Walkertugs at his beard and nods.
“I’mso sorry.Andyou were just kids?Thatmust have been awful.”Sheturns to me. “Sothat’s why you’re close?”
Inod.
Shegoes back to the magazine.
“‘ButtheElizaDoolittletoDashwood’sHenryHigginspushed back.She’snot so sure she wants that big of a family.’”
Rosescrews up her eyes and shakes her head. “Oh, shit.Shit, shit, shit.”Shedrops her face into her hands. “That’smy fault.Allmy fault.Oh, shit,I’mso sorry.”
Herpain is palpable.
“It’snot your fault,Rose,”Maxsays.
“Oh, but it is.”Shelifts her flushed face and widens her eyes at him. “Itwas me who said that goofyElizaDoolittlething.Andit was me who pushed back against the idea of five kids.”Hereyes glisten in the evening sunlight. “Andthat was even more stupid because it’s not like we’re going to have any kids at all.”
Shelooks fromMaxtoWalker, then turns to me and rests her hand on my arm. “IguessIallowed myself to get distracted.”
It’sthe first reference either of us has made to the secret dry humping during the photoshoot.
Shetrails her hand off my arm and turns back toMaxandWalker.
“Ipromise you it won’t happen again.”Sheplaces the hand that was on my arm just above her breasts. “Neveragain.”
Ihave to ease her pain, stop her torturing herself. “Weboth know this was entirely my fault.Youdid the very best you could under extremely difficult circumstances.”
Walkerpulls the magazine toward him.
“Itdoes get better after that,” he says. “Itsays how you ‘made love to each other with your eyes’ when you were all dressed up by the fireplace.”
Jesus, if only they knew how very close we were to doing it with more than just our eyes.
Walkerscans the rest of the article.
“Andit says how ‘happy and contented’ you were enjoying a lazy morning in bed and how they could see ‘the love in your kiss.’”Heholds the other pages up to us. “Andthe pictures are great.Youguys did an amazing job with the photos.”
Youcan always rely onWalkerto be calm and find the best in a situation.
Ireach forRose’shand, then think better of it and stop halfway. “He’sright.Thephotos are great.Youreally pulled it off.”
Theyshow us looking at each other with what appears to be genuine affection and a hint of lust.IsRosea good enough actress to portray that in a photo if it wasn’t real?Onething’s for sure, she looks spectacular.
“Yeah, they’re okay,”Maxsays. “Buta headline like that isn’t going to increase the value of your company or decrease the chances of the board voting you off.”
BeingwithPollymight have brought outMax’smore human side, but he’s still the ruthless businessman we all know and love.Andare sometimes infuriated by.
Istand up and pace across the patio.Thetile is warm under my socked feet.
TheleastIcan do forRoseis to try to fix this.
“Okay, okay.”Ipush one hand into my pocket, the other through my hair. “Wecan go out and about holding hands, smiling, and sipping iced coffee together or petting puppies, or helping old ladies across the road, or whatever the hell you want.”
“Itmight take a bit more than that,”Maxsays. “Wemight need to bring in the big guns.”
Roselooks fromMaxtoWalkerto me. “Whatdoes that mean?”
Ishrug. “FuckedifIknow.”
