“My boss.” I felt ashamed to say the words, because I knew how this looked. I had just walked away from the man who said he wanted to be with another woman, straight into another man’s home. This was why I wanted to explain things, but by the look on Adam’s face I knew there was no reason to. He had made his opinions about me clear. I stood up straighter, though. I didn’t care about what he thought about me. He had made the choice to leave me, and I was making the choice to moveon.
“He’s clearly more than that.” Adam spat the words out at me, trying to hurt me more than he already had, and I wasn’t going to let him. He didn’t care about me going to Lilly’s. He just didn’t want me here in Max’shome.
“That’s enough.” Max raised his voice at Adam as he dragged me back behind him again. I didn’t fight it this time. Instead, I rested my forehead against his back and placed a hand across his chest, holding him closer. I didn’t know why, but I felt as if I was trying to protect Max in all of this as well. “Leave.”
“Not until she leaves withme.”
Max tensed in my arms. He brought a hand to mine, intertwining ourfingers.
“Please make him leave,” I whispered against his back so only he would hear. My lips gently grazed where I had spoken mywords.
“She’smine.”
I gasped at Max’s words. I couldn’t see Adam’s or Max’s face, but all I heard was the rustling of feet and the elevator door dinging before it descended. I stayed wrapped around Max for a few more minutes and he started to calm down. His deep breaths became shallower and slower. I felt his heartbeat begin to slow under our hands. He let me go, and I broke the silence first as I pulled away fromhim.
“I’m sorry for that. I didn’t mean to cause you so much trouble this late at night. I’ll go get my things.” I couldn’t stay here after that, after Max had just admitted to me being his. I wasn’t his, though. I didn’t want to know what Max thought about everything, so I tried to move quickly, before he grabbed for my hand. This wasn’t the first time I had had this kind of interaction with Max, but this time, I had a different feeling with him grabbingme.
“Don’t go.” I finally got a look at Max this late at night. He had on nothing but a pair of tight boxers and a tank that fit tightly to his chest. He had a tattoo of a quill on the inside of his right forearm. I was seeing more of the man who was starting to grow on me. “You don’t have to leave. You can go back to sleep in my room. I had just made myself comfortable on the couch. Well, until your husband decided he wanted to chat alittle.”
I cringed at his words. He reached for my hands, holding them between us. I watched as our hands stayed suspended in front of us. How did I get here? How did I end up in Max’s apartment with him holding my hands and fighting my battles forme?
“I don’t want you to be alone.” I looked into his eyes and almost started crying again. This was never what I would have expected, and I didn’t know how to act around him. He was so sure of himself, but not in the ways I had oncethought.
Max pulled me into him. His warmth emanated through my clothes. He led me to the couch after a few minutes, pulling me into his lap. I curled up against his chest, our bodies fitting perfectly together. He stroked my hair, bringing my head to rest against his neck as he tried to soothe me. Max smelled like heaven—a soft musk but with a hint ofwood.
I knew this was the last place I needed to be after I found out my husband had just cheated on me, but I felt safe in Max’s arms. It was the first time I had felt safe in a longtime.
“What did he tell you?” I needed to know what had happened before I had walked out of thebedroom.
“Nothing, but I know it’s not good.” I shifted in his lap to get more comfortable. “I only let him up because he wouldn’t leave. He was just saying over and over that he wanted you, and I told himno.”
I pulled Max closer, taking a deep breath, because I knew once I said this, once I told someone, it would become real. It would be my newlife.
“He cheated on me.” I paused, not for dramatic effect, but because I didn’t know what else to say besides the truth. “He’s leaving me for anotherwoman.”
Max kissed the top of myhead.
“When did you findout?”
“Right before I came here.” Max’s arms stiffened around me. This was wrong, and he knew it was, too, but neither of us pulledaway.
“Why did you come here, Alexa?” His voice was soft, but I could hear him straining to calm histemper.
“I don’t know.” I looked up at him now. I had never really looked at Max before. His grey eyes were intense in this hold. His hair shaggy. “I thought maybe you were the one person who wouldn’t question me on what hadhappened.”
“If you don’t want to talk about it we don’t have to. I can put you back inbed.”
I shifted again in his arms and straightened myself up to moved off his lap. I stood in front of him, holding out a hand to help him off the couch. I didn’t know why I did this, but when his hand landed in mine, I felt it. I felt every spark inside of me come tolife.
“What happened in front of your husband. Was that all just in the moment?” I knew what he was talking about. The touches, the hand-holding, my lips landing against his back. I didn’t know what to say, because I didn’t know what theymeant.
“What is it that you want, Alexa?” His brows knitted together as I moved my gaze from our hands to his eyes. I knew exactly what he wanted to hear, but it wasn’t what I wanted to say. I couldn’t give him what he wanted, just like I apparently couldn’t give my husband what he wanted. Was I selfish in all ofthis?
“I just want a friend rightnow.”
“You could have gone to see Lilly or Erica if you wanted that. So answer me again.” He was starting to inch his way closer to me again. I took my eyes off him, not allowing myself to see how much this conversation affected him. “What is it that you want,Alexa?”
“I wanted to go somewhere where I felt safe. Where no one could findme.”
“And that was here?” I didn’t Know how to answer his question without making everything more confusing. We stood in silence as Max’s arm circled mywaist.
“I know that this is presumptuous of me, but your only excuse for pushing me away has been your husband. He won’t be in the picture much longer, Alexa, but I will be. I’m not going anywhere.” Itwaspresumptuous, and even though I knew my side of things was complicated, how could he think that I would so easily just come to him? But then again, I had walked into his apartment without even fully thinking about theconsequences.
“What makes you think that I will want someone after having been cheated on? What makes you think that I wantyou?”
“I’ve seen how you react to me, even when you were with your husband. You don’t push me away as fast as you should. You linger at my touch and lean into me when we’re close, and it started way before tonight.” I instinctively moved away from him at that moment. I hadn’t realized that I had been doing those things. I thought the connection had only been in my head. How could I have not seen this happening? I was no better than Adam at this point. I was married and my subconscious had been pining after my boss. My stomach tossed, and I didn’t know if it was from a sickening feeling that I had about what was happening, or butterflies when Max’s hand brushed mycheek.
“Max, even if I did want to be with you, now isn’t the time for that. I just want to go to sleep and forget any of this ever happened.” I tried to head towards his room, but he pulled me closer to him, our bodies flush against each other. My hands were on his chest, but they weren’t pushing him away. His shirt was fisted softly in my hands. I was clinging to him when I shouldn’t be. I should be pushing him away, running as fast as I could, because that look in Max’s eyes was like a snake charm that I couldn’tresist.
“I understand that you need your time Alexa, but I will be here to catch you when you fall.” Fall? Like in love? Those feelings were far from where I thought I would ever be again, especially so soon, or maybe ever. My trust had been broken, and to let someone that close again would be a miracle. Max grabbed my chin, pulling my face up to look me directly in the eyes. “And Alexa, you will fall. Hard andfast.”
