16. Max
***Max***
I’d spent the entirety of my late teens and half of my twenties living without a moment of self-control and the six years since Poppy’s birth fighting to make up for it.
I was rigid with myself. I didn’t cut corners or do anything that could risk the life I still wasn’t sure I deserved.
And outside of the visits Daisy had made to the house over the previous three years, nothing tested me.
Not women. Not alcohol. Not drugs. Not a night out for fun. Nothing.
And then Daisy moved in for the summer and she was free from Tyler’s chains.
I’d always known that he made sure to keep Daisy contained as much as any man could contain a woman like her.
I’d noticed the flannel robe that matched nothing else about her.
I’d noticed the way he kept her within reach, but only when other men were around.
He’d let her work in the kitchen all alone for hours but the moment one of us walked in he was there, touching her, claiming her.
Without his toxic bullshit Daisy’s full personality and clothing choices filled the house- hell, filled the entire cove- and made my normal control as flimsy as overcooked pasta.
I’d taken to pacing my workshop to avoid the woman.
That night was no different. We were supposed to be having an adult conversation after the kids went to sleep but I couldn’t wait in the house.
Her scent filled every square inch of my home.
Her baked goods were always on display, begging me to eat every one of them.
Even her damn dog had proven to be an instrument of her destruction on my mental health and focus.
My workshop was my safe place. I was a grown ass man who needed a safe space…
It didn’t have her scent, her food, her husky voice, or any of the other things that made her such a test. It was the one place I could be alone and breathe air that hadn’t been touched by the woman.
Yet there was her dog, sitting in the open doorway, watching me with big eyes and its lip tucked into its mouth.
His teeth were showing, making him look goofy and dumb when I knew the monster was anything but.
“Get out of here, Hank.” I glared at him, knowing he was up to something. “Go back to your human.”
He tilted his head and stood up to stroll over to me.
He sat by my feet and let out a deep sigh.
His eyes were on the land outside the open door and his silence made me feel like I was a kid again, staring at nothing with my dad after a long day at the marina.
It hit me right in the chest and made me momentarily weak enough to drop my hand to his head.
I petted him once and then cleared my throat.
It was probably time to go inside and face the talk Daisy had requested.
I cracked my neck and rolled my shoulders.
I was going to have to inhale her sweet scent and listen as she and Flynn announced they’d hooked up.
My hands shook with barely controlled jealousy at the images the idea had my brain conjuring.
There was anger, too. I wanted to shake my brother and demand to know why he got to cross the line that I couldn’t.
His charm had always gotten him everything he wanted for very little cost to him and knowing that extended to Daisy made me want to strangle him.
Hank barked once and walked to the door. He looked over his shoulder, as if he was asking if I was coming. Gone was the goofy, innocent look. He was back to being so fucking human that it creeped me out at times.
“I’m coming. Don’t bark at me.” I shook my head and wiped my hands on a rag before shoving it in my back pocket and following him back to the house.
Wes was alone in the kitchen when I walked in with Hank. He looked over, noted that we’d come in together, and grunted. “Cute.”
I glared at him as I walked past to wash my hands. The oil I used on the boat tucked away in my workshop clung and I had to focus on getting it off. “He came into the workshop and didn’t eat anything. I think he likes me.”
Wes let out a low laugh. “He just stole your rag.”
I didn’t even look back. I just finished what I was doing. I wasn’t about to get into a fight with a dog when Daisy was within a thousand feet. I couldn’t be soft around her. One crack and I was going to lose every hard-fought win over my nature.
Daisy’s voice was huskier than usual when she stopped just outside of the kitchen. “I’m ready whenever y’all are.”
Even her fucking accent made my blood run hotter.
I gripped the counter hard and took a shallow breath to avoid her scent before turning and following Wes into the living room.
Flynn was already there, sitting with his legs spread and a fake smirk on his face.
I knew my brother well enough to know that he was just as unsteady as the rest of us.
I didn’t understand why he wasn’t the happiest man on the planet after touching Daisy.
Daisy was in another pair of tiny silk pajamas; her hair stacked on top of her head in the same rollers I remembered 0ur mom using when we were kids.
Her face was bare but her eyelashes still looked just as thick and dark.
Her lips, which I shouldn’t have been looking at, looked swollen and slick with some sort of clear gloss.
She looked utterly fuckable and wholly adorable in a way that twisted my mind into knots.
Her curves made me want to hold on tight and go crazy but it was that same softness that made me want to wrap her up and hold her tight.
I was lost in the war on my control when Daisy opened her mouth and started talking, changing everything with just a few stilted sentences.
“I’m just going to say it. I did make out with Flynn last night.
It was an accident, I mean, as much as any kiss can be an accident.
I didn’t plan on it. I know it’s wrong. I’m Tyler’s ex.
I should keep my eyes and lips to myself.
Without Tyler here, with me being single, I feel…
different. I’m…” She took a deep breath and tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling.
“There’s attraction. Not just with Flynn.
Everything feels different. Every interaction feels laced with more than we’re saying. I don’t think I’m imagining it.”
My heart was an angry thing banging around in my chest. Wes and Flynn had both sat forward.
The room was thick with her honesty and our shocked silence.
She was just saying the thing we weren’t supposed to say.
There was something about that courage that made her even hotter to me. The alarm bells grew louder.
“This is probably so awkward but I don’t want to tiptoe around it and make everything weird.
I’m attracted to y’all. It’s wrong and I don’t plan on doing anything about it.
I can’t. Maybe y’all don’t even feel it and this is going to be so embarrassing that it kills all my ability to feel attraction to anyone ever again.
I didn’t have these feelings when I was here with Tyler, I just want y’all to know.
I promise I’m not that kind of person. I was loyal to your brother in every way.
” She rubbed her bright red cheeks and groaned. “I don’t even know what I’m saying!”
She continued. “Back to the point. I want to apologize for crossing the line with Flynn. It won’t happen again.
I’m supposed to be here for the kids. I can keep my hands and lips to myself, I promise.
It’s the only way. But if this makes things too weird, I can go.
I already looked and there’s a little cabin with an opening for the next few days.
I could leave in the morning after saying goodbye to the kids if that would make this easier. ”
She was breathless when she finished and seemed to realize she’d just spewed out everything without a word from us.
A shame-filled look contorted her face in a way that I decided I never wanted to see again.
That’s the only reason I was willing to give for why I opened my mouth and spoke up before either of my brothers could.
“No.” The word came out harsher than I meant for it. “We’re all adults. This doesn’t need to change anything. You stay.”
Her eyes were suspiciously damp when she looked at me. “Are you sure?”
I nodded once. “The kids love you. You’re good here.”
“And we can just...ignore everything else?”
“We can keep it professional,” Wes said.
Flynn made a sound that suggested he had opinions about that, but for once he kept them to himself.
Daisy nodded, but something about her expression bothered me. Embarrassment was still written all over her face.
“And Daisy?”
She looked at me.
“You’re not imagining it.”
Her lips parted. I stood before I could make things worse. “I've got a boat to fix.”
Before leaving I took one last look at my brothers and knew that whatever promise they made to keep their hands to themselves would be in vain.
They were already staring at Daisy like starving men facing a buffet.
Luckily, I wasn’t forced to look into a mirror and see the same expression on my own face on my walk back out to my shop.