by Belle Aurora
I make a pffft noise. “As if you could stop me, honey.”
He squeezes my knee again. “Then we’re all set.” He looks over to me, grinning. Not being able to help myself, I lean forward and press a hard kiss on his mouth.
Ceecee breaks into a fit of giggles. “Ew, gross.”
On a sigh, I tell her honestly, “Girlie, one day, you’re gonna look at a certain man and wonder what you ever found gross about boys.”
Max’s brows furrow as he adds hastily, “But not for, like, another thirty years.” He looks back at her in the mirror. “Maybe forty.”
Ceecee breaks into another fit of giggles, and looking over at Max, I join her. He winks at me, and taking his hand in mine, I sigh dreamily.
I am so in love with you.
We arrive at the park, and when Ceecee extracts herself from the car, Max takes my hand and we walk over to the basketball court. I can already see some kids in wheelchairs, as well as some adults, but I can’t make them out. As we get closer, I see Felicity, Willa, and James. Smiling like a loon, I call out, “What are you guys doing here?”
Willa smiles sheepishly. “I heard you enquire about the game, so I figured we’d come to cheer Ceecee on.”
Felicity grins. “Check it out.” She opens her jacket to reveal a white she has decorated with colored Sharpies. It reads, “Ceecee’s number one!” Ceecee giggles, and stepping forward, Felicity holds her hand up to her and they high-five.
James finishes up speaking to a young man with a prosthetic leg before jogging over. He holds his hand out to Max and they do a little bro-shake-slash-back-slap. “How you doin’, Max?”
To my surprise, Max lets go of my hand and pulls me into the side of his body, uttering meaningfully, “Better than I’ve been in a long time.”
James watches him closely, searching his face a moment before dipping his chin in silent conversation. What the hell was all that about? James looks over at me, eyes smiling. “You look good, Lena.”
I bat my lashes. “Why, thank you, kind sir. You don’t look so bad yourself.” I wink and feel Max’s fingers dig into my hip. I look up into his suddenly stormy eyes and mouth, ‘Ow.’ In response, he narrows his eyes to slits and pecks my lips.
James kneels down in front of Ceecee. “You ready for this, C?” At her hesitation, he adds, “It’s not like a real game or anything. It’s just a lot of fun. We mess around with the ball and joke and laugh. Sometimes, people switch teams midgame, and then other times, there is no team at all. I promise you’ll like it.” She doesn’t say a word and he smiles knowingly. “You need luck?”
She covers her mouth with a hand to suppress a giggle and nods. He sighs melodramatically. “The things I do for you people.” Then he lowers his bald head. Ceecee reaches up with both hands and rubs it for luck, giggling all the while.
James wishes her luck, then jogs back to the young amputee, helping him remove his prosthetic leg and sit in a wheelchair. When the young man turns to us, Ceecee gasps. It’s quiet, but I hear it loud and clear. I look down at her to find her eyes wide, mouth parted, and a small blush on her cheeks. Lifting my head, I look back at the boy. He looks a little older than her, maybe fifteen. When he spots her, he stills. His face becomes void of expression as he watches her watching him. I peek behind me to find Willa and Felicity chatting and laughing with Max.
Glad for the girls’ distraction, I lean down to Ceecee and say, “Why don’t you go say hi? Make friends? Isn’t that why we’re here?”
Ceecee nods, never taking her eyes off the boy. A small smile plays at his lips, and I can’t help but notice how handsome he is for a young man. Chances are, he’s going to be gorgeous when he grows up. Standing, he was tall, and sitting, he still looks tall. With messy brown hair, light eyes, and tanned skin, the harsh angles of his face make him look like a young version of Matt Bomer.
As she starts to wheel herself over to him, my heart smiles with pride as the boy wheels himself to meet her halfway. They simply eye each other carefully before the boy smiles and says something to Ceecee, holding out his hand. She takes it reluctantly, her blush now a blazing inferno, shaking it and mumbling her own greeting.
He talks to her as they stroll around the court. He points out things and laughs while he chats to her, completely comfortable in her near silence. When he nudges her with his elbow, smiling, she laughs. And it’s such a sight that my heart swells. I also think I might cry. The boy leads her to a group of kids in wheelchairs, both boys and girls, and introduces her to them. They all smile and talk to her, and to my absolute shock, she smiles and talks back. This was a great idea.
Felicity breaks my thoughts with, “Let’s take a seat; they’re about to start.” We all move to sit, but I notice Willa’s missing. I spy her at the side of the court, fingers hooked into the wire fence, watching James like a love-sick puppy as he instruct the kids.
He calls out, “You know what to do, guys.” He points to Ceecee’s new friend and says, “Sam, I’m leaving Ceecee in your charge. Show her how things go, but take it easy on her. You’ve got ten minutes of free ball time before I blow the whistle,” he grins, “then it’s on!”
The kids cheer and clap before they disband, grabbing basketballs and playing with each other. I’m not even a little surprised when Sam leads Ceecee to the other side of the court, bouncing the ball to her and explaining how things go, watching her all the while. I am, however, surprised when Felicity gasps, “Oh my God! Look, look, look!”
James joins Willa on the opposite side of the fence. His fingers linked into the fence, dangerously close to hers. My eyes widen. “I told her he liked her!”
Max looks over at the fence. “Who likes who?”
Felicity fills him in. “We’ve been pushing Willa and Whit together for a week solid. She loves him and he likes her. He’s just fighting it, like men do.” She bunches her nose and looks at Max. “Why do men do that?”
He swallows hard, looking away, letting out a strained, “No idea.” He shakes his head and looks to me. “But I thought he liked you.”
I raise a brow at him and scrunch my face in my famous are-you-crazy look. “What? We’re friends; that’s all. We flirt a little,” I look back to him meaningfully and bat my lashes, “but there’s no harm in a little flirting. Is there, Max?”
Felicity immediately gets my jab, tipping her head back and roaring with laughter. “Ooh, she got you good.”
He looks down at our entwined hands and murmurs, “I don’t flirt no more.”
I snort. “Yeah, I know. Not even with me!” I side-eye him and ask quietly, “Why don’t you ever flirt with me? You never did, right from the beginning.”
He plays with my fingers a moment before looking up and stating, “Because I think you deserve better than that.” He leans forward and kisses my temple. “A woman like you deserves real words, not pretty words that don’t mean nothin’.” He says this so sincerely that my heart skips a beat.
Crap. I wasn’t expecting an answer like that. I lean into lips and he presses another soft kiss to my temple.
Felicity watches us closely, her face crumbling. “Oh my God. It’s finally happened.” She fans her face, blinking rapidly. “Someone took the flirt out of Max Leokov,” she sniffles, “and it was my friend who did it.” She blinks away tears. “I’m so proud.”
I reach over and shove at her shoulder. “Shut up, Flick.”
Watching Ceecee, I mutter to no one in particular, “Would you look at how happy she is? I don’t think I’ve seen her smile this much since I got here.”
Max puts his arm around my shoulder and agrees, “She’s loving it. And it’s all because of you. You’re the best thing that’s happened to her.” He places his lips at my ear and whispers, “To me, too.”
My chest pangs. Lip curling, I turn and smack at his chest. “Stop it. Just don’t.”
The look of shock on his face is adorable. The asshole. He holds his arms out and shrugs, “What’d I say now?”
; I shake my head, anger easing out of me, leaning into him once more. He just gave me a speech on not using words for fun. It’s not fair for him to say something like that to me when he doesn’t mean it. Both of his arms come around me, squeezing me tight, and I bask in the warmth of him.
Lord knows, I won’t have it forever.
Watching Ceecee squeal with laughter and smile so much is the highlight of year. My own cheeks hurt from smiling while watching her during the basketball game—if a basketball game is what you’d call it. It was more forty-five minutes of kids in wheelchairs steal the ball from each other and speed away from the others while they tried to catch the person who had the ball. Every now and again, James would run onto the court, snatch the ball, and run around, laughing as they made chase.
He was right. Ceecee loved it. And she made friends. I saw her exchanging phone numbers with her new friends, but I saw the special light she had in her eyes for Sam. True, he isn’t in a wheelchair full-time, but I’m guessing whatever caused his injury meant he was in a wheelchair for a long while before he walked again. And as much as Ceecee had eyes for him, he had eyes for her. I saw how his face fell watching her go. I believed Ceecee might’ve been experiencing her first crush.
On the way home, I turned in my seat and asked Ceecee a long, drawn out, “So?”
She smiled. “It was okay.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “I guess.”
The little sneak. Nodding, I turned, facing the road, and asked a bored, “What do you think about going again next Saturday?”
She hesitated a moment before responding, “That might be cool.”
That might be cool. Awesome!
I peeked over at Max and squeezed his knee lightly. “Can we go out for ice cream?”
He looked back in the mirror to his daughter and winked. “Anything for my girls.”
At the very same time, Ceecee and I uttered excitedly, “Chunky Monkey!”
I turned and we both blinked at each other before I started to laugh. Ceecee giggled, and before I knew it, I was laughing so hard that tears streamed down my face.
I swiped at my eyes and spotted Max shaking his head at the both of us. But he did it smiling. “Knuckleheads.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Helena
I make my way downstairs on a mission to find Max. That’s my main objective right now. The White Rabbit is jumping tonight. As the weather gets warmer, the more people decide making the trip out on a Saturday night is worth it. I glance over the crowd and spot him by the bar, talking to a couple of pretty ladies. His smile is warm and engaging, but I don’t care. The smiles they get doesn’t compare to the ones he gives me.
Moving through the crowd, my deep purple maxi dress swishing around my ankles, my strappy flat-covered feet tread lightly across the dance floor, only seeing him. How can I see anything else when Max is in the room? Warmth spreads through me. I’ve never met anyone like him before. He’s sincerely the most caring, thoughtful man I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.
At the end of the dance floor, I walk up the stairs towards him. When he spots me, he says a few words to the women before stepping closer to me, smiling wide. I beam at him, picking up my pace. My feet carry me faster and faster toward him. Finally, close enough, I leap into his arms. With no effort at all, he catches me easily.
I love you.
I press my mouth to his, hungry for his kisses, needing to show him how I feel.
I love you.
His mouth opens and I stroke his tongue with my own, snaking my arms around his neck, pulling him close.
I love you.
Pressing deeper into the kiss, I pull my lips away from Max’s to whisper against them, “I’m in love with you.”
When I try to kiss him again, he pulls back, hands tightly gripping my hips, looking down at me in confusion. “What did you just say?”
I’m done. I can’t play this game anymore. I’ve not been playing for a long time. This just got real. “I’m in love with you.” I smile warmly up at him and shrug. “I love you.” His eyes darken a shade before he crashes his mouth to mine, taking my lips in a fierce, animalistic kiss. His fingers dig into my skin, and although it hurts a little, I feel the passion radiating from him. Closing my eyes, I tangle my fingers into the hair at his nape and give as good as I get. Pulling back, I rest my forehead on his and breathe, “I love you, Max.”
Today, after Max took us ladies out for an ice cream, it was with a heavy heart I asked to be dropped off at home. When Ceecee asked me to come watch a movie with them, I declined, even though I wanted to more than I wanted to take my next breath. As I stepped out of the car, Ceecee asked, “Helena, can we go back to the park tomorrow morning?”
Max looked back at his daughter, then over to me. He shrugged. “We’re skipping breakfast anyways. I promised Nik I’d help him out with painting the girls’ rooms before Coney.”
I smiled back at her. A small part of me grinned knowing she likely wanted to see Sam again. “Sure thing. Same time?”
She nodded excitedly.
Max stated, “Then tonight, you’ll sleep at the house and take the van to the park while I’m at Nik’s. When you’re done, we’ll meet at home and head to Coney from there.” He made everything seem so easy. I agreed, and with tension in my gut, I left my two favorite people in the world.
Felicity came by, and with what was quickly becoming a routine, we got ready together and caught a cab to the club. B-Rock accepted our hugs and kisses before letting us inside, and when we approached the VIP section, Willa—dressed as a sexy Alice in Wonderland—waved us over with a huge smile. She hugged us and announced, “I’m doing it. Tonight.”
Felicity and I glanced at each other, confused. Flick asked, “Doing what exactly?”
A sweet smile crossed Willa’s face. “I’m going to kiss Whit tonight.”
My jaw dropped. I shook my head to clear it. “Have you been drinking?”
She giggled, and I hadn’t heard anything so sweet in my life. Covering her face with her hands, she uttered, “No, but he’s giving me all the signs, like you said. And I’m done with waiting for him to make a move.” She stood taller. “Tonight is the night.”
Felicity took her hands in her own and beamed, “You’ll have to find us and tell us how it went.”
I scoffed and touched her arm. “Girl, if he kisses you right, we won’t see you ‘til Monday. And you’ll be walking bowlegged.”
We made our way upstairs and found Nat, Lola, and Tina sitting at the usual booth. Tina lifted her swollen feet onto a stool, while Nat rubbed them. As I approached, I smiled down at her and patted her belly lovingly. “You taking care of my nieces or nephews?”
She smiled sweetly. “I am, but they’re not taking care of me. My back is killing me.”
“Why didn’t you stay home?”
Suddenly, Tina blurted out, “I needed to get away from my heathen children!” My brows hit my hairline. I’d never heard Tina say anything but good things about being a parent. She laughed. “Don’t misunderstand me. I love my babies to bits, but I need time away from them. You know? To talk to adults.”
Nat muttered, “And to get your fat feet rubbed,” then winked at Tina.
I looked down at her belly and asked, “How much longer?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. The doctors say from next week it could be any day.” A serene look crossed Nat’s face and I knew deep inside me that she’d be a great mother. She couldn’t wait to hold her babies.
Lola looked up at me, squinting. “Aren’t you supposed to be in California?”
I bunched my nose. What kind of crack was Lola taking? “No. Why would I be?”
She shook her head, distracted. “I could’ve sworn I heard Trick say Max was taking you home for the day. Something about missing the beach.”
It was then that I remembered.
“I sort of…had something planned for you. A surprise.”
He wanted to take me home, to California, f
or the day, because I missed the beach? Sweet baby Jesus.
I muttered absently, “Excuse me,” as I walk towards the edge of the staircase.
I had to find him. And I had to find him now.
Gripping my ass tight, he groans into my mouth as he leads me away from the bar. Taking my hand, he pulls me up a flight of stairs I haven’t seen before. When we reach the top, he swipes his keycard at the side of a door and it unlocks. I’ve never been here before. “Where are we?”
Gripping my hand so tight I think it might fall off, he mutters a short, “The office.”
He opens an office door and turns on the light, pulling me inside and shutting the door behind us. I stand in the middle of the room, eyes darting left to right. I spot the photo of Ceecee and I realize we’re not just in any office. We’re in Max’s office. My heart stutters when I notice the photo next to Ceecee’s.
It’s me. Fast asleep. And I’m snuggled deep into Max’s throat as his eyes smile into the camera, kissing my forehead. When the heck did he take that? Drawn to the photo, I move towards it and ask a small, “When did you take this?”
He locks the door and states, “The first night we slept together.” My gut coils. Why would he do that? I look over at him questioningly, and he says reluctantly, “Knew you were special.”
My throat thickens with emotion. “But…”
“You told me the last guy you slept with was four years ago.” He blinks up at me. “Know how long it’s been since I last fucked a woman?” I shake my head slowly. He steps closer to me, accentuating every word with a step. “Nine. Long. Years.”
How is that possible?
“How is that possible?” I ask, perplexed.
Toe-to-toe, he cups my face gently, running his thumbs over the apples of my cheeks. “Got bored. Having sex without emotion wasn’t doing it for me.”
I close my eyes to stop the sting behind them. “And me?”
His breath warms my lips. He presses a whisper of a kiss to them before repeating, “Special.” He kisses me once more before uttering a soft, “You’re my cupcake.” Another kiss. “You’re my sugar rush.”