“You’re so good with her,” Max said.
“Lake’s a good girl. She’s a special kid. Her art … she has good days and bad, but she’ll find what makes her tick.”
“Like you with a sewing machine?” he asked.
“Like me with a sewing machine.” She smiled.
Ever since their morning of orgasms, he’d noticed Raine had smiled a whole lot more, and he, for one, was more than happy to see it.
He loved to see Raine smile.
Of course, their morning of orgasms had come to an abrupt end by a home visit from one of their lawyers. Business had to be taken in hand.
They had hidden Raine away while he and Dylan dealt with the necessary paperwork that they had both forgotten about, but as it was, their lawyer was more than happy to come chasing them, seeing as they paid him rather well.
The paperwork was Raine’s contract. She had been working for them without the necessary paperwork, including salary agreements.
Their lawyer had dropped everything off, and now he and Dylan had to find the right time to talk to Raine about her work. The truth was, he didn’t want to.
Raine wasn’t just an employee, not anymore. Not that she ever was. She was so much more than that.
The nanny position had brought her into their lives, but keeping her wasn’t about being a good nanny.
“Who is this Michael? A bully?”
“He is Lake’s friend. He’s the kid who’s having the Halloween party thing, and he is in his stage of growth where he doesn’t really have a filter. Most kids don’t. They merely say what they see. You know how it is.”
He sighed. “I … I don’t know how it is.” He sat back down at the kitchen counter.
“What do you mean?”
Max had never needed to be open with a woman, but Raine was different. “I think it’s safe to say that you know I’m a little different,” he said.
“You’re someone who likes things done a certain way. I get it.”
He glanced back toward where Lake and Dylan had gone. “I didn’t have a lot of friends in school. My idea of fun was reading books.”
“Ah, are you saying you were book smart from an early age?”
He shrugged. “Pretty much. I didn’t know how to play well with others. My mom … she … she didn’t know what to do with me. She put me through all these tests to see what was wrong with me, but she just couldn’t accept that she had a son who was happier in his own company than with anyone else. I think it was one of the reasons why she remarried, and not long after, Lake’s mother arrived.”
Raine stopped and placed a hand on top of his arm. “It must be hard for you.”
He didn’t know how to tell her that he had no feeling when it came to other people. How Dylan was the only one he cared about, and Lake, and her. He didn’t cry at his sister’s funeral, nor did he care about his own parents when they passed.
“It’s not,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
Max opened his mouth about to tell her that he was a cold man to the core, but Dylan chose that moment to stop him.
“We’re all cleaned up and ready to eat.”
Raine’s gaze moved from his to Dylan’s. She offered a smile again. The one that lifted his fucking soul. He had never known such beauty could exist.
“Uncle Max!” Lake’s arms went around him once again, and he had no choice but to hold her.
There was so much he wanted to say to Raine, but the moment had passed. Holding Lake’s hand, he walked her into the dining room, more than ready to have some food.
Dylan helped clear away the dishes as Max took Lake to tuck her into bed. His best friend was trying with his niece, and he couldn’t be prouder of him.
Raine kept avoiding looking into his eyes, not that he blamed her. After their morning hookup, life had invaded and there hadn’t been a way of drawing her back against him since.
With all the dishes piled next to the sink, she had nowhere to go.
He wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his face against her neck. “You’re not avoiding me, are you?”
“No. Why would I be avoiding you?” she asked.
“You haven’t been in my arms since this morning.”
“Ah, so the real reason could be that you’re avoiding me? You both had to go somewhere else. Not me. I wasn’t the one distracted.”
He loved the little chuckle she released.
Kissing her neck, he spun her around, and Raine’s gaze went to the doorway. “Are you worried about getting caught?” he asked.
“I don’t know what you want from me. What this is? What … to do?”
“I’d say we’d start with me kissing you and seeing how you feel. Do you want me to kiss you?”
“What about Max?”
Dylan chuckled. “You can kiss him when he comes back.” He ran his hands down toward her ass, gripping the supple flesh and pulling her closer to him, so she had no doubt of his arousal for her. “Now, back to me. Do you want me to kiss you?”
She sank her teeth into her lip and nodded. That was all the permission he needed.
Sliding his fingers into her hair, he tilted her head back and slammed his lips down on hers. Raine opened up for him immediately, and he plundered her mouth. Her moan went straight to his dick, making him hard.
He loved her ass and her tits. In fact, he just loved everything about her, and he knew without a doubt it was never going to stop.
“I leave you alone for a couple of minutes and you just can’t keep your hands to yourself, can you?” Max asked, coming into the room.
Dylan broke the kiss, smiling down at her. “What can I say? I can’t get enough of this woman.”
He spun her around so that she faced Max.
“Do you want to kiss her?”
“Only if she wants me to. Do you want me, Raine?”
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation, and Dylan witnessed the hunger in his friend’s gaze. It was very similar to his own.
Max closed the distance between them, and Dylan held her as his best friend ravished her mouth. She wrapped her arms around Max’s neck, pressing her body against him.
“This shouldn’t be happening,” Raine said as Max broke the kiss to move down her neck, sucking at her pulse.
“If I was to touch your pussy, would that tell me you didn’t want it?” Dylan asked.
To answer, she whimpered, just as he knew she would.
Raine was fire, and she needed to be taken in hand carefully. Not to scold her, but to warm her up from the inside out.
“How about we take this someplace we’re not going to be stumbled upon?” Max asked.
Max took Raine’s hand, and Dylan was more than happy to follow. He also got the chance to admire the roundness of her ass, and that was never going to be a problem for him.
They arrived at Max’s room. Dylan closed the door and leaned against it to watch as Max took Raine in his arms. His best friend was completely besotted with her. It was the first time he’d ever seen true, real emotion from his friend.
Max had always had trouble connecting with people. More often than not, people often viewed him as a robot, a scary robot, but one all the same.
Not him. He saw the man. His best friend.