“No,” I whispered but I did.
“You wouldn’t let me go.”
Oh my God. I remembered that too.
“I will repeat, I was in the throes of a fever.”
“Don’t care what you were in the throes of, you take care of a sick person, you sleep with someone, you get to know them.”
“No you don’t.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“You don’t!”
He rocked back on his heels and told me, “You got a borin’ life so you got a wild hair up your ass, you’re out here on some adventure, timeout, because you got a fiancé at home who doesn’t give a shit about you.”
My head jerked and I stared. I didn’t remember telling him that. Any of it. Most especially about Niles.
“He gives a shit about me,” I whispered.
“Then why hasn’t your cell rang in two days?” he asked.
“I –”
“And why you been awake and functioning for at least half an hour and you haven’t phoned him?” he went on.
Drat!
Max leaned into me and I watched with not a small amount of fascination as his face grew soft. His face was always amazing, soft it was something else entirely and that something else was even better.
“You’re half a world away, Duchess, you been sick as a dog and your man doesn’t contact you? Even not knowin’ you’re sick, a man gives a shit, he phones.”
He, unfortunately, had me there.
Therefore, I just stood there staring at him not knowing what to say.
Max wasn’t so uncertain.
His hand came out and grabbed mine, lifting it between us, his fingers in my palm, his thumb toying with my diamond engagement ring.
“I was your man, you were halfway around the world from me, honey, I’d f**kin’ phone you,” he said quietly.
“Niles is reserved,” I whispered.
“Niles is an ass,” he returned and my brows drew together.
“You don’t know him.”
“I know men and I know he’s not reserved, he’s an ass.”
I pulled my head together, my hand from his and snapped, “Yes? And how do you know that?”
“Because I’ve seen you naked, I’ve seen you sweet, I’ve seen you unsure and I’ve seen you riled and, seein’ all that, I know, you were half a world away from me, I’d f**kin’ phone.”
“Perhaps that’s not the kind of relationship Niles and I have,” I suggested snottily but his words hit me somewhere deep, somewhere I didn’t know I had.
“You on a timeout?”