Second Chance Mess (Bad News Billionaires #1) - Lucia Jordan Page 0,52
for her as he pushed open the door and motioned for her to go inside. Even I hadn't seen the very final finishing touches that Max had added within the last twenty-four hours after I had emergency texted him about needing it to be ready now.
When Brooke stepped inside, there was no mistaking the fact that it was quite literally her own, personal, utopian sanctuary. She stood at the entrance and put her hand over her mouth in astonishment. Her eyes darted from each detail in each corner of the space as I walked in right behind her and started to tell her about all of the times that I listened to her every word and how we tried to put it all together in this beautiful space of her own.
"Remember when you told me about how you would have the bedding be violet and moss green? I asked. "Well, it turns out moss green is an actual color, who knew? So that's what the color scheme is, and it matches all the bedding just like you wanted."
Max came in behind us and sat down on the sofa to listen and watch Brooke's reaction.
"You told me all about the stars and the constellations that you loved, so Max installed this curved glass skylight," I said as I pointed above us. "It also magnifies the stars at night just like mine does so that you can feel like you're sleeping among the constellations."
She took a few steps in and looked around as her eyes started to water, and her mouth still hung open in amazement.
"The stained-glass door was a pain in the ass to make," I said. I heard Max chuckle from the couch as he nodded in agreement. "But it turned out great, and it has bumblebees because of that one time that you mentioned bumblebees were your favorite animal and that guy from sales in word tried to argue with you about it not being an animal since bumblebees were insects and you just laughed at him. He was right, you know, but it didn't matter because you already knew that. You were cute, and he didn't get it."
"You remembered that?" she asked. "But that was months ago before we were even dating."
"Yep," I nodded. "I know."
"We put in all pale-colored wood so that it would seem open and filled with natural light and not claustrophobic," Max added. "Because you said you didn't want to feel closed-in when we had that meeting."
She nodded and remembered that meeting that the three of us were in. Brooke walked toward the little kitchen area and looked out the window above the sink. There was something special sitting there on the windowsill for her.
"Is this my violet?" she asked with wide eyes.
"Yep," I said, smiling. I was super pleased with all of the details that I had remembered to include.
"How did you get it?" she asked. "It was in my room at the apartment."
"Kate gave it to me to bring here," I said.
"This is amazing," she said. "It's beyond amazing. I can't believe that you heard and remembered all of those small things that I said. I can't believe that you found a way to bring them all to live here for me. But why did you do this? Is this what you've been busy working on this whole time instead of the Spokane project?"
"Yes," I answered.
"Why did you do this for me?"
Max looked at me as Brooke waited for me to answer her. This was it. This was the moment that I had been waiting for, the moment that I needed to give to her.
"Brooke, listen to me," I said carefully and clearly. "What you didn't see at that photo shoot with Chelsea, is that as soon as it happened, I shut the whole thing down. And what you didn't know is that the reason I shut it down was the same reason that you punched Chelsea in the face."
"You punched that woman in the face?" Max interrupted as he laughed boisterously. "Damn, that's so great! Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
Brooke and I both took a second to chuckle at his reaction.
"I don't understand," she said. "What do you mean it was the same reason?"
"You wanted to punch her in the face because you couldn't bear the thought of anyone touching me because you felt like I belonged to you. Am I right?"