Lovers at Heart(47)

Chapter Thirty-Eight


TREAT SPED THE whole way to Max’s apartment. Traffic was light and he made it there in record time. He flew into the parking lot and took a cursory glance for Max’s car as he ran for the steps, which he took two by two, feeling lighter on his feet than he had in years.

He knocked on her door twice, then twice more without waiting for her to answer. His heart thundered against his ribs. He had no idea what he’d say to her. He’d figure it out when he saw her beautiful eyes.

The knob turned. Treat held his breath as the door swung open.

“What did you forget?”

“Kaylie?”

“Treat?”

He looked over her shoulder. “Where’s Max?”

A smile grew across Kaylie’s lips. “She’s heading toward your father’s ranch.”

“My father’s—”

“Yes! Go! She just left ten minutes ago. Go!”

He bolted down the stairs and headed back toward the highway, spurred on by the knowledge that Max was coming for him.



BY THE TIME she pulled up in front of the ranch, Max had had plenty of time to mull over Kaylie’s questions, and she’d driven herself into a relative frenzy. She had asked him to love her through her insecurities, and he’d promised he would. Maybe she was making a mistake after all. Maybe since he hadn’t come for her, he didn’t really love her like he claimed.

She parked the car and felt the anger building in her chest, battling with the love that was tugging at her heart. She hadn’t given him a choice. She hadn’t said, Follow me. Love me. No. Instead she’d been an idiot and written, Please don’t follow me. Still, he should have known better. He should have figured it out, like she had when she’d gone to Wellfleet.

She watched one of Treat’s brothers riding a horse across the field, toward her car. As he approached, she saw it was the one with the huge muscles. Not that any of them weren’t cut from some incredibly sexy fabric that she’d never known existed, but this brother’s biceps were the size of footballs.

He pulled up on the reins of the beautiful red and gray horse as Max stepped from the car.

“Max?” He ran his eyes slowly down her body with an appreciative nod.

Ugh! She had forgotten what she was wearing, and now, with the crests of her breasts saying hello to the world and her leather pants leaving nothing to the imagination, she felt like a fool, which only spurred on her anger even more.

“Rex, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, that’s right. You just missed Treat. He took off to take care of some business.”

Damn it. “Business?” Why the hell isn’t he taking care of fixing our relationship?

Rex shrugged. “That’s what he said.”

His eyes roved to her breasts and remained there. Max cleared her throat, and he met her eyes with a nod of his head.

“Thank you,” she said curtly and climbed back into her car. Business? Business! She snapped on her seat belt. And the way Rex had ogled her? She’d come out looking to entice Treat and now she looked like nothing but a tramp! If Treat were there, they would have recognized her sexy attire as the lure it was meant to be. Damn it. She jerked her car into reverse and slammed the pedal to the floor—she couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

She felt the impact that sent her flying chest first into the steering wheel before she heard the crunching of metal on metal.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Dazed and shaken, Max blinked away her angry, scared tears and saw the rest of the Braden clan running toward her car. What the hell had she done now?

Rex yanked open the door. “Max? Are you okay?”

“Is she okay?” Max heard someone yell.

“Get away from her.”

Treat?

“I’ll get her,” he said.

And there he was, yanking Rex from beside her door and pulling her gently into his arms. Treat. Max registered voices behind him, but she was still too shocked from the accident to think beyond being in Treat’s strong arms.

“I’ll call an ambulance.”

“Wait. Let’s see if she’s okay first.”

“What happened?”

“Max?” Treat’s gentle voice was shaken and scared. “Sweetness, look at me.”

She looked into his eyes as he pulled her to her feet.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She saw his car behind hers, the front end smashed in by the rear of hers.

“Yeah, I think so,” she whispered. Then, amid the shock, the worry, and his family members pawing at her, the anger returned, boiling in her belly and rising like heat into her chest.

“You said you’d love me through it.” What happened to my voice? Why am I whispering? That won’t do.

“What, sweetness?” Treat asked.

“You said you’d love me through it,” Max repeated, this time a little louder. The confusion on Treat’s face only pissed her off even more. She pushed away from him. Her chest was sore, but she could walk and stand and, damn it, she could talk—and yell.

“You said you’d love me through it. I asked you, that night in Wellfleet, when I told you that if I got scared and those walls of insecurity went up, I’d need you to love me through it.” Why the hell am I crying? “And you said you’d love me through anything, Treat. Anything! You promised. But you didn’t.”

“Max.” He stepped closer, reaching for her.

She pushed him away.

“Uh-oh,” Dane said.

His siblings stared at her. His father watched Treat. Max looked from his father to Treat and then back again. She didn’t care if she was making a fool of herself, or if his father were sending him telepathic messages telling him she was a freak. She’d trusted him and he hadn’t come for her!

“Max,” he tried again gently.

She pushed him away again, trying to back into her car, which she couldn’t drive away if she tried because she’d smashed into Treat’s car. He grabbed her arm, keeping her from hiding.

“Max!” Treat finally said loud and strong, leaving no room for her refusal to listen. “I called you thirty-seven times in the last two days. Not once did you return my calls.”

“Thirty-seven?” Savannah whispered.

“You—” Max fumbled for words.

“You had your say; now it’s my turn. I tried to give you space. I tried to wait for you to come back. I called, and damn it, Max, don’t you think that every call that went unanswered was like a slap in the face?”

“I didn’t have my ph—”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses. I want to finish what I started. I’m not giving up my life for you. I’m not giving up Thailand or anything else.”

Max swallowed back the sobs that pressed at her throat. He’s done. Finished. It’s over. This time for good.

“Treat,” Savannah cautioned.

Treat held up his palm toward his sister. “Let me goddamn finish.” He turned back to Max, and when he spoke, his voice was a tender caress to her broken heart. “Max, I’m rearranging how things are done, not giving them up. I’m coming back to help my father on the ranch—for a while, anyway—and I do want to put down roots. But I don’t care where, as long as you’re with me. I will love you through anything, Max. I promised, and I always fulfill my promises.”

He wiped her tears with a whisper of his finger across her cheek and moved in closer. “I slayed my demons, Max. All of them.”

“You called me thirty-seven times?” Max’s legs trembled from the accident and mostly from seeing Treat again. She relished his breath on her lips, his hands on her arms, and then the most intimate touch, as he reached up and pushed the hair from her shoulder. She closed her eyes. I’m not going to make the same mistake again.

“Open your eyes,” Treat said with a smile. When he had her attention, he said, “You can push me away as much as you want from here on out, but I’m not budging. It’s enough already. This is who we are. Treat and Max. Not Treat Braden and Max Armstrong, two separate people. It’s us, not you and me.”

Us. She swiped at the waterfall of tears streaming down her cheeks and shook her head. “I left my phone in Wellfleet.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said.

“I’ll travel.”

“What?”

“Whatever we need to do for your business. I’ll travel with you. I can work from anywhere.”

“Max, we’ll figure all that out,” he said.

She couldn’t think straight. Everything was tumbling together. Treat loved her. He loved her! She was in his arms. It was real. This wasn’t a dream.

Then Treat released her, and for a moment, the world stood still. Her eyes bounced from Savannah’s to Josh’s. Josh’s eyes grew wide, and a smile pulled at the right side of his mouth. Dane put a hand on Savannah’s shoulder, watching his brother with an intent and happy gaze. Max looked at Hugh, then Rex, still on Hope’s back, grinning like a fool. It was the tears in Hal’s eyes that drew Max’s eyes back to Treat, only he was no longer standing before her.

“Max.” He took her hand in his as he perched on one knee.

She gasped. “Treat?”

“Max, I would be honored if you would let me love you through the rest of your life. Through every insecurity and every argument.”