Hold Me Forever: a feel-good romance (The Maxwell Brothers)
Hold Me Forever: Chapter 32

Several things were true in the Maxwell family.

One: birthday parties were huge events.

Two: Gran’s birthday party was not. She always insisted we keep it in the family. She chose a different way to celebrate every time. Sometimes we went somewhere outside the city, or we went to a restaurant. This year, she wanted a cookout in my parents’ yard. It was cold, two weeks before Christmas, but what Gran wanted, she got.

I arrived alone, later than all my brothers. Sam was here too, and he was staying over Christmas. Reese wasn’t here. She’d gone to Paris to visit Kimberly and was supposed to fly in this morning, but her flight was canceled, so she was returning tomorrow instead.

Kendra texted me that she was running late because of traffic.

My brothers were at the huge bar in the living room as usual. Travis was behind it, mixing drinks. Declan, Luke, and Tate were standing in front of it.

Gran, my parents, Sam, Lexi, and Paisley were sitting around the dining room table. I went to greet them first.

“Happy birthday, Gran.”

“Thank you, my boy.”

I turned to Sam. “Welcome back, brother.”

“Thanks.” He shook my hand, patting my shoulder. I took a good look at him. He had dark circles under his eyes. The first few days when he was back, he always looked exhausted, and I knew it wasn’t just because of jet lag. His work abroad wasn’t easy.

“Are we starting the cookout now?” I asked.

Mom shook her head. “We’ll wait for Kendra.”

“Okay.” I headed to the bar with Sam, inspecting the bottles when I came closer.

‘Man, what’s wrong with you?’ Travis asked. ‘You look like you might need whiskey.’

“You know what, why not? Might be good for inspiration.”

Declan cocked a brow. ‘And you need that why?’

“To propose.” I said the words loudly and with full confidence, taking advantage of the fact that Kendra wasn’t here.

My brothers all started to talk at the same time.

“Holy shit. I go away for a few months and another Maxwell plans to get married?” Sam asked, stunned. Unlike Kimberly, he didn’t want to be part of the family WhatsApp group. He said it distracted him from work.

“You have a lot to catch up on, brother,” I said.

Travis whistled loudly. ‘I’ll make it a double.’

‘Anyone have any advice?’ I asked. Creativity was not my forte.

Travis put a double whiskey on the bar. ‘Just go with the flow, man.’

Luke shook his head. ‘Dude, what flow? He’s out of ideas.’

‘Surprise her with a trip,’ Declan suggested.

Luke groaned. “I think he can figure the trip for himself.”

I stared at Luke. ‘Dude, do you have any constructive advice, or are you planning to just shoot down everyone else’s ideas?’

Luke held up his hands in defense. ‘No I don’t, and unlike some in our family, I don’t like to talk just to talk.’

“I have no advice, but this is fun,” Sam said. “Man, I’ve missed this.”

‘Hey, the idea with the trip isn’t that bad,’ Tate said. ‘You could ask the rest of the family to get involved in getting her where you want. Like me. Make it a surprise.’

He’d done well. I was the one helping, but that wasn’t what I wanted to do. I rubbed my chin, taking a sip of the whiskey.

‘I don’t want to do the same trick,’ I admitted.

‘Dude, it’s not the idea that matters. It’s the execution,” Travis said.

‘Who’s saying that?’ asked Declan.

Travis rolled his shoulders, puffing out his chest in a ridiculous way. ‘I am.’

I chuckled. ‘That sounds like Travis wisdom. No offense, man.’

‘Right, people only say ‘no offense’ before or after saying something offensive, and that’s universally known wisdom. But today, I’m cool as a cucumber.’

I laughed and mentally admitted that this wasn’t the right bunch to ask for advice on this topic. Aside from Tate, they had zero experience.

A few minutes later, Paisley, Lexi, Mom, Dad, and Gran joined us at the bar, sitting in the armchairs in front of it. It took Gran exactly five seconds to narrow her eyes and point at my brothers.

‘What’s going on? You lot look like you’re giving Tyler here a hard time.’

Damn. One of these days, I was going to find out how Gran could pick up on exactly what we were doing every time.

I shook my head. “They’re not giving me a hard time. I asked for help, and they’re just being obnoxious. Business as usual.’

‘Then why don’t you ask Gran for advice, you ungrateful little brother?’ Luke asked.

He had a point. Gran also had a sixth sense when it came to stuff like this. But first, I needed to give Luke some shit.

‘You’re the only one who didn’t even give me advice,’ I reminded him.

“No, I’m doing my job of playing devil’s advocate. That’s the most efficient way to rile up the others, and they have the best ideas when they’re riled up. And you don’t appreciate it one bit.”

That was Luke to a T.

I looked at Gran and also at my parents. While I liked asking my brothers for their opinions, I usually didn’t just broadcast whatever was happening to the entire family over dinner. Then again, I was in search of ideas, and I was never proud of asking others.

“I want to propose to Kendra, and I’m still in the early stages of planning it. Ideas are welcome. I need it to be perfect.”

Sam chuckled. “You always do. It’s ‘go big or go home’ for you, no matter what you do.”

My mother clasped her hands together, smiling from ear to ear. “Darling, that’s great news. Oh, I’d lost hope that you boys would ever find partners, and now you and Tate are getting married.”

“Did she just call us hopeless?” Travis asked no one in particular.

“She did,” Declan answered with a laugh.

“Congratulations, son,” Dad said. “I’m not the creative mind of the family, so I’ve got no input.”

“You can take her out to a fancy restaurant,” Mom said.

Gran pointed at me. ‘Tyler, out of all your brothers, you’re the one who has the best intuition. So my advice is just to trust your gut feeling, and it will lead you the best way.’

‘Just putting it out there, but what if the gut instinct sucks?’ Travis asked.

‘Language, young man,’ Gran said, and Travis quickly glanced at Paisley, flashing her a grin. Paisley was looking at us with wide eyes. My poor niece.

‘I think your gran’s idea is excellent,’ Mom said. ‘I think most of her advice is on point, isn’t it, darling?’ she said with an uncharacteristic smile, turning to Dad, who nodded stoically.

A few seconds later, I realized he was darting his gaze around. I didn’t call him out on it, though I would keep it in mind for later.

Paisley straightened in her seat. “I have an idea. I wrote a letter for Lexi on my birthday, where I asked her if she wanted to be my mom.” Glancing at Lexi, she asked, “You liked that, didn’t you?”

Lexi smiled. Her eyes became glassy. “Very much.”

I still stood by my principle of not doing the same trick, but Paisley’s story sparked an idea.

“Thanks, Paisley.” With a wink, I added, “You’re the most useful Maxwell in the room tonight.”

She beamed from ear to ear. “You can thank me by making me your flower girl at your wedding too.”

Damn, she had some serious Maxwell negotiation skills.

“Deal.” Turning to Gran, I said, “I don’t want to hijack your birthday.”

She waved her hand. “I don’t mind.”

The doorbell rang, interrupting Gran.

“That’s Kendra. Not one word to her about the proposal.”

“Obviously, dude,” Travis said as I headed to the front door.

“Yeah, we’re not amateurs,” Declan called after me.

“Yes you are,” Sam said. “You just can’t tell.”

As I opened the door, Kendra took off her beanie. She was holding a huge box in one hand.

‘What’s this?’ I asked.

‘Sweets. I don’t like to come empty-handed.’

This woman! It was like she couldn’t help herself from sharing.

She stepped inside, and I took the box, putting it on one of the small tables in the entrance hall.

‘Why did you do that?’ she asked. ‘I can multitask, hold a box and take off my coat.’

‘Yeah, but I want to kiss you first, and I don’t want any barriers between us.’

‘Oh, okay. Go ahead, then. I like how seriously you take kissing.’

‘Always,’ I said before sealing my mouth over hers.

I brought a hand to the back of her neck and the other to her hips, pressing her against me. Her coat only reached to her ass, so I parted her legs with my knees, needing to get even closer. Fucking hell, I could never just kiss this woman—I needed to devour her.

She sighed against my mouth, leaning into me. She fit so perfectly in my life, and I belonged with her.

When we pulled apart, she smiled shyly, covering her mouth. ‘Are my lips red? You’ll give us away.’

‘You’re beautiful,’ I said.

‘That’s not what I asked. You’re naughty today,’ she went on. ‘And I can’t wait to see you behind the grill.’

‘You don’t like the cold,’ I said, and she laughed.

‘I’ll brave it to see you in front of the fire. It just speaks to me on a primal level.’

I burst out laughing, taking her hand and leading her to the rest of the group.

‘Shouldn’t I take off my coat?” she asked.

“Now that you’re here, we’re all going to go outside to the grill.’

‘Okay, then. Just let me take the box.’ She carried it in one hand.

“Sam’s here too,” I informed her, pointing to my brother, who walked up to us.

“Kendra, great to meet you!” he exclaimed.

“Sam, hi. Wow, you flew in for your Gran’s birthday?”

“I’m staying for Christmas too. Gives me time to catch up with this lot. There’s so much going on.” He winked at me. I cocked a brow.

As we all reached the group, Kendra said, “Hi, everyone. I brought some goodies from my favorite cupcake shop.’

‘Oh, you shouldn’t have, Kendra,’ Mom said, ‘but that’s very sweet of you. I’ll put it in the fridge for now. We took out the grill supplies before, so I think we can just grab our coats and go.’

‘Okay, everyone, let’s go,’ Dad said.

I looked warningly at my brothers, especially Travis, because he had this shit-eating grin that would give us away. Luke elbowed Travis, which just made everything more suspicious.

Kendra was looking away, at least, so there was that. There was no way she caught any of it.

A few minutes later, I changed my mind.

As we all went out in the backyard, carrying paper plates, vegetables, and meat, she leaned in to me. ‘Why do I feel like you’ve had one of those silent conversations with your brothers back there?’

I pulled her closer with my free hand. ‘That’s between them and me.’

‘Riiiiight, okay. You know I’m like a bull with a red flag, right?’

‘I promise you one thing,’ I said. ‘You’ll find out soon enough what it’s about.’

‘How soon? Just so I know if I should employ any persuasion tactics or not?’

‘Very soon, babe. Very, very soon.’

I walked half a step behind her, keeping a hand on her back. She took out her phone just before we got out of the house, reading a text from Reese.

The words “Gran” and “coffee shop guy” popped out. Kendra turned the screen away, looking at me over her shoulder.

“Were you peeking?”

“Yes,” I admitted. “But I only caught a few words. What’s all that about?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Babe…”

“Nope. Not telling you. You have your secrets, we have ours,” she said, shrugging one shoulder and flashing me a sassy smile.