“Are you threatening me?”
“Consider it a warning,” he said softly. “I’m still a man—a man who has done nothing but show you patience. Continue to test me like this,” he said, his jaw clenching with resolve as he ran a finger underneath the thin string keeping my bikini top around my neck, “and see how far you get.”
CHAPTER 35
ROSALIE
THREE WEEKS UNTIL THE WEDDING ...
My mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and I swallowed painfully.
I squinted, blinking against the golden light flooding the room.
How early was it? Or was it ... late? I fumbled for my phone, but then I remembered I’d left it somewhere in the kitchen. Great.
I stretched before rolling over and grabbing the clock to check the time. The screen flashed 10:23 a.m.in bright red letters.
My heart skipped a beat. Two.
“No!Ohhno, no,no!” I shouted, the realization hitting me like a ton of bricks. I jumped out of bed, rushing to the door. Why hadn’t I set an alarm? Why hadn’t I thought ahead?
I was already shoving clothes over my head, barely paying attention to what I grabbed,which wassounlike me. There was no time for my usual meticulousness. There never was—not at this hour, and not with Max.
Max was going to kill me. He’d probably already left the table. He wouldn’t wait up on me, and I didn’t expect him to.He was a very punctual man; I was a very late woman. They say opposites attract, right? For the sake of our marriage, I hoped so.
I thought about what he’d say to me when I saw him. Each step I took down the hallway slowly ate away at my nerves. Finally, I made it to the stairs and went all the way down. The table wasn’t set, but the patio door was open, allowing Duke to sprint past me outside.
My gaze fell to the patio chairs. Max sat in one of them with his phone in his hand and the morning paper on the table beside him. He looked up when he heard my footsteps approaching.
I braced myself for his reaction, hoping my tardiness hadn’t ruined yet another morning. As I drew closer, I saw the slight furrow in his brow and the way his lips pressed into a thin line.
“Why do you do that?” he asked.
“Do what?”
“Why do you make me anxious, impatient,irritable? Why do you make me so mad?”
I could pretend to be innocent, but I knew exactly what he meant. I knew what I did to him. I knew I made him feel things he didn’t want to feel and didn’t know how to handle. I knew I challenged him, defied him, and maybe even surprised him. I knew I made him lose control, and he hated that. He hated that I made him vulnerable.
I glared at him. “I’m not sure. That seems more like a question you need to answer yourself.” I was trying to sound confident, but on the inside I was trembling. I knew he could see right through me. He could see my fear just as much as my desire.
“I ask for breakfast, Rosalie. You miss it each morning, showing no regard for my feelings,” he said, his voice stern. It was the voice of a man who was used to being in control; used to getting what he wanted.
I took another sip. “Do you have those?” I asked sarcastically. I knew it was a risky move to provoke him like this, but I couldn’t help it.
“Feelings?Yeah, I do,” he mumbled in a voice that teetered between sleepy and angry. I thought it sounded sexy. I kind of wanted to hear it again.
“Funny. You don’t show them very often,” I retorted, unable to keep the edge out of my voice.
He sighed, rubbing his temples as if it would ward off the headache I’d caused. “I show them. Maybe not in the way you expect, but I do. That’s why it frustrates me when you’re late. It’s not about the time—it’s about you.”
He had been so patient with me, hadn’t he?
The worst part? I was forgetting why I hated the man ...
Everyone in my family, it seemed, feared Max. But as I sat there, I couldn’t help but wonder why everyone was scared, because right now, all I felt was ... safe. Like I’d once felt.
I feared he was nothing but a giant teddy bear. He’d been so patient with me, and he seemed to have an endless well of generosity too, which was surprising. Unwarranted, unexpected, yet undeniable. What had he done, again? Why was I mad?
