I pulled my mouth away from his and reminded him, “There’s people in the next room.”
He bit his lip and pressed his forehead to mine. “There are?”
I giggled. “It’s good to see you, too.” I was out of breath and flushed. What I’d give to pretend there was no one else around.
“I ought to tie you to the damn bed,” he breathed.
“Easy now, tiger.”
“After what you’ve put me through, I think it’s only right.” The lust in his voice faded, and he sounded angry. “You running out in the middle of the night like that, making me think you were missing, or worse. If I wasn’t worried so much, I would have wanted to strangle you.”
I locked my fingers together behind his head. “You’re so cute when you’re worried.”
“Don’t call me cute.”
“Okay, you’re so ugly when you’re worried.” He was fuming, but a smile still trickled through. “See, I knew you couldn’t stay mad at me.”
“It’s not fair, you have me at a disadvantage. It’s hard staying angry when you scrunch your nose at me like that.”
I was scrunching my nose up? I hadn’t even noticed. “So if I do this,” I began, and wiggled my nose like a bunny rabbit. “Then I’ll win every argument?”
“Goddamnit,” he groaned, and unwrapped my arms from his body. He walked to the bedroom window and stared out with his hands on his hips. “Don’t joke around. I thought you were dead, and I’m sort of pissed off at you to tell you the truth.”
“Pissed off seems kind of extreme.”
“You let me think you were kidnapped or dead for almost ten hours!”
He was upset. I didn’t mean to make him upset.
I came up from behind him and gave him a hug, nestling my face in between his shoulder blades. The flannel he wore smelled like his cologne. “But I’m okay,” I assured him. “I’m okay, you’re okay, and we’re together. That’s all that matters.”
Max took a deep breath, and I felt his chest rise and fall beneath my hands. “You don’t know the kind of things that have been running through my head all day. I tried to keep my shit together, but I was having doubts. I hate that feeling.”
“I’m sorry I did that to you. I wasn’t thinking.” I laughed to myself and added, “I never think.”
“Don’t apologize, just…promise me you won’t run off like that again. At least not without me. If you’re gonna thrust yourself into a dangerous situation where you might die, do me a favor and let me have the option to die with you.”
I smiled. “That’s sort of demented. I love it.”
He turned around and cupped my face with his hands. “I don’t know what I’d be without you.”
My heart fluttered. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
Max kissed me, but this time it wasn’t eager. It was slow and tender.
When we parted, he said, “Your day must have been a little smoother than mine. All things considered, you seem weirdly chipper.”
I laughed. “It seems weird, I know. Those first few hours after I found Melanie were absolute hell, and I was scared out of my mind, but I think I’m just so happy and relieved to have her back that it sort of trumps everything else. I watched her die, I grieved her, and now she’s here. I want to enjoy it, you know? I’ll take her any way I can, even if it’s…this. You don’t get many second chances in life, especially when it comes to death. I have to find the good in this.”
He listened to me intently, and then nodded. “I guess I can’t really argue with that. If I found you in the same condition, I’d just be glad to have you.”
I was glad he understood. “That’s what I’m saying. I know everyone else thinks this is some horrifying thing, and maybe it is, but I wished for her to be alive so many times and I’m going to be grateful that my wish came true.”
Max made a face.
“What?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing. I’m a little surprised at how comfortable you’ve gotten with weird shit. All the madness I exposed you to kind of prepared you for this, I guess.”
I sarcastically laughed. “Oh, boy, nothing prepared me for something quite like this. You best believe that. I think it just helped me accept it quicker.”
“Even I’m having a hard time swallowing this.”
“After this, I think I’m gonna have no issue swallowing anything.” I stopped myself. “That sounded oddly perverse.”
Max lowered his head and chuckled. I could hear him, mid-laugh, mumbling to himself about my stupid humor. I think he missed it. Man, how lucky was I to find someone who was endeared by my awkwardness? Or maybe the thought of me being dead made me more tolerable.
Suddenly, he reached into his jeans pocket and dug around. “I almost forgot,” he said.
I took a step back. “You’re not gonna whip it out with people in the next room, are you?”
He rolled his eyes. “You really think I’m gonna whip my dick out?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“I’m trying to be sentimental, dammit,” he exclaimed, and then lifted my hand and placed a necklace onto my palm. It was the necklace he had given me the night before! I gasped when I saw it. “How did you…? I thought I lost this forever.” I wasn’t even completely sure when it
