Reluctantly Royal(75)

“ ‘Huh’ me.” He shook his head. “It’s what Cathy and Sam do when they think they know something I don’t.”

“Are they usually right?” I raised my eyebrow.

“That’s not the point.” He smiled. “The point is that I’m . . . I’m not sure what I want anymore.”

“Not sure about anything?” The words fell from my mouth before I could rethink them.

“I’m sure that I want to do what we just did again.” He ran his thumb over my bottom lip. “I’m sure that I want to go fishing with Marty again. That I want to spend more time with both of you.”

His eyes traced my face, looking for something.

“What do you want?” he asked.

You, my mind screamed. I want you. But my mouth wouldn’t say the words. Instead I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him.

His arm slid around my waist, tucking me against his body. I leaned into his kiss, trying to convey what I hadn’t been able to say aloud.

Someone cleared their throat and I broke our kiss, but Max kept me pinned to his side.

“Sorry to interrupt.” Cathy was looking anywhere but at us.

“What do you want?” Max growled at his sister.

“Well, we just thought you might want to eat dinner, but if you’re too busy, I’ll just let the others know . . .”

“No, thank you. I’m starved.” I lifted my hand to my mouth. Well, I guess the cat was out of the bag.

“Oh, thank God. I would hate to have interrupted and you weren’t hungry.” She motioned between us. “Because this could have been all awkward for no reason.”

“Awkward is one word for it.” Max narrowed his eyes. “Annoying is another.”

“Well, that’s one way of looking at it.” She backed away from the door. “I’m going to go. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone what I saw. Not a soul. Except for Sam. Who will probably tell Alex. You know how they are. Yak, yak. No secrets.”

“Get out of here.” Max kicked the door shut, but we could still hear her laughing as she walked down the hall.

I turned to look at Max with wide eyes before busting out laughing. Max studied me with an amused expression. Running my hands through my hair, I took a deep breath.

“Are you upset?” His eyes watched me carefully.

“No.” I shook my head. “You asked me what I wanted earlier.”

“Yes.” He touched my cheek and my eyes fluttered shut briefly.

“I want to keep spending time with you. I want you to go fishing with Marty. I want to frame that picture you drew of me so I can always remember that I was the one that soothed you when you were upset.” I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. “And that’s a problem. Because I want there to be something between us. But what I want in life doesn’t add up for you. I want to sing on stage, on Broadway. I want to make people feel something, and that is the last thing you want.”

Reaching down, he grabbed my hand and pulled it up to his lips. “That’s not something you need to worry about right now.”

My heart stuttered in my chest. I wanted that to be true. “Good, because I have a lot of other things to worry about.”

“No you don’t.” He tugged me against his chest.

“Tomorrow is sort of scary.” I looked up at him, and my voice cracked. “I don’t know what to expect.”

“Whatever comes, I’ll be there with you.” His green eyes stared down into mine. “You won’t be alone.”

It had been a long time since I’d been willing to depend on someone else, to count on anyone else. In the last few years I’d been the person Granddad had leaned on; I’d reminded him to take his medicine, made sure the staff was getting him to his appointments. All of that from London while being a single mom and going to school. Thank God I hadn’t had to work a job too.

“Okay,” I whispered.

“Then let’s go eat.”

He kept his fingers laced with mine as we walked through the house. Despite Cathy warning us to hurry up, we were the first people in the dining room. It was odd to sit at this huge, empty table full of food while everyone else finished what they were doing. It wasn’t that the silence was uncomfortable, but I couldn’t stop mulling over how things would end with Max. A mutual parting of ways? Slowly drifting apart? A fight? Would he wait until I was back to singing to decide it just didn’t work?

“Wash your hands!” Samantha’s voice carried down the hallway. It was followed by stampeding feet and the slam of a door.

I winced. “I hope he didn’t break anything.”