I can’t help it. It’s definitely not a kiss but I cup my hand around the back of her neck and pull her into my chest for a one-armed hug. I squeeze her as she presses her face into my neck and mumble, “I think I actually do know what this means to you.”

She laughs, her breath fluttering across my skin and sending a jolt of desire through me that I feel down to the soles of my feet. I’ve been trying really hard to not think of Jules in that way, seeing as how I’m purposely taking things slow with her, but just that tiny little bit of sweet breath and I’m hot for her.

Just fucking great.

I gently push her back, hoping some distance will help, and she beams another smile at me. It’s infectious and I smile back at her, then give another nod down to the check. “Stevie wants more paintings, so there’s more money to be had. Maybe you can get something steady coming in and quit at the convenience store.”

I’d kill for her to quit. Not only is it physically exhausting her, but I’m worried about her safety there. Those rednecks that harassed her still plague me.

But Jules shakes her head and I’m caught off guard when she says, “Oh no. I can’t. It’s a nice thought but really . . . I’m happy with this.”

“What the hell?” I ask incredulously. “You can make some serious money. Stevie is going to show your stuff to some gallery owners and thinks once your name gets out there, you’ll be able to charge more for your stuff.”

“That’s nice,” she says as her thumb strokes the check. “But really . . . I just can’t.”

“Come on, Jules,” I cajole, making a nod down to the check. “You got to dream big, babe.”

Jules stares at the piece of paper in her hand a moment and then looks up to me. “I can’t afford to dream big, Max. I have to put my energies into those things that are guarantees. Those kids are too important for me not to play it safe.”

“I don’t understand,” I tell her, my sense of jubilation starting to wane.

She gives a soft sigh, her eyes going warm when she sees me start to deflate right in front of her. Her hand reaches out and she lays it over mine. “Painting was never anything more than a hobby for me. I never expected it to do anything other than give me pleasure that I could create something from nothing. So this check . . . your friend buying my stuff and wanting more . . . .that’s great, but it’s just not feasible for me to do more. Supplies cost money, and I don’t have it to spend. Every cent of this check here has already been spent in my mind for necessities. And even if I could afford the supplies, which I can’t, I don’t have the time. Those paintings took time and focus, and those are two things I do not have at all. And to get that time, I’d have to probably give up my night job, and I just can’t do that when there’s no guarantees that I’d ever sell another painting. While I really appreciate your enthusiasm and belief in me, it’s not a risk I can take right now.”

I deflate even further, because while I think this is a stellar opportunity for her, everything she just laid out for me makes absolute sense.

If I was a woman, all alone and in her circumstances . . . I doubt I’d take the risk either.

But here’s the thing Jules hasn’t figured out.

She’s not all alone.

Chapter 8

Jules

I pull the glass door closed and lock it, giving a tiny tug when I disengage the key to make sure it’s secure. Hitching my purse up on my shoulder and tucking it in close, I turn and walk across the darkened sidewalk in front of the gas station toward my car, which is parked on the side. This is my least favorite part of the job because it’s dark, after midnight, and that’s when bad things happen to women who are alone.

I lift my gaze and scan the area, just like I always do, and come to a complete halt of shocked surprise when I see Max leaning back against my car. He’s got his legs stretched out, crossed one over the other at the ankle, and his arms folded across his big chest.

Grinning at me.

I grin back. “What are you doing here?”

This is a legitimate question as Max had called me several hours ago and said he had some things to take care of and couldn’t come by to hang with me. I understood this and frankly didn’t expect anything different. While he’s about hundred different kinds of amazing rolled up into one package, I don’t expect him to spend every free minute with me.

Max pushes off my car and puts his hands in his pockets while he waits for me to reach him. When I do, he peers down at me and bluntly asks, “If I gave you the money that you make here at this job, would you quit?”

My head jerks back in surprise and I immediately retort, “I wouldn’t take the money from you, so no . . . I wouldn’t quit this job.”

I expect him to argue but instead he asks as he nods to his car parked on the other side of mine, “If hypothetically I had my entire backseat and trunk filled with painting supplies, would you accept them from me?”

I groan with moderate annoyance even as sweet warmth blankets me that he’d do something so thoughtful. “No, Max. I couldn’t accept.”

“That’s what I thought,” he says brusquely and reaches into his back pocket, where he pulls out a document that doesn’t look more than a few pages total, folded in half lengthwise. “So I have a business proposition I want to propose to you and I even had a contract drawn up.”

He waves the folded document in front of my face and my eyes follow it briefly before they go back to him. “Huh?”

Max grins as his hand drops to tap the document against the palm of his other hand. “It’s getting late and you need to get home, so I’ll make this fast and simple.”

“Cliff Notes version,” I suggest.

He nods at me. “Cliff Notes version. Okay, so here’s the deal . . . I’ll give you a business startup loan. It will be for $3,200, which I figure is about four months of wages you’d make here at this place, right?”

I do a quick mental calculation and that’s about right so I nod.

He continues. “In return for that loan, you quit your job here and devote that time after the kids go to sleep to painting. You won’t need Tina to watch the kids in the evening and that will alleviate your obligation to watch hers on the weekend. Of course, you still have Annabelle, Levy, and Rocco to watch, but any free time I have, I’ll get them out of your hair, and you can have some time to paint on the weekends too. Are you following?”