“This from the woman engaged to her high school sweetheart? The longest long-term relationship I know?” Maxie asked, a bit enviously. While in her miserable marriage to Keith, she’d longed for what Angela had.
Angela smirked. “Do as I say, not as I do. Does…”
“Lucas.”
“Lucas. Hmm. Even his name is sexy. Does he want to sleep with you again?”
Maxie thought back to what he’d said the other day. I’m not going to let our time pass us by. No way. No how.
“Yes, he does,” she told Angela.
“Then what are you waiting for? Take him up on it and this time don’t run afterward,” Angela said, as if it were that simple.
And maybe it was.
“Here you go,” the waitress said, arriving with their meals with impeccable timing.
“Thank you,” Maxie said as the woman put their dishes on the table.
They began to eat, leaving Maxie alone with her thoughts about her hot guy. And what she was going to do about him.
* * *
Lucas hoped Maxie appreciated his restraint, because he was wearing out his hand, taking care of himself to thoughts of thrusting into her wet heat. It was getting to be a morning and evening ritual to take the edge off, but strangely he wasn’t losing patience. She was worth the wait.
And this morning he was waiting for a whole different reason. She was running late for work.
“I forgot to set my alarm clock,” she said, dashing past him, grabbing her purse, and running back to her room.
A few minutes later, she rushed by him again, grabbing a cup of yogurt from the refrigerator. “I’ll eat it at my desk,” she said, shoving it into her bag along with a plastic spoon.
“Ready.” She exhaled hard and started for the door when her cell rang. She muttered a curse as she took the call. “Hello?” she asked, then listened. “This is she.” Some more silence and then, “What do you mean my unit was broken into?”
She ran a hand through her wavy hair and groaned. “Yes, I understand. But I can’t get over until lunchtime.” She paused. “Yes. Yes. Thanks for calling.” She disconnected and met his gaze.
“What was broken into?” he asked.
“My storage unit, of all things. They aren’t sure what, if anything, was taken, so they want me to come take a look and file a claim. I’ll be lucky if I can figure out if anything is gone.”
“I’ll go with you,” he said and caught her pointed look. “If you want me to,” he reluctantly added. Because he was trying to let her handle things on her own.
“Thanks but it’s not a big deal. I’ll go, take a look around, and see if I can identify anything that’s been taken. No big deal.”
“If that’s what you want.” It wasn’t what he preferred to do. He was learning that it wasn’t in his nature to take a step back.
But if he wanted to prove to her he was different from his brother and worthy of her trust, he had to let her handle things on her own.
* * *
Maxie’s morning was rushed from the minute she’d woken up late courtesy of a night debating how to approach Lucas this time. She didn’t want to appear wishy-washy, but that’s exactly what she’d done. Come on to him, pull back out of fear. She knew she had to make the first move again. And this time be ready to stick out the consequences.
She’d tossed and turned again last night, unsure of whether or not to take that next step. And then this morning, he’d backed off and let her handle her problems with the burglary at the storage unit on her own. That’s when she’d asked herself, what more did she need him to prove to her? He clearly understood the parameters she’d set up for them. He understood her. She’d just have to make certain they were on the same page.
Unfortunately, she had no time to talk to him about it today. She was slammed at the office with filings and documents that the attorneys needed prepared, and she worked straight through to a late lunch without a break.
Instead of eating, she took a cab to the storage unit and did a walk-through with one of their employees, but other than things knocked over and broken, she didn’t see anything noticeably missing. She filled out a claim form to the best of her ability in the rushed time she had and headed back to work.
It wasn’t until around four p.m. when she finally had a chance to catch her breath, grab a quick bite, and think. And when she did, she knew what she had to do.