The Stepbrother (Red's Tavern 5)

I’d barely be able to travel to see Sam. Even if I flew him out to New York, he wouldn’t be able to see me if I was at the office fourteen hours a day. He wouldn’t take time off from his bartending, anyway. He loved it. And I loved that he loved it.

Fuck.

Sam didn’t fit in with my life plan. He was like a big, sparkly grenade that had been thrown into my world, exploding and shattering everything that had been set in stone. It would be easier if I could just go about business as usual, following the plan that I’d always had.

I glanced out the windows of my RV, seeing Sam outside. He was laughing at something with Logan, looking happy and carefree in the morning sun. My heart ached just looking at him.

I wanted to be with him. I didn’t know what that meant, and I hadn’t had time to process all of the things I’d been feeling for Sam. But I knew damn well that I didn’t want to take off right now. I thought I’d had plenty of time left before I had to mentally prepare myself for life without Sam again.

Now it was soon. Too soon. And I suddenly felt like I was in free fall. It was strange to think that right now, this damn RV felt more like home to me than New York.

I pulled in a gulp of air. “Let me see about being back home in about five days,” I said.

“That’s too late, and you know it,” Maxine said.

I swore under my breath, clenching one fist.

“And with the rumors that are already going around about you…” she said, frustratingly trailing off before finishing the thought.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked. “Rumors about me?”

“People have seen the photos, Fox,” Maxine said. “The ones with you and your brother.”

“Stepbrother,” I corrected her quickly.

“Right, right, stepbrother,” she continued. “The photos are… cute. But it makes you seem a little unserious about your business.”

I clutched the phone harder. “Because I took a fucking vacation?”

“A vacation during one of the most crucial moments in your career,” she said, matching my tone with just as much fire in her voice. “It was crucial even before this bombshell from Ben. A vacation where you refuse to take phone meetings? Where you ignore ninety percent of my correspondence? You do realize it’s not just your own career you’re affecting here, don’t you?”

I massaged the side of my temple with my fingertips, sitting down on the edge of my bed as I cradled the phone. “Yes. I know.”

“People depend on you,” she said.

“A bunch of wealthy people depend on me,” I said, my jaw tight. “And if they didn’t have me, they’d find someone else to take my place in no time.”

“Exactly,” Maxine said. “And that’s why you need to come home. Now. Millionaires can be made overnight, and can be broken overnight. I don’t want that happening to you or me, or any of the dozens of people we work with.”

“It’s not like Chamberlight Investments will go bankrupt if I don’t take over,” I said.

“Don’t take over?” Maxine said, her voice incredulous. “Fox, what are you talking about? You’d never say no. You know there’s no one better suited for it than you.”

I was silent.

I knew she was right. I’d known it for the whole damn phone conversation. But it didn’t make me hate it any less.

I would have to figure something out. I always figured things out. Right?

“I… I’ll have to park the RV here and hire someone to drive it back,” I said. I felt like I was on autopilot, swimming through molasses as I went through the motions. For the first time on the trip, I felt my old self coming back in. Numb. Blotting out any feelings, because I had to.

“Good.”

My heart rate skyrocketed as I saw Sam stand up outside and start walking back toward the RV.

“I’ve got to go, Max. I’ll see you when I see you.”

I hung up and stood up, guilt pooling inside me like I had a ten-ton anvil on my chest. Sam walked in through the front door, a big smile on his face.

“What are you doing in here, slowpoke?” he said, walking up to me and trailing his fingertips along my waist, just above my belt.

“Stop,” I said, gripping his wrist and gently moving his arm away from me.

“Then kiss me before we have to go back out there,” he said, his eyes half-lidded, lips parted.

He looked fucking irresistible.

I wanted to lean in and kiss him, and I wanted to do so much more than that. I wanted to push him back into the bed and spend the next goddamn week with him there, just us two, naked and ignoring the entire world.

But that couldn’t happen.