Page 26 of Wild Nights

I liked the idea of that. I worked hard, and sometimes I wasn't sure anyone appreciated it. My brothers were more annoyed than anything else when I wanted to discuss projections and cash flow.

He parked at my house, and we headed inside. Joey hugged me first, then Eli. For once, Eli was dressed casually, not in a suit.

"Enjoy your brunch," Maeve said as she gathered her things.

"Thanks for watching him last night," I said to her.

She swung her overnight bag over her shoulder and hugged Joey. "It's never a problem. I love this little guy."

Then she was gone. "Ready to eat?" I asked Joey.

"Yes."

"Uncle Eli's driving."

We helped him into the booster seat that Eli had in the back for him, and then we drove the short distance to the local breakfast place.

At the restaurant, Joey immediately started coloring on the kids' menu.

Eli leveled me with a look. "You enjoy your evening? I noticed you snuck out early."

I glanced away from him. "I wanted some peace and quiet. It's rare for me to get a night out, and the music was loud."

"Is that all it was? Xander said you interrupted his dance with Carolina and said Kylie needed to talk to him. But that wasn't the case."

I was worried about this. I hadn't been thinking when I said that. "I don't want Xander messing things up with one of our best conference organizers. Everyone loves Carolina. If he"—I glanced over at Joey, and omitted the words hooked up—"hurts her feelings she, might not want to work with us anymore."

Eli glanced at Joey and nodded. "That's a good point. Xander wants more responsibility, but he doesn't think about those things."

Xander wasn't as business oriented as we were. I wasn't sure if it was because he was younger than me and Eli. He always seemed more concerned about flirting with women than thinking about how anything would affect the resort's reputation or business prospects. I kind of thought he didn't get the business gene like me and Eli did. He might not be cut out for it.

"Are you going to give him more responsibility?"

Eli shook his head. "So far, I haven't. If I go out of town, I have you. And Mom and Dad will be home in the New Year."

"We can't expect Mom and Dad to pick up the slack. They're supposed to be retired."

"That's true."

"Maybe we can train Xander. Give him some responsibility and see how it goes. Something small he can't mess up."

Eli grimaced. "I'm not ready for that."

The waitress took our order, and Joey drew Eli into a game of tic-tac-toe. I enjoyed mornings like this one, spendingtime with my brother and my son. But I would have liked to give Carolina a proper send-off. We could have woken up together, showered, and eaten breakfast. Instead, I had to make do with a phone conversation. It wasn't ideal.

If I wasn't able to keep our time together confined to nights in a hotel room, then I'd have to break it off. I'd see her again at Christmas. Then I'd need to decide if it was healthy to continue our arrangement. I felt even more confused than the last time. It was bigger than a fling. At least for me, feelings were emerging.

I liked Carolina. I wanted to know more about her and her family. Why did she prefer to travel for her job? I wanted to know if she was happy being on the road. But none of that was any of my business. I should have been happy to check out of the situation for the next few months. It was a dream arrangement, especially for someone like Xander.

But I wasn't him. I didn't make hookups my go-to relationship. I wanted something real. So why was I wasting time getting involved with someone when the relationship could never go anywhere?

Our food came, and talk turned to the cabin expansion. Eli was excited for them to be finished so he could rent them out. But winter wasn't the best time to start construction.

I understood his frustration, but there was nothing we could do about the time of year.

"We need to decorate more for the holidays. Is there someone we could hire for that?" Eli asked.

"You want to hire someone to decorate?" I cut the pancakes for Joey.

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