Page 53 of No One But You
“Like trying to fight off two armed assailants to save their one true love,” Summer teased, although there was a trace of darkness in her voice.“I don’t want either of you to be in danger ever again.”
“Nor do we,” I assured her with a soft smile.“Besides, we all know I’m the boring one in the family.It will be all board games and white picket fences after this.”
Bailey brightened, and I stared at her like a lovesick idiot.“That sounds really good.”
“Then let’s do it.”
She leaned in and sealed the deal with a kiss.
TWENTY-NINE
Reason #1 why Max Braddock is husband material:
No one else has ever made me dream of forever.
BAILEY
“This was delicious,” Max said, licking his lips in a way that made my body light up.
I set my cutlery on my plate and looked around.The restaurant was almost empty now.We were tucked in a dim corner, and the combination of soft music and good wine had melted away my inhibitions.
“It was,” I agreed, leaning closer and smiling mischievously.“But I’m more than ready for dessert.”
We were finally on our date.
It had taken so long to get here that I’d completely recovered physically from everything Corie’s cousins had done to me.Max still got headaches every other day and couldn’t stare at a screen for too long, but I was having a wonderful time distracting him from his work so his brain could heal.
We hadn’t gone all the way in bed yet, but I had high hopes that tonight might be the night that changed.
“What do you want?”he asked, straightening his tie, completely oblivious to the innuendo.
I grinned to myself happily.He was so freaking adorable.
“You.”There was no way he could possibly misinterpret that.
His gaze snapped up to mine, darkening by the second until there was only a thin band of blue-green around his dilated pupils.
“Yeah?”he rasped, his voice husky.
“If you’re all right with that.”I was still amazed that he felt the same way about me as I did about him.I wanted to be with him every second that I could, but I’d never push for more than he was willing to give.
Fortunately, it seemed there was very little he wouldn’t willingly give.
Lucky me.
“More than all right,” he said, staring at me as if he couldn’t believe this was happening.
The insecure part of me that had always worried I might not be enough for him shrank, just like it did every time he looked at me like I was his whole entire world.One day, it would be completely gone, and maybe by then, I’d have convinced Max of how incredible he was too.
“I’ll go and pay.”He rose, unfolding his lean, gorgeous body from the chair.“Wait here.”
As he hurried to the counter to pay, I pulled a small mirror from my handbag to check that my makeup was in order and I didn’t have food smeared on my face, then popped a mint into my mouth.I was standing and ready to go when Max returned.
He took my hand and pulled.Giggling, I let him rush me out to the van and guide me into the passenger seat.
The drive back to Destiny Falls seemed to take forever, but I entertained myself by smoothing my hands up his thighs and leaning over to kiss the side of his neck.He white-knuckled the steering wheel and groaned.
We parked outside my place.We’d been spending most of our time here rather than at his house because we both had memories from there that we’d rather put behind us.
