“I want to take you home, Phoebe,” he says firmly.
No argument there, the thought of catching the subway back to my apartment doesn’t thrill me much.
But then I catch his real meaning.
“I’ve thought long and hard, all night. I don’t want you in that apartment another day. I want you and Trixie to come stay with me. So we can all be together,” he tells me, a matter of fact. Like it’s already happened.
Playing it safe, tactfully. I suggest maybe we just get me home first, so I can walk Trixie and maybe talk about it some more.
“I don’t want to talk about it, Phoebe,” he says earnestly, holding my hands tighter as he swells up, looking like he’ll burst if I don’t agree.
“I just want to know you’re safe. Know that you’re treated the way you deserve to be.”
His honesty and his passion bowl me over. He means every word and not in a trying to tell me what to do way, but in a way that a man might tell a woman how much he wants her. How much he has to offer me and the only way to prove it is by showing me. By doing everything he says he wants to.
Noting my silence and my hesitation, he apologizes.
“It’s too much isn’t it?” he groans, looking down at his feet and kicking at the ground gently with his foot.
“I’m not sorry though, Phoebe. I mean it. I want you. All of you and that means taking you away from that shitty apartment and this even shittier job,” he says, almost angry at the thought of me doing it all for even one more day.
I’m a little taken aback, to say the least. A little annoyed even.
“My shitty life?” I ask him, not quite repeating what he said, but I get the meaning.
“Shitty circumstances, Phoebe,” he says softly, looking into my eyes and shrugging a little.
“Your life isn’t shitty and neither are you, I just mean…”
I know what he means and my annoyance soon passes once I can see how genuine and caring he really is about all this.
It is a lot to take in and I’m a creature of habit. I’ve gotten so used to everything just being me and Trixie, I honestly don’t know if I can risk just tossing away my job and apartment.
Even for Mr. Perfect here.
It all seems too good to be true.
“Just tell me you’ll think about it?” Max finally ask, reading my mind and sensing my mood, which he’s so good at it’s almost spooky.
“Oh, I’m thinking about it,” I counter. “But you can see how I can’t just leap into your arms and forget everything else. My job, my home. Even if it is a crummy situation at the moment – it’s all I’ve got Max and we have only just met.”
Party pooper.
It’s the truth though. In my heart I know I have feelings for Maxwell, big feelings I can’t deny. But I’ve moved so many times, changed towns and jobs so much. I’d hate to have to do it all again, start from zero just because I leaped before I looked.
He looks away thoughtfully, finally creasing his stubbled lip into a broad smile before he kisses me again.
“Deal,” he says, hugging me as he shields me from the sea breeze that’s whipped up. Some dark clouds loom over the horizon, and he suggests we head home. My home, just for now.
“Where did you park?” I ask, hooking my arm around his waist, soaking up his warmth and more of his cologne that seems to ooze out of him.
The pure essence of man mixed with spice and the woods after a rain.
“Across the street from your apartment,” he confesses and I have to laugh, mainly out of nervousness.
“So… You actually followed me on the subway then waited for me all night underneath a bridge?”
I can tell what he’s thinking, and he’s quick to tell me I’m mistaken.
“I’m not your stalker Phoebe. You’ve gotta believe me. I just couldn’t go back to my life without knowing where you were, what you were doing. Knowing you were safe.”
“And what about Trixie?” I ask, pretending to be annoyed. “Who was looking after her?” I protest.
“See?” he tells me, smiling. “That’s why we all need to stick together, the three of us.
“Like the three bears?” I murmur.
“Huh?” Max asks, leaning over.
“Nothing,” I whisper with a smile to myself. “Nothing.”
Chapter Ten
Maxwell
With no car at the ready, it’s a perfect excuse for a walk along the shoreline past the pier on our way back.
We’ve broken the ice, and I’ve told Phoebe as much as I can about how I feel about her. About how bad I want her, not just today but for every day after today as well.
She’s hesitant, but her own body seems to know what it needs as much as mine knows what it wants to give her.