"Should I be afraid?"
"No, just prepared."
“You know, you talk a big game, Tyler, but I only got two kisses out of it all.”
“That’s because I want you to trust me first, implicitly. And we’re not there yet.”
She gasped. “Why would you say that? I mean… did I do anything that made you think that?”
“No, it’s a guess. Am I wrong?”
“I do trust you. More than any guy, but I’m… careful. I’ve always been like this.”
I understood. Her life hadn’t been easy, and she always needed to fend for herself. I didn’t want to move too fast. I wanted us together on her terms.
“I thought so.”
After a brief pause, she added, “I love that you want to do this for them.”
“I love that you’ll be there.”
“With a bunch of others.”
“We’re going to sneak in some alone time. You should expect a lot of flirting,” I said.
“And you should expect the same in return. A word of warning. You might not be able to handle it.”
I grinned at the thought. “Game on.”
CHAPTER 9
TYLER
"This place is like a time capsule,"I said. I was at The Happy Place, Gran’s bookstore, ready to pick up my cousins, Kimberly and Reese. We would meet my brothers at the bar on top of their building, where they all had offices, except for Sam and me, obviously. We were the odd ducks in the family who chose not to go into our own businesses.
“I know, right. I'm happy Gran preserves it this way," Reese said. When my family sold the bookstore business, Gran insisted on keeping this one because it was the first one she opened with our grandfather.
"Okay, you ladies ready to go?" I asked.
"Yes we are."
“How is the jet lag, Kimberly?”
“Not too bad. I’m just generally tired because we’ve had a few intense months.”
“You could take it easier,” I suggested. “You don’t have to prove anything to anyone, you know.”
She worked in Paris for a travel agency and literally traveled everywhere to scout out the best spots for her clients. She worked hard and barely had time to visit us. I asked her onceabout it, and she said she didn’t want to live off her trust fund. She wanted todosomething.
“Look who’s talking,” she said with a wink. “Mr. Superstar Goalie, remind me, who was training overtime as soon as you started on the team? Just to prove to your teammates that the Blades didn’t take you just because you’re a Maxwell?”
I scoffed. “I didn’t do it just because of that. I like being at the top of my game.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes I do,” I admitted. We all had that need inside us to prove to ourselves that we were more than heirs to the Maxwell fortune. Kimberly even took it a step further and moved to France, where no one knew us. She could have gone to London, where we had a billion cousins from Mom’s side, but she chose Paris instead.
“Anyway, I don’t want to be a travel agent forever, but I like it for now. Besides, it gives me a chance to pop over to London to meet our dearest cousins… and Dad.”
