Chapter 35
PAIGE
“How are you feeling?” Max asks as soon as my feet touch the floor in the hallway.
“Better. The best I’ve felt in days.” He was right; a good sleep was all I needed. My eyes drop down and then back up at his athletic physique that I’ve spent hours licking and kissing.
Wearing nothing but his boxers, he looks completely at ease in my house. Too comfortable. Whatever he wears, he always looks so damn fine. “Could you not find any clothes to wear this morning?” I ask.
He answers me with a cheeky smirk instead of words.
He’s delicious and if he’s not careful, when Alfie goes down for a nap, I might blow him just so I can have another taste.
“Where’s Alfie?” I ask, feeling bashful in my own home. Waking up with Max in my house is opening my eyes to a whole new world. A preview of what life would be like if he lived here.
Shut up, Paige.
“In his highchair.” Max kisses me on my cheek, then holds out his hand for me, which I take willingly, allowing him to guide me into the kitchen.
My heart expands in my chest at the first sight I’ve had of my little cherub in days. “Hey, baby.” Max releases my hand when I pick up speed and sit down in the chair next to Alfie’s highchair.
“Momma.” Alfie grants me a gummy smile, banging the tray of his highchair with his grubby, crumb-covered hands.
“Have you missed me?” I’ve missed him. So much.
He points at Max. “Ma.”
Yeah, he hasn’t missed me. The traitorous monkey. He’s an adorable one, though, so I’ll let him off, and from the smile on his little face, I can tell he likes Max as much as I do. He’s a great judge of character, maybe even better than I am. Alfie liked him from the start.
Max really is something else, though, someone I know now to be loyal and caring. In every sense of the word, he’s a great man.
“Is that Max?” I point at him, making Alfie babble back at me as if saying yes. “Has he been looking after you?” I kiss Alfie’s temple over and over, inhaling his baby scent, as he stuffs toast into his mouth, watching the iPad Max has set up for him on the dining table.
Max would make a great daddy.
Oops, where did that thought come from?
“Mmmmm,” Alfie hums to himself, enjoying his breakfast as he squishes his buttery toast between his fingers.
“What time was he up at?” I ask Max. I slept through his usually loud morning chatter. That’s very unlike me.
“Six.”
“I’m sorry, he usually sleeps later than that.”
“It’s the time I get up every day. I don’t mind.” He shrugs, moving to my stove. “I made you some oatmeal.” The steam from the pot on the stove billows into the air. “It will give you some much-needed strength and line your stomach.”
He thinks of everything.
“That’s so kind, thank you.” It’s then I notice how tidy the house is. “Did you clean?”
Nodding in reply, he adds, “And I did your laundry. It’s all ironed and put back in your closet.” He grins at me and I find it impossible not to return a smile.
But wait, what?
I bite my lip and look away. I hate that he’s seen how disorganized my home life has become, and I’m ashamed of myself. I feel like I’ve taken advantage of his trusting nature. I’ve got my shit together, just not all at once.
“You have a new housekeeper starting on Monday,” Max informs me.
I snap my head back his way again when he announces that.
He points to the house phone. “I called the numbers that were by the phone. I just assumed you hadn’t managed to arrange for one to start yet.
The business is called Gem he seems nice.”
He’s organized my life for me while I’ve been in bed for days.
How many times can I keep thanking him?
Lost for words, I watch him move around my kitchen with ease as if he owns the place, pouring the warmed oats into two bowls, one for him and, I assume, one for me, adding sugar on top, more for my benefit, I think, to boost my sugar levels.
He strides confidently toward the dining table in only his boxer shorts, and I find myself ogling him again as he sets my breakfast down on my placemat, then his own, and tells me to eat.
Without question, I do, digging into the sweet creamy oats, completely stunned by how natural this all feels.
If anyone were to peer through the window and see Alfie by my side watching Finding Nemo, and Max sitting across from me, they’d think we were… a family.
Strangely, that doesn’t scare me.
“What day is it today?” I ask, mumbling around my food I can’t eat fast enough. I’ve lost all sense of time.
“Saturday.” Max rests his spoon in his bowl, his eyes blazing through me, unspeaking in a prolonged look. “Do you feel well enough to go out today?”
I already feel better, the food in my stomach warm and full of nutrients and energy that I need to recover.
“I do.” What does he have in mind?
“Well enough to come to a wedding with me?”
“As your plus one?” Holy shit, this is huge.
“Yeah.”
“I can’t, I have Alfie.”
“Your mom and dad are taking him for a sleepover tonight.”
I can’t keep up. “When was that arranged?”
“Yesterday. To give you another night to recover because I can’t take care of Alfie tonight.”
“Right.” I would never expect him to do that for me. Also, I’m well enough to look after Alfie myself; I don’t need my parents to take him tonight, although I won’t be able to stop them, as they’ll be excited about having him overnight.
“So, will you come with me today?” Max asks with so much expectation in his tone.
“Who’s getting married?” And why doesn’t he have a date?
“Nathan and Arianna.”
“What? No.” I drop my spoon against the side of my bowl, causing the crockery to chime as it clatters. “I can’t go to your brother’s wedding.” Then they’ll know. Everything.
“I’m no longer working on the case. It should be fine. No one from Moore how can I refuse?
And the truth is I want to go; I would hate for his plus one to be anyone other than myself.
Nope, that’s not happening. It’s me or no one.
“I might not last the whole night, and I definitely don’t feel like drinking any alcohol today,” I admit, on the brink of accepting.
“Is that a yes?” His extraordinary eyes shine brightly, and his mouth, suggestive and softening, breaks out into a leisurely smile.
I think it is. “Yes.”
Without missing a beat, he lists what’s happening today.
“We leave here at ten. Pack a bag, you can stay at my place tonight. We need to get ready there too as my tuxedo is there. I’m one of Nathan’s best men today.
My brothers are too.” He sounds excited about that, his face lighting up, making his eyes sparkle.
“Okay.”
What a rush.
I’m going to a wedding as Max Hart’s date.
And I’m going to meet his family.
This feels a lot like we are taking the next step in our relationship.
And again, that doesn’t scare me. It should because gradually he’s been breaking down my defenses, and I’ve been letting him into my life little by little. I mean, look at him now—he’s pulled up a chair at my dining table and seamlessly become a part of my life.
“Eat up.” He points his spoon at my bowl. “You’ll need your strength for later.”
I grin, feeling the butterflies in my stomach. “Is that your way of telling me your family is a full-contact sport?” I tease.
“Nope. But I am.”
Oh, boy, I’m in serious trouble.