the gates that led to her building, and once he found a spot to park in, he walked with her up to her apartment.

  The ride in the elevator was excruciating for him. Her perfume, the curve of her cheekbones, the swell of her lips, her full breasts, the color of her dress and those almost naked shoulders…everything conspired to wind him up until his spine was rigid with the tense control he was maintaining over himself. At her door, he plastered a smile on his face, hoping it didn’t look as false as it felt.

  “I had a lovely time this evening, Ev,” Maxine said. “Thank you for the invitation.”

  “Thank you for accepting. The pleasure was mine.”

  He remembered at the last second that he had pocketed her key earlier when he had locked it on their way out. He removed it and opened her door for her, dropping it into her open palm. Then he stepped away and watched as her smile warmed her face.

  “Goodnight, Ev,” she said, and extended a hand.

  He knew he should just shake her hand and leave, but something baser made him use it to pull her in so he could kiss her cheek. His lips landed on her soft skin and he inhaled, to try and borrow her scent to keep with him when he left. He let his lips linger for a long moment before removing them and stepping back.

  “Goodnight, Maxine,” he said, registering her soft gasp of surprise at his kiss.

  He looked into her eyes then, and saw that he was not alone in wanting more than a chaste kiss at the door. But he was determined to move slowly. So he took another step back and pushed her gently inside. She closed the door in his face, and he stayed there for another few seconds until he could will his legs to move. Then he turned and walked away.

  Chapter 6: Date Night

  Max leaned against the front door trembling like a leaf in a gale. Ev’s kiss lingered like a brand on her skin, and she put a hand to her cheek as if she could somehow keep it there. She had known that he was attracted to her before they had gone out together, but the waves of electric energy that had sparked between them had never slowed or disappeared, as she had thought they would. If anything, at the end of their date the chemistry was stronger, the need greater. Eventually she locked the door and walked into her bedroom, dropping her pocketbook and wrap and kicking off her shoes. Then she went to the kitchen and helped herself to a glass of wine. She was free to get drunk in the privacy of her own home if she so chose.

  Everett Morgan was much too interesting a man, one she knew she would have increasing difficulty in resisting. Their conversation over dinner had been pleasant and varied, and she had come away knowing much more about him than she had even realized she wanted to know. And there was so much she still wanted to ask. She sat at the table thinking about the way he had talked about his friends, about the pact they had made, about the friend who chose to race cars instead of make millions. They sounded like the kind of people who would be fun to interact with, the kind of men who could inspire the boys in her youth programs, especially the ones who had a less orthodox view of the world, and the ones who felt there was no hope for them at all.

  Sipping the wine slowly, she considered how she could get Ev to bring his buddies in to help her with one of Hope For All’s annual events. After the New Year, the organization hosted a week of seminars and activities called “Revolutions” which looked at ways to change that went beyond mere New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps she could get Ev and his friends to participate somehow. Maybe give a talk, or perhaps sponsor a field trip to their various enterprises. She knew for a fact that some of the boys would jump at the chance to visit with Jim the race car driver, and maybe he could have them visit his auto dealership and garage. She got excited about the idea the longer she thought about it. She’d need to find out what exactly
all his friends did…she only knew about some of them.

  Draining the glass, she put it in the sink…she’d wash it in the morning with the breakfast things. For now, she needed to put her ideas and questions down on paper. Tomorrow, after the housework and laundry were done, she’d compose an email to Ev in which she laid out her idea, asked her questions, and invited a new conversation about ways to help that did not involve more money being spent. She didn’t want him to think she only saw him as an endless supply of money and nothing more. Retrieving the items she had discarded on her way to the kitchen, she walked into her bedroom and was undressing when her cell phone rang. Who the hell was calling her on a Friday night at this hour? She was entitled to a few hours off every now and again, for Pete’s sake!

  Picking up the phone, she saw it was Ev, and immediately her limbs began to tremble lightly. She sat quickly on the edge of the bed before answering.

  “Hello?” Words failed her. This man was having quite an effect on her.

  “I hope I didn’t wake you, Maxine?” His voice in her ear sent a shaft of electricity through her.

  “No…no, I was just getting…”

  She stopped, realizing what she had been about to tell him. TMI much, Max? She rolled her eyes at herself, and chose not to finish that sentence.

  “No, I wasn’t asleep.”

  Ev chuckled, and Max knew at once that he knew what she hadn’t said. Her face heated, although he was nowhere near to see her embarrassment.

  “I’ll let you get back to getting ready for bed in a few minutes. I just wanted to say thank you again for allowing me to take you to dinner. And to say that I’d like to do it again, if you have no objection to an absent-minded man who sometimes bumps into strangers in stores.”

  Max laughed, suddenly at ease. That he could make a joke of something that at the time was incredibly upsetting and embarrassing told her she was forgiven, and more, it told her that he did not hold a grudge. Relief swept through her. She hadn’t realized until that moment how worried she had been that he would always hold it against her.

  “Well, if you can forget the shrewish fish wife who cursed at you, I’m sure we can muddle along well enough.”

  “Minx!” he exclaimed. “Is that a ‘yes’?”

  Max swallowed the giggle that rose in her throat at the nickname. She would absolutely not let him know how much she liked it, and definitely not how special it made her feel.

  “That’s Max to you,” she said, her voice going lower on its own in a frankly flirtatious way that appalled her brain, which was not on board with flirting at all.

  “Is that a ‘yes’, Max?” He repeated his question patiently, though she heard the amusement in it distinctly.

  She sighed dramatically. “Yes, Ev, it is.” What the hell was wrong with her?

  “How about tomorrow evening then? The Boston Pops Orchestra will be in town and I have two tickets. We can do dinner before the show, which is at eight.”

  Max only hesitated for a second before deciding it was fine to go on a second date with him, especially as she could hit him up about her idea.

  “I’d like that, thank you,” she said. “It’ll give me a chance to discuss an idea I have with you…”

  “No talking shop,” he interrupted her. “I’m taking you out on a date because I want to spend more time with Maxine Cousins the woman, not Maxine Cousins the director of Hope For All. Anything related to our business connection will have to wait until I visit you in your offices, or you come to me in mine next week.”

  Max nodded, then realized he couldn’t see her. “Okay, that’s fine, too.”

  “Fair warning,” he went on. “I intend to go on as many dates with you as you will allow. And we will never discuss business on any of them. I like to keep my professional and my personal lives separate. Think you can handle that?”

  “Yes…yes, of course.”

  For a moment, she couldn’t think past the revelation that the man on the other end of the line was actively pursuing her. It boggled her mind just a little bit. She would remember that he was a playboy after she hung up, and plan her strategy for keeping herself immune to his charms. But for right this second, she wanted to bask in the warm glow that his interest generated.

  “I’ll send you an email with the idea I wanted to float by you, and on Monday we can see how our schedules line up so we can meet to discuss it…if that’s okay?”

  “That’s okay,” he said. “Now, go ahead and finish undressing and go to bed. Sweet dreams, Minx.”

  He hung up before she could answer, leaving her smiling like a loon, and then scolding herself all through her nighttime face-cleansing ritual. After she brushed her teeth, she slid into bed, once again smiling foolishly at the idea of being sought after by a playboy. It was troubling in a niggling worry kind of way, but she was too tired to think about it. She’d worry in the morning, when daylight would no doubt bring her back to sanity.

  She woke to gray skies and drizzle, and by the time she had showered and slid into her lazy day sweats and socks, it was pouring down with rain. Would it still be raining when it was time for her date? At the thought, the bedtime conversation with Ev came back to remind her that she was playing with fire. Everett Morgan was a playboy. Everything she had read about his social life in the past year made that abundantly clear. She could not afford to get involved with a man who thought women only existed for his sexual pleasure and nothing more.

  Except, nothing in the way he had treated her the night before bespoke a man who thought like that. He had been the soul of courtesy, of decorum, and even his evident interest in her had been tasteful rather than lascivious. He was clearly serious about getting to know her outside of work, but his reasons were unknown to her. And that was where all her hesitation lay. She wasn’t about to lose herself to the blandishments of a man who used his charm to seduce women into his bed and then discarded them like old newspapers afterwards. She had too much self-respect for that. And yet she knew being seen with him would be good for her image both personally and professionally.

  She went out to feed her cats, and after eating her own breakfast, she sat with her laptop working out the idea she had come up with before sending it to Ev in an email. She needed his business card for the address, and once she hit send, she added his information to her cell phone, so that if she lost the card she wouldn’t need to ask for a second one. Remembering that she had a date with him later, she went in search of what to wear, in the process adding a load of laundry to the washing machine and changing her bed linen. After she did a thorough bathroom and kitchen cleaning, she vacuumed and dusted, and then made herself a large late lunch. If she was going out to dinner, she wouldn’t have anything else to eat until then.

  Ev called while she was tidying away her lunch mess. “Hi. I forgot to mention where we’re having dinner and what time I’ll be there to get you. We’re eating at Manelli’s and dinner is at six.”

  “I’ll be ready,” she said. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll see you later,” he said. “Looking forward to it.”

  “So am I,” she replied before she could censor herself.

  Ev inhaled loudly enough for her to hear him before saying, “Good. I wouldn’t want the anticipation to be one-sided. See you soon, Minx.”

  She was barely able to say “Bye!” before he hung up. And it took her a good five minutes to stop shivering at the sound of his voice as he called her ‘Minx’ again. It was outright flirtatious, low and sultry. She would really need to bring her A game if she were to manage to resist this man’s seduction later. Because something told her he was going to pull out all the stops. Maybe if she made it into a game, she would survive the onslaught.

  She decided that basic black would be not just tasteful but also elegant enough for dinner and a concert. The dress was a strapless tea-length satin dress with a sweetheart neckline and a wide plum-colored satin bow at the back for a pop of color. Her shoes were plum-colored to match the bow, and s
he wore silver jewelry that lay against her dusky skin like the star in the night sky. Tonight she pinned her hair up in an elegant chignon, leaving a few wavy strands to whisper at her left cheek. The silver drop earrings matched the diamond-chip necklace and bracelet she wore. Her fingers were ringless, but she had managed to polish the short nails to match her shoes. Very little makeup adorned her face…she went with the almost-nude look, relieving it only with a splash of color at her lips, and eye shadow that drew attention to her deep brown eyes and naturally long lashes.

  Thankfully, the rain stopped by the time she was ready. It was much too early, but she didn’t want to keep him waiting while she fetched anything from her bedroom this time. She fidgeted, fed and watered the cats, washed her hands and reapplied lotion, checked her appearance in the hall mirror for the umpteenth time, and was driving herself crazy with worry about whether she was sending the wrong message to Ev about her interest by going all out to look good for their date. When the doorbell sounded, she had just decided that it was okay to want the man to notice her, and it was okay to enjoy any compliments she might receive, but she wouldn’t take them to mean anything more.

  Knowing that her date was a killer in formal wear, she was better prepared for the onslaught on her senses when she opened the door to Ev. And he didn’t disappoint, dressed in a dark gray suit that fitted his frame like a second skin. Still, she couldn’t stop the shiver of awareness that skittered up her spine when he smiled at her.

  “Good evening, Ev,” she said, stepping into the hallway. She turned to lock the door and he took the key from her again and did the honors himself, once again pocketing the key. The no-nonsense Maxine wanted to stand her ground and ask for her key back, but the flattered Maxine loved that he felt the need to make even small gestures of proprietary protectiveness towards her.

  “Good evening, Maxine. You look ravishing.”