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“Fine, we can shelve this until after I eat and have the energy to argue with you. Korean?”
“You can have whatever you want, my heart.” Zander handed his phone over so Max could make his own selections.
Food ordered, they left the bed and headed into the shower. Showering with Max was a pleasure in and of itself, one he planned to indulge in often. A wet Max was a distinctly perfect view. Zander hummed a little, pleased to get his hands back on his lover. He paid particular attention to Max’s neck, making sure the puncture wounds were already healing, which they were. With the healing properties in a vampire’s saliva, by tomorrow the marks should be gone entirely.
Max’s eyes were closed as Zander washed his hair, the way his lips curved showing his obvious enjoyment.
“Zan?”
“Yes, love?”
“When you said you wanted to properly court me—does that mean something different for vampires? Or is it like human dating?”
“Much like human dating, but we have a few quirks. For instance, when I propose, I will have to get permission from your nearest relative, but more or less like human dating.”
Max let that roll around in his head for a moment before asking, “You’ve already showered me with gifts, so I’m a little afraid to ask this, but…you’re going to kick it up a notch now that we’re dating, aren’t you?”
Zander pulled on his best innocent face, putting real effort into it. He didn’t want Max to learn about the greenhouse yet. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Max closed his eyes again, resigned. “I’m going to become utterly spoiled at this rate.”
It appeared his innocent face needed work. “Instead of seeing it as me spoiling you, think of it as me competitively compensating you for the delight you provide.”
Max laughed softly. “Competitively compensated, huh? Sure, Mr. Businessman, sure.”
See? Max didn’t actually mind the spoiling at all.
Chapter 15
Chase was openly snickering. “So you ended up saying yes to the greenhouse after all?”
“Look.” Max blew out a breath, aggravated all over again. “The man’s utterly shameless. Despite me catching him in the act of ordering one, he didn’t back down. Just got all excited because now I could give him an opinion.”
Chase pushed the facility’s door open, holding it so Max could go through before joining him outside. “He’s gotten good at maneuvering around you.”
“I will figure out how to get the upper hand or die trying,” Max swore. He was one week into dating Zander and hadn’t figured it out yet, but give him time. Zander had to have a weakness somewhere. “If it wasn’t for the fact he’s filthy rich, he would have bankrupted himself already spoiling me. Was his limiter broken when he was turned? Was that what happened, the thing that enabled him to make sensible choices is now defunct?”
“Pretty sure it doesn’t work like that.” Chase patted him on the back in solidarity. “I grant you, Ronan doesn’t spoil me in the same way, but he does spoil me. The amount that man caters to and indulges me is almost criminal. I think what it really is, they’re justthatoverjoyed to have us. You know how rare a vampire’s mate is. We can literally pick anyone but we chose them. It went straight to their heads.”
Max had to admit that was probably a factor. “Zan was spoiling me like this before we figured it out, though. He’s just gotten worse since.”
“Then that’s just how he rolls. No helping it. Besides, it’s just the gifts, right?”
Max shook his head, shoulders slumping.
“Not just the gifts?” Chase hazarded. “Okay, so…are you guys arguing?”
“No, no,” Max denied with a perish-the-thought gesture. “Zan’s way of arguing with me over a gift is to try and sweet talk me into it. When that fails, he tries to seduce me. I get amazing sex out of saying no to him.”
“Bro,” Chase said with admiration, “you’re evil.”
Max smirked. “This system is working out well for me so far.”
“But you said yes to the greenhouse,” Chase pointed out.
“He used my weakness against me. Besides, I said no to something else, so I said yes to the greenhouse. It’s a balancing act.”
“Uh-huh. That’s your story and you’re sticking to it.”
