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He waggles his eyebrows. “You can do more than ask. You can kiss it, lick it, ride it.”
“You are truly the most shameless man I’ve ever met.”
“I openly admit it.”
“You say that like you’re expecting a prize,” I say suspiciously, joining him on the couch.
“I was hoping my honesty will earn me that ride. Any chance?”
He woke up awfully self-assured this morning. Some teasing is required. “Only after breakfast, Bennett. Or coffee at least. Not awake enough to enjoy everything.”
He holds his palms up in mock disappointment. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
“Hard rule for me. Coffee before orgasms.” My face breaks into a grin, and it’s all Max needs. He jumps my bones, covering my neck with kisses, his erection pressing against my inner thigh. “I see your sensor is working overtime.”
“Always, Emilia. Always.”
“I have a surprise for you,” Max says a while later as we’re sharing breakfast. After making love, we ordered in.
“Ooh, I love surprises,” I say. “Except, wait, it’s not a slug, is it?”
On a memorable sunny day after we’d finished the school year, Max came running to my house, informing me he had to show me something, that he had a surprise for me. I was beyond excited, stomach full of butterflies and all, and followed him, jogging. My grand surprise turned out to be a cave full of slugs. Slimy bodies sprawled on bare stones. I had nightmares for months.
“No, I like to pride myself on making better surprises these days.” He grins devilishly for a split second, before his face goes serious. “Though I’m not sure if this is a good or bad surprise.”
“Oh.”
My stomach twists as I wait for him to speak. He chews the last bite of his sandwich, takes a sip of coffee.
“Max?”
“I spoke with the detective who’s on your father’s case yesterday. He called before we met for lunch, but then too many things happened and I forgot to tell you. ”
Lowering my eyes to my empty plate, I draw in a deep breath. “And?”
“He found him.”
“Where?”
“New Orleans. He gave me his home and work address.”
I snap my head up. “I thought he had it narrowed down to—”
“None of those were the right one.”
“But he’s sure the one in New Orleans is?”
He nods, scrutinizing me. “I still suck at surprises, huh?”
“No, I…. Thank you for doing this.”
“Talk to me, Emilia.”
“I don’t know how I feel.”
“You don’t have to do anything with this information. You don’t—”
“I want to go to New Orleans,” I say at once. “I want to talk to him, ask him to come see Grams. I think it’ll be good for me too. I’ll look up tickets online later.”
