“You should let me take a look. I’m good with all kinds of tools.”
“I bet you are,” I muttered, and Max laughed. He laughed hard enough he slipped on the ice, and it was only a quick reach for his elbow on my part that kept him from going down onto his knees. Although… Shit, I needed to get my mind out of the gutter.
Max wiped the corners of his eyes. “Thanks.” He didn’t pull out of my grasp, and I didn’t immediately let go, either. “How about tonight?” he offered.
My heart started to beat so hard it hammered against my rib cage. Was this really happening? Was my crush really volunteering to help rebuild my house? “Y-Yeah. That would be great.”
Max beamed. “Great.”
Oh damn. This was really happening.
Chapter Five
Max
It should have been stranger, making plans with Nicky Bell. I really hadn’t known him well when we were kids—he was right about Hal being possessive when he was younger. But I wasn’t making plans with Nicky, even though I’d been hanging out with “Uncle Nicky” all afternoon. I was making plans with Dominic, the hot cop who’d rescued me off the side of the road, and that felt completely right. They were the same person, and yet I knew there was no chance in hell of me shutting the door of awareness that had burst open as soon as I saw Dominic.
I’d barely noticed the guys around me for months, and then all of a sudden, I couldn’t get enough of my best friend’s little brother. Way to embrace a sudden change in plans by jumping into the deep end head-first.
I knew from the moment we made the plan that I’d have to talk to Hal about it as soon as possible, though. A lot of people underestimated Hal—they thought his rough looks meant a rough mind, yet nothing could be further from the truth. He’d put himself through college while running his own landscaping business, and he had a head for math that I couldn’t touch. He played hard and he loved harder, but he wasn’t an idiot, and he was definitely going to notice the new vibe between Dominic and me. The best thing to do was to own it.
Once we got back, I was able to get in an hour of work—checking in with my assistant and emailing her some paperwork—before laughter and the delicious smells of dinner pulled me to the kitchen. We had Mrs. Jackson’s—I couldn’t call her Phee, it just seemed disrespectful even though I was an adult now—lasagna, with a green salad on the side. Marnie gave Dominic and me a blow-by-blow account of what they did with Hal that afternoon, only pausing long enough to breathe.
“Slow down, kiddo,” Hal said after a few minutes of watching his oldest practically vibrate in her chair. “You’ve got all night to tell them this stuff, but dinner won’t be hot forever.”
“We have a microwave, Dad,” she replied in a “duh” tone of voice. “I can reheat it.”
“You can save some of the stories for later, too.” He looked between Dominic and me. “She spent half an hour telling me about all the fun you guys had this morning, too. It sounds like they ran you ragged.”
Dominic’s neck pinked a little bit. Was he blushing because he was embarrassed for some reason or because he was thinking about how much he’d enjoyed today? “Yep, it was nice to have backup.”
“Max was really good at watching us,” Marnie agreed. “He knows special ways to get food coloring out of clothes.”
Hal raised an eyebrow. “How many clothes are we talking about here?”
“Just the outside ones!”
“They won’t stain,” I assured Hal. “Trust me, food coloring is nothing compared to some of the stuff I’ve had to soak out of my work clothes.”
“That’s what you get for going to all those awful company holiday parties.”
“It’s a burden,” I agreed. “Hopefully, I’ll be too busy after I get back on Monday to participate.”
“Is your car gonna be ready by then?”
I shook my head. “Ha, no, not even close. But I’m sure I can get a rental, and the worst of the storm is supposed to be done by tomorrow.”
“Which means tonight is going to be bad.” Dominic shook his head. “I should get back to my place and cover up some more holes.”
“Take Max,” Hal said, offering me up like a sacrificial lamb. “He looks useless, but he actually knows his way around a hammer. Get him to hang some drywall for you.”
Dominic looked a little nervous—maybe he was regretting asking me over after a solid day of putting up with me already. “Like anyone wants to watch me hang drywall,” I said, trying to give him an out.
“I would,” Dominic said, and the pink rose up to his face. He pushed his chair back and grabbed his empty plate, and Steph’s as well. She’d finished her dinner a lot faster than Marnie, since she still wasn’t talking. “I’ll just…dishwasher.”
Hal looked from his brother to me. He didn’t say anything, but I could see the gears turning. Yep, we needed to talk, before he took me out to the woodshed and started making demands about my intentions toward his baby brother.
“Want to help me finish cleaning up?” he asked once Dominic was out of the kitchen and helping the girls set up their favorite movie.
“Sure.” I followed him to the fridge, where he took out a beer—Molson stock ale. What was wrong with him? I didn’t even drink alcohol if it wasn’t New Year’s Eve, and I still knew that stuff was gross.
He popped the cap and turned around to look at me. “So…”
“It just happened,” I said before he could start grilling me. Elbowing my way to the front of a conversation was an old defensive tactic of mine, one that had only gotten worse since I became a lawyer. “I didn’t recognize Dominic when I met him, and I didn’t know he was gay, either, but I feel like we made a connection yesterday. We’re not being weird in front of the girls or anything, and I’m not going to let it get weird in front of them, but while I’m here, I want to spend time with him. More than just here at the house. He invited me over to look at his place tonight”—I’d kind of invited myself, but whatever, details—“and I said I’d come, but it’s just casual. I won’t be spending the night, I won’t be keeping him from his responsibilities, and I won’t be doing anything to make him or you uncomfortable.”
“You mind letting me get a word in edgewise?” Hal asked mildly before sipping his beer.
Ugh. And I’d fallen prey to the oldest trick in the book—letting your opponent fill the silence when they couldn’t bear it. I needed to rein it in. “Of course. Go ahead.”