He clenched his jaw, fighting to accept it for a second. “I’m sorry. The deer came out of nowhere.”
“Don’t apologize, Max,” I rushed to stop him. “It’s not your fault. She was just worried about her baby…”
As I trailed off into silence, our eyes remained tangled, his searching for danger, and mine, a space to ask for forgiveness.
He’d never hurt you.The thought I’d had for the momma deer now circled back for me.
No, Max hadn’t told me the whole truth, but he was right. If he had, I wouldn’t have taken the apartment. I would’ve gone back to the city, to my crappy apartment, which would’ve exponentially increased the stress of the situation and of my future.
Maybe he should’ve told me the whole truth, but maybe I needed to stop pushing help away on principle.
He’d never hurt you.
Max would never hurt me.Never.
“I’m sorry,” I said, my deep exhale dragging my head down between my shoulders. “You’re right, I wouldn’t have listened if I knew you were living there. I’m not good at…being helped.”
I’d been hurt enough times—and warned about being hurt just as many—that I’d poured tar into the cracks of my heart and then dipped the whole thing in steel, determined not to let anyone close enough to break it. But Max didn’t give me a choice. He was just there with everything I wanted. Everything I needed. Eroding all my defenses.
“I will always be there for you, Daisy,” he rasped, and as my gaze lifted to his face, I caught the violent quake of his chest, the rain having molded the fabric to his muscles. “Not because of what Todd did. Not because you were his fiancée. But simply for you. For your baby. I will always be there for you. Always. And if that means a white lie to make sure you’ve got a roof over your head or a temporary marriage to make sure you’re safe, then so be it.”
My lip trembled. How could someone be this good?
“I know?—”
“No, I don’t think you do.” Max skated his hands to the sides of my face, holding me to his stare. “I’m sorry your mom didn’t show up for you when you were young, Daze. I’m sorry she warned you no one else would either. And I’m sure as shit sorry that Todd proved her right. But I won’t. Just because none of them showed up for you doesn’t mean I won’t. I’m not repeating this cycle, Daze. I’m breaking it. I want better for you. For her. And I’m going to do everything in my power to give it to you.”
Was my jaw on the ground?
I’m not repeating this cycle, Daze. I’m breaking it.
Did I even want to pick it back up?
My eyes sank to his lips, and I breathed in deep. Fresh rain. Charged oxygen. Mint and raw male.I want better for you.His promise turned over and over in my mind until it turned completely into a question.Who wanted better for him?
Max was always giving. Always doing for others.Who took care of him? Gave for him? Sought to please him?I couldn’t remember the last time I saw him with a woman, let alone the last time Todd mentioned he was dating anyone. I knew he was busy—knew he carried the weight of his business’s success and the livelihoods of the people he employed solely on his shoulders. But even then—especially then—how could he not have anyone to take care of him?To be there for him?
And I wasn’t talking about his family.
He might be able to hide behind a busy schedule to them, but I saw how he was selling his house because it wastoo big,rather than searching for someone to share it with. I saw how he made time to get dinner with me most nights of the week. I saw every effort he made to be thoughtful for me, whether it was buying me clothes or bringing me back blueberry cobbler for dessert. It wasn’t a lack of time or effort that stopped him from finding someone to be with, so what was it?
Me.
The answer clawed from somewhere deep inside my chest.Because I was his wife.
“Max…” I reached out and spread my palm on the wet fabric on his chest, feeling the hard thump of his heart, like it wanted to punch right through his ribs and put itself in my hand. A grenade with its pin pulled, waiting to let loose everything I’d watched him contain for years.
Wanting. Aching. Longing.I wanted better for me too.And Gigi was right. There was no man better than Max Hamilton. Not for me.
“What about you?” I asked, my tongue slipping out and over my lips, trying to calm the quell of my nerves. “What if I want better for you?”
Better than a fake wife. Better than having to care for his best friend’s ex and unborn baby.
The warm ebb of his breath turned ragged, and I realized something changed then.Now. The way he looked at me, the way we looked at each other…there was something there we’d tried to keep hidden before, but there was no hiding it anymore.
His head inched closer, and I realized how little space separated us, how my legs had drifted apart to make room for him.
“Daisy,” he drawled, his voice hardly above a whisper as his thumb skated along the edge of my bottom lip. “There is nothing better for me than you.”
