I breathed in deep, let it out then said, “Thanks Mom.”

“Now, tell me about this new one,” she urged and I envisioned her snuggling her behind into her chair and lifting up her coffee cup, getting ready for a good old gossip.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s right here.”

That got another squeeze from Max’s arms.

“Tell him to go.”

“He’s not the kind of man you tell what to do,” I shared and I heard Max chuckle.

“Then you go somewhere else.”

I sighed again and admitted, “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because he won’t let me.”

Another chuckle from Max.

Another pause from Mom then, softly, “He won’t let you?”

“He’s also not the kind of man who, he wants you around, he lets you go.”

“Oh my,” Mom breathed.

“Can I call you later?”

“He going to let you?” she asked but she sounded like she was laughing.

“Mom, please.”

“Okay, but call at a good time. I want all the dirt.”

“All right.”

“Love you, sweetie.”

“Love you too.”

“Neenee?” she called as I was about to take the phone from my ear.

“Yes?”

“You okay about the Niles thing?”

“Yes, Momma,” I said softly.

“You happy about this Max thing?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Another pause then, “We’ll talk later.”

“Thanks.”

“Bye, sweetie.”

“Bye, Mom.”

I took the phone from my ear, hit the button at the top to shut down the display, took in a deep breath then twisted around to Max and let him have it.

“I cannot believe you!” I hissed.

“Honey,” he muttered but he sounded amused.

Amused!

“Don’t ‘honey’ me,” I snapped and then tossed my phone around him toward the nightstand, it bounced off and fell to the floor. I didn’t care because I was focused on giving him my full attention. “What was that all about?”

“I wanted to hear what you had to say.”

“Does it matter that I wanted to have a private conversation with my mother?”

“You can have a private conversation with her later, after I go down and sort out Mindy’s apartment.”

“But I wanted to have it now,” I told him angrily.

“Yeah, but later it won’t be interesting. Now, it was interesting.”

“Why did you answer the phone at all?” I clipped.

“She’s called three times, Duchess, I didn’t want her to get worried.”

He had a point there and it was a thoughtful point but I wasn’t going to give it to him.

“You’re impossible!”

He grinned. “I think you’ve told me that before.”

“Maybe because it’s bloody true.”

“Jesus, you’re cute.”

“Don’t call me cute!”

Suddenly I was on my back, head on the pillow, Max’s heavy body pressing mine into the bed all down my side and part of my front.

I blinked up at him in surprise, his hand touched my face and his thumb came to my cheekbone as his eyes went there.

“It hurt?” he asked, clearly finished with our other conversation and deciding to move on.

“No,” I lied, it throbbed a bit, felt kind of tight, but it wasn’t too bad.

I put my hands to his chest and gave a light shove.

His thumb swept along my cheekbone and he ignored the shove entirely.

His eyes came to mine and he informed me, “It’s bruisin’, baby, bit swollen but it doesn’t look that bad.”

“Thank you for that information,” I replied snottily, “now get off.”

His hand moved away, his head bent and then his face disappeared in my neck.

“Stop bein’ pissed,” he muttered his order in my ear.

“Get off.”

“Nope,” he said and his head came up but it did it so his face was close. “You and me are both in my bed, no one’s asleep, no one’s delirious. I think we should take advantage of that.”

My eyes got wide as my body reacted strongly to his suggestion and it was a positive reaction.

“Mindy’s downstairs,” I whispered and he grinned, his face getting even closer.

“Not gonna f**k you, honey, just fool around,” he whispered back.

“Max –”

“Shut up and kiss me, Duchess.”

“Max!”

“All right, I’ll kiss you.”

Then he did and it was so good I forgot I was furious and my hands started sliding up the smooth skin and hard muscle of his chest when his head suddenly came up and his neck twisted.

“Fuck, what now?” he muttered, I tried to get a handle on the sudden disastrous change of circumstances but before I could do that he looked at me. “Someone’s comin’ up the lane.”

“Who?” I asked stupidly for Max couldn’t see the lane from his position on me and as far as I knew Max was not clairvoyant.

“I don’t know,” he answered, being nice and doing it without pointing out that my question was stupid.

He did a push up and knifed off the bed then he yanked the covers from me, grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.

“Put on your robe, Duchess,” he said softly, it was an order but it was gentle one. “That nightie’s sweet but I think me and Mick are the only ones should get to see it. And Mick’s was a one time opportunity, yeah?”

He didn’t wait for me to answer mainly because he really wasn’t asking a question.

I stood unmoving as he walked to the dresser and grabbed a t-shirt then turned and moved to the stairs, pulling it over his head. Then he wound around in his descent on the spiral staircase, yanking the shirt down to his waist and I lost sight of him.

For some reason, I liked it that he wanted me to put on a robe. For some reason, I liked it so much my toes were still curled like his gentle order was one of his kisses. And I liked it that he voiced it as a suggestion even though we both knew it was an order. An order not because he was being domineering but because it meant something to him that I didn’t put myself on display. It was up to me in the end to do what I wanted but he’d made his wishes clear and I knew how he’d feel if I defied them. Still, he wasn’t a jerk about it, he’d simply made his wishes clear in what I was guessing was a Colorado Mountain Man kind of way.