Page 9 of The Maxwell Brothers

"Where are you?" I asked.

"I'm at the lake. There's music, and I came down to enjoy it." A few seconds later, the music was fainter. "Okay. I'm listening."

"I promised I’d be in touch. I finished the interviews, and I'm happy to say that Paisley and I would like you to start as soon as possible."

"Oh, wow. Really? That’s amazing. I thought the time issue was a deal breaker.” Her voice was a bit edgy, making me think she suspected there was another reason. She'd caught me looking at her a couple times. I had to be more careful.

No, damn it, Maxwell. What you have to do is not check her out at all.

"You’re very qualified, and you and my daughter had chemistry. It’s not ideal that you can’t continue the job after school starts, but we’ll deal with it.”

"I've been thinking about it too," she said. "You can keep looking, and if you find someone before the summer ends, I'll look for another job."

I frowned and almost asked why she needed a summer job at all. She’d briefly let it slip that she needed the extra money, and now I wanted to know why. I'd find an opportunity to ask once she started.

"I’m going to pause the search for now, and I’ll resume it at the end of summer, so don’t worry about that. Your job is secure. I think we're going to get along great," I told her. "I mean, you're not going to see much of me, of course, but I'm sure you and Paisley will get along well."

"Okay, then. I'll start Monday morning? Still nine o’clock?

"Yes. Good memory," I told her.

"Great. Did Paisley tell you what she wants to do? I'm not sure what to wear. Maybe I'll wear jeans and a T-shirt. And I can bring a change of clothes." I could tell she was mostly talking to herself now. "Something that's not too revealing."

"And why is that?"

"Oh, shoot. I didn't mean to say that out loud," she blurted, making me laugh.

"But now you’ve made me curious. Tell me, Ms. Langley."

She cleared her throat. "I meant something professional and not too revealing."

"Ms. Langley, your yellow dress wasn't at all revealing. I imagine you’d look stunning in anything you wore."

She was the one who burst out laughing that time. Damn, I liked the sound a bit too much.

“I apologize. That was out of line,” I said, determined to keep this professional.

“I didn’t think you noticed my outfit.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to say I spent half that interview memorizing every detail of her gorgeous body—but I didn’t.

“And I’m sorry. I was out of line blurting my thoughts,” she whispered. “I’ll… see you on Monday?”

“Yes. Don’t let me keep you from your evening. Have fun, Ms. Langley.”

“You too.”

I leaned back in my seat, shaking my head. I’d told myself I couldn’t even look at her, but now with one phone call I was already imagining whatfunwe could have together.

This summer was off to a dangerous start.

CHAPTER 4

LEXI

The next morning,I arrived at the Maxwell house on time. I was on pins and needles. I kept tugging at my shirt and looking down at my jeans. His words reverberated in my mind."You'd look stunning in anything you wore."A little sigh escaped my lips. If I hadn’t been thinking out loud on our call, he probably never would have said that, but still, he'd said it, and now I couldn't forget it.

I rang the bell, and while I waited, I snapped a selfie of myself and sent it to my parents. I was beyond happy that the job searched panned out this quickly. I’d spoken to the agency about getting weekly paychecks instead of monthly so they could start paying the bills as soon as possible.