MAX

I’d already finished two bottles of beer when the knock sounded on my door. I wasn’t nearly drunk enough for company. Who could it be but Evan checking up on me? He’d seemed worried when I told him Cole and I were leaving the reunion earlier.

I hated how steady I was still on my feet. As I opened the door, a loud unexpected burp escaped my lips.

“Good god.” Cole fanned his hand before his face and wrinkled his nose. “We were separated for, like, fifteen minutes. How much have you had to drink?”

“What’s it to you?”

“I want you to be sober when I spread you out on your bed upstairs and fuck you.”

I snorted. “Is that what you think of me? Just your fuck buddy? Well, my ass is no longer available at your whim and fancy.”

He grinned. The asshole just stood there and grinned like he didn’t believe me. Suit himself. He would realize just how serious I was.

But if this is the last time, maybe I should give in?

Nope, my body wasn’t a toy for his amusement. No matter how good it felt to amuse him.

“Wanna bet?” He moved closer, and I stepped back, stumbling. Fuck, maybe I was a tiny bit drunk after all, or his presence so close to me made my knees weak. It happened all the time.

“What’s your game, man?” I asked. “Here to get another pound of flesh?”

“I don’t want just a pound. I want the whole thing.”

What the hell was he saying?

“I’m saying let’s figure something out.”

“Figure out what, exactly?”

“How to make us work.”

I blinked several times. “Us?”

“Hmm.” He nodded. “I shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss what’s between us. It’s something special.”

I eyed him suspiciously. “You were singing a different tune earlier. What made you change your mind? Let me tell you, Cole. If you don’t want to see a grown man cry, don’t fuck with my emotions.”

“I’m not.” He took me by the wrist and closed the gap between us. “I had a heart-to-heart with Gladys, and she told me everything. About you confessing to her about us in high school. Why did you tell her?”

“Because she was kind and nonjudgmental, and it was eating me up inside if I didn’t talk to someone about it.”

“Did you know she was setting us up all this time?”

“Not until later.”

“Later when?”

“The plumber incident. I asked her, and she admitted it.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“So you could foil her plans?”

“You two combined are a piece of work.” No heat was in his tone, despite the words. “Luckily, I care about you both.”

I sucked in a deep breath. “You do?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why did you act as if it wouldn’t affect you when you leave?”

“Because I wanted to believe it. I didn’t want to admit that after nine days, I was falling for you all over again.”

I grabbed the front of his shirt. “You mean it?”

“I do.”

“Thank fuck.” I smashed my mouth to his, sweeping my tongue into his mouth, greedily tasting him.

After too short a time, Cole tore his lips away. “Let’s sit somewhere and talk.”

“The bedroom.” I took his wrist and dragged him after me up the stairs. Cole followed me with a laugh.

“I don’t think it’s talking you’re after.”

“There’s more than one way to talk, Cole, and I need to show you that you won’t regret this.”

“Sex can’t guarantee that.”

I sure damn tried, though. In my bedroom, facedown in one of the pillows, ass in the air while he fucked me with him standing at the edge of the bed. He rocked into me hard and fast, the whole experience over in less than ten minutes, but it was no less mind-blowing than when we took our time.

When he was done, Cole pulled out of me and slapped my ass. “Move over. Now we can talk.”

I rolled over onto my side, making room for him on the bed. “Just so you know, I’m so fucking happy right now you can probably get me to say yes to anything.”

“So that’s a yes to you moving to Atlanta?”

My stomach flipped. Rosewood Pines was all I knew, but the way he stroked my damp back, I could survive anywhere with him.

“You’re my home, Cole.”

“Dammit.”

“What?” Had he changed his mind?

“I can’t do that to you. I see how much you love it here.”

“But I—”

“I’ll move back.”

“You will?”

He nodded. “Not for a while yet. It’ll take about a year to carry out everything that’s on my agenda properly. I’ll have to vacate my position without ruffling any feathers or burning bridges. I’ll need them when I set up my own company here.”

“You can do that?” He was so damn intelligent. I loved that about him.

“I can. It should be easy enough once I sell my house in Atlanta.”

“But what if the business doesn’t take off?”

“No reason it shouldn’t. I can do my job freelance and remotely. But in any event, the house in Atlanta is worth millions. We won’t have to worry about money for a few years.”

I gaped at him. “You’re worth millions, then?”

“Sorta. Yeah. I get paid good money, and I have a keen eye on investment opportunities.”

“Then Kevin was right. You’re really out of my league.”

“Kevin was spouting nonsense to pay you back for torturing us in high school. Or do I need to show you again just how in my league you are?”

I reached across his thighs and cupped his cock. He wasn’t joking. He was half-hard already, even though he’d just come.

“What do we do in the meantime?”

“I’ll visit more often, and I was hoping you could come to Atlanta.”

“I don’t have much money for travel, Cole.”

“My job includes a lot of travel, so I have miles. Don’t worry about it. We’ll make this work. You own the garage. If they can do without you for a day or three or a week, I’ll fly you out to Atlanta. How does that sound?”

“Like we have our work cut out for us.”

“We do. But I’m willing to try. How about you?”

“Hell yeah.”