Ed jerked, his body stiffening. “Is that what you think? That there’s a timer hanging over your head counting down our minutes together?” Ed shook his head. He wanted to draw Max in closer, hold him so very tight, but he needed to look into Max’s eyes more. “I’m not going to disappear the second I know you’re safe. There’s nothing saying that I have to run off with the guys on a new mission. I don’t have a punch clock dictating my life. If I want to stay here in Luxor with you after all the dangerous parts are done, that’s what I’m going to do. If you’ll let me, I’ll dig in the sand with the other diggers. And if I can’t do that, I’ll make sure you’ve got three square meals a day and are tucked into bed at a reasonable hour.”
“You’d do that…for me?” Max’s voice was barely over a whisper.
Ed leaned down and pressed a kiss to the center of Max’s forehead. “It feels more like I’m doing it for me. Getting to tag along after a world-famous archeologist who happens to be both brilliant and sexy? Yeah, that’s a treat for me.”
Max snorted and took a step backward, his eyes lowered to the floor. “Now you’re just being ridiculous. I’m no treat for anyone. Other than this one thing I’ve got going for me right now, my life is a fucking chaotic mess.”
“Mmm…I like chaotic,” Ed hummed in Max’s ear. That earned him a testy look that he just wanted to kiss off Max’s face.
“I’m short-tempered, messy, absent-minded—”
Ed laughed right in his face. He couldn’t hold it in any longer. “You think I don’t know this? We’ve been living together for days now. I’ve seen you obsessed with your work, forgetting to eat and sleep, and picking fights with anyone who comes near you when your blood sugar gets too low. You’re a kitten.”
Max gasped, his eyes becoming impossibly wide. “What?”
“You are a kitten,” Ed carefully enunciated. “You’re either cuddly, chaos, or spitting mad with claws and teeth.”
Breathless noises came from Max as he opened and closed his mouth, but no words followed. He just pointed a trembling finger at Ed, which he caught and pressed a kiss to the tip.
“I love kittens,” he murmured.
It was kind of stunning how Max’s hackles seemed to immediately go down and the angry flush turned into a grumpy pout.
“You’re lucky you’re hot,” Max mumbled. He pulled his finger free of Ed’s grip and shuffled over to the bed. After shoving the bag to one side, he dropped heavily onto the edge of the mattress and groaned. “Fine. We figure out the dating thing…later. Like adults.”
His tone was so grudging and irritable, it was all Ed could do to not scoop Max up in his arms and cuddle him. He had a feeling some kisses along his neck would work wonders for getting him out of his current mood, but it wouldn’t help them one bit with their much bigger problem. Namely, Rive and Katona.
Max dropped his head into both of his hands and threaded his fingers into his brown hair. “Even if you’re interested in dating me, you can’t want to deal with my family. I-I don’t know what to do about them. I feel like anyone else would have said, ‘Fuck it! Let Alexei and West take care of it.’ But I can’t! Even though my sister is threatening Bull’s life, I still can’t.”
With a soft smile, Ed sat on the edge of the bed next to him, folding his hands between his legs so he wouldn’t give in to the temptation to pull Max into his lap. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Max laughed roughly before raising his eyes to look at Ed. “And the sad part is that my problem with it isn’t so much that I don’t think they deserve to die, but it’s that I don’t want to put that weight on West’s and Alexei’s shoulders. I feel the weight of the shit I stole as a kid. Taking a life has got to be even worse, right? Besides, I should be the one to do it. They’re my family. My problem.”
“No,” Ed immediately said, and there was no room for argument in his tone. “You’re not alone in this. I’m here. As your friend. As maybe a one-day boyfriend. And most importantly, as a contractor who does this shit for a living.” This time it was Ed’s turn to poke a finger at Max. “You wouldn’t let me wander out into the desert and just start randomly digging in the sand. I’d get myself killed. I’m not letting you go do my job. Got it?”
The tiniest smirk quirked up one corner of Max’s lips. “You know, you’re cute when you get feisty.”
“Max,” he growled in warning. “I’m serious.”