Colorado 01 The Gamble (74 page)

“Babe,” he whispered, his eyes still dancing
and his mouth was now twitching.

I went back to my point. “Obviously from my
behavior the last week and a half, you’ll have noted there’s a good
possibility I might do something like that in the future.”

His mouth stopped twitching mainly because
it had started grinning.

“Yeah, Duchess, that’s been noted.”

I swallowed and tilted my head on the pillow
as I summed up quietly, my words heavy and utterly true, “I’m not
harmony, Max.”

His grin didn’t die even hearing my leaden
words. “No, honey, that you aren’t.”

“You deserve that,” I whispered.

His hand shifted so his fingers could trail
at the wetness my earlier tears left at my temple as he said,
“That’s sweet you think that, baby, but that doesn’t change the
fact that that’s not what I want.”

I blinked slowly then I asked, “Sorry?”

“
To get that means not to get you so that’s
not what I want ‘cause, like I said earlier, what I want is
you.
”

“My dead brother talks in my head,” I
reminded him.

“And I used to see Anna walkin’ down the
sidewalk when I drove through town. That shit happens in one way or
another to everyone who loses someone. It’ll pass.”

Well, even though it made me sad he used to
see Anna still, that was a relief. I thought I was going crazy.

Nevertheless, I persevered, “I’m messed
up.”

“You’re cute.”

“Trust me, Max, you may think it’s cute now
but it’ll get not so cute.”

“What’s not so cute is Harry tellin’ you to
your face he’d do you, he was drunk or not, but that’s between me
and Harry.”

“What?”

He ignored my question and stated, “But
the rest is you, babe, and
you
need to trust
me
,
it’s cute.”

“You deserve better,” I reminded him.

“You repeatin’ that means you haven’t been
payin’ attention,” he informed me.

“I’m sorry?”

His hand moved back to cup my face, his
thumb moving over my bottom lip and he spoke while he was doing
this. “Harry didn’t lie, I fucked around. After Anna there were a
lot of women. After all of them, and there were some good ones,
babe, but not even one sparked anything in me, nothin’, after all
of them, what do you think it says I choose you?”

Oh my
God.

My entire system went still from the inside
out because I had to admit, he had a very valid point.

“I lucked out, baby,” Max went on. “When I
was young life handed me somethin’ beautiful. Then it took it away.
Ten years down the road, somethin’ different, but no less
beautiful, showed up right at my front door. I knew it almost the
minute I saw it and nothin’ has happened since to shake that. You
think, findin’ that in you, I’m gonna let you change my password,
write me some fucked up note and walk away?”

“But you were right this morning, I should
have known what you were going through this week and I shouldn’t
have been so selfish.”

“No, babe, I was pissed this morning and, in
case you haven’t noticed, when I get pissed, I mouth off and say
shit I shouldn’t say. What you gotta learn to do is call me on it,
give me the attitude you serve up to everyone else like you did the
other night when I was outta line.”

“Max –”

“
Or, at least, learn to control your wild
hairs and let me burn it out and
then
call me on it.”

“Max –”

His face got close, so close I could feel
his breath on my lips as he said, “It kills me to say this, babe,
the guilt burns so bad but, this week, I couldn’t help but think
about what life would be like with you and the ways it would be
better than what I had with Anna. And knowin’ you throw beer
bottles and give back as good as you get, I like it, Duchess, that
passion. It’s in everything you do and, swear to Christ, I don’t
think I’ve ever seen anything that beautiful. Anna loved life but,
honey, when you forget to let those little fears you got cobble
you, fuck, you
devour
it. It’s
unbelievably amazing, awesome to witness. That passion makes you
look at Cotton’s pictures like you’re experiencing bliss. And it
makes you fight Kami’s corner when she’s been nothin’ but a bitch
to you and fight it like you’ll go down with her and so will the
whole of Western civilization. And, Duchess, other people think
it’s beautiful too, it draws them to you, makin’ friends outta
folks like Arlene and your cabin neighbors Norm and Phyllis
–”

“Gladys,” I corrected him.

He grinned, his thumb caught on my lower lip
and he muttered, “Whatever.”

Then he stopped talking apparently thinking
his final point was made.

I stared at him and I did this for a long
time. And I came to the conclusion that Max didn’t need to say any
more.

His final point
was
made.

And I realized, very late, that he didn’t
even have to talk to make it. He’d made his point hours earlier by
showing up to take me “home”.

Though I decided not to share this with him.
What I did decide was we had to talk about one more thing.

So I called, “Max?”

“Right here, honey.”

Yes, he was, right there, with me, in a
cabin, by a river, fifty miles away from his house.

I closed my eyes then opened them and
admitted, “You scare me.”

“You told me that before.”

“I have?”

“Yeah, baby.”

“When?”

“That first night I fucked you.”

Oh yes, right, I was half asleep, I forgot
about that. Of course, Max didn’t since he obviously had the memory
of an elephant which, I figured, did not bode well for me.

He was still grinning, likely reading my
thoughts on my face (which, I should add, also didn’t bode well for
me) and his thumb went back over my lip before I asked, “What if
this goes bad?”

“Like I said then, I can’t give you any
promises but we’ll do the best we can.”

“Is that enough for you?”

He stared at me then he burst out laughing,
collapsing on top of me for a second before his arms went around me
and he rolled carefully, taking me with him until he was on his
back and I was partly on top of him, partly pressed to his
side.

I lifted my head, looked in his eyes and
asked, “What’s funny?”

Still smiling big, he remarked in a way that
I knew he was blatantly lying, “It cuts deep, Duchess, knowin’
you’re settlin’ for me.” His hand went into my hair and cupped the
back of my head as my eyes got wide. He pulled my face closer and
muttered, “But you should know, the answer is, yeah, it’s more than
enough and, you settle for me, I’ll settle for that.”

Then he pulled my face even closer and he
kissed me.

And then, apparently our conversation was
over because he kissed me for a good long while, so long I totally
forgot about our discussion. When he stopped kissing me, he turned
out the light, settled in and told me to go to sleep. And his
kisses were so good, his body so warm, he felt so good at my side,
I was so exhausted, I just cuddled into him and did what I was
told.

But I did it with that feeling of hope
drifting back into my heart and this time, it drifted in with the
clear intention of staying awhile.

Breakfast

I woke when Max’s heat moved away from my
back, the weight of his arm gliding from around me. He did this
carefully, with that exquisite gentleness unreal in such a
powerfully-built man.

I didn’t open my eyes. I felt like I’d had
around fifteen minutes of sleep and like I needed fifteen days to
catch up.

And anyway, when Max was being gentle like
that I thought it would be better to shut off the other senses and
experience nothing but the feel of it.

I was sliding back into dreamland when I
heard the distinct murmur of voices. The owners of the cabin
complex might have taken pride in their facilities but the cabins
themselves were a fair shade less well made than Max’s A-Frame.
With the way I could hear the conversation, I knew the walls were
paper thin.

“Nina had a rough night,” Max’s gravelly
voice explained.

“Oh dear,” Gladys replied and my eyes flew
open.

“And you are?” Norm asked.

“Max, Nina’s boyfriend,” Max answered.

“Nina’s boyfriend who left her alone all day
yesterday to do nothing but stare at the river like her world had
ended and then left her alone last night to have dinner with two
old coots like us?” Norm asked, sounding somewhat surprisingly
belligerent, and his tone, not to mention what he gave away about
me spending the day pining for Max, made me throw the covers back
and jump out of bed, ignoring the shot of pain that emanated
through my ribs as I did so.

“Norm!” Gladys cried on a gasp.

“Yep,” Max replied, sounding not affronted
but amused. “That’d be me.”

On Max’s remark I had made it to the door
and I threw it open, rushing out into the living room.

“Is it eight thirty already?” I asked on a
smile I hoped didn’t look fatigued.

Max, wearing jeans, his long-sleeved t-shirt
but in bare feet, turned to look at me and when he did, his lips
pressed together and weirdly, his ear tilted to his shoulder at the
same time he was giving short shakes of his head.

Both Norm and Gladys were staring at me, for
some reason openly gobsmacked.

Then Norm moved, luckily not quickly for I
could see his intent and I was able to cry out “Max!” in time for
Max to turn back to Norm and then duck clear of Norm’s flying
cane.

“Norm!” Gladys screeched.

I ran forward as Max retreated, his torso
swaying back to dodge the swipes of the cane Norm was wielding like
a rapier as he advanced on Max.

I got in front of Max and threw my arms out,
shouting at Norm, “What are you doing?”

“
Missy, your
face!
” Norm shouted back, swirling his cane in the air before he
planted it on the floor, leaned into it, turned to Gladys and
ordered, “Go get our cellular whozeewhatsit and call the
police!”

Oh dear, even feeling the pain in my body,
I’d still forgotten about my face.

“Max didn’t do this,” I told Norm and Norm
turned narrowed eyes back to me.

“I wasn’t born yesterday, missy.”

“Damon did it,” I explained quickly and when
Norm didn’t look any less disbelieving, I continued, “He’s kind of
my mountain man stalker. See, when he was little, Max lived next to
Brody who was his best friend and still is. A long time ago,
Brody’s Mom and Dad got divorced. Then she got remarried then she
had Mindy so Mindy is like Max’s little sister. Then, a few weeks
ago, something bad happened to Mindy and she’s not doing too well
with it so, since Brody now lives in Seattle, Max was looking out
for her then I was looking out for her and, well, Damon is her
ex-boyfriend but he was her boyfriend-boyfriend then. And he came
to a bar and was mean to Mindy so I pushed him then he backhanded
me which Max saw because he was coming to pick us up because he was
our designated driver. Max got kind of mad about Damon pushing me
and taught him a lesson in the parking lot of the bar which,
unfortunately, seeing as it was the parking lot of a bar most of
the town saw the whole thing. Damon didn’t like that so he spray
painted my car and did other stuff to it too. And then, yesterday,
he tracked me down and overpowered me when I was coming into my
cabin after dinner. Luckily Max showed up a little while later and
took me to the hospital.” I took in a deep breath and finished,
“Nothing to worry about, though. Max is here now and I’m okay.”

Norm and Gladys both stared at me but Max’s
arm hooked around my chest from behind and he pulled me back into
his body. His body, by the way, which was shaking slightly so I
knew, even though it wasn’t audible, he was laughing.

I ignored this when Norm noted, “Either
that’s the best story ever made up or what you say is true.”

“I wish it was a story but, unfortunately,
it’s true,” I confirmed.

“Though, Norm, good to know, I didn’t show
last night, you and your cane would have Nina’s back,” Max added
and I elbowed him in the ribs, his body twitched but that was
mostly it.

“So, you’re her boyfriend, where were you
yesterday when Nina was tied up in knots?” Norm asked
cantankerously.

“Norm!” Gladys gasped again then looked at
me. “Nina, I’m so sorry.”

Norm’s eyes stayed glued on Max. “Got two
daughters, four granddaughters and one great granddaughter, son.
I’ve had my fair share of experience with pretty boys like you so
you best be answering my question.”

Gladys sighed. I pressed my lips together in
order not to laugh at Norm calling Max a “pretty boy”.

Max, however, spoke. “We had a fallin’ out,
Nina’s prone to gettin’ wild hairs and she took off. I found her a
coupla hours too late. So, yeah, Norm, that’s on me.”

I stopped pressing my lips together,
suddenly completely unamused, and I turned in his arm.

“What Damon did to me isn’t on you,” I
declared.

“I wasn’t talkin’ about Damon, Duchess, I
was talkin’ about you bein’ tied up in knots but, now that you
mention it, he’s Damon. He spray painted your car. I knew he wasn’t
done with you and yesterday, from the minute you left home to the
minute I walked in this cabin, you were unprotected so, yeah,
that’s on me too.”

“It is not.”

“Babe, it is.”

“It isn’t!”

Max’s hassled eyes went over my head and I
knew he was looking at Norm when he stated, “She’s up five minutes
and we’re fightin’. Our first date, she fought about how Germans
invented beer.”