Chapter 17
MAX
How was it possible that a three-hour lunch and a trip up to the Willis Tower was not enough time with Lorde?
This was a first for me. Usually, after five minutes in the presence of another, I itched to escape, suffering in silence until the meeting or outing ended.
I was always polite, always welcoming, and I knew how to fake it better than some in Hollywood, but today, nothing was contrived or forced. I thoroughly enjoyed being with him.
It was so bad that on the way to his aunt’s house, I racked my brain to think of some excuse for us to spend more time together.
Anything would do, but every idea I came up with, I immediately rejected.
At one point, I opened my mouth to suggest getting some ice cream, which I didn’t like all that much, but snapped it closed when Lorde spoke first.
“I had a great time today. Thank you for showing me around.” His smile could melt the hearts, panties, and/or underwear of anyone in a five-mile radius. My heart squeezed, skipping a beat.
I hated people, but I didn’t hate him. And surprisingly, my swan was utterly at peace around him, although I didn’t understand why.
Sure, he’d accepted people in the past, and there were those for whom he settled down, but it was nothing like this.
For the first time in my life, my swan was content and happy, not once had he felt like this, not even when I was a child and had accepted him wholeheartedly.
“I did too. Maybe we could get some dessert or dinner.” It had been a few hours since lunch, and there were three main meals in a day. A sound argument.
Chuckling, he shook his head. “I wish I could, but I have to make a call tonight, and I promised Aunt Pat I would have dinner with her. We had a bit of a row this morning, and I would feel horrendous canceling on her.”
Disappointment stabbed me in the gut, and I forced a smile, the first since I’d picked him up earlier. “I completely understand. Perhaps we could get together another day?” I hedged, silently praying he would take me up on the offer.
Lorde reached over the black leather console and grabbed my hand, squeezing my fingers.
The simple touch had my dick hard and wishing he would touch more than my hand.
It was like a jolt of electricity raced from his body into mine, and our hands were melded together.
If only. “I did have a lovely time, and I really would like to spend some more time with you. Tomorrow?” he offered, pulling me from my daydreams and wishes.
“Sure…oh crap,” I groaned, closing my eyes and rolling them simultaneously.
“What?” He frowned, the area between his eyebrows wrinkling. It should have made him look stern or fierce, but I found him even sexier.
“I am supposed to do a reading at a library downtown tomorrow. I was supposed to cancel it, but I told them I would come anyway.”
“I’d like to come. That is if you don’t mind.”
Feeling my own lips lifting into a smile, I shook my head.
“No, I don’t mind at all.” The way I was acting, you’d think I was some school kid with his first crush, and while I told myself to pull back, to not get my hopes up, to not fall for a complete stranger, I found myself doing all of that and more.
Lorde was dangerous, more dangerous than my college boyfriend, who had tried to blackmail me.
That last thought was like I’d been thrown in the arctic sea, naked in the middle of winter, more effective than a bucket of ice water.
Blackmail. My secret. Fear gnawed at me, quickly replacing the joy I felt only a moment ago.
What if he found out? What would he do to me?
How would he react? Would he threaten to expose me too?
Inside, my swan shook his head, covering his face with a wing, as you might see in a cartoon.
The fear was all mine and not shared by him.
He trusted Lorde. But why? We didn’t know Lorde save he was from England, visiting his aunt, and he had enough money to bid on a day with me and a book of fairy tales.
“Your book!” I exclaimed, looking at him and meeting his dark eyes. If I allowed myself, I could get lost in those eyes, but I wouldn’t. I refused. There was too much at risk for me.
“My book?” Lorde cocked an eyebrow and spoke slowly as if I’d lost my mind and blurted something at random.
“The book was delivered by courier while you were otherwise indisposed,” Fizz announced from the front seat.
“Oh.” Well, that was anticlimactic. I tried to pull my hand away from Lorde, but he held on tightly.
When I glanced at him again, Lorde’s eyes were practically dancing, and a smirk played on his lips.
Asshole. I wanted to hate him, be terrified of him, but I could hear my swan calling me a fool.
I had to understand what made Lorde different from any man I’d ever met since puberty. What did it mean? Fuck! I was confused.
Biting his bottom lip, I could see the laughter he was trying to hold back. “Yes, it was delivered in one piece on Monday.”
“And?” I asked.
“And what?”
“This is the first chance you’ve had to examine it, was it the real deal or a forgery?” I knew it was real and a first edition, one of the earlier copies too. I wouldn’t have allowed it to be auctioned otherwise, but I was interested in what he saw when he looked at it.
Lorde cleared his throat, his Adam’s apple vibrating a little.
His expression became serious, his grin disappearing.
Suddenly, playful Lorde was gone, and sitting beside me was a man who was all business.
“It is indeed a first edition. It has the issues you look for in an early edition. You may or may not be aware, but they will print some pages and then adjust as needed. Most of the time, unless a glaring issue were found, they would use everything printed. So, you may have a line that is slightly off or a page number that is wrong or missing. You may even have a word misspelled. If I had to guess, the copy you auctioned off is exceedingly rare and one of the first actual printings. There are some issues with the leather binding, which is not original to the book, but the person who rebound it knew what he was doing, probably in the late 1800s. This is only the first volume and not the second. A complete set would make it more valuable, but the one-volume holds value on its own.”
“That is what my expert explained to me as well. We tried to find volume two, but were unable to take possession before the auction.
“Before? Does that mean you’ve located a copy of it?” His eyes lit up, but he remained serious.
“Yes, I have. I managed to track one down a couple days before the gala. It’s in fairly good condition given its age, and it is also a first edition.
” What I didn’t say was that I don’t know what possessed me, but I purchased it.
It should be arriving in the next couple of days.
The second volume meant nothing to my family and me.
Our story wasn’t in there, and it wasn’t like I’d ever planned on keeping volume one.
I had no reason to own it, yet, after we had settled on a price, I purchased it without a second thought.
“Will you be acquiring it?” he inquired, and I briefly wondered if I should lie to him.
“Yes.” I’d intended to deny the purchase, but that’s not what came out of my mouth. I blamed it on Lorde’s bedroom eyes and his sexy grin. Whenever I was around him, I lost my mind. That was the only explanation for my inability to control my speech.
“May I see it when you take possession?” His voice was deep, low, and gravely, and it made my stomach tighten.
“If you are still in town, I’ll let you know.”
My swan screamed at me not to be an ass, and I tried to lock him back in his cage. He refused to go. Unlike every previous time, I couldn’t force him inside, and that scared me almost as much as what Lorde could potentially do to me. What the hell was I going to do?
LORDE
Something in Max changed. One minute we were making plans, and the next, he pulled back.
Not just pulled back, he jerked away and fell over himself to create distance, all while we were still sitting in the back of the car.
I wouldn’t allow him to run far, but I didn’t understand why.
I could explain it away, say it was me getting closer to him in order to do what needed to be done, but that would be a lie.
I’d known this bloody man less than a week. He was my enemy…or was supposed to be my enemy, and I found myself thinking less of revenge and more on the way he made me feel. My destiny? Ha! The thought of it made me laugh.
What if Max is your destiny, but not in the way you think he is? That stray thought pushed itself to the forefront more than once, and I’d pushed it aside because all my life I’d been taught differently. Today, I didn’t ignore it. I listened.
I was so unsure of myself and my feelings, and yet, I couldn’t disregard them any longer.
Not after spending the day with him. Up until a few minutes ago, before he asked me about the book, we’d been having fun.
I had to admit, for a moment following his inquiry into that blasted book, I wondered whether the universe was trying to remind me of my purpose for traveling to Chicago in the first place.
Maybe it wasn’t. Perhaps it was merely a test to see if I’d made my choice.
Honestly, I didn’t know either way. My heart cried out for Max, desired him above all others, but my head still struggled, still fought to break the chains, in which almost thirty years of brainwashing and training had me imprisoned.
This wasn’t about a curse, started centuries ago, it was about two men whose pasts were linked together, and they’d had no say in the matter.
They were enemies before they were conceived, forced to hate before they ever knew each other.
Yet despite all that, they were falling for each other. At least, I was falling for Max.
“We’re here,” Fizz announced, and the deep tendrils of disappointment wormed their way through me.
“Oh,” I said, uncertain of what else I could say. Looking at Max, I noticed how he kept his face turned, staring out the window, away from the house and me. “Tomorrow?”
He flinched. What had I done to elicit a response like this? “Uh…yes, tomorrow.” His frown was fierce, and I wasn’t sure whether he realized we had arrived at my aunt’s house or if he was trying to come up with some excuse to cancel on me.
I could be nice and cry off now, but that wasn’t my style. I was going to show up to the library whether he liked it or not. “What time?” I asked.
The tips of his ears turned red while his cheeks became a lovely shade of pink, like a flamingo instead of the white swan I knew him to be. “The reading is at noon.”
“I’ll have a car pick you up. Downtown traffic can be a mess at the best of times. If you aren’t used to it, it’s a horror movie,” Fizz offered, and Max glared at him.
Instead of being offended, I had to fight back laughter.
“Thank you. I would appreciate the service.” Meeting Max’s eyes, which he finally turned onto me, I could see fear swirling in the depths of those blue pools of his.
Was he afraid of me? I hadn’t done anything to reveal my secrets, so how could that be?
Unless…was he fearful of his own secrets?
Reaching across the console we were using as an armrest between us, I brushed my fingertips down his cheek to his jaw before pulling back, our eyes locked the entire time.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Something inside screamed at me to stay, to talk to him, but now wasn’t the right time.
We were both battling our own demons and a history that couldn’t be overcome during one afternoon together.
“Yeah,” Max whispered, his voice husky.
Getting out of the car was difficult. I didn’t want to leave him, but it was for the best. Besides, this separation was only temporary.