“Come on then, let’s get this over with.”
Any hopeof getting home with some of the night remaining disappeared as soon as Lady Sarhin explained why she was there. The tension in the room ramped up as Wyn and Cara took some samples from the box Nathan Calder and Lady Sarhin had brought with them down to their labs.
No one in the room was going home until they came back with at least a rough idea of what we were dealing with.
It seemed like hours later when Max called us back from the room I’d taken Rys, Talis, and Sasha to while the others discussed stuff we weren’t privy to. Got to say, Max’s investigations were a lot more exciting than mine. But I wasn’t sure I’d want that level of stress on a daily basis. As Wyn explained what their initial investigations had uncovered, the tension in the room ratcheted up.
That only got worse when Nick brought up Zane.
I knew all about what he’d done. Didn’t blame anyone for their reactions, but getting angry wasn’t going to help anything. Looking around the room, I made the executive decision that we were done for the night. Well… morning now. “It’s late,” I said, breaking the tense silence the room had fallen into. “It’s been a long day. Everyone’s tired.” I glanced at Max, who looked fucking exhausted.
We’d had a stressful evening before we’d even got here. I wanted nothing more than to take him home and wrap myself around him in bed. I didn’t care whose.
“I would suggest you all go home, get some rest, and reconvene tomorrow afternoon, if needed.” The last thing I wanted was for Max to come back here in a few hours. I wanted to keep him at home with me, but I knew he wouldn’t rest for long.
Max seemed to shake himself, his gaze meeting mine ever so briefly before he faced the rest of the room. It was enough. I doubted anyone else noticed the way his expression softened for that fraction of a second, but I did, and it sent a curl of warmth through my entire body.
“I agree with Jake,” he said. “As far as I see it, nothing’s changed regarding Axel.” I zoned out a little as he spoke, the early hour catching up with me now the promise of going home was in sight.
I sat back, listening to them wrap up the meeting. It took way longer than I’d hoped, and by the time we escorted everyone out of the building to the car park, I was dead on my feet.
As the last car left, Max’s hand found the base of my spine and I leant into him. “Let’s go home,” he whispered.
I nodded, not protesting when he got into the driver’s side. I was way too tired to be safe behind the wheel.
When we eventually got home, I followed Max inside and upstairs. Grabbing his hand, I tugged him into my room. “No talking,” I murmured, dropping his hand and pulling my clothes off. “Just sleeping.”
“Fuck.” Max yawned and rubbed a hand over his face. “I had plans for when we got back here.”
“I know.” I pulled back the quilt and got in, patting the space beside me. “I did too. But they’ll keep.” I smiled up at him as he walked around the other side of the bed,my bed, and slipped in beside me. “We have all the time in the world.”
“We do, don’t we?” Even tired, his smile was blinding. When he held up his arm, I didn’t hesitate to slide in close enough for him to wrap it around me. “I’ll have to go back into the office in a few hours,” he said, kissing the top of my head. “But when I get back? We’ll do all those things we couldn’t do tonight.”
“Okay.” Closing my eyes, I settled into Max’s side. Strong and safe. Despite us being almost the same height and build, that’s how he made me feel. I let his warmth pull me under, his wonderful earth-grass-pack scent the last thing I registered before sleep took me.
