Hold Me Forever: a feel-good romance (The Maxwell Brothers)

Everyone was here with their car, and it took a while to put the boxes in the five trunks. It was double work because of the storage company. I was going to treat everyone to a delicious dinner tonight!

The restoration company still wasn’t done by the time everything was loaded up. I shuddered to think about how much it would cost. I told them to leave the key with my neighbor and email me the invoice.

After that, we all got in our cars. The second we were inside, it hit me that I was going to meet his parents. My palms were sweaty, and I needed a distraction.

‘Okay. What was that with your brothers and Reese before Travis called your parents?’ I asked.

‘What?” he said, but the tone of his voice clued me in that he knew exactly what I was referring to.

‘You were joking about something, but I didn’t get it. The way Luke told Travis to call your mom, it seemed like he meant more than he was saying out loud.”

Tyler took my hand, kissing the back of it. ‘Mom is going to be beside herself that she’s getting to meet you. I think that even if she didn’t have a spare space, she’d make one so we would all show up there. And yes, Reese is right. She’s instantly going to call Gran too.’

‘For what?’

‘So Gran can meet you too. Everyone’s excited.’

‘No pressure,’ I murmured.

‘There really is no pressure.’

‘Tyler,’ I said seriously, ‘No one’s done anything remotely close to what you and your family did for me today, so it is a big deal to me.’

As he stopped the car at a red light, he looked me straight in the eyes. ‘I’m here for you, whatever you need, babe. I meant what I said before.’

‘I know that now.’

He narrowed his eyes, pinching my thigh.

‘Hey, what was that for?’

‘So you didn’t believe me before?’ he asked as the car lurched forward once the light turned green.

‘I’m not proud to own up to it, but I can’t say I did. It’s just that when you’re used to not being able to trust people around you, you learn not to expect anything from them, not even when they promise it.’

‘Babe, you can always count on me,’ he said. His voice was soft, and when he looked at me, so were his eyes.

I was a bit on edge, and I wanted to diffuse the emotional tension.

“Thanks.”

“Now, let’s think of a punishment because you didn’t believe me.” His tone changed to playful as if he’d guessed exactly what I needed. He snapped his gaze back to the road.

“Oh?”

He peeked at me from the corner of his eye. “Undo the top button of your shirt.”

I burst out laughing. “My punishment is taking my clothes off?”

“I just wanted a peek, but if you’re volunteering to take everything off, I won’t say no.” He cleared his throat before adding, “On second thought, I am saying no.”

“What changed your mind so quickly?”

“We’re not alone on the street, and I don’t want anyone to see you.”

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing again. “So no peek either, then?”

He groaned, looking at me sideways. “I’m weak for you, Kendra. And you’re taking advantage of it.”

Giggling, I brought my fingers to the top button.

We arrived at his parents’ house in Forest Glen forty minutes later. At the sight of the mansion, it dawned on me that this was the Maxwell family. Oh my God. Somehow, it had been easy to forget before, when everyone had been carrying around boxes and just teasing each other like they weren’t one of the richest families in Chicago. I was a bit intimidated, especially because there was a welcome committee waiting in front of the house. It was all red brick, with white windows and doors and a gray roof.

‘These are my parents, and… Oh hell. What did Mom do? How is Gran already here?’ Tyler asked as he parked the car in the huge driveway.

I assumed Gran was the older woman with white hair pulled back at the base of her head.

I laughed nervously. ‘Who’s that next to Gran?’ I asked.

‘That’s my brother Tate.’

‘Oh, wait. I recognize him. He brought you to the first meeting, along with the woman standing next to him.’

‘That’s right. His fiancée, Lexi. And that’s my niece, Paisley. She’s Tate’s daughter from his previous marriage and one of my favorite people on the planet.”

Who’s melting hearing this sexy hunk talking like this about his niece? Not me.

“Come on, let’s get out of the car,” he said.

My legs felt like spaghetti as we walked up the front porch.

“Hi, everyone,’ Tyler said. ‘This is Kendra.’

‘Hi,’ I said before pressing my lips together. My voice sounded so high-pitched, like I was a young girl.

‘Hey, Kendra,’ Tyler’s mom said. ‘Nice to meet you. Call me Lena.’

“Emmett,” his dad offered, shaking my hand. “And this is my mom, Beatrice.”

“Everyone calls me Gran,” Beatrice said with a warm smile.

I shook everyone’s hand, including Paisley’s.

‘Thank you so much for doing this,” I told his parents. “I hope it’s okay. I’m going to check again with the storage company where my sister had her stuff before, and as soon as they have something open, I’ll take my stuff there.’

Lena smiled. Emmett was looking at Tyler, who put a hand around my shoulders, pulling me toward him. ‘Babe, relax. My parents are cool with your stuff being here until the house is ready.’

I smiled sheepishly. ‘I’m sorry. I’m just a little bit intimidated,’ I said, deciding to lay out all my cards before they thought I was a weirdo. ‘Today was tough, and I wasn’t expecting your sons and Reese to all show up and help me.’

‘Oh, they’d better,’ Emmett said in a deep voice. ‘That’s how we raised them.”

He looked toward the driveway, where four more cars pulled in, and Travis, Declan, Luke, and Reese got out.

“Dad, we’re gonna need the keys to the shed,” Travis said.

“It’s already open,” Emmett replied. “Let’s get a start on the boxes. I already put some fans in there.”

It took us about half an hour to lay the books out on the floor to dry. I took my clothes and bedsheets directly to the basement of the house, where they had two sets of professional washing machines and dryers.

“I think we can get all the loads done today,” Lena said. “There’s a quick-wash and quick-dry program.”

“That’s great.” I smiled. “Do you have any trash bags? So I can put everything in them afterward?”

“Yes I do. Come on, let’s go up.”

The house was even more spectacular on the inside. The ceiling was high, and the interior was a mix of classic and modern. I’d never seen this design before—modern light fixtures, but ornate molding on the ceiling and Persian rugs. There were pumpkins everywhere.

“I like the Halloween decor,” I said.

“Paisley had a party here for Halloween with her friends from school. She asked us to keep them for a while longer.”

‘It’s so fancy but at the same time cozy,’ I said.

“Thanks,” Lena replied. “We upgraded it a bit once the boys were older. When they were kids, we had all sort of pictures hanging up and drawings they brought home, so they could play around and touch everything.”

I loved that they did that instead of just telling them to behave so they wouldn’t ruin anything. Whenever I thought of the Maxwell family, I’d figured they’d be… different. And yet they were so down-to-earth, all of them.

We went into the living room, and Lena stepped behind their beautiful mahogany bar. Lexi, Paisley, Reese, and Gran were already here. The guys were still outside, it seemed. We all sat on the bar stools, except Gran, who sank into a plush armchair right next to it.

“What’s everyone having?” Lena asked.

“White wine for me,” Lexi replied.

“I’m with Lexi,” I added.

Reese tapped her palms against the counter, saying in a singsong voice, “I’m always up for wiiiine.”

“So am I,” Gran exclaimed.

Lena opened a white wine by Maxwell Wineries, of course, pouring it into five glasses. Paisley got orange juice. It felt like I’d barely sipped once from my drink when the guys returned, and they were a sight for sore eyes.

‘Okay. Who’s hungry,’ Travis said, ‘because I’m famished. Is there any food?’

‘No. Your dad and I were just going to have a light dinner,’ Lena said.

‘I can treat everyone to takeout,’ I exclaimed, coming down from my bar seat. ‘If you like that.’

‘We sure do,’ Luke replied.

There was a chorus of yeses, and for some reason, I felt less intimidated when they started to fight over whether to order pizza or sushi.

“We can order both,” I said in a slightly raised tone to make myself heard.

Luke grinned at me. “No, no. The whole fun is to get to agree on something.”

“It seems like it might never happen,” I replied.

Travis came up next to me. “I’m with you on this one. We never agree on food, but we always try. I don’t know why. But they better hurry up, or I’ll eat up everything Mom’s got in the fridge. I haven’t eaten anything today.”

“Thanks again for coming and helping me.’

‘No problem. I have lots of free time anyway, so I can help out with anything my family needs.’ He spoke like this was a common occurrence.

‘How come you have so much free time?’ I asked.

‘I just sold my company, and I’m in no rush to start something else. I’ve been working on it for years, so now I’m just catching up on everything I missed. It’s a bit weird, honestly, but it did come in handy when Tyler needed company.’

Gran came up next to us with her glass of wine.

‘Ma’am, your grandsons are true gentlemen. And Reese is… whatever the female equivalent is.’

‘Oh, call me Beatrice or Gran. ‘Ma’am’ makes me feel like I’m a hundred years old, and I still have eighteen years to reach that milestone.’

I laughed. ‘Okay, Beatrice.’

‘I’m glad to meet you, Kendra. I’ve heard a bit about you through the grapevine.’

‘Oh?’ I raised a brow.

‘Yes, yes. I was most curious about you.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you too. I’m happy to meet you, though I’m feeling a bit guilty that the reason we’re meeting is that I’ve roped the entire family into helping me.”

She patted my arm. “That’s what we do, child. No need to feel guilty.”

“Exactly,” Reese exclaimed, coming up to us with Lexi. “Girls, the three of us should plan something. I need new friends. My sister’s still in Paris, and since I suck at picking both guys and friends, I don’t trust anyone I’m not related to right now—or someone who my cousins didn’t choose.’

Tyler chose me.

I smiled from ear to ear, deciding not to worry about how I would pay for the catastrophe today. Instead I would just enjoy this day and this fantastic group of people.