“If you want to start looking around, I’ll be with you in just a minute,” I tell her, and she nods, then disappears farther into the house. I head down the short steps to the driveway and blink when I see Maxim get out of the passenger seat of the Range Rover, Melanie exits from the driver side, and Myla and Kai get out of the back.
“What are you guys doing here?” I walk toward them with a wide smile on my face, hugging Myla first, then Melanie and Kai before going to Maxim and leaning up for a kiss that makes his lips tug up into a smile.
“I was already planning to fly in later this week so that you and I could start shopping but after what happened we decided to fly in to see for ourselves that you were okay,” Myla says, stepping close and tugging me away from her son to give me another hug.
“You didn’t have to do that.” My chest warms as I lean back to look at her. “Even though I’m happy you’re here.”
“We’ve been worried,” she says softly as Kai rests his palm against her lower back. “It’s still hard to believe that someone tried to—”
“I’m okay, and so is Maxim,” I cut her off before she can finish, then glance up at Maxim quickly before focusing on his mom once more. “He didn’t tell me you guys were coming into town.”
“We told him not to.” She reaches out, giving my hand a squeeze. “We were going to surprise you this evening, but we ended up catching an earlier flight, so we decided to surprise both of you—only you weren’t home. When Maxim told us you were working, we figured we’d surprise you here and let you show us around this property.”
“Are you thinking about buying?” I ask, not even attempting to hide how happy that idea makes me. And I know that it would make Maxim happy having his parents closer even if he’d never say it.
“Yes,” Melanie answers for her parents as she ducks under Kai’s arm so he’s forced to wrap his arm around her shoulders.
“We’ve been talking about it,” Kai says, and I tip my head back to smile at him.
“Well, if you like to golf, this is the place for you,” I tell them as Maxim’s hand finds mine, and we walk toward the house. When we get inside, I turn to tell everyone that I’m going to check on the woman who showed up right before them, but as I start to open my mouth, she comes around the corner out of the front living room.
“Sorry.” She holds up her phone. “I just got a call from my daughter and have to run and pick her up.” She scoots past where we are all stopped and heads for the door.
“If you want to take one of my cards, I’d be happy to show you around another time.”
“That’s okay. I have a realtor already,” she says, not even turning to look at me as she heads outside, looking down at her cell phone.
“Well, I hope her daughter is okay,” Myla says, sounding just like a mom who’s had to run out to get her kid after an unexpected phone call.
“Me too.” I set down my bag and flip on the light for the entryway.
“Were you here alone?” Maxim asks.
I bite my bottom lip as my eyes meet his. “Well—”
“Where is Harris? I thought he was with you today,” he cuts me off before I can explain.
“He’s sick.”
“Babe, what the fuck?” he growls.
“Matt was here with me, and people have been around all day,” I defend myself, resting my hands on my hips, not appreciating his tone even a little.
“You were going to be alone with that woman if we hadn’t shown up.” Since I can’t deny that, I press my lips together. “You should have called me.”
“You’re right,” I give in, not wanting to argue with him in front of his parents and sister.
“We’ll talk about this later,” he bites out, the muscle in his cheek jumping, and I glare at him in return, which only seems to annoy him more.
“I told Kai that I loved this house the moment we pulled into the driveway,” Myla says, breaking into the stare-down between her son and me, and I drag my eyes off him to focus on where she is looking into the front living room.
“And I reminded her that we don’t golf, so buying a house on a golf course wouldn’t make much sense.” Kai shakes his head at his wife, and she turns her head just enough to look at him over her shoulder.
“We can learn. It’s supposed to be relaxing.”
“I’m not golfing,” he states firmly, and she frowns at him.
“Don’t worry; I’ll go golfing with you, Mom.” Melanie moves away from her dad to stand next to her. “Besides, there’s always a lot of cute guys out on the golf course near my house when I drive by, so maybe it’s the same here.”
“Neither you nor your mom are going golfing…” Kai pauses, then adds, “Ever.” I turn to hide my smile and head for the kitchen, flipping on the light there.
“So,” Melanie starts, following right behind me, “I don’t want to step on your toes if you’ve already made plans for Maxim’s birthday, but I was thinking since Mom and Dad are here that we could all have dinner together.”
“When is his birthday?” I ask, my mind swirling, wondering what I can possibly get for the guy who has everything.
“Tomorrow,” she says, and I feel my eyes widen. “I’m going to guess by that look that he never told you.” She goes to the pantry, opening the door to look inside.
“He didn’t even mention it was coming up.”
“Of course he didn’t.” She rolls her eyes when she turns to face me, and I shake my head.
“What are you two talking about?” Maxim asks, coming into the kitchen, and I turn on him.
“That tomorrow is your birthday.” I raise a brow, and he narrows his eyes on his sister, who just shrugs in response.
“Are you talking about Maxim’s birthday?” Myla asks, and after Melanie nods, her eyes come to me. “He’s never liked celebrating it. The most he’s ever let me do is make him a cake.” She tips her head back to look at her husband. “He’s just like his dad in that way.”
“So I shouldn’t plan on having people at the restaurant sing him ‘Happy Birthday to You’ as payback for not telling me?”
“I think you should totally do that.” Myla laughs, and Kai chuckles.
“I’d personally pay to see that.” Melanie grins at me, and I smirk back, then look up at my guy when he gets close, shivering when he places his lips next to my ear.
“Do it, and I’m taking it out on your ass.”
“Don’t threaten me, sir,” I whisper back, then turn to meet his gaze and hold his stare, the emotions I see shining back at me making my heart beat a little funny. Not with aggravation or frustration, but with something that is deeper, richer, sweeter. Love. If I’m not wrong, this complicated, sometimes aggravating, and amazing man loves me, and without even knowing it was happening, I fell in love with him too.
Holy shit.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving,” Melanie says, breaking into the moment, and Maxim lets out a frustrated sound while I turn to face his sister, who has the fridge open like it’s her house and she is going to prepare a meal with the contents.