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“Max.” I ran my hand down the side of his face. “It might have been a good thing. Not that we both suffered without each other, not that we had to hurt, but because the time forced me to get some help I might not have otherwise gotten. To do some things. Figure myself out. Get stronger.”
He ran his finger over my tattoo again. “Get inked.”
“Yes.” I grinned at him. “And other things.”
Max tilted his head again in that questioning way that he did. “Other things?”
“I’ll tell you if you elaborate. I think you said other things earlier yourself.” I forced him to meet his gaze. “What other things did you do?”
“I…” He spoke in a very low voice. “I used my considerable set of abilities to rid the world of someone who didn’t deserve to still be here after what he did to you.”
He’d killed Shawn. “You could have been hurt.”
His mouth fell open. “Hope, I just told you that I did a thing that most people will never do, and that I’m obsessed in how much I love you, and you are concerned that I might have hurt myself?”
I nodded. “I’m glad that you didn’t. And…and thank you, Max. Thank you for ridding the world of him.” I pressed our foreheads together. “I got my belly button pierced. That is my other thing.”
He kissed me. I was so glad he did. It was what I needed more than I did my next breath. Just his mouth against mine. He smoothed his finger down the side of my face as he kissed me again. The waiter arrived with another dish, and Max surged backward in the chair before he dismissed him with his hand. “Tell Anna to hold the food.”
“Right.” The waiter ran again.
“You terrify him.”
He scratched his head. “I’ve maybe been in a very bad mood for the last year.”
“That so?” I wanted him to kiss me again. But we were in public. In his restaurant. I had to behave. Somehow.
“Well, my girl vanished. I couldn’t find her. Couldn’t make the tears that I made her shed go away. Couldn’t beg her for forgiveness. Couldn’t know if she were happy or healthy. If she was warm. It’s put me off.”
I kissed his cheek. “Seattle.”
“That’s where you’ve been?” He rubbed his face. “I should have looked there.”
“The whole city? Searched the city all around until you found me?” I lifted an eyebrow.
“Whatever it took.” His face said he was dead serious.
“I took a page from your book—close to family, but not too close. I went to school. Got a certificate so that I could actually work in fundraising for nonprofits and not just trade on myname and face. Learned some things. Got a job. I’m getting another certificate now. Or I hope I am. I might fail since I skipped out today. Used a fake name. Michael got me set up with paperwork. That’s what I’ve been doing.”
He was so quiet, I didn’t know what to do. Should I just keep talking? “Hope, I have no right to ask you this. None. But could you please come home to me? Could you please come do all of those things here? Please.”
21
“We haven’t spent a day together in a year. You might regret asking me that.”
He tugged me so close to him that I practically sat on his lap. “I love you. However you’ve changed. Whatever you have done or will do. You are mine. I can close this place down and come to Seattle if that is what you want. I can do that. You are all I need.”
That actually sounded completely wrong. He’d created a life, and all these people had jobs because of him. No, he wasn’t going to shut anything down and move for me. That would be just awful to do to these people, even if they were afraid of him because he’d been in a bad mood for an entire year.
“I’ll come.” I said the words that I knew would change everything for me. “It’s going to take me a little bit to get things together and to get Michael to change my life back to my real name. But I’ll come.”
He pushed back his chair. “Can we get out of here? I know you must be starving. I will feed you tonight. Myself. Please.”
I rose. “You don’t have to keep saying please to me. Of course, we can get out of here if that’s what you want.”
He put his arm around me and dragged me against him. “I do.”
We left there just like that. I hadn’t eaten a bite, but we’d certainly made a scene, even though we’d been quiet. All eyes were on us.
