I knew that.
Knew it because Mackenzie would smile at me in a way that was almost fatherly when I had Max laughing so hard he was almost choking on his guffaws—the old man was pleased to see Max so relaxed and happy.
I knew from how Alex’s eyes, and Derek’s too, would sparkle when I teased Max, or when I’d call him on his bullshit.
If he brought something to my life, then I did the same for him.
It was equal. Fair.
I watched as Max clambered to his feet. While he was suave and debonair, especially in his tailored suits, he was so big, that sometimes, it was like watching a bear move around. Especially when he did things that weren’t so suave. When I’d seen him on horseback? Shit, I’d wondered how the horse would take his weight. And when Mackenzie had scrummaged around for some old footage of Max playing? Jeez, he’d been even bigger!
Before he headed to his office, he bent down and pressed a kiss to the crown of my head. I tilted my face up to smile at him, loving when he winked at me before heading over to Derek’s desk.
“Come on, Grumpy, let’s get some of that to-do list halved. I have a date tonight.”
The satisfaction in his tone had my heart squeezing. If I was head over heels for this man, then I knew he was in over his head with me too.
The day passed surprisingly quickly
But maybe it shouldn’t have come as a surprise considering when you wanted time to slip between your fingers, it never did, and when you wanted something to never happen, then it usually knocked on your doors hours before you expected it.
The last place I wanted to go tonight was home, and yet, I found myself tucked beside Max in his car as Mackenzie drove us to the suburbs where my parents lived.
“Want to know something weird?” he asked, his arm around my shoulder.
I nestled deeper into his side, trying to get as close as I could. Maybe because I wanted the support before I came face to face with my mom again, or maybe because being this close wasn’t close enough.
“What?” I murmured, my eyes on the red lights ahead of us. Traffic was back to back and we were going to be late getting to the house.
Great, just something else for my mother to whine about.
“I thought your folks were dead.”
That had me stiffening. “Huh?” I peered up at him. “Why?”
“You never talk about them. Ever.” He shrugged, looked down at me even though I knew he wouldn’t be able to see anything with my features cast in the shadows of night. “I just thought it was a touchy subject so they’d passed or something.”
Guilt throbbed through me.
Did I really talk about them so little?
A thought occurred to me. “You know you can ask me anything you want, right?”
That had him blinking. “What like?” he asked, cautiously.
“Anything except his name,” I told him drily, finding myself amused when his features darkened. Somehow, knowing he was my champion when I’d never had one before, made things so much better. Made the load half the size. “Aside from that, yeah, I’m an open book to you.”
“Thank you. I think.”
“Why the ‘I think’?” I asked, still amused.
“Because I thought you were anyway.” He shrugged. “If I want to ask you something, you always answer.”
I sighed; he could be so literal sometimes. “I didn’t mean if you asked me if I want a glass of wine and I said yes.”
“Oh.” He pondered that a second. “I see.”
“Do you?” I wondered. This man was so damn smart sometimes; he seriously made the most boring things so funny because he saw the world differently. I liked how skewed it was, even if I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate knowing that.