He looked at Max and must have read the worry in her eyes, because when he sat back, the excitement dissipated. “It’s been fun, and I’m set for life now. I don’t need to keep doing more. This is what I did before I found you, Max.” His voice turned serious. “You have to remember, I was filling my days with work and my nights with whatever I could that held no chance for permanence. I was running from my life, Max, not living it.” He put his hand on her leg and squeezed. “What I do has always been exciting and fulfilling, but now that I’m ready to really live my life, now that I do have you by my side, I want more. I want the house, you as my wife, and maybe even children one day. I want the dream that I’ve spent so many years running from.”
Max didn’t hear anything after It’s a crazy, fantastic life. It’s been a dream, really, a very good dream. Max knew what she had to do.
SOMETHING HAD BEEN off with Max all day. Treat had known it the moment he’d seen her sitting at the kitchen table, fidgeting with her food rather than eating, and the frown she tried so hard to hide made her look like her life was crumbling around her. She hadn’t shaken the darkness that lay behind her eyes all day. And now he could feel the tension in her body as she leaned against him. Every breath she took was short, riddled with stress.
He felt the change in her when she’d asked about his work. He’d been afraid to give her a truthful answer. He knew his enthusiasm for his work was intimidating, and yet he’d promised to always be honest, so he was. And now Max looked even more conflicted than she had before.
Treat wanted to take her in his arms and promise her the world that he knew he could give her, but something told him that she also saw his own turmoil. He had no concerns about Max, but Thailand was riding his nerves. He’d worked so hard for that acquisition, and truth be told, he would give up everything to be with Max, but one last foray into negotiations would be a sweet sendoff. It was the three months of international travel to corner the market that caused him concern. There was no way he could expect Max to pick up her life and go with him. He’d never ask her to—because if she did, she might hate him for it later. It was an unfair request.
As he sat with her now, he wrestled with the decision. He’d only just gotten her back in his life, and these last few days were not enough. He wanted a lifetime with her. He wanted everything he’d told her that he wanted, and if giving up acquisitions were what it would take, he’d do it.
“What do you want, Max?”
Max fidgeted with the edge of his sweater.
“Max? How about you? Do you want all those things?”
She shrugged, and that little movement tugged his heartstrings as hard as the day he’d seen her wearing the same outfit she’d had on the night before, when he thought she’d been with Justin.
“Max?” His chest tightened, and his hurt was slowly turning toward something else that he tried to suppress. If she didn’t want all those things, then what were they doing together? Why had they revealed their souls to each other?
She looked up at him, and he asked her again, “What is it that you want? With me, where do you envision this going?”
Max pulled away. “I guess maybe we’re moving a little fast.”
Her words sent a swift kick to his gut. “A little fast? I thought you felt the same connection that I did. I thought you wanted this just as much as I do.”
“I…I do, but—”
“But? Max, we can move slower. I never meant to push you. Just tell me what you want and I’ll follow your lead.” This can’t be happening. Could he be such a fool to have fallen in love with someone who couldn’t love him back? That couldn’t be. He felt her love for him in everything she did and said up until that very second. And still, even now, her eyes told a different story than her words.
“It’s cold. Do you mind if we go inside?” Max picked up a blanket and escaped into the bungalow.
I’M DOING THE right thing. I am. I have to do this. The pain of the reality of what she had to do felt like she was peeling her skin back with a paring knife, then slowly tearing it away from her bones.
Treat followed her inside and she knew he was mad. Of course he was. She hated her goddamned self. How could he not? She was breaking both their hearts in order to save his happiness.
“Talk to me sweetness, please. Don’t shut me out like this.”
I feel like I’m bipolar, taking both of us on a roller coaster ride to hell. “What we have is great, better than great, but we don’t even know each other.” Just tell him the truth!
“I know everything I need to know about you, and what I don’t know, I’ll learn.”
“Treat, you’re a smart man. You know there’s more to a relationship than what we have.”
“You’re right. I am smart. I know that love like ours is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and that even if we have to take it slow, even if we can’t move to the next step until ten years from now, that’s enough for me.”
The anguish and anger in his eyes almost broke her resolve. She had to be strong. He’d give up everything for her, and no matter how much she loved him, her love would never make up for the release of the things that really got his juices flowing. That was like a death sentence for a relationship.
“What’re you worried about, Max? Just tell me. Whatever it is, I can fix it. We can fix it. We can work on it. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“I know you will, and that’s the problem.” Max collapsed onto the couch and crossed her arms to keep them from trembling.
Treat sat beside her with a sigh. He put his hand on her leg and tenderly touched her cheek. She froze beneath his touch, desperately trying to rebuild those walls that had kept her safe for so long. Damn it. Why is it so hard?
“Are you saying I give too much? I don’t understand. Am I smothering you?”
Max shook her head. If she opened her mouth, a flood of tears would follow.
“Sweetness,” he whispered. “I can stop giving. I can turn into a mean bastard if you want.”
His joke made her smile despite the way her heart was twisting and turning, like two giant hands were wringing it dry.
“You can’t give up everything for me. I don’t want you to.” She closed her eyes with her admission.
“Max, look at me. Please.”
She opened her eyes, and he touched her cheek again. She leaned into it, craving his caress. Why had she said anything at all? Why hadn’t she left well enough alone? Just let him go back to work—wherever that was—and her go back to Colorado, and just let life unfold? Why did she need to define everything and put it into its place?
“If we—” He turned away.
Max had never met anyone like Treat. His eyes were damp again, like they’d been the night before, when he’d thought about how that man had hurt her. He was more empathetic and loving than any man she’d ever met.
“I can’t even say if,” he continued. “When we’re together, neither of us has to give up everything. My businesses can run without me on site all the time, and if you want to continue working, I’ll live—we’ll live—wherever you want to live. We can have several houses, if that’s what you want, anywhere in the world that you want.”
Max pushed away from his kindness and paced in front of the fireplace. “I don’t want you to buy me stuff. I’m not materialistic.”
“I know you’re not. That’s not what I’m saying.”
“I just don’t want you to give up everything for me. You’ll hate me for it.”
He came to her side and pulled her close. Max tried to pull away, but he held her too tight. Leaning against him again, with his arms around her, refusing to let her go, she could almost believe that she should let her worries go.
“Family knows no boundaries, Max. That’s something my father ingrained in my head. I hope that you will be my family one day. I could never hate you, and I’d do anything for you,” he said as he stroked her hair.
Oh God. His family would never forgive me! I can’t take their successful real estate mogul brother and make him a one-house, one-family man.
Max didn’t have the energy to fight anymore. She wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and erase the anxious evening that had found them. So she was relieved when he took her hand and led her upstairs.
Treat didn’t try to make love to her. He ran a warm bath for her so that she could relax, while he read in the bedroom. Twenty minutes later, she curled up beside him and within minutes he was asleep.
Max’s heart wouldn’t settle down. Every time she closed her eyes she saw his, dancing with excitement when he told her about how much he loved his work. The look in his eyes when he told her he wanted to live a simple family life was filled with happiness—but how long would it be before he realized he’d made a mistake? She’d missed the signs back in college. The way her boyfriend had suddenly started drinking more, going out to bars more. He’d lost interest in talking with her. She’d never miss those signs again, but she didn’t want to recognize them in Treat and know she was the cause of them.