“Buckle up, Duchess,” he said quietly.
I nodded back, buckled Mindy first, used the middle seat buckle for myself and held her shaking with tears frame all the way back to the Max’s house.
Chapter Six
Somethin’ Else
I was slightly jostled but I was comfortable, warm and mostly asleep so I didn’t let it bother me. I could also hear a tone which was familiar but I didn’t let that bother me either.
Then I heard a deep, gravelly voice quietly say, “Yeah?” but I didn’t let that bother me either.
I also listened when the voice went on, still quietly. “Yeah, she’s here but she’s sleepin’.” Pause. “Yeah, you want me to have her call you?” Pause while the sleep slid from me, it hit my consciousness that it was Max’s deep, gravelly voice, it was his bed and his body that were making me comfortable and warm and that the familiar tone was my mother’s ringtone.
Then my eyes flew open and I shot up to an elbow, my thigh still thrown over Max’s, my hand sliding up to his ribs when I pulled up.
Max’s clear gray eyes locked on me.
“She’s awake,” he spoke into my phone.
I started panting.
“Hang on,” he said to who I assumed was my mother then he held the phone to me. “You wanna talk to your Mom?”
I took my hand from his ribs and snatched my phone away. Then I sucked in breath and put it to my ear.
“Mom?”
There was silence on the line.
“Mom, you there?”
More nothing and then, “Neenee Bean, are you in bed with a man with an amazing voice?”
I closed my eyes tight then twisted, getting up on my bottom, my knees coming to my chest.
“Mom,” I said, opening my eyes.
“Holy cow, sweetie, holy… holy cow.”
“Mom, um…” I twisted and looked at the clock, seeing it was seven thirty-two and also seeing Max lying on his back; the covers down to his waist; one hand behind his head, the muscles in his bicep well-defined and naturally flexed; his chest exposed to the na**d eye, nearly searing my retinas with its magnificence; and his eyes in his soft face on me. I took this all in, the searing sensation in my retinas burning a direct path southward and I twisted back saying, “It’s early. Can I call you later?”
“I take it you made a decision about Niles without me,” she noted the obvious.
“Yes.”
“And, considering the situation as it seems, it was the right one.”
I closed my eyes again then opened them and said, “Mom, really, can we talk later?”
“He know about Niles?” she asked, indicating that she didn’t feel like talking later which was kind of her way.
“Who?”
“What’s-his-name who answered the phone.”
“Yes, he knows.”
“You work fast sweetie,” she remarked then asked, “What’s his name?”