Private Affair(100)

Max saw the other guy’s jaw drop. “What do you mean?” Ellison asked.

“I can see the advantage of using my current notoriety. But I’m not going to work the schedule I’ve been on.”

“Okay,” Ellison said cautiously. “What would you want?”

“I’d want to work only two weeks a month. And I’d want at least two months a year when I didn’t work at all.”

Ellison swallowed. “We could do that.”

Olivia looked surprised, like she hadn’t expected him to agree, but apparently he could see that getting Olivia Winters on any terms was better than not getting her at all.

“Let’s talk in a few days,” she said. “I think everybody will understand that I’ve been through a terrible ordeal, and I need some time off.”

“Yes. Okay. Fine,” he said quickly.

“I’ll call you late next week,” she said.

“Sure. That’s fine.” He backed out of the room, and Max shut the door and put on the security chain.

“You really only want to work two weeks a month?” Max asked.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Two reasons. I hope. I’d like to be an advocate for rape victims. If that’s okay with you.”

“You don’t need my permission.”

“A lot of guys wouldn’t like people to know their wife was raped.”

“Their wife,” he said.

She flushed. “Am I getting ahead of myself?

He felt joy swell inside him. “No. It was what I was hoping when I asked if you wanted to be in a relationship.”

“I was hoping that, too. When I woke up with Troy in that underground room, I wanted to live—so I could spend the rest of my life with you.”

He reached for her, hugging her to him. They stayed locked together until she said, “We should have that meeting with Shane and Jack and get it over with.”

“And after they leave, we can…”

She gave him a wicked smile, then finished the sentence differently than he’d expected, “Go up to the courthouse and get a marriage license. If we know it’s what we really want.”

“Love to,” he answered, “But I guess you’ll have to wear a disguise if the hotel is full of reporters like Jerry said.”

“I’ll just go without makeup, and they won’t know it’s me.”

“It will take more than that. Maybe a Groucho Marx nose and glasses.”

She grinned at him, and he grinned back, thinking of the astonishing way his life had turned out. First he’d found good friends he could depend on like no others. And he’d found an amazing woman who wanted to spend her life with him. It was more than he’d ever dared hope for, and he was going to make the most of it.