Page 27 of Craving You

“Okay, okay, okay…I’ve clearly hit a nerve. Sorry. This is all kind of new to me.”

“Well, it’s new to me too, but I’m still an intelligent human being who is aware of other people’s needs.”

“Max, I said I was sorry. What more…?”

“Look, we’re all on edge. I get it. I’m going to head up to my place and just try to absorb everything that’s happened today.” But he grabbed another cookie for later. “Can I just ask a favor?”

“Of course. Anything.”

“Please ask Billie to just tread lightly for right now. Hailey’s a little overwhelmed, and we all know your wife’s heart is in the right place, but this is something we have to work out for ourselves.”

“Understood. And it goes without saying that she can stay with us as long as she needs to. She may not want to and may prefer getting a place of her own sooner rather than later, but the offer’s there.” Then he paused. “Or maybe the two of you should look for a place. Even if you take marriage off the table for now, it would make total sense to consider moving in together. It would give her some space away from prying and well-meaning family, and help her financially since she still needs to find a job.”

It wasn’t the worst idea.

“This could be the push you need to find a house too.”

“Don’t I have enough on my plate without buying a house too? And you’ve been saying there’s no rush for me to leave. I mean, between this, the potential bar, expanding my firm…” But he immediately stopped because it didn’t matter how much was on his plate; he was going to take care of all of it.

But Hailey came first.

“I’m heading up. We’ll talk at some point tomorrow.”

“Can I make a suggestion before you go?”

Max hung his head for a moment before nodding.

“Billie’s working tomorrow and then she’s going to work on payroll with Ashlynn. Maybe you should take tomorrow off and spend the day with Hailey. Alone.”

Raking a hand through his hair, he nodded again. “I can totally make that work. Thanks.”

“Make the most of the next few days because all the Donovans are going to be here this weekend,” Marcus said with a smirk.

He had briefly forgotten that.

“Then I guess that’s what I’m going to do.” And with that, he left and made his way back up to his apartment. “Stupid studio over the garage. If I had a house, I could have just taken Hailey home with me instead of the two of us living under my brother’s roof.”

And it stung.

Sitting down at his desk, Max’s mind was in total chaos. He was just starting to feel like he had a plan for his life and the universe had gone and thrown a monkey wrench into it.

But the craziest part?

He wasn’t upset about it.

He always knew he wanted to be a father someday, but in his mind, he was always married first.

“That ship has temporarily sailed.” He wasn’t giving up on it, though. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that he was going to marry Hailey. He just needed to prove to her he was worthy of her—that he could provide for her and their baby.

That was going to require a lot of trust and hard work.

On top of all the work he was doing to get his own life in order.

Shoving half a chocolate chip cookie in his mouth, he tried to figure out where to start. Getting the plan for the bar going seemed more important than ever. Having a second stream of income was going to come in handy with a baby on the way.

“So would having the money I was going to invest. Shit.” Yes, this was a potential hiccup, but his brother and Billie were both financial whizzes so perhaps they could help him work out a plan so that he could still move forward with his plans while also moving forward with getting a house for him and Hailey.

Opening up his laptop, he began searching for houses for sale in the area. He hadn’t done that in a few weeks, so maybe there were new properties available. It didn’t take long for Max to realize his heart wasn’t in it because he couldn’t seem to focus. There were two homes that had some potential, but not enough that he was ready to book a showing.

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