Okay, I had to give him that one.
“But I’d practically just met you when we had buffalo burgers,” I pointed out.
“Yeah? So?”
“I wasn’t your woman.”
“Babe, you were.”
“How’s that?”
“You just were.”
I stared at him and he returned my stare. Then he calmly turned back to his plate and dug out another chip.
After he chewed and swallowed, I asked, “So, you’d let a woman pay for dinner?”
“Nope,” he stated firmly. “But don’t mind she goes for her wallet. She won’t use it but I don’t mind it.”
“So I should have gone for my wallet?” I pushed and his eyes cut back to mine.
“Did you not get my earlier point?”
“Max –”
He turned slightly toward me and dropped his plate to hold it at his thigh.
“All right, we should talk about this anyway and you’re obviously twistin’ this in that head of yours so we’ll get this straight. This works out, babe, I’m not gonna give a shit if a woman goes for her wallet because there won’t be another one I take out, ‘cept you. And you never go for your wallet. How we work out the money shit, we work it out private, at home. We go out, I pay, always. That work for you or do we have to talk about it for half an hour?”
“That isn’t the point, the point is –”
“The point is, you’re worried you’ve been rude when I’m sayin’, Duchess, it woulda pissed me off you went for your wallet. Shauna, I didn’t give a fuck because she didn’t matter. You matter.”
This was a really good answer, so good I wasn’t breathing properly so I kind of wheezed, “Okay.”
“You get my point?”
I was still wheezing when I said, “Yes.”
Max watched me wheeze awhile then when I controlled it and turned my attention back to my nachos, he queried, “How is it you can be irritating and adorable at the same fuckin’ time?”
“Just me, I guess,” I quietly told my nachos.
“Yeah,” he muttered and I looked at him to see he’d brought his plate up and was digging back in but he was doing it grinning.
“Max?” I called and he looked at me, chip held suspended.
“Right here,” he replied and put the chip in his mouth.
“About that job –”
He didn’t swallow before he said, “Yeah, about that.” He finished chewing, swallowed and turned to me again to state, “It’s happenin’.”
“Max –”
“Quiet, Nina and listen to me, yeah?”
I had his attention, his full, somber attention, and I nodded.
“George and Trevor have explained to Bitsy that Curt has contracts he can’t renege on or Bitsy’s gonna be fucked. I’ll see them carried through. Then Bitsy wants the business downsized. She wasn’t a big fan of Curt’s work either. I got some ideas that’ll keep some boys employed and we got contracts that’ll stretch out a good long while. The guys who want to move on’ll have time to make arrangements. I ain’t gonna live Curt’s dream. I’m gonna make it so Bitsy’s taken care of and then it becomes somethin’ that I can do to keep a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs and I can sleep at night. That work for you?”
I was staring at him being reminded, acutely, that that thing eating me up inside was very, very gone when I whispered, “Charlie.”
His brows drew together and he asked, “What?”
I swallowed, drew in a soft breath, smiled then turned my attention to my plate again, saying softly, “Charlie. You remind me of him.” I grabbed a loaded chip and looked back at Max. “He was able to make big problems little ones too. He was really good at it.” I shoved the chip in my mouth, chewed, swallowed and concluded, “Like you.”
I was preparing another chip with some beef, beans and cheese that had slopped onto the plate when I heard Max command, “Come here.”
My head came up and I asked, “Sorry?”
Then I saw the expression on his face and I started wheezing again.
“Babe, come here.”
“I am here,” I breathed.
“Closer,” he ordered.
I moved my plate to the side and leaned in closer. Max did the same thing, hooked a hand behind my neck and pulled me even closer. Then he kissed me hard, closed-mouthed and short.
When his mouth released mine, his hand didn’t move.
“You know, you can be nice too,” he told me quietly.
I didn’t answer.
“I like it, babe.”
“Good,” I whispered, he grinned, let me go and went back to his nachos.
“How tired are you?” he asked after swallowing another loaded chip.
“I woke up tired but it’s okay, it’s nothing fifteen days of sleep won’t cure.”
Max chuckled then, still grinning, suggested, “Another movie night.”
I really liked that idea so I agreed, “Sounds good.”
“I get to pick the movie this time.”
“Okay,” I said, twisting to get my beer.
“Babe?” he called as I twisted back.
“Yes?”
“Still scared?”
I saw his eyes were dancing and I knew he knew the answer to his question.