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I am a monster out of your worst nightmares. He hadn’t behaved monstrously since that night. I suspected his desperate actions went against his true nature. And the reminder of the awful thing he’d done to me made him slip behind that frightening mask, another barrier between us.
I wouldn’t let him do it. He’d protected me, even when I protested. When I was with him, I didn’t have to pretend to be strong all the time. I didn’t have to fight through my anxiety to prove to people that I was capable and independent. Max had seen me at my most vulnerable after Gavin’s attack, and he hadn’t judged me for being weak and shaken. He’d insisted on helping me calm down. He’d helped me reclaim my own strength by supporting me through the worst of the traumatic experience.
I wanted for him to be vulnerable with me, too. I was safe with Max, but he was safe with me. He had to know that.
“No, I don’t want you to stalk me,” I replied, keeping my tone low and calm. “I want to give you my number.”
His jaw ticked. “That’s a bad idea, Bambi.”
Oh. We were back to nicknames now.
Well, I wouldn’t let him put that kind of distance between us. I no longer hated being called Bambi, but this moment was too important to allow him to retreat from me. If I let him walk away now, I might never see him again. He would bury himself in his rage. He would keep pursuing his vendetta against my father, and he’d probably end up in prison, further suffering for a family that’d deceived him.
Love his hard, but blood is everything. His haunting declaration ghosted through my mind.
Love shouldn’t be hard, and Max didn’t deserve any more pain than he’d already endured.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do and how to feel, remember?” I reminded him gently. “I want to see you again.”
“You really are crazy.” I suspected that the words were meant as a blow, but the longing that roughened his tone betrayed the depth of his desire.
My free hand twitched toward him, drawn to comfort him. But I sensed that he’d back away farther if I dared to make tender contact. He was feeling too vulnerable, and his default was to bury any signs of perceived weakness, hiding them even from himself.
I fixed him with a level stare instead and held out my hand between us, palm-up. “Give me your phone.”
He remained motionless for a long moment, glowering down at me. I didn’t flinch or cower. I simply waited for him to surrender.
You don’t scare me.
“Max,” I prompted.
His name on my lips seemed to be a trigger for him, and he reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone even as he continued to scowl at me.
I lifted my brows and waited, expectant.
Nope. Still not scared.
He blew out a long sigh and typed in his passcode, unlocking the phone before handing it to me. I accepted it and quickly entered my contact details before he could change his mind and snatch it back. I fired off a text to myself so that I’d have his number, too.
“There,” I said, satisfied. I returned his phone. “Now you don’t have to stalk me anymore.”
“I have been stalking you. It’s not a joke.” He said it like a dark reminder, as though I’d somehow forgotten his madness and the terrible way we’d first met.
“You also saved me from getting hit by a car and protected me from Gavin,” I countered. “I’d prefer to be able to ask you to meet up than to find you lurking in the shadows.” My lips twitched, teasing.
“That’s not funny,” he half-growled, still trying to scare me off.
I lifted my chin and met him head-on. “I want to see you again,” I said firmly. “I’ll text you.”
He shook his head at me. “You shouldn’t.”
“That’s really annoying, you know,” I informed him flippantly. “Stop telling me what I should and shouldn’t do.”
His mouth quirked at the corners, as though he was suppressing a smile of his own. “I think you’re infuriating, too.”
I rolled my eyes at him. White flames danced over his dark, intent gaze. They licked my skin, and my body began to tingle with the memory of his wicked kiss. My tongue darted out to wet my lips, craving more. His eyes riveted to my mouth, and he swayed toward me for an instant before his massive frame hardened to granite once again.
“Go inside, Allie.” His desire-roughened voice caressed my name, even as he commanded me to leave him.
Moving too quickly for him to stop me, I bounced up onto my toes and brushed a kiss over his cheek. “Goodnight, Max.”
A small shudder rolled through him as his bulky muscles flexed, but he restrained himself from crushing me to him for another scorching kiss.
