Part of the Family

by Cristina Grenier

  “I had a good time tonight, Maxine. Thank you.”

  She looked him in the eye for a long moment before asking, “Why don’t you call me ‘Max’?”

  He smiled. “That’s easy. Aside from the fact that you don’t look like any Maxes I know, in my head you’re Maxine…or Minx, depending on the day.”

  She smiled shyly, and Ev found himself once more holding on to his control by a thread. It seemed he would never be normal around this woman. He waited for her response, not wanting the evening to end but knowing he had to go eventually.

  “Since I am very rarely naughty, any more than I am confrontational, I guess I’ll have to get used to Maxine, then.” She held his gaze for a moment more, adding, “I had a wonderful evening, Ev. I haven’t been to a concert in eons. It was lovely. Thank you.”

  Her still-pink lips were slightly open, and he could see a hint of teeth. He wanted to kiss her so badly his jaw ached with the suppressed need. He stepped away, plastering a fake smile on his face.

  “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, Maxine. But if I don’t leave now, I’m afraid you won’t accept my next invitation when I make it, because I’ll do what I’ve been dying to do since our last date. So I’ll say goodnight.”

  He stood still, even though he had just declared himself about to leave, because her eyes held him captive there, pinned like a butterfly.

  “What could you possibly do at my front door that would make me refuse to go out with you again?”

  “Let’s just say it would involve more than my tongue on your palm.”

  Her eyes widened, and then he saw the desire she was trying to hide slip free. God, she wanted him as much as he did her! But neither of them was ready to cross the line. He cleared his throat.

  “Say goodnight, Maxine, and go inside. Please!” he begged her.

  “Goodnight, Maxine!” she said cheekily, chuckling at his delighted grin. Humor and heat shone in her eyes.

  Then she went in and closed and locked her front door. Ev walked away shaking his head, a real smile on his face, and a lightness in his step that had been missing for far too long. When he got home, the house was silent. He checked in on Danny first, and found him fast asleep, his little body wrapped around his newest favorite toy…a boy-sized Mufasa that Jeff had brought with him when he came to stay those first two nights. Ev remembered the interview, conducted via Facetime, because he had had to stay home with Danny, but he had wanted Jeff to fill out some important forms that were in the office. Ev had had to come clean about the last nanny, though he hadn’t told Del all the reasons that he had fired her. When he had asked if Jeff had any question, the young man had only one at the time…“What’s Danny’s favorite movie?”

  Danny loved The Lion King, and Jeff had brought the stuffed animal with him as a hello gift. It was a pretty smart move for him to make. Between talking about the movie, singing the songs and admiring his new toy, Danny hadn’t had any time to feel uncomfortable with his new nanny. In fact, Danny seemed to take to Jeff rather quickly, as though the young man had put some kind of spell on him. But Ev wouldn’t complain. He’d had his new nanny a week, and he could only find fault with one thing, and it had nothing to do with how Jeff cared for his son, but with how Jeff looked after himself.

  Satisfied that his son was fine, he went into the kitchen and found everything immaculate, and a note asking if it was okay for Jeff to take Danny to the Children’s Museum the next day. Ev’s heart swelled. This was exactly the kind of person he wanted to be with his son. Since his arrival, Jeff had also managed to squeeze in a trip to the zoo, specifically to the lions’ enclosure, so Danny could indulge in one of his favorite pastimes…watching the big cats lie about, or stroll around like masters of all they surveyed. And Jeff had recorded their roars, because Danny had said he wanted to listen to them at home.

  He smiled as he left a hundred dollar bill on the table under the note. He’d talk to Jeff in the morning about his plans for the upcoming week, including interviewing the two women who were looking to fill the day hours that Jeff left vacant when he went to therapy. Ev marveled at the strength the young man showed in the face of the terrible accident that had left him temporarily paralyzed, and that would require him to continue with physical therapy for at least another year as his body knit itself back together. That he was also seeing a psychologist, because he had lost his lover in that crash, was something else that drew Ev to him. They both shared an understanding of loss.

  Ev walked into his study and poured himself a drink before he went to sit at his desk, and pulled his tablet to him. He’d begin his research into Maxine on Google, and move on from there if he needed to. He typed her name into the Search bar and began with the newest entry. It told him that she was a licensed social worker with a Masters of Social Work and a Ph. D. in psychology. She also had a Masters in Public Policy. She was more than qualified to run Hope For All, and he felt great pride in her achievements, as though she was his to be proud of.

  She was thirty-six years old, was unmarried, was an only child, and had worked on both the East and the West coasts. There were very few photographs of her outside of official events, like the seminars she used to run at the hospital, or the benefits she attended as part of her job in the hospital and in another non-profit in California. Ev couldn’t find a picture of her with any one man for more than one occasion, and there was no mention of any attachments that were not professional.

  He sat back at last, more curious about her than before he had unearthed all these new facts. Why would a woman with Maxine’s obvious charms and stellar resume be without a partner in her private life? She was the kind of woman any man would be proud to squire around, the kind he would love to boast of as his woman. So why was she gun shy? Something must have spooked her when she was still young enough for it to matter. Did it have anything to do with her parents? She had mentioned them being divorced before her mother died. And she had said she wasn’t often in touch with her father.

  He sat forward again, searching for information on her father, and found out he was Dr. Timothy Cousins, psychiatrist to the rich and famous. He was a handsome man, tall and lanky, and Ev could see where Maxine got her sharp bone structure and gorgeous smile from. There was little mention of her mother, aside from a note that he was divorced and then she had died. There was talk of him with several women, and pictures of him with many of them. Was this the reason Maxine was without a man? Did she think all men were like her father?

  He sighed heavily. He wasn’t exactly a poster boy for trustworthy men after this last year of rampant womanizing. He couldn’t blame any woman who steered clear of him with the reputation that he had. And until this point, he hadn’t really cared what anyone thought of his behavior. He was a red-blooded male with needs, and if women threw themselves at him, who was he to refuse their advances, especially when they could scratch his itch while he scratched theirs? He wasn’t up for sainthood, and he wasn’t trying to be any woman’s ideal of a forever love.

  Until now. In only a week, and after only two dates, he wanted to be something more than the man whore he had let himself become. He wanted to be more than he suspected he had ever been. Before he married Dani, he had been too busy building his business to be interested in messing around with women. He had had only two love affairs in all those pre-Dani years, and they had petered out from lack of interest on both sides. And after Dani died, when he permitted himself to feel anything again, all he allowed was lust.

  He looked at the time on the laptop…past midnight. Maxine would be asleep by now. He imagined her tangled up in her bedsheets, naked skin warm and inviting his touch. He could spoon in behind her, wrap his arms around her and listen to her breathing. Did she talk in her sleep? Was she a dreamer? Would she like to be wakened by a hand caressing her breasts, or…

  His body hardened, and he cut off the thought. It didn’t do him any good to dwell on thoughts that only made his desire for her rise like the ocean at high tide. He had to pac
e himself, let his desires simmer while he got to know her better. Shutting down the tablet, he pushed up from his chair and went to his bedroom, stripping and sliding naked beneath the sheets. The soft cloth touching his semi-hard cock was set to drive him crazy, so he turned to his side and prayed for sleep to take him away.

  “Danny, we should let your papa sleep, baby!”

  Jeff’s voice woke Ev. It wasn’t that the young man was loud so much as that the house was quiet, and he could hear a pin drop. He rolled over. Apparently Danny wanted to come in for a morning hello and Jeff was hindering his progress. Ev smiled. It appeared that the young man was taking care of him as much as he was of Danny. He rolled over, and slid out of bed, stepping into his ensuite bathroom and starting the shower. While he brushed his teeth, he tried to decide what to do with his day. Maybe he’d hang out at the museum with Danny and Jeff. It would give him a chance to observe his new nanny in action, as there had been little chance to do that in the week he’d been working for Ev.

  The shower woke him up completely, and he slid on a pair of sweatpants over his boxers and a t-shirt before heading out to the kitchen. Jeff was at the stove cooking something that smelled frankly mouthwatering and Danny was kneeling on a chair at the table, working on the woodblock puzzle Jeff had put there for him to play with. The radio was on a channel that played soothing instrumental music, and the whole atmosphere was tranquil and cozy.

  “Morning!” he said cheerfully, walking over to the coffee pot to start it.

  Jeff swung round and smiled at him. “Good morning, Mr. Morgan! I hope we didn’t wake you. Danny wanted to come in to give you a kiss, but I know you got home late so I figured I’d keep him away.”

  Ev laughed. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” He walked over to where his son knelt, absorbed in the puzzle, and ruffled his hair. “Good morning, buddy!”

  “Daddy!” Danny lifted his arms and Ev picked him up and gave him a smacking kiss on each cheek.

  “How is my big boy today?” he asked, and chuckled when Danny blew a raspberry on his cheek.

  “Good. Can we go to moo…moose…”

  Before Ev could say the word for him, Jeff interrupted. “Museum. Say it after me. Mu-se-um.” When Danny repeated it dutifully a few more times, Jeff said, “Okay, now say it again without me.”

  “Myoo-zee-um,” Danny said proudly, and Jeff, who had come to the table with a huge omelet on a plate, reached over and ruffled his hair.

  “Good boy!” he said. “I’m so proud of you.”

  Ev took the opportunity to study at the remarkable young man who had just spent the last few minutes teaching his son a little lesson in patience and perseverance. He couldn’t stem the admiration that had him saying,

  “You’re really very good with him! I know I wasn’t this good with kids when I was your age.”

  Jeff blushed, making Ev smile. “My mom and my friends all tell me the same thing. I dunno…I just feel a connection to kids, so it’s easy for me to be patient with them, you know?”

  Ev nodded and went to pour himself a cup of coffee. “Want some?” he asked Jeff. He already knew the answer, but he asked anyway.

  “I’ll get it later,” Jeff said. “Would you like some omelet?”

  “Don’t mind if I do,” Ev said. “What about you?” He waited, hoping the young man would not refuse to eat again.

  Jeff looked at him and something must have shown in his face, because he said, “Okay, I’ll just have a small piece with a slice of toast.”

  Ev breathed a sigh of relief. He hoped he wouldn’t come back out later to find the toast and omelet still in a plate in the microwave.

  “Would you like toast or a bagel?”

  “I’ll toast a bagel, thanks, Jeff. You sit and eat.” He wanted to make sure Jeff got something inside him before they went traipsing off with Danny to the museum.

  After breakfast, as Jeff was packing the dishwasher, Ev asked, “What time do you plan to go? I might come along for the ride.”

  “I figured I’d wait till around noon,” he said. “I have some things I need to do before we go.”

  “No problem. Call me when you’re ready. I’ll take us down and back.”

  Jeff turned away to put the last plate in and then said, “Oh, by the way, I put the newspaper on your desk.”

  “Thanks, man.” Although Ev enjoyed the ease that technology brought into his life, he still loved the feel of the Sunday paper in his hands. He took a second cup of coffee with him into his study and sat at the desk reading the headlines, and the articles that caught his eye. And then he saw it. In the Lifestyles section, in an article about the Boston Pops tour, a picture of him with Maxine leaving the concert hall. He was helping her into the car, and though half her face was hidden in that picture, the one that came after, in a second article about notables at the concert, showed the world exactly who he had been escorting to the event.

  He wondered if she got the Sunday papers as well, and if she did, what she thought about the article. The first one was fairly innocuous, although it did seem to suggest that she was his newest conquest.

  “After disappearing from the public stage for over three months, the very eligible Everett Morgan was spotted after the concert leaving with Maxine Cousins, new Director of the city’s largest non-profit, Hope For All. Dr. Cousins and Mr. Morgan were last seen together at the Hope For All holiday gala a week earlier. Could this be the beginning of a new relationship?”

  Ev shook his head. Why couldn’t he go out with a woman without it being the start of something new? Was it impossible for a man and a woman to just be friends? He sighed. In this case, he wanted to be more than friends with Maxine, but he would settle for that if it was all she could give. Better friendship than nothing at all. His eyes went to the second article.

  “Mr. Everett Morgan, the wealthy philanthropist, is also well-known as one the city’s most sought-after partners, and has been seen out and about with a number of highly desirable society women. His name has been linked to more than one such beauty in the past year, with speculation riding high that he was re-entering the dating pool two years after the tragic death of his wife, artist Danielle Morgan. So far none of these women have had the staying power we would expect from a consort of the eligible bachelor. All eyes will no doubt now be focused on Dr. Maxine Cousins, new director of the Hope For All foundation, with whom Mr. Morgan was spotted last evening at the Boston Pops concert.”

  Knowing what he wished to have with Maxine, and knowing that she was apparently wary of men, he couldn’t imagine her being happy with the article. But as she said, she’d have to get used to the paparazzi now that she was a bigwig in the city. And he’d be happy to stay at her side, helping her to navigate these uncharted waters. He picked up his cellphone. He would call her, find out if she had seen the article, and listen to her speak into his ear, before he went out to spend the afternoon with his son.

  Chapter 8: Mixing Business with Pleasure

  After hanging up the last of the ironing, Maxine took her e-reader with her into the living room, pushed the cats to one side of the loveseat and settled herself in for a read. She had her phone with her, in case anyone — she refused to think Ev — wanted to talk to her. She was feeling strangely antsy and she hoped that reading would distract her from whatever was making her feel so out of sync.

  When her cellphone rang, she had just gotten to a critical part of the erotic romance thriller, but she picked it up automatically and said, “Hello?”

  “Good morning, Maxine.”

  The sound of Ev’s voice made her shiver, and whatever had been sitting on edge inside her seemed to settle. “Good morning,” she replied. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  A pause, then, “Is it? A pleasure, I mean? Do you find pleasure in speaking with me, Maxine?”

  Way to ratchet up a conversation from zero to a hundred in six seconds, Ev!

  “You’re not shy, are you?” she asked, chuckling instead of responding to his quest
ion in any way.

  “And you’re not answering, are you? I can tell an evasion as well as the next man, Maxine. So answer me, or I’ll take your evasion as a yes.”

  He was in some kind of masterful mood today, it seemed, and the part of her that wasn’t annoyed with him for being pushy was aroused by the idea that he wanted her to be happy talking to him. She’d not been in any relationships with men where she had been simultaneously relaxed and cautious before. Everett Morgan confused and unsettled her, and yet she felt herself drawn to him as to a fire on a winter’s night. Even now, just listening to him wait for her answer was a kind of excitement she had never had in her life before with anyone.

  “Yes, I like talking to you,” she admitted. “Satisfied?”

  “Immensely,” he replied at once. “And the feeling is mutual.”

  “So now will you answer my question?” she asked, again not addressing his statement. She still wanted to know why he’d called, even if she was happy he liked talking to her, too.

  “Would you believe me if I told you I wanted to hear your voice?”

  He didn’t sound as though he was teasing her, but she would act on the assumption that he was, because she couldn’t see his face, and it was probably safer that way.

  “I would be…skeptical,” she said.

  “Despite what I just told you? Have I given you any reason so far to think I would prevaricate?”

  “No …” How could she explain her mistrust without sounding like an uptight old maid?

  “I don’t know what you’ve experienced before in your relationships with other men, Maxine, but I can promise you that the one thing I will not do with you is lie to you. Whatever I say to you will be true. ”

  This time, there was no mistaking his sincerity. Max didn’t know how to respond to his declaration, so she remained silent and waited to hear what he would say next.

  “There is another reason I called, though, in addition to wanting to hear you.”