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I didn’t remember eating the rest of that duck. As good as it was, all I could see was Max as he stood in front of me. Time passed, the duck got eaten, and I was full in a happy,I ate the best food in the worldkind of a way. But there was Max—tall, strong, talented, and totally focused on me.
I hadn’t understood the seduction of his cooking, the power in the artistry.
I loved it.
When I finished, he leaned over again and kissed me on the lips. “Do you have somewhere you have to be right now?”
I didn’t. “No.”
“Okay then, after I give you this very good cake I didn’t make, could you come back here, say at midnight, and let me take you out? I know it’s very late, but that’s how late I’ll be working tonight.”
My heart rate kicked up. “I think I can do that, Max. I don’t see why I can’t.”
“Have one of your guards walk you to the door. I don’t want you wandering around alone late like that. Walk youto the door. Okay?”
I nodded. Maybe I should scoff? Before the bodyguards, I’d been perfectly fine in Manhattan all by myself. Still, it was nice that he cared, and there were worse things than someone who cared if you might get hurt.
“I’ll do that.”
He cupped the side of my face. “Seriously, the cake is really, really good.”
I laughed. I was sure it was. Even if he hadn’t made it, I’d learned in these minutes watching him cook and actually eating his food that there was no way that Max would ever serve anything that wasn’t exceptional. Still, I was sure when I thought back to these moments, it wouldn’t actually be the food that I would remember. It would be this incredible eye contact with Max, the way he looked at me, the way he was affectionate in front of his work colleagues, the way… Well, all of it.
We’d had sex in a car, yet somehow, this seemed more intimate.
“What are we going to do so late at night?” I smirked at him. “Or maybe I know the answer already.”
He laughed, a low sound. “Yes, before we got to bed, we could do that. But, no, I’m taking you out. You have your New York, and I have mine. I think you might prefer my version of it. I’m getting you that cake now.”
My phone dinged, and I looked down to see my cousin from the State Department had texted me.You haven’t needed any food lately.
I smiled. No, it seemed like Max might have everything he needed. Maybe I could soon be one of those things.
11
Isupposed I could have stayed in the same clothes I’d worn to the event, but if Max intended to take me out, I actually needed to dress down a bit. He wasn’t going to be taking me anywhere where I needed to be so formal. I ended up putting on a pair of dark jeans with a black tank top. It might have been a little bit too chilly for it, but I’d been cold for fashion before. I didn’t want to have to carry a jacket or a sweater around. Years of leaving my things all over the place and having to go back for the things I’d forgotten wherever I’d set them down had taught me it was better to just not bring the thing at all.
Rubbing my arms as I walked with my bodyguard to the side door of Hyperionmade me wonder if I should have just brought the sweater.Too late to change my mind now.
I lifted my hand to knock when the door swung open. It was five minutes after midnight, and although the streets were somewhat more subdued, no one would call them empty.
“Hey.” Max smiled at me. “I saw you pull up.” He offered his hand. “You’re five minutes late.”
Oh, so he was that kind of punctual? That was an interesting fact to store away in the box labeled ‘Max’ in my mind. “There was traffic.”
He winked at me before looking at my bodyguard. “You’re new.”
“They rotate at night sometimes. Can’t expect the same two people to follow me around all day. This is Trey. Trey, Max.”
With a slight tug, I found myself in the restaurant. “I’ve got her now. We’ll be leaving soon. Nothing will happen to her while she’s with me.”
Trey, who was usually quiet in the way that told me he absolutely did not want to chat, nodded at Max. “I’ll follow along from a distance you won’t see. We don’t take our eyes off her unless she’s inside and secured.”
Max nodded back, like he appreciated the answer, then turned back to me when my bodyguard left. “Aren’t you going to be cold? It’s a little bit chilly out there.”
I shrugged. “I’ll be fine.”
“I’ve got something here you can wear.” He left me to walk around the kitchen, staring in the sink. It was weird, after so much activity earlier, to see it so eerily quiet. But Max checked out every square inch of his kitchen before turning toward his office. I’d never been in there, but when he came back out seconds later, he wore a coat and handed me a dark black jacket. I wasn’t small, but it was huge on me since Max was significantly bigger. “You benefit from the fact that I left this one here a year ago by accident.”
