comes our way. There’s nothing else I need or want except that trust and your love. Do I still have those things, Cale?”
A gruff rumble. “You know you do, baby.”
“Then I’m good. Don’t look back. Our future isn’t there.” She took one of his hands, pressing his palm to her belly. “It’s here. It’s whatever we make it, every day for the rest of our lives. Agreed?”
“I’m no kind of man without you,” he whispered. “I’m a lucky S.O.B. You’ll always be my queen, Kendra.”
“And you’ll always be that boy who gave me my first kiss and stole my heart forever.”
Cee Cee stepped back, unnoticed. Throat tight after witnessing that tender exchange, she slipped up the stairs, needing the arms of her own male to hold her. But instead, found her bedroom vacant and undisturbed, as empty as her spirit. Shoulders slumping, she blinked back the burn in her eyes. Just hormones. That’s all. Not a huge black hole of despair slowly, silently devouring all her dreams.
Feeling out of balance with present as well as future events, refusing to admit she’d started sniffling, she started running a bath in the huge claw-footed tub. Just the thing when the only thing she needed wasn’t there. Until she reentered the bedroom and those strong arms she’d been missing like a vital part of her soul, surrounded her.
For a long moment, they stood wrapped about each other, absorbing heat and comfort. Finally, Max murmured, “I’m glad you’re here. It’s good to be home.”
“Especially when we’re in it together.”
“And it’s good to have a tub big enough for two.”
“Agreed.” She eased back far enough to begin unbuttoning his decadent Stefano Ricci dress shirt, focusing on the tempting mat of black hair gradually revealed as emotions ping, ping, ponged all over the place. “But I already put in some foo-foo smelling stuff.”
“I’m man enough to handle it.” His low chuckle might have been a growl.
Charlotte pushed the subtle tonal stripes off powerful shoulders so her fingers could comb through that very masculine furring. “And I like that about you, Savoie.”
With their purpose reconnection rather than cleanliness, once skin-to-skin contact had been achieved, Max climbed in first, stretching his long, deliciously defined body along the length of the mammoth tub so Cee Cee could layer atop him, back to front. Hot water soothing body and the tease of jasmine calming soul, they stared up through the skylight as heavens cleared and stars winked to life upon an inky canvas.
It would have been so easy to relax into the support of his familiar lines, to be seduced by the tempting stroke of large palms moving from shoulder down firmly muscled arms. So easy for weariness to slide into restless anticipation as caresses followed the curve of her hips to cap strong thighs and dip slowly between them. So easy.
“Max, we need to talk.”
“Yes, we do.”
Encouraged by the calm rumbling tone that invited without a hint of wariness, Cee Cee rested her head upon his shoulder and brought him up to speed on her investigation, omitting one thing only—her suspicion of her partner. That, she wouldn’t voice aloud until she had proof it was true. Instead, she relayed her conversation with Atcliff, bracing for the worst as he considered the consequences of what she proposed, as well as the dangers to herself and the child she carried. When he spoke at last, his tone brought a chill to the bath water.
“Clever of you to include me in your scheme. Did you think I’d be so relieved to be on hand as you dangle yourself like a chicken leg above a swamp that I wouldn’t concern myself over the potential of that swift, devouring bite?”
“You know I don’t allow anyone to nibble on me except you.”
He wasn’t sidetracked by her hopeful attempt at humor. “And dear Uncle Byron agreed to this?”
“Very reluctantly, and only if you were onboard.”
His hands sought hers, threading fingers to curl hers within the protection of his much larger grip. “Did you think I would be, Charlotte?”
“No.” Knowing her stripped bare honesty was always a surprise to him but this time, not a relief, she explained further. “But I had to ask. I saw what they did to those innocent women, Max, to their helpless babies. I can’t imagine the horrible things they plan if we don’t stop them. If I can save even one, just one, by exposing their network.” Her words caught in a painful hitch.