Colorado 01 The Gamble (21 page)

I started to throw back the covers and find
my own privacy since Mom was in the mood to talk. But Max was of a
different mind and his arm hooked around my waist before I could
even get the covers back. Then I felt him at my back and his other
arm went around my waist.

My neck twisted so I could give him a glare
over my shoulder.

His response: he dropped his head and kissed
my shoulder.

I pulled in breath.

“Nina!” Mom called.

“I’m here,” I replied, twisting back
around.

“What’s his name?”

“Max,” I answered and felt Max’s arms get
tight and his face went into my neck.

I put my hand over the phone, twisted my
neck, his head came up and I snapped, “Will you
stop
? I’m talking to my
Mom!
”

He grinned and dropped his chin to my
shoulder. I growled and turned away.

“…there?” Mom called in my ear.

“I’m here.”

“What’s going on? Are you okay”

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Have you broken it to Niles?”

I tested Max’s arm strength, unsurprisingly
got nowhere considering their steely nature, settled in again and
said, “I sent him an e-mail.”

Max’s arms convulsed as Mom had the same
exact reaction as Max.

“
You sent him an
e-mail?
” she asked incredulously.

“I know, Mom, but you know I’m better with
words when I write them out.”

She didn’t answer at first then asked,
“When?”

“Mom, can we talk about this later?”

“
My daughter is in the wilderness with a
strange man with an
amazing
voice
having just changed the entire course of her life and you want to
talk about it
later?
”

I sighed because it might be irritating but
this was Mom’s way too then I answered her earlier question, “A
couple of days ago.”

“What’d he say?”

“Who?”

“Niles!” she cried.

“I don’t know, nothing, unless he e-mailed
back.”

“E-mailing,” she mumbled, “insane.”

“Mom –”

“He hasn’t called?”

“No.”

“That boy,” she mumbled again.

“I… it’s just the way he is.”

There was a pause then she said, “You know I
liked him, Neenee, you know I did. But I think you made the right
decision.”

“Mom –”

“
I mean, you e-mailed or not, he should
call you. It’s not like you said, ‘This isn’t working out,’ after a
couple of dates. First, you fly halfway around the world for a
‘timeout’, whatever that is, which he allowed you to do, and in my
humble opinion, that’s
insane
.
Then you broke off an engagement!”

This sounded familiar too.

“Mom, I know.”

“He was any man at all, he’d be at your
doorstep.”

“Okay, but, Mom –”

“Though, don’t think that would be good
under the present circumstances.”

“Can I talk, Mom?”

Apparently I couldn’t for she kept going.
“It’s just that,” her voice got soft, “I think, sweetie, this is
good. It shows you the way. It shows you that you’ve decided on the
right path. And I know you were so worried and I’m glad you’ve
found the right path.”

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 fuck 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.

Or maybe it was just Max’s way.

Not to mention the fact that he thought my
nightie was sweet.

“What’s up?” I heard Max ask, I jerked out
of my stupor and ran to the bathroom.

I did my routine, left the bathroom, heard
voices but not words, grabbed my robe, shrugged it on and belted it
as I walked down the stairs.

Mindy was up on a hand, peering over the
back of the couch at Mick, another man and Max standing in the
kitchen. She looked sleepy and adorable.

I glanced in the kitchen, caught Max’s eyes
then went directly to Mindy.

“Morning, sweetheart,” I said to her.

“What’re Mick and Jeff doin’ here?” she
asked, her voice sleepy.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and lie back
down?”

“Is everything okay?” she asked back, her
eyes still on the police.

“I don’t know they just got here. You want
to go upstairs?”

She shook her head but mumbled, “They should
leave him alone. They gotta know what a visit from the cops would
do to him.” She looked at me and said, “He’s a strong guy and it
was a long time ago but you never forget that shit, ever.”

I had no idea what she was talking about but
I also had the feeling that I really didn’t want to know. But
before I could make up my mind whether or not to ask, she threw
back the covers and I grabbed her clothes from the armchair.

“I’ll go upstairs to change,” she said,
pulling Max’s t-shirt that she wore to bed down her thighs while
still seated and I knew she didn’t want them to see her.

I handed her the clothes and straightened,
turning to the kitchen.

“Sorry, gentleman?” I called and when six
eyes hit me I went on, “a lady needs some privacy. Can I have your
backs?”

They all looked at the back of Mindy’s head,
she turned and gave them a wave over her shoulder. Mick and Jeff
waved back but Max was smiling at me.

Then Mick and Jeff turned their backs to the
living room and Mindy got up and darted to the stairs, whispering,
“Thanks, Nina.”

I watched her go and then I walked to the
kitchen calling, “All clear.”

They turned back to me and when I hit the
kitchen Max claimed me. There was no other way to put it. I was
claimed. He did this by pulling me tight into his side with an arm
around my shoulders.

“Nina, you remember Mick? This is Jeff,” Max
introduced and I nodded to Mick and Jeff.

“Hi gents,” I greeted.

“Nina,” Mick said.

“Nice to meet ‘cha,” Jeff smiled.

Mick’s eyes went to my cheek then they went
to Max.

“Matthews?” he asked.

“Backhanded her at The Dog,” Max
answered.

“Fuckin’ dick,” Jeff muttered then looked at
me. “Uh… sorry.”

“That’s okay as, last night, he proved your
estimation of him to be true,” I said to Jeff and for some reason
my remark received three man chuckles which made the spring coiling
in my stomach relax. If their visit was bad for Max, I doubted
they’d be chuckling.

“Heard there was a disturbance at The Dog
last night,” Mick commented.

“Damon make a complaint?” Max asked and I
tensed.

“Nope, word I hear, enough folks witnessed
the hit to his manhood, I’m thinkin’ he’s not gonna be big on
spreadin’ that word,” Mick replied and I relaxed.

“You fuck him up?” Jeff asked Max with an
edge of enthusiasm then he again turned to me and muttered. “Uh…
sorry again.”

I smiled my “I’m okay with the f-word” to
Jeff but even as I did I was feeling uncertain if Max should brag
about parking lot fisticuffs at The Dog to policemen and I opened
my mouth to speak but Max got there before me.

“Got a few in, best part, Nina shoved him
and he went back at least five feet,” Max replied.

There were more man chuckles at the idea of
me shoving Damon and I wasn’t certain how to take this but decided
to let it go and change the subject.