by Lori Ryan
“What?” Shawn nearly shouted.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, Mags?” Max asked simultaneously.
“I wish I was, guys,” she said with a look of genuine apology on her face. “I know this cuts your build-out time—”
“Almost in half, Maggie,” Shawn stormed. “In half!”
“It’s only ten days early,” Ben said.
“Yeah, but that means I have to get the inspectors out here even earlier,” Shawn said.
“I know. I’m so sorry,” Maggie said again. “We would never have done this to you if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”
Shawn fell back in his chair, head tilted up as he closed his eyes and raked his fingers through his hair. It was starting to feel like he was one of the family nowadays, but Max wondered if they’d just pushed him too hard. “Shit,” he murmured.
It was unlike Shawn to curse.
“I’m already pushing these guys, Maggie,” Shawn said, finally lifting his head. “Half of them come from other towns. The drive is killing them.”
“We can all pull together,” Ben assured him. “We can hire extra people, shuttle them in from other towns. They can even stay here in the lodge. We’ll be all-hands-on-deck. Whatever we need to do, Shawn. We’ll do.”
Max didn’t say anything. His knee was hurting him like a son-of-a-bitch and he honestly didn’t know how he could push himself even more, but his family needed him now and he wouldn’t let them down. He let out a deep breath while the others talked, then raised his head and turned to Shawn.
“It’s gotta be done, man, so let’s talk logistics.”
Maggie reached into a folder and drew out a stack of papers, taking one from the top and passing it around. Max should have known there was bad news when he saw a red folder in Maggie’s hand. She always stored schedules in a red folder.
“Shawn, this was your original build-out schedule.” Maggie slid the paper she’d pulled off the stack over to Shawn.
Max took the stack of papers his mother handed him, pulling off a sheet for himself before passing it on.
“I know the original build-out schedule was tight,” Maggie continued, “and cutting it even by ten days will really screw you over. I have faith in you though, Shawn. We all do.”
Max glanced at Shawn who was studying the sheet as he scrubbed his fingers through his shaggy blond hair. The man was oblivious to Maggie’s attempts at flattery.
“I think if we started from the top of the list…”
Max listened as Maggie negotiated what items could be sped up and what items could be put off until later, her words trailing off.
He watched his future sister-in-law in awe. When he’d first come back to Canyon Creek amidst his family’s turmoil over possibly losing the land that had been in his family for generations, Maggie hadn’t always seemed sure of her position at the lodge.
It had taken her awhile to get her footing as the General Manager of the Lodge at Canyon Creek. But now here she sat, unafraid to do the hard things that had to be done. Not only did she love his brother and his mother, she loved this lodge and the land as if it were her own. And on top of all that, she was planning her own wedding. Suddenly he saw the exhaustion on her face. She was wearing herself thin at a time when she should be enjoying preparations for her wedding.
Max glanced down at the sheet, not really paying attention to the dates and details. All he knew was he would do this, for his sister-in-law and his family, no matter the cost or the pain.
“We can do it, Maggie,” Max said, raising his head to smile at her.
Her green eyes caught his, wide with concern, worry lines etched across her forehead.
“We can do this,” he repeated. Max turned to Shawn and gave him a look. It was the kind of look that said, we can suck this up for Maggie. “Can’t we?”
“Uh, sure, yeah, Mags,” Shawn said, his declaration unsure. “We can work this out. Don’t worry about it. Max and I will look at the schedule and come up with something that works.”
Max turned his attention back to Maggie. Tears filled her eyes. “I truly don’t deserve you,” she said. Her gaze darted around the table. “This family, what you’ve done for me…”
Ah, hell. If there was anything worse than a crying bride-to-be, Max sure as shit couldn’t think of it now. He hoped this wasn’t a precursor to what life working in a wedding barn would be like—psycho brides who could cry at the drop of a hat.
“What’s the event we’re speeding up this whole build-out for anyway?” Emmett asked, thankfully changing the subject.
Maggie quickly wiped her cheeks and sat up.
“An employee appreciation party for an investment firm from New York. They want to do a weekend retreat and they’re going to stay over at the ski resort, but the resort’s event center is booked for something else.”
“I thought it was a wedding barn?” Emmett said.
“Right now, it’s an anything-we-can-book barn,” Maggie said.
“Warner suggested the barn,” his mother said. “I think Sally told him about the loan and what we’re going through.”
Leave it to Aunt Sally to blab her mouth to the competition. Despite his original protests, it seemed their families were now working with each other. Whatever.
It was a change from the generations of feuds the families had in the past, but the current generation hadn’t much cared about the old arguments. Now that Emmett was engaged to Warner Noble’s daughter, Max guessed their involvement couldn’t really be helped. Not to mention they were all reasonably sure Aunt Sally was sleeping with Elle’s father, Warner. Who knew they’d been in love since high school and just never acted on it?
“Does Warner know I might shove a hammer in his hands and put him to work?” Shawn asked. “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
“I know he’ll help if we need it,” Valerie said.
“Okay, Max, let’s meet up in say,” Shawn glanced down at his watch, “an hour in the office and we’ll come up with a new schedule.”
“Sounds good,” Max said as he rose from his chair.
“We’re having dinner at my house tonight, Shawn,” his mother said. “I’d love it if you could come.”
Shawn glanced down at the sheet then raised his head and gaped at Max’s mother like she had three heads.
“I mean, well…” she stuttered, “you could take a break. I mean we, we could take a break from work and eat.” It seemed to be dawning on her that they would all be wielding hammers and saws if they wanted to get this project done on time. Max wondered if his mother even knew the difference between a hammer and a screwdriver.
“You’re not getting anywhere near that construction site, Ma,” Max said. After her heart attack scare a few months ago, just weeks after his father’s passing, he and his brothers had been coddling her. Thankfully the episode had been diagnosed as an anxiety attack and everyone had tried to ease her stresses. Speeding up this build-out would not help.
“Yes, really, Valerie,” Shawn said with a small smile. “Max and I can handle this.”
“I’ll bring you some dinner,” she said. “I’ll bring all of you dinner. In fact, it will be like a huge picnic in the barn.” She beamed as if she now had a purpose, and she was probably as glad as Max was that it didn’t involve a drill.
“That sounds amazing, Valerie.” Shawn smiled. “Thank you.”
“I’ll meet you in the office in an hour?” Max said.
“Yeah,” Shawn answered, pushing up from his chair. “I just want to go check on the crew and grab a bite to eat.”
“Oh, I’ll walk you over to the bakery,” Valerie said. “I can have Sally whip something up I’m sure, a sandwich maybe.”
“Why doesn’t she sell more than bakery stuff there, Ma?” Emmett asked. “She’s a great cook. We could make it more of an eatery than just coffee and cake.”
“We talked about that in our brainstorming meeting last month,” Ben said as he helped Maggie from he
r chair. She looked wiped out and Max couldn’t help wonder if she was getting sick. That would be horrible, right before her wedding.
They all began moving toward the door. “We can talk about it after the wedding,” Maggie said. Thankfully, she looked like she was going to be the sane one who put a stop to his mother’s expansion plans on any more of the lodge’s services until they got a handle on the wedding barn. Hopefully, she’d have more luck than he and his brothers had been having lately. His mother had been intent on growing the business before his father died, but now, she seemed driven to make the lodge the biggest business in the area.
Max turned his thoughts to the wedding barn. He knew cutting the build-out schedule even by a week would be a nightmare. Ten days was insane. He wanted to help Shawn as much as he could. Not lingering any more, he made his way down the hall and to the huge room that held the desks of all the heads of staff for the lodge. While he and Shawn didn’t necessarily hold a specific seat, he knew he’d find an empty one. The day-to-day business of running a hotel meant people rarely sat at their desks.
Pushing open the door, Max made his way to Ben’s desk, sitting down and examining the spreadsheet Maggie had just handed out. Christ, how were they going to do this?
Before he could really dive in, his phone vibrated in his jeans. He pulled it out with an expectant smile.
HOT MINX: What are you doing, Stud Muffin?
Max chuckled. He and Devlin had been texting—okay sexting—a lot after their night in Denver. She was on assignment in Mexico doing some swimsuit photo shoot for a travel magazine.
MAX: Looking at a boring spreadsheet. What are you doing?
HOT MINX: Do you really want to know?
MAX: If you’re sitting on a beach, sipping a fruity cocktail then no, I don’t want to know.
HOT MINX: I wish. I’m guessing you’ll think this is a lot better than drinks.
MAX: What?
HOT MINX: Taking pictures of half-naked women. They’re soaking wet, standing in the ocean.
He wanted to see her half-naked, maybe in a red string bikini and wet, for him.
MAX: Send nudes.
HOT MINX: Not funny.
MAX: Do you need an assistant? I could help the models change, maybe rub oil on them.
HOT MINX: Uh, no. Stewart helps me out just fine.
Stewart? Who the hell was Stewart? He didn’t type the question, but she answered it anyway.
HOT MINX: He’s my assistant.
Why hadn’t Max ever heard of Stewart before? And why the hell was he suddenly feeling territorial and jealous? Devlin and he were just friends with benefits. They’d agreed. Her time in Colorado would be short and they decided to keep it light, knowing each of them wanted different things. Didn’t they?
HOT MINX: My very hot, gay assistant.
MAX: You had to add hot didn’t you?
HOT MINX: Yeah, I kinda did.
Three seconds later she sent an emoji with hearts for eyes. Devlin and her emojis. He laughed.
MAX: I said send nudes not hearts.
HOT MINX: Of me or the models?
MAX: Either, I’m not picky.
He almost stopped himself from hitting send on that one. The fact he wanted to stop the urge was enough to make him hit send. He couldn’t let this go further than it had. He needed to keep this light and completely noncommittal.
HOT MINX: Ass.
MAX: Maybe, but if I recall you said I had a great ass.
HOT MINX: Don’t let it go to your head.
Head? Max groaned. That word brought too many images to mind. Devlin’s head buried between his legs. His head buried between hers. He readjusted his dick that was now growing.
“What are you doing, brother?”
Max jumped at the sound of Emmett’s voice. He turned and saw his brother staring at him, smiling like he knew exactly what Max was doing.
HOT MINX: Okay, gotta go, sweet cheeks. Duty calls.
MAX: Talk to you tonight?
HOT MINX: If I can get away. We’ve got a late-night photo shoot.
MAX: Well, if you can’t talk, send nudes.
Devlin filled the screen with emojis, crying with laughter. At least she appreciated his crass humor.
MAX: Miss you.
Oh, God. Miss you? Where the hell had that come from? He was turning into the biggest pansy on earth. His fingers had typed out the two words and hit send before his brain could stop himself. Silence rang through the air waves. He’d gone too far. They’d agreed this was casual.
HOT MINX: Miss you too, Stud Muffin ;)
A few moments later she sent a picture of her pink-painted toes burrowed in the sand with a caption, ‘Wish you were here!’.
“Aw, that’s so sweet. Heart emojis,” Emmett cooed, reading the screen over Max’s shoulders.
When had Emmett come so close? Max tucked his phone into his pocket, turning to glare up at his brother. “Fuck off,” he pushed at him. “Don’t you have a fiancée to bother? Or a book to write?”
Emmett fell into the chair opposite Max. “Nope. Book is on schedule. And my fiancée is still in Denver.”
“What for?”
“She and Lily are checking out some wedding place, looking at ideas for the barn.”
“And you didn’t want to tag along?”
“Hell no,” Emmett said, lifting his legs and propping his feet on Ben’s desk.
“Too bad.” He shook his head. Emmett could be annoying as hell sometimes.
Emmett laughed. “So, what’s the deal with you and Devlin?”
Like now. Max bent his head and studied the spreadsheet, trying to prioritize the tasks they still needed to do to complete the build-out. And avoid his brother’s question.
“Not gonna answer, huh?” Emmett pressed.
Max remained silent.
“That must mean it’s getting kind of serious.”
“It’s not getting serious, you jackass. We’re just…” We’re just what?
“Uh-huh,” Emmett said.
Max turned and with one swift move, knocked Emmett’s feet off the desk, nearly sending him toppling over. Instead of getting pissed and starting a fist fight like the old days, Emmett righted himself in the chair and burst into laughter.
“You are so screwed, bro,” Emmett said, shaking his head.
“No, I’m not.” Yes, yes you are.
Devlin was becoming more important to Max than he wanted. He was sharing things with her, private things that he’d never shared with anyone. He’d told her about his fears now that football was no longer a part of his life, about his pain and how he tried to manage it without drugs. But he hadn’t told her
“Dude,” Emmett said, “you text her like a hundred times a day, talk to her every night.”
“What the hell? Are you stalking me or something? And how do you know who I’m talking to?”
“I can tell exactly who you’re talking to because you have that sappy ass look on your face.”
“And what look is that?”
Emmett’s face morphed into the sappiest mask Max had ever seen, his head tilting and resting on his hands as his eyes fluttered.
“God, please tell me I’m not as ugly as you.” Max tossed a paper clip.
Emmett ducked, then righted himself. “You’re totally falling for this girl.”
“Piss off. I am not.”
“Are, too.” Emmett laughed.
Max grumbled but bit down on the urge to throw another denial at Emmett. They weren’t in third grade.
“Hey, I’m just fuckin’ with you, man,” Emmett said. “But it is good to see you smile.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I know you’re in pain, Max,” Emmett said, sounding no more surprised than if he were rattling off the weather forecast.
Max’s head fell as he returned his attention to the spreadsheet, focusing on nothing in particular now. He wanted the conversation over. Like, ten minutes ago.
“Okay, man,
I get it.” Emmett stood and reached across the desk between them, slapping him on the shoulder. “We won’t talk about it. We’ll be men and bury it deep in our psyche where we never have to acknowledge it. Just let me know what you need me to do at the barn. I’m all in for the next two weeks. We’re putting everything else on hold to help out.”
“Who’s we?” Max asked.
“Ben will be there. And Tanner and Brody said they’d come for a few days over the next couple of weeks. They don’t have to be at the resort every day.”
Tanner and Brody were Elle’s brothers. The Noble family had warred with the Sumners over family feuds that went back generations, but their generation was putting an end to it, or so it seemed. Although Max hadn’t been friends with Tanner and Brody when they were growing up, he hadn’t had anything against them, for the most part. He’d steered clear of them only because of their last name.
As a teenager, it hadn’t occurred to him that judging them by their last name because of some centuries old family feud was stupid. Now, just how idiotic the whole thing was had become all too evident to him. Elle was going to be family.
Still, the fact that Tanner and Brody would take time away from their own family’s business to help out his family wasn’t something he’d been expecting. “Wow, that’s really cool of them.”
“Her brothers are actually pretty great once you get to know them.” Emmett smiled. Max had forgotten that soon, the Nobles would become Emmett’s family too. It was nice to see that family mattered to them as much as it did to the Sumners.
Max nodded, but then remembered what this all meant. A hell of a lot more work from him and Shawn. “Look, I have to get to this spreadsheet before Shawn gets back.”
“Sure man, I’ll let you get to it.” Emmett turned to leave but turned back at the last minute. “You know, it’s not so bad, Max.”
Max took in his brother’s dopey-ass grin. “What’s not so bad?”
“Being in love. Trusting another person.”
Ah, hell. Not the love speech. “Says the man who turned his back on the love of his life for,” Max glanced up at the ceiling, “oh, yeah, his entire freaking life.”
Elle and Emmett had been best friends growing up, and would have probably grown into something more if not for a misunderstanding in high school. It was only recently that they found each other again and decided to give love a chance.