by Hadley Quinn
Teague laughed out loud, and Camryn rolled her eyes.
“Not even comparable,” Camryn scoffed at them. “I’ve heard some of these stories and those dogs aren’t nearly as misbehaved as you two were.”
“It wasn’t so much ‘misbehaved’ as it was…” Max sort of let the sentence trail off.
“Blatant disrespect for authority and rules,” Teague finished for him.
“So yeah, total misbehavior,” Max nodded with agreement.
“And you will not get that from my little baby Tucker,” Camryn argued.
“Or Tank,” Melanie agreed. “He just sleeps all day.”
“Either way, both together is just…a bit much,” Teague warned him.
“What, you don’t think I can handle it?” That was a flat out challenge to a McCallan.
Teague met his defiance square on. “You bet your ass it’s a challenge. I guarantee you won’t last two nights. You’ll be calling Kellie to come save you.”
Max laughed out loud. “Seriously? You’re on. And if I do last, then you come on my set next week and lurk for a bit.”
Teague narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Ah, no, I don’t think so.”
“I have Justin Gray as my stunt coordinator.”
Teague’s mouth hung open just slightly. “Say whaaaat?” he replied in a playful voice. He looked at Camryn for a second, but she only smiled at him and headed for the other room with Melanie and the boys.
“Mmhmm,” Max nodded.
“His crew?”
“Trent and Fritz.”
“Gahhhh!” Teague groaned as he ran his hand through his hair. “Seriously,” he playfully grumbled, shaking his head while he considered it.
Max stood. “I’ll take the dogs. Just bring ‘em up to the house whenever. Anna will be there if I’m not. But even so… I’d love it if you dropped by the set. Wednesday through Friday would be good days.”
He left Teague on that note, feeling pleased that they’d had a pretty productive visit. He hadn’t quite gotten to the details on Kate, though. That was Max’s main reason for heading over to his brother’s. Their father, too, but mainly he wanted Teague to be aware he’d be fighting for custody of Chase, and needed him to know what was at stake. He’d chickened out, though. It was much easier to bitch about their dad. At least it gave them something to not only talk about, but agree over.
Maybe it was a good thing he never got around to discussing the custody battle for Chase. He had no idea what he was even going to say about it.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Oh my gosh, puppies!” Anna squealed as Teague opened the back of his truck and both Tucker and Tank hopped onto the paved driveway. “Come here, guys!” She patted her thighs and they both obeyed, happily greeting her.
Tank was a full-grown Mastiff—a dog that Jay and Melanie had rescued from an abusive home. He was friendly but sometimes shy, however, he was a dog that loved to be loved, so he was right there to be pet.
Tucker was a fluffier Saint Bernard mix. He was a lover by nature, smart and obedient, but sometimes pushed other distractions out of the way to be seen. Like now, trying to battle Tank out of the way for loves, but Anna made sure they both got an equal amount.
Teague approached with two bags in his hand and explained which one belonged to which dog and what was in them. “You sure you’re okay with this? I mean Max pretty much volunteered you. Like he just threw you into the line of fire without a thought.”
Anna laughed, knowing he was just playing. Max had actually asked her permission, but why would she say no? She’d always loved animals and never had one growing up. “No, I’m perfectly fine with this. It’ll be fun.”
“Mmhmm,” Teague nodded, raising his eyebrow at the fact that the dogs just about knocked her over. He looked around the property and asked, “It’s all fenced, right?”
“Yes, the entire perimeter all the way down to the gate. They’ll be safe when they’re outside, but I’m not going to leave them out the whole time.”
“No? Well you’re crazy.” He looked at the house. “I’m mean this place is good sized, so I hope they get their own room or something so you can get them out of the way. Or a laundry room works great. They’re sometimes really annoying when they’re together. They feed off of each other and battle for attention if you let them get away with it.”
“Not a problem, Teague. Really. Once the initial excitement wears off, they’ll settle down.”
“Alright. And I have their beds, too. Oh, and…” He glanced back at the truck and frowned. “There’s one more thing…”
***
Anna had dinner made by the time Max got home that Friday evening. She’d finally gotten the pooches to settle down with rawhide bones on their beds, each in separate corners of the main living area, but as soon as the dogs heard a vehicle pull up, sudden chaos ensued. They both had their noses to the front window, tails wagging with excited whining to see who had arrived as they battled for the best position.
Anna joined them at the window and watched Max exit from the back seat of a black Escalade. She was glad he finally hired a driver/bodyguard again, but she knew it was mainly because of the onslaught of press that was up Max’s ass everywhere he went lately. They’d always stalked McC Studios, but now Gleason Productions as well—where it was known that Max had been meeting recently for his movie. He was also in the process of hiring a twenty-four hour security detail for the property. He’d told Anna it would only be a matter of time before people found his new residence.
“What in the world!” Max laughed when he was bombarded with two wet noses on one end and wagging excitement on the other. “Well hello, boys. What a greeting.”
He set a satchel briefcase down to pet them both for a minute, and then instructed them to go to their beds. They did, each picking up their respective bones to continue on with.
“Wow, I’m used to your slobber when you kiss me, but times two is crazy,” he smirked.
Anna feigned insult but greeted him anyway with a hug. “Well you like it, so don’t even pretend you don’t.” She kissed him long and hard, and it was such a…domesticated situation…it made her think about future moments like this. A house with Max, a dog, kids... Wow, the thought warmed her heart. She wanted that. All of it. Even just the idea of someone coming home to her was so sweet and endearing—
“What the- what the fuck!” screeched a voice from the other room.
Max pulled back instantly, eyes wide, surprise written all over his face.
“Oh yeah,” Anna bit her lip mischievously. “Um, we also have—”
“Fuck- fuck- Fucktard! Fucktard, what the- what the fuck!”
Max chuckled as he shook his head. “Mel’s parrot? Really?”
“Just until Monday,” she held up her hands to assure him. “He goes when the dogs go. And he’s been fairly quiet up until now. He must have heard your voice,” she snickered.
“So that warrants a ‘what the fuck?’ when I enter the house?”
Anna laughed out loud. “I guess so. I bet you anything he can recognize a McCallan baritone any day of the week.”
Max shook his head but laughed as he walked toward the back of the house where the family room was. Sure enough, there was Geraldo, pacing his cage in all his green glory. He stopped moving and cocked his head sideways when Max approached.
“I wonder how old he even is,” Max said for some reason. “Last I heard, no one was sure.” He bent down at the bird’s level. “Hey buddy, how old are you?”
The bird remained still as he peered at Max for a moment.
“Hey, Fucktard, how old are you?”
“I dunno,” the bird answered, and he started to pace again.
“You don’t know?” Max asked. “You don’t know how old you are?”
“I dunno,” he repeated. “I’m an- I’m an excellent driver.”
Max froze for a second. “What?”
“I’m an- I’m an excellent driver. Dad let’s me drive slow in the driv
eway.”
“Oh my God. He’s repeating movie lines.”
“Slow on the driveway. Every Sunday.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Max shook his head.
“But not- but not on Monday. Definitely not on Monday.”
“What movie?” Anna asked. “I’m not familiar with it.”
“Rainman.” Max had a stunned smile on his face. He rubbed the stubble on his chin and shook his head again. “I gotta tell Dustin about this. He’ll have a good laugh. And this guy needs his own movie,” he lightly laughed, turning away. He took Anna’s face in his hands to kiss her—
“This guy- this guy is an asshole,” the bird replied.
—And Max paused.
“Who’s an asshole?” Anna playfully scoffed, looking around Max’s shoulder at the bird.
“This guy is an asshole. No, app-pull. Birdie want an apple.”
After a brief pause, Anna said, “Melanie has been trying to get him to stop saying certain things. Maybe he’s trying to correct himself like she does? Oh my God, I can almost hear Jay calling him an asshole.”
“Motherfucker!” He started to pace again.
“Did I say the magic word?” Anna mumbled. “Jay?” she whispered.
“I don’t know,” Max laughed. “Um, you want an apple?”
“Apple? Want an apple?” He began pacing even faster, bobbing his head.
“I don’t think we have any,” Anna frowned.
“Oh. Um…”
“Apple? Want an apple? Apple? Want an apple? Asshole. Don’t call him that. Apple? Want an apple?”
Max’s mouth was hanging open, staring at the bird. Anna chuckled and said, “I’m sort of afraid of what he’s going to disclose. What if we hear something we’re not supposed to?”
Max laughed with a shrug. “Hmm, I don’t know. Um, hey, Geraldo? Tell me allllll the secrets.”
The bird stopped on his perch and tipped his head again.
“Alllll the secrets, Geraldo,” Max repeated. “Tell me secrets.”
“Rawk! Hot water! Hot water burn baby! Rawk!” He started pacing again. “Hot water burn baby!”
“Oh my God, what?” Anna gasped. “The baby was burned?”
“No, he’s repeating movie lines again,” Max sighed. “Still from Rainman. Thank God.”
“Hot water, hot water.”
Max turned to Anna and smiled curiously. “Were you seriously afraid he was gonna say something about Melanie or Jay?”
“Rawk! Motherfucker! Mother-mother fucker!”
“The magic word again,” Anna noted. “I think he says that any time you say Jay’s name.”
“Rawk! Motherfucker!”
Max rubbed his hands over his face. “This can’t be happening. We have the world’s foulest fowl in our house.”
Anna laughed, but paused because he said “our” house. Her thoughts returned to just five minutes ago, when Max had come home and all of it felt so…peaceful.
She cleared her throat and reached for the blanket that Teague brought to cover the cage. She only covered half of it and would cover it all the way when bedtime came—like Teague said his sister-in-law would do. “Here, this will give him a rest. And dinner is ready if you’re hungry.”
“I’m starving. I had half a sandwich at noon and a granola bar two hours ago.”
“Well come eat some chicken and rice.” Anna grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the kitchen. “And you’re in charge of dessert tonight.”
“Hmm. Sounds like something I can handle.”
She loved the sexy smirk on his face as he pinned her against the counter from behind and kissed her cheek. “I kind of meant later though,” she teased.
“I have no concept of time when it comes to you. Just thinking about you makes me want you. In fact, I had a semi-boner in my soundtrack meeting today because your beautiful face was in my thoughts. I had to keep my ass seated so it stayed hidden under the conference table.”
Anna laughed, but even at that very second, she could feel his cock pressing into her backside. His lips kissed along her neck, and then his hand slipped into the front of her shorts. When he skillfully kissed her mouth the same time his fingers stroked over her pussy, the idea of dinner was a lost thought.
He continued to finger her as he unbuttoned her shorts and slid them down. She could feel him undoing his own pants, and then his cock was pressed between her legs. Anna leaned forward onto the counter. He was still massaging her clit when his dick entered her. After the long day of being without him, it was easy to give in to the pleasure.
His hand fisted her hair into a ponytail as he thrust against her. For a second, she reflected on the fact they were alone in the house. When Chase had been here, she heard him ask his dad what he’d been doing in his room one night. Max had asked him for clarification. Basically Chase had heard grunting and the headboard hitting the wall.
Max pulled off the perfect parent-to-kid lie by telling him they’d been moving furniture. Which wasn’t really a lie because they were, but both Anna and Max were red-faced after that one, and realized they needed to be more careful next time.
Being in the throes of passion wasn’t always conducive to the parenting lifestyle.
But this time, being alone without smaller ears to hear, Anna didn’t hold back on how much pleasure was being slammed into her right now. He made her come so hard she had sea legs when he was done. He grabbed a kitchen towel to clean up his mess he’d made on her ass. In between catching his breath, he made some remark about it getting tougher to be careful when he was inside her.
“Well we’re covered on my end,” Anna said as she pulled up her panties and shorts. “I’m on the pill. But I understand that makes you uncomfortable to rely on.”
He was washing his hands in the sink and grabbed for a clean towel to dry with. “Well, normally, yeah, but…”
She waited for him to expound, but he didn’t. To take the edge off the serious subject, she smiled and said, “But we could have named her Cocina.”
Max smiled but then paused. “Wait, isn’t that ‘kitchen’ in Spanish?”
Anna laughed out loud. “Yes, dammit. Why do you know that?”
“Because I do,” he smiled. “And no, we’re not having a kid named Kitchen McCallan.”
“Cocina. It’s much prettier. And why not? Isn’t that the celebrity cool card? Having a weird named kid? Blue? Apple? Calico?”
“And we’ll have ‘Kitchen’?”
“We’ll nickname her Kit. How cute is that? Kit McCallan.”
“Oh, and when we’re asked why we decided to name our kid that?”
Anna shrugged. “Yeah, um…”
“Mmhmm. It’s like my friend Austin. Guess where he was conceived?
“Texas?”
“Yep. And his wife’s name is Nova. Guess where she was conceived.”
“Back of a Nova?”
“Yeah. So let’s not do that to our kids,” he laughed. He changed the subject and asked what she thought of a few bands he’d been discussing earlier for the movie. He’d actually signed a couple of Tyse’s artists from his music studio.
Anna responded, and then went back to the task of serving up dinner. She so badly wanted to ask Max if kids were in the plans for his future. Of course he had Chase, but would he consider having more? And with her? Bringing up the subject hadn’t exactly given her the answer she was beating around the bush for but…maybe it had. He hadn’t completely canned her idea.
Wait a minute… He said our kids. That was a definite reference to the future. Was it something she was allowed to bring up? Not that it meant any time soon, but maybe it was a topic she could dabble in.
On the other hand, too many things had to happen first. Max was dealing with a lot right now. She couldn’t imagine he’d want to add more to his plate. It was kind of selfish of her to even think that way. She knew his biggest wish was to have his son back in his life. And studying him right now, as they ate and he recapp
ed some of his day, she wondered if he’d purposely changed the subject to avoid talking about it. He was a professional fake, after all. She didn’t feel he was dishonest with her anymore, but maybe she’d been duped in la-la land for the time being.
She decided to hold off on the rest of the kid conversation. As it was, they still hadn’t even crossed certain milestones in their relationship. She loved him, but had never told him so. He’d never expressed that sort of thing either. They were good together in so many ways, but maybe her idea of where their relationship was at was different than his. They’d dubbed themselves exclusive, but as it was, Anna was only spending weekends with him. The rest of the week was busy with work—both of them—or other mundane tasks. And starting next week, Max would be busier than ever when the movie began filming.
Perhaps the timing wasn’t right.
A shower and bed were on the list next after kitchen clean up. On their way to the hall they passed the bird, and upon Geraldo seeing them, he started pacing along his perch again. He was making strange grunting noises, some low pitch and some higher.
Anna was about to cover the rest of the cage with the blanket but asked, “Is there something wrong with him?”
Max was rubbing his face again, shaking his head, and sighed. “I think he’s mimicking us from earlier in the kitchen.”
Anna’s mouth dropped open when she realized what he meant. “Oh. My. God.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Max, it’s Harvey. You’ve got a date with the judge on November twenty-third. You were right, Kate is going for full custody, plus claiming you’re an unfit parent. Give me a call when you get a chance. I want you to meet with me as soon as possible this week. I’ve got good and bad news and want to share it with you in person.”
Max could barely manage the screen on his phone to hang up the voicemail. He finally pushed the right button and tossed the phone on the seat next to him. As much as he liked Harvey, he hated when people did stuff like that. Seriously, he just wanted the fucking information. Why make him wait?
“Bad news?” Mary asked.
He glanced to the left of him at the woman who was now his personal assistant. She’d come highly recommended by Cole, along with the driver he now had as his personal bodyguard.
