Last on the List (Wait With Me #5)(19)

“Dad,” Everly groans and rolls her eyes just like Lennon did.

“Do you want to take the girls up and show them your room?” I ask, desperate to get past the eye-rolling phase of the evening.

“I want to see your room,” Claire chirps, saving all of us from awkward doom. Or “Awkward City,” as Cassandra would say.

Lennon glances up at Josh with a too cool for school look but follows the girls into the house and up the winding staircase.

“Dude…if I end up with three girls in my life…send whiskey. Lots and lots of whiskey,” Josh says, shifting Julianna over to his other hip.

I laugh and hear Lynsey’s voice squeak from behind Josh. “You’re in my way, babe.”

Josh moves inside to reveal his wife, Lynsey, weighed down with a beach bag, three life jackets, a pool noodle, and a round charcuterie board overflowing with meats and cheeses.

“I told you I had the food all covered.” I cut a look to my buddy as I take the board from Lynsey’s struggling hands.

“She wouldn’t listen,” Josh huffs, eyeing his wife with a knowing look.

“Charcuterie isn’t food. It is life!” Lynsey proclaims, looking mildly less stressed now that I’ve taken it off her hands. “Let’s see this big ass pool Josh wouldn’t shut up about!”

I place the charcuterie board in the kitchen where Michael’s assistant is setting up a buffet and lead Josh, Lynsey, and Julianna out back. Lynsey instantly puts a life jacket on Jules, who’s looking pretty comfortable in her dad’s arms and nowhere near ready to get in the water. Everly, Lennon, and Claire dart past us, wasting no time jumping off the diving board. I watch cautiously for a moment and feel relieved when I see they’re decent swimmers. I don’t need to perform two water rescues this week.

Miles and Kate show up next, an adorable redheaded little boy named Tucker in tow. He’s four months old but looks like he’s going to be a bruiser like his dad. Dean and Norah arrive next, and I take a moment to congratulate them on their engagement that happened a couple of months ago at a concert. I’ve known Dean for years, and I was certain he would be a terminal bachelor with me until we were old and gray. I guess he fell in love with more than just Norah’s croinuts.

I pull Norah into my bedroom/office to have her sign some documents that popped up for her this week.

“This is weird signing papers in your bedroom,” Norah says with a laugh. “I couldn’t believe you weren’t in the office this week.”

“Trust me, more work gets done in here than sleep. Why do people keep freaking out about me not being at my office?” I ask, handing her a pen and opening the document to the pages she needs to sign. “I’m not that much of a workaholic, am I?”

Norah’s brows lift. “Let’s be honest, Max. You’re the CEO of Fletcher Industries. You probably should have handed me off to one of your client managers months ago.”

I shrug. “I keep all my favorite clients. Plus, I’m an investor in your franchise so helping you helps me.”

“I appreciate that, but you’re a full-time dad this summer. You need to let some things go and enjoy your time with Everly.” She gets a soft look in her eye, and I swear I see her hand touch her stomach.

I’m just about to ask her a question when we’re interrupted by Kate banging on the deck slider. She opens it up and her eyes sweep the room. “So this is where the millionaire Max’s magic happens.” She waggles her eyebrows lasciviously and runs her hand along the duvet that covers my king-sized bed. “I like the color. It’s very Christian Grey of you.”

“Would you stop with the Christian Grey jokes?”

“You’re the richest guy I know nonfictionally. Christian Grey is the richest guy I know fictionally. I love to draw parallels in my life. Now show me to your red room of pain.”

“There is no red room of pain in this house. And no magic happens in this house. This house is for my kid,” I groan with irritation, running a hand through my hair. I never bring women back here. Not even when Everly is at her mother’s. I prefer to keep my life as a single man in Boulder very separate from my life with Everly. Most of the women I sleep with don’t even know I have a kid.

Kate doesn’t look like she believes me. “What about that chick in Aspen I met? She’s never come to Boulder for a visit?”

“No…what I do in Aspen stays in Aspen.”

“So that’s where the red room is.” Kate laughs, and Norah looks decidedly uncomfortable.

“Let’s save the dirty stuff for your books, Kate.” I wrap my arm around her and gesture for the door. “This conversation requires alcohol.”

“I’m just trying to figure you out, Max,” Kate states, eyeing me speculatively. “Every millionaire has a kink.”

I exhale through my nose. “Boy, I really love seeing you, Kate.”

We head outside just as Sam and Maggie arrive. Sam owns Tire Depot in town and has done all the work on my dad’s construction vehicles for years, so I know him pretty well. His wife, Maggie, I don’t know as well because she’s not originally from Boulder. She’s Miles’s little sister, and apparently, it was a whole ordeal when the two of them hooked up. But obviously, everyone got over that little hiccup because they were married over the winter and seem to be doing well.