Colorado 01 The Gamble (46 page)

“Max,” I whispered and he turned from gazing
at the fire to look at me.

“Never, Nina, never in my fuckin’ life will
I forget you racin’ down that incline, jumpin’ in the goddamned
river and bent over, breathin’ life into Mindy.”

I closed my eyes but opened them again when
Max’s hand came to my face and his mouth touched mine.

He pulled back an inch and murmured, “Thank
you, baby.”

“Max –” I started softly and he cut me
off.

“
But, you ever even
think
of jumpin’ into a river again, I’ll tan your
ass.”

I felt my brows snap together just as I felt
my body jerk. “I’m sorry?”

Max’s arm dropped across my lap, his hand at
my hip and he stated, “You scared the fuckin’ shit outta me.”

“Max –”

“Seriously, Nina, swear to God, I watched
you go into that river, you didn’t fuckin’ hesitate, and my
goddamned stomach dropped. I thought you’d both go.”

“Max –”

“There’d be nothin’ I could do, that river
took you, it wanted you, it’d have you and I’d lose you both.”

“That didn’t happen,” I reminded him, trying
to keep my patience.

“No, thank fuck, it didn’t. Coulda, but it
didn’t.”

“I had to get to her.”

“I know you did.”

“So I got to her.”

“Yeah, you did, nearly lost your life doin’
it.”

“That isn’t true.”

“A river’s unpredictable, babe, you don’t
know that but I do. Especially in spring. You shoulda waited for
me.”

“Waiting wasn’t an option.”

“Not worth talkin’ about now, it’s done and
thankfully everyone’s all right.”

“You brought it up.”

“I brought it up in case you get a wild hair
which you seem to do a lot.”

I pulled back as far as I could which
wasn’t very far and glared at him. “I’m not going to jump into
rivers willy nilly, Max, I didn’t even
jump
in today. I just, kind of,
walked
in.” His brows went up and I gave an inch.
“Okay,
ran
in.”

He shook his head then declared, “We’re done
talkin’ about this.”

I continued to glare. Then I started to push
up from the chair but his arms tightened around me and he pulled me
back down to him.

“Max, I’m going to go read or
something.”

“You’re pissed I laid it out and you’re
gonna go nurse your snit.”

Seriously, he was so annoying.

“
Okay, so I’m going to go
nurse
my
snit
.”

“
No, you aren’t. You’re gonna sit here and
we’re gonna enjoy the fact that we’re breathin’, alive and
alone
.”

“Has anyone told you you’re
domineering?”

“Nope.”

“Well, let me be the first. You’re
domineering.”

He turned more fully to me and ran his
forearm down the backs of both my legs, hooking them at the knee
and pulling them over his legs on the ottoman. If I hadn’t been in
a
snit
I might
have noticed, firstly, that he did this gently so as not to hurt my
scraped up leg and, secondly, that I was far more comfortable in
this position.

But I was in a snit and he was talking so I
didn’t notice.

“First, babe, seriously?”

“Seriously what?” I asked.

“If I got somethin’ on my mind, you want me
to keep it to myself?”

Well, it didn’t sound very good when he said
it like that.

“No, but ��”

“Especially if it’s important?”

“Of course not.”

“Second, you get pissed at what I say, you
want to go off in a huff rather than talkin’ shit out?”

That didn’t sound very good either.

“Well –”

“Yes or no.”

“Maybe, yes,” I snapped and his face grew
dark.

“You’re shittin’ me.”

“If I go off in a huff, as you put it, I
might have a chance to get my head together so we can talk it out,
not argue about it.”

“Babe, you’re not kidding anyone. You want
the chance to pull away, not get your head together.”

Why was he so annoying? I was angry enough
to ask.

“Why are you so annoying?” I snapped
again.

“Because I’m right, you’re wrong and you
know it.”

I shouldn’t have asked.

I looked to the ceiling and told God, “God,
next time I want an adventure, strike me with lightning. You have
my permission.”

“You know what sucks?” Max broke into my
conversation with God and I looked back at him.

“No, what sucks, Max?”

“It sucks you’re so fuckin’ cute even when
I’m pissed at you.”

My eyes rounded, my temper flared even as my
heartbeat spiked with a weird but palpable fear.

“You’re pissed at me?”

“Duchess, you ran into a raging goddamned
river and gave me attitude when I called you on it.”

“
Max, I ran in after
Mindy
who was trying to commit
suicide
like my brother did
three
years
ago
and I
wasn’t going to let that happen again!
Not to Mindy, not to Brody and not
to
you!
”

His face gentled but I wasn’t done.

“
And I don’t get a wild hair
a
lot
.”

“Babe,” he said low, his gentled face now
looked like it was desperately trying not to crack a smile.

“What?” I snapped.

“
You flew out to Colorado, drivin’ into
mountains you’ve never been to by yourself and harborin’ a flu. You
were alone, in a snowstorm, in the middle of nowhere in a house
with a man you’d never met and you got into it with me. And, I’ll
just say, you might have a mouth on you, babe, but physically I can
take you. Then you took on Shauna on what amounts to our first
date. Then you took on Damon, who’s a dick, could also take you
and, worse,
would
. Then you
took on Kami and then Shauna
again
.
You took one look at Jeff, decided he was a good guy and threw
Mindy at his feet. You didn’t think for even a second before
gettin’ into it with your Dad, just threw back the covers, blew
from the loft, ran down the fuckin’ stairs and got right in his
face. And this mornin’ you acted out a hilarious but obviously
practiced head to head with your Mom.” I was back to glaring
silently at him since his facts made a pretty damning case but he
wasn’t done. “And we won’t get into you jumpin’ on the back of an
ATV a coupla days after you shied away from a fuckin’ snowmobile
then jumpin’
off
it like
you’re a Hollywood stuntwoman.”

“All right, Max, you made your point.”

“Thank Christ,” he muttered then
grinned.

“But you’re still domineering.”

“And you like it.”

“
I do
not,
” I
snapped.

“
Baby, if I wasn’t you’d be at the hotel in
town or worse, in Denver and you wouldn’t be right
here
.
”

“
Which is where I don’t want to be. I want
to be upstairs, nursing my
snit,
”
I shot back.

“Too bad, darlin’, because you aren’t goin’
anywhere.”

“Fine, then I’ll nurse my snit here,” I shot
back, crossed my arms and transferred my glare to the fire.

After a moment Max sighed then his hand came
to the back of my neck and, as he sat back in the chair, he forced
my head to his shoulder. I let him do this but I still kept my eyes
on the fire and my arms crossed on my chest.

We were silent awhile before Max spoke
again.

“Becca told me about Mindy.”

At his tone, I pulled in breath, pushed down
my irritation and asked, “Sorry?”

“She told me that she was worried somethin’
like today would happen.”

I uncrossed my arms and lifted my head to
see he was also gazing at the fire.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Max replied, not shifting his eyes
from the fire. “That’s why we moved her out of her place and into
Becca’s. Becca and I decided it on Tuesday. We needed to keep a
closer eye on her so we worked it and got it when Damon fell into
our plans, bein’ such a dick.”

Something was wrong in his tone, in the
blankness of his face so I called, “Max.”

“Shoulda kept her up here with us,” Max
whispered and I knew what was wrong.

I slid my arm along his belly and curled it
around his side, whispering, “Max.”

“Shoulda told Brody.”

“Max.”

“Shoulda took her myself to talk to
someone.”

I gave him a squeeze and said more firmly,
“Max, look at me.”

Slowly, his eyes went from the fire to me
and what I saw in them made me melt into him as my arm left his
middle and my hand went to his neck.

“Darling, this stuff will torture you if you
don’t let it go.”

“Nina –”

“I missed the signs too and I’ve seen them
before.”

“Nina.”

“You couldn’t have stopped today if this was
where she was heading. You can’t do that to yourself.”

“Hard not to think I fucked up when all I
got in my head is you jumpin’ into that river and her floating in
it.”

Yes, I was
such
an idiot.

My fingers flexed at his neck and I pulled
myself up to get closer to him.

“Max, you didn’t fuck up.”

“Coulda took you both.”

“Max –”

“Woulda been on me if it did.”

I pulled up closer and my hand slid into his
hair.

“Stop it,” I whispered, Max opened his mouth
to speak and I moved to stop him, pulling up further and pressing
my mouth to his.

His hand slid up my spine, my head came up
from my kiss and I saw his eyes were still dark with bleak
emotion.

I slid my nose alongside his and spoke
again. “Max, stop it, everyone’s safe and I won’t run into anymore
rivers, I promise.”

“Baby –” he whispered, unamused.

“Sweetheart, don’t go down that path. I’ve
been down it and, trust me, it leads nowhere.”

His eyes moved over my face then his fingers
slid into my hair and he pressed my face into the side of his
neck.

“Sorry, Duchess, you don’t need this shit,
the demons you been battlin’ today,” he muttered, my arms slid
around him and I kissed his neck.

Then I said, “You know, earlier today I
wondered if it would have hurt less if I hadn’t been alone when
Charlie died.”

His fingers slid through my hair and he
asked, “Yeah?”

“I decided it wouldn’t have.”

“Probably not.”

“But, maybe, if I hadn’t been alone I
wouldn’t have wandered down that path.”

“Probably not,” he repeated.

“So, since you’re not alone, will you let me
guide you away from that path?”

He was silent a moment then he asked an
impossible question, “Where we goin’, honey?”

“I don’t know, just not there.”

His body shook with silent humor, not a lot
of it but it still shook.

“That shield you got, babe, like titanium,”
he muttered and my arms gave him a squeeze.

“I thought we were going to enjoy being
alive, breathing and alone?” I reminded him.

“Yeah.”

“We’re not really doing that.”

“Nope.”

“Let’s move onto that phase of the evening,”
I suggested.

His fingers curled around my shoulder and
gave me a squeeze.

“Good idea,” he murmured.

“Do you want a beer?”

“No.”

“I can make some hot chocolate,” I
offered.

“Thanks, but, no.”

“Do you want anything?”

“Anything?”

My stomach dipped and my body grew
tense.

“Max –”

“There’s somethin’ I been wantin’ a
while.”

“Max –”

“Take my mind off things.”

My head came up and I repeated, “Max.”

His fingers slid into my hair again and his
eyes focused on my mouth. “Be a good way to celebrate breathin’,
bein’ alive and bein’ alone.”

“I –”

“Kiss me, Duchess.”

My hand went to his chest as his hand
pressed my face closer to his.

“You’re being domineering again,” I informed
him.

I felt his mouth grin under mine and watched
his eyes do it.

“Yeah, baby, fair warnin’, when we’re naked,
you better get used to that.”

I gasped at his words then he kissed me.

It could have been the snow falling softly
all around the A-frame, the fire burning in its grate, the soft
lighting under the cupboards in the kitchen and just the lamp by
the couch lit making the house more cozy and romantic than
ever.

It could have been what happened that day
to Mindy, Brody, Max and me and relief that we were all here, still
able to walk, talk, breathe,
kiss
.

It could have been Max’s long fingers in my
hair, his hard, warm body so close to mine, his mouth tasting
vaguely of coffee and cake and strongly of Max.

It could have been that this was Max and,
today, he proved he was more Wonder Max than ever.

Or it could have been he was just a very
good kisser.

But I melted into him and his kiss, tipping
my head to the side, lifting my hands to his neck and sliding my
fingers into his thick hair, touching my tongue to his.

He growled in my mouth and at the feel of
it, the sound of it, my body responded to just how much I liked
that noise coming from Max and the fact that it was me who made him
make it, I pressed into him.

His hand went from my waist, up my shirt and
I felt the rough pads of his fingers against the skin of my
back.