Not even his wife.
Nine years ago, he’d been blinded by Whitney’s seemingly brilliant charms. But holding Paige in his arms, kissing her, tasting her—he swore he’d felt their hearts touch.
And he’d never in his life experienced any emotion so powerful, so strong, so true.
Paige was his sister-in-law. One of his best friends. Too good, too sweet, to be dragged any deeper into the vortex his life had become. She was untouchable.
But, God help him, he wanted her anyway.
Chapter Sixteen
“Welcome back,” Daniel said as Evan entered the conference room and took a seat at the table.
“Glad to see your seat filled again,” Sebastian said with a smile. As a media mogul and self-help guru, he was beloved to millions of people around the world. Despite that, the guy was humble. He took neither his looks nor his fortune for granted. And he thanked his lucky stars for his fiancée, Charlie.
Matt leaned back in his chair. “Things haven’t been the same without you.” Like Sebastian—and unlike Daniel in his flannel shirt—Matt wore an impeccable suit. As head of a robotics conglomerate, he video conferenced with Japanese and Chinese colleagues regularly, and formality and proper attire were akin to respect.
Only Will wasn’t here, as he and Harper were in Hawaii for their honeymoon. Evan hoped they were having a great time in the sand and sun—they both deserved it.
Looking at his friends, he realized how damn good it was to be home. “I have to admit I actually missed your ugly mugs.”
The Mavericks had been together for twenty-five years, brothers without sharing blood. They fought for one another, stood up for one another. They were the men they’d become because of one another. Evan would do anything for these guys, and they had his back in return.
In the squalid Chicago neighborhood of their youth, they’d been on the cusp of manhood when they’d sworn a pact to get the hell out. And they had all succeeded. Evan with his investments. Daniel with his hands and craftsman’s tools. Matt had employed his inventive mind. Sebastian had tapped into the perfect combination of charisma and empathy. And Will had turned his innate ability to recognize what people truly desired into an import-export empire.
Evan couldn’t have done it without them. Or without Susan and Bob. Alone, he would still be in the old neighborhood, breathing the dirty air, cowering from the ghost of his father.
The Mavericks had saved him.
He felt doubly guilty for having gone dark on them the last month. He hadn’t turned to the people who mattered to him most. He wouldn’t allow himself to make that mistake again. Not even when keeping everything locked away inside seemed to be the far easier route.
In these meetings, they normally jumped right into a discussion of any business ventures with top priority. But Evan’s life had been anything but normal lately.
“I’ve got an announcement.” He steeled himself to say the M-word. “My mother’s returned.” He paused to let that sink in before hitting them with the rest of the shocking news. “Along with a brother and sister I never knew about.”
The jaws of each and every Maverick dropped.“This has got to be a joke,” Matt said. “You’re trying to screw with us, right?”
“I wish I was.”
“Your mom?” Daniel asked, his eyebrows rising almost to his hairline.
“The one who ran away?” Sebastian added with a glower.
“Yeah. Theresa.”
“What about these two siblings you mentioned?” Daniel threw off his jacket as though the room and the conversation had suddenly gotten too hot. Which it most definitely had.
“They’re twenty-five years old. Twins.”
They all stared at him, barely blinking, obviously trying to take in what he was telling them.
“Did you even know she was pregnant when she left?” Matt looked dumbfounded.
“That was why she ran. She found out she was having two more babies.” Evan hadn’t been able to forget the way she’d said it at his house: I was so scared. Two more children for him to hurt.
Three pairs of penetrating eyes homed in on him as they digested the shocking news.
“Are you sure they are who they say they are?” Daniel sounded as suspicious as Evan had initially felt.
“Tony looks like me at that age, and Kelsey isn’t far off, just with longer hair and a heck of a lot prettier face. And their mother is definitely her.” It still felt way too raw to call her his mom.
“What the hell do they want?” Matt asked.
Matt had been through something similar when Ari’s long-lost brother, Gideon, had shown up. So far, Gideon hadn’t appeared to want anything from either Matt or the other Mavericks. Although, given that he’d made contracting and home improvement his trade after getting out of the Army, it had made sense for him to take a job working for Daniel’s company, Top-Notch DIY.
“They’ve said they’re not after my money.”
“Do you believe them?” Daniel wasn’t generally as cynical as the rest of them, but he obviously didn’t like the sound of three of Evan’s relatives showing up out of the blue.
Evan didn’t feel ready to jump in wholeheartedly either. “Paige thinks I should.”
Their collective gazes settled on him like laser pointers. “Paige met them?” Sebastian asked.
Evan worked the hardest he ever had to school his expression into something normal. A countenance that wouldn’t give away the two scandalously sexy kisses he and Paige had shared. Or the fact that he was fighting what might prove to be a losing battle against wanting even more from her. So much more.