“April,” Molly whispers, sounding distressed, and I break my stare-down with the guy but only after taking in every single detail about him.
“Let’s get you two home.” My voice sounds tight even to my own ears as I take Molly’s hand, and Harris lets me go. When we get outside, I’m thankful for the cool evening air, because I need it to help tamp down my temper. Especially when all I really want to do is go back into the bar, jump behind the counter, grab the biggest bottle of Jack there is, and knock that idiot over the head with it. I know it doesn’t make me a very good person, but there are times in life when being good is overrated and people need to learn a lesson.
We get to my car in half the time it took us to make it inside the bar, and after Harris and Molly are both buckled in, I head out of the parking lot and take them home, wondering if maybe Molly’s mom is right. Maybe this judgmental, cruel world is too ugly for souls like theirs. Maybe it’s best that they are protected and sheltered from it.
When I get to their building, I walk them to their door and make sure they are inside before I get back in my car and head home, my chest still feeling heavy with anger. I reach my house a few minutes later, pull into my driveway, shut down the engine, then stare at my front door. Knowing that nothing but silence will greet me once I get inside, I debate going to my parents’ house for the night. My mom still keeps a room set up for me and my sisters, and I could use some company.
Just when I start to place my hand on the key that is still in the ignition, my front door opens, and I blink, sure that I’m seeing things when Maxim leans against the doorjamb, his eyes meeting mine through the windshield. His head tips to the side, his expression going soft as my heart starts to beat out of control, then he pushes off the frame and starts toward my car. I hold my breath as he gets closer, and my nose stings as he opens my door, reaching for me.
“You’re here,” I say like an idiot as he pulls me out of my car and wraps his arms around me.
“I told you I wouldn’t be gone long.” He kisses my neck, my jaw, then my lips when I tip my head back so I can see his face. When his eyes lock with mine, his fill with concern. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I admit, pulling my gaze off his so I can burrow into his chest and wrap my arms around his waist. “I had a bad day.”
His body against mine grows stiff while his hand slides up my back and into my hair, then his fingers wrap around the strands, and he tugs my head back so I have no choice but to look at him.
“What happened?” The worry mixed with anger in his voice and expression lets me know I should tread carefully.
“It was nothing really.” I place my hands against his chest, not sure how he will react to me telling him that Cohen showed up at my showing today or what happened at the bar, even though he doesn’t really know Harris or Molly.
“You look like you want to cry, so it has to be something.” The back of his fingers smooth along my cheek, then around the tip of my ear.
“People are just—” I press my lips together, then let out a breath. “—mean.”
“Someone was mean to you?” The frown he’s wearing deepens as his eyes roam my face.
“No, just some drunk idiot being an idiot.” I let out a breath. “I took Harris and Molly to dinner downtown tonight, and when we were leaving, Harris bumped into a guy, causing him to spill his beer down his shirt, and he called Harris a—” I cut myself off, because I can’t repeat that word. “Anyway, it was just upsetting.”
“I can see that,” he says, and even though I shouldn’t, I like that he looks as angry as I feel. “I wish I would have been there.”
“Me too,” I say without thinking, and he looks surprised. Clearing my throat, I take a step back from him, and he lets me go. “I need to get my bag.”
“I’ll get it.” He opens my door, grabbing my keys and purse, then places his hand against my lower back.
When we reach my front door, I remember he was here when I got here, and I didn’t let him inside. “Did I leave the door unlocked?”
“No, I have a key.”
“Of course you do.” I laugh, shaking my head, then slip off my shoes so I can carry them upstairs. “So did you get everything in Vegas taken care of?” I ask, even though I’m not sure what exactly it is he was doing there.
“No, that’s why I came back early—to convince you to go back with me in a few days.”
“What?” I stop and turn to face him as my heart pounds.
“I don’t like you being here and me being there,” he says easily as he places my bag on the counter in the kitchen, and I stare at him, swearing I hear the thud when my jaw lands on the floor. “We won’t be gone long. Maybe a week tops.”
“You want me to go back to Vegas with you?”
“I do.” He crosses his arms over his chest and leans his hip against my island. “Do you think you can get some time off in the next couple of days?”
Could I? Absolutely. But me flying to Vegas and staying with him in his home seems… well, it seems huge, like something people who’ve been together for months would do. “What’s the look on your face mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know what the look means? You don’t know if you can get time off, or you don’t know if you want to come home with me?”
“I’m getting a cat,” I tell him instead of asking him the question on the tip of my tongue, that being—what the hell is going on between us?
“You’re getting a cat?”
I lick my lips and nod. “My sister July is a vet. I don’t know if I told you that before.” He shakes his head. “Well, she is, and when she was over at dinner yesterday, she convinced me to adopt a kitten that was dropped off at her office.”
“All right, so we’ll take it with us.”
“What?”
“We’re flying private, and as far as I know, there aren’t any rules about taking animals across state lines.”
“You’re serious?”
“I wouldn’t suggest it if I wasn’t.”
I study him for a long moment, then bite my lip. Maybe this doesn’t need to be a big deal. Maybe I need to quit trying to put a label on us, just go with the flow, and stop trying to complicate things. Maybe I should just have fun and let whatever is going to happen, happen.
“Okay.”
“Yeah?” He pushes away from the counter and prowls toward me, his eyes darkening as he gets closer. “That was easier than I thought it would be.”
“Was it?”
“Yeah.” He kisses me soft and sweet while one of his hands tangles in my hair, the other going down to cup my ass. “I thought I was going to have to do more to persuade you.”
“How did you plan on doing that?” I sound breathless even to my own ears.
“I didn’t really have a plan.” He kisses down my jaw, then nips my neck. “I just knew I wasn’t leaving without you.”
“You weren’t?” My heart feels too big for my chest.
“Fuck no, I’ve missed you these last couple of days,” he says, and my hands find their way to his shoulders, my fingers digging into his flesh.