The ‘for now’ sounds ominous. I don’t want to think about that. I certainly don’t want to think about having to tell everyone in the world… “We can’t do this. We can’t. It’s too hard.”
He practically rolls his eyes. “What is making you lose your mind now?”
“We have to tell people.”
“So?”
Does he not get it? “We have to tell everyone. Do you have any idea what that’s going to be like? It was bad enough when Canyon and I were fake dating. It’s going to be a thousand times worse explaining all of this.”
“Fake dating?”
“Max, that isn’t the issue at hand.” Even though it sort of is.
His hand slides down my face until it’s resting on my neck. “This is really worrying you.”
Duh? “Yes. You don’t know how bad it was. How guilty I felt.”
“I can fix this.”
“No, you can’t.”
The irritating man grins. “Watch me.” He steps back, picking up his phone and dialing. “Nonna…That’s what I’m working on right now…Yes, she’s here with me.” He pushes the phone to the side and says, “Nonna says hi and that she’s glad you got your act together.” Max turns back to the phone. “No. I’m not telling her that. She’s skittish enough as it is…I called to ask you for a favor…Yes…Fea doesn’t want to have to tell peoplewe’re together. I was wondering if you could take care of that for us…Yes, I know they’re probably already talking about us, but could you please make it official…Thank you…Yeah, I’m taking care of Dash.”
Actually, Hope is right now, but Emilia doesn’t need to know every detail.
“Thank you. See you later…At dinner.” He smiles. “Love you, Nonna.” Max hangs up and turns back to me. “Give her twenty minutes, and it’ll all be taken care of.”
“Twenty minutes? That doesn’t seem like enough time.” Gossip travels fast, but not that fast.
“She’s enlisting all the nonnas. I doubt it will take half that time. Whatever will we do until then?” There’s a glint in his eyes that I definitely don’t like.
That’s not true. I like it very much, but it scares me. “We could go wrap your hands again.”
Max takes a step forward. “We can do that later.”
What else can we do? We need to do something else. Anything but what that sparkle suggests. “We should go get Dash.”
Max takes another step forward.
I back up until I bump into the stone wall.
Ruh roh.
Not good.
Not good at all. “We could—”
“No more excuses. You know it’s time.”
Maybe if I play dumb, he’ll give me a pardon. “Time for what?”
“Time for your first kiss.”
What? No. He has to know…
How could he not know? “Max, this is hardly my first—”
“There you go again. What happened before doesn’t count. Those weren’t kisses, and you know it.”
