by Lynn Hagen
I shrugged. “It’s nothing. You’re the one who had a knife in your chest. My bruised cheek is child’s play in comparison.”
“Any kind of bruise is serious to me,” Max said.
Aw. He just made me fall deeper in love with him. If we’d been alone, I would’ve crawled onto his lap and had my wicked way with him.
And if he wasn’t bleeding, of course.
Sweet Jesus. The other three shifted and stood there gloriously naked. I couldn’t rip my eyes away even if I’d wanted to. It was a smorgasbord of hot men that any gay man would love to sink his teeth into. Ripped muscles, lean bodies, and damn they were hung.
Max gripped my jaw and turned my head. “It’s not polite to stare, and don’t make me kill them.”
“He can stare all he wants,” Reese teased. “I don’t mind showing off for him.”
Max snarled. “Cut the bullshit before I remove your head.”
I took off my shirt to press against Max’s wound and felt like a booby prize compared to these men. I had no definition to my body. My chest was flat and thin, while theirs were honed and golden.
“Let’s get you home and patched up,” I said as Max got to his feet and headed for the door.
Now that Antonio was dead, I wondered if Max would send me home or if his offer for me to live with him still stood. He’d told me I was living with him, but that was when a huge threat loomed over our heads. People said a lot of things when they were in danger.
Max curled an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him. “Whatever you’re thinking, stop. Nothing has changed between us.”
I furrowed my brows. “How do you know what I was thinking?”
Max cupped my jaw, and I was taken aback at how he looked at me. His eyes were gentle and his features soft. “I love you, Derek. I’ve also spent enough time around you to know you. You’re moving in with me, got that?”
My smile hurt my cheeks. “I love you, too. You’re not going to get an argument from me.”
Not when I had his naked body pressed against mine. Not when he’d rescued me, not only from Antonio but from my lonely existence.
We started toward the door, and I tripped, nearly taking Max down with me. “Sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Max chuckled and pulled me into a hug. “Being with you just might prove to be hazardous to my health, but I’m willing to take the chance.”
And so was I.
“Um…I need to ask. If I’m living with you, does Edward have to be around? I have no idea why he hates me so much when I’ve never done anything to him.”
Though I noticed he hadn’t been at the penthouse the past few days. I just feared he would be back, making my life miserable.
We stepped out into the sunshine. It was so bright I had to squint. Max kept my shirt pressed against his chest as he looked down at me. “I had a talk with Edward. He hates you because I want you. I thought he was straight, but I learned that he was in love with me and was jealous of you.”
I saw why Edward had acted the way he had. Max was quite the catch, and I was happy he was interested in me.
“By the way, I had to let him go.” Max opened the back door of the SUV.
“And Scary Gary?”
Max chuckled. “Sorry, but you’re stuck with him.” He looked at a body on the ground I hadn’t noticed.
“Do you know him?”
Max nodded. “He was one of my pack members until he betrayed me.”
There was sadness in his tone that made me want to hug him. So I did, because Max didn’t seem to have enough love and support in his life.
“Get in,” Max said. “And try not to trip over thin air and mangle someone.”
“I’m not that big of a klutz,” I argued as I lifted my foot and got it caught on the frame of the vehicle. I really did need a plastic bubble to live in.
We climbed in, and Max pulled me into his arms, pressing our foreheads together. As I stared into his amazing blue eyes, I saw our future. It wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine, not with his lifestyle, but he was all mine and I was all his. Imperfection at its finest.
“Do me a favor and stop getting shot and stabbed,” I said. “I don’t think my heart can take much more.”
He pulled the shirt away. “See, it’s already stopped bleeding. I’m as bad as new.”
With a roll of my eyes, I kissed him, uncaring of the other men in the SUV. I was riding in a car full of naked men, but I had eyes only for Maximus Russo, my heart, my soul, my everything.
THE END
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