by Lizzie Shane
“I am happy.” Really freaking happy. “What does it say about our relationship that you sound annoyed by that?”
“I grew up with you,” Sidney said as she perched on the sofa. “I don’t trust you when you have that self-satisfied look on your face. You’re hiding something.”
“What would I be hiding?” He pocketed his phone. “How’s the wedding planning going?” he asked in an attempt to distract her from the previous topic. Sidney had always had a weird ability to sniff him out in a lie and he didn’t want to be the one to tell her he’d been hooking up with her best friend.
Not that he was ashamed of Parv. He just didn’t know what was going on between them and as soon as they introduced Sidney into the equation, things were going to change. And he didn’t want things to change. The status quo was pretty damn awesome.
They’d been “together”—whatever that meant—for three weeks now and life was pretty damn good.
“God, don’t ask,” Sidney groaned—and luckily their mother appeared then, completing the distraction.
Max thought he was in the clear as they migrated to the dining room—until his mother’s chef served the quiche and Sidney frowned across the table at him.
“Why haven’t you been flirting with Mom’s chefs lately?” she asked suspiciously. “In fact, why haven’t I seen pictures of you going to events with any aspiring starlets and models for the last couple months?”
It had been more like six months, but Max wasn’t going to help her with the timeline. “I’ve been busy. Elite Protection has really taken off.”
Sidney narrowed her eyes at him, not buying it. “Are you seeing someone in secret?”
“Who has the time to date?” he evaded.
“You should make the time, Maximus,” his mother chimed in. “I hate to think of you having nothing in your life but your work.”
“I have plenty in my life. I have you,” Max said with a saccharine smile that made Sidney roll her eyes.
“What about some of the single women at your wedding, Sidney?” their mother suggested.
“Most of my friends are in relationships,” Sidney commented. “Except Parvati.”
Max took a bite of his quiche, trying to look innocent—and like he hadn’t been doing debauched things to Parvati for half the previous night. They hadn’t technically agreed to relationship status, but they were definitely moving in that direction.
He’d been working less, eager to get home to her. He’d never really invested time in a woman he was seeing before. Not like this. But Parvati was different. Even if this was just a glorified fling.
He’d always been a low-hanging fruit kind of guy in the past, going for the girls who were right in front of him—and there had always been plenty of those. Women who flirted with him at parties and made it clear they were interested. He would let nature take its course, exerting enough effort to be charming, to make them feel sexy and appreciated, but never enough to lead them on. Dating had always been easy. Getting laid when you were young, attractive, and wealthy wasn’t hard in L.A., but a few months ago he’d just stopped noticing when women were flirting with him. Long before he’d actually started seeing Parvati he’d stopped seeing anyone but her. He didn’t notice them making eyes at him anymore.
But if he admitted that to Sidney she would definitely know something was up, so he kept his mouth shut and listened to his sister and his mother match-make for him at the former’s wedding.
He kept Sidney talking about her wedding—and off of his love life—as they were walking out. His familial duties for the month complete, he climbed into his car and glanced at his watch. Parvati was closing the bakery today and even though they kept shorter hours on weekends it was still half an hour until she would be free.
He never would have considered learning someone else’s schedule with any of the other women he’d dated. He would have just texted to see if they were free and shrugged it off if they weren’t. Everything was different now. Did Parv know that? Did she see the change?
His phone rang as he was debating going home and sneaking in some work before she was free or going by the bakery’s back door and seeing if he could distract her as she closed up. Her grinning face lit up the screen.
“Parv? I thought you weren’t off until three.”
“Technically, I’m not. Are you still at your mom’s?”
“Just leaving. What’s up?” Something about the tone of her voice had him straightening in his seat.
“It’s probably nothing.”
He pushed the button to start the car, fastening his seatbelt one handed, every instinct waking up. “What is?”
“I got a weird feeling, like I wasn’t alone, and then I thought I heard someone in the storage room, but when I looked there wasn’t anyone there—”
“Don’t move. I’m coming.”
“That’s what she said.”
It took him a moment for Parv’s nervous joke to penetrate the wall of his concentration. “Ha.”
“It’s probably nothing.”
“I’m five minutes out. Do you hear anything else?” Then he thought of Parvati. “Do not go investigating strange sounds.” He spun the wheel, whipping the Tesla around a corner and punching the accelerator.
“I’m probably overreacting. The shop is tiny. There isn’t exactly anywhere for someone to hide.”
“I don’t like you being alone there.”
“It’s a bakery. Who’s going to rob us? Cookie Monster?”
The thought of anything happening to her…anything… Max sped the entire way to the bakery’s back parking lot. The back door was locked—and he didn’t bother knocking on it. “I’m here,” he told Parvati over the phone and the door opened a moment later. His heart rate didn’t slow to normal levels until he saw her—whole, fine, giving him a look like his crazy was showing and he should tuck it away.
“I shouldn’t have called you,” she said. “It was probably a cat.”
“In your storage room?”
She shrugged. “There’s a window.”
“Show me.” He moved past her, his gaze taking in every corner of the space. It was a bakery kitchen. Innocuous. Utterly nonthreatening. He searched the front display area and the restroom, trying the door on the office, which Parv informed him was always kept locked except when Lacey was doing the books, and then she pointed him toward the storage room.
The window was high, but large enough for a person to squeeze through. And unlocked. Max secured the window lock, directing her attention to the stores. “Does anything look like it’s missing?”
“I shouldn’t have called you. It was nothing.”
“Keep this locked.” He pointed to the window.
She nodded—and then her lips twitched. “It’s kind of fun to see you in full on Guard Mode.”
Parvati wasn’t the kind to cry wolf—and Max fully intended to examine the area outside this window to see if there were any signs of someone using it to gain access. And he was glad she’d called. He didn’t want her too embarrassed to call him again. He needed to make this something she wouldn’t hesitate to repeat.
He caged her between his arms, bending down to kiss her neck. “You know you can see me in Full Guard Mode whenever you want.”
She flushed, leaning into the caress. “I really did think I heard something. I didn’t just call—”
“Parvati.” He shut up her explanations with a kiss.
* * * * *
Parvati’s embarrassment over the way she’d overreacted lasted approximately three seconds after Max sealed his lips to hers. Then the relief—that he was here, that she was safe, that he would always come when she called—melded seamlessly with the rush of lust he never failed to inspire in her.
“We can’t have sex here,” she whispered, pinned against the wall of the storeroom some time later.
“Okay,” Max agreed, though he didn’t stop touching her or kissing her or…
Parv lost her train of thought and ha
d to drag coherency back by her fingernails. “It isn’t my place,” she explained breathlessly. “And it isn’t sanitary. We prepare food here.”
“In the storeroom?”
Okay, so they didn’t prepare food in the dry storage room and her ability to argue was severely compromised by what he was doing with his hands, but Parv still somehow managed to have the presence of mind to remind him, “I work here. Lacey will fire me.”
“Does she have cameras in here?”
“I don’t think so.”
“She should. For security. I’ll install some tonight. And some on the exterior. So next time I’ll be able to check the feeds from wherever I am and know whether someone is here with you.”
“How are you still able to form full sentences?” She felt like all her powers of logic—and resistance—were being drained into a pool of weak-kneed willingness.
“Different part of my brain. The part of me that protects you will never shut off.”
Jesus, that was hot. She’d always wanted a partner, someone who was in it with her, someone she could rely on—and all of that was Max. He would always be there for her. Making her feel safe.
After that her resistance was token at best.
“I am officially a terrible employee,” she declared, quite a while later, sprawled against him on the storeroom floor. They were still mostly clothed, but what they’d just done was definitely grounds for termination. Max stretched his neck back, studying the walls around them. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for cameras.”
“A little late for that, isn’t it?”
“I was distracted earlier.” He relaxed back down onto the concrete slab—which really was extremely uncomfortable. Parv figured they had about ten more seconds of post-coital cuddling before her joints started to protest the location. “I don’t see any, but if Lacey did hide some in here…Well. This would certainly be one way to come out as a couple.”
Parv suddenly forgot about the uncomfortable floor. “A couple?”
“Sidney kept asking me at lunch today if I was seeing anyone.”
Nerves tumbled through her stomach and Parv sat up. She didn’t want Max to have to lie to Sidney, but the idea of her knowing the truth didn’t sit well either. “What did you tell her?”
“I didn’t lie to her outright.” He sat up as well, putting his clothing to rights. “I mostly evaded the question.”
“Did she seem suspicious?”
“Not of the evasion—that’s pretty much how I’ve always responded to any personal questions—but she’s definitely starting to wonder why I seem to have given up my man-whoring ways. It really seemed to bug her that I wasn’t flirting with my mother’s chef.”
“You could,” Parvati said, hating the words even as they came out of her mouth. “We don’t have any rules—”
“Are you seeing someone else?” His voice was sharp, his gaze sharper. “I thought we agreed we weren’t doing that. All in for as long as it lasts.”
“I am all in, but we didn’t really define this—”
“How do you want to define it?” His voice was brusque, businesslike—and made her heart rate quadruple.
He was going to make her say it. She was going to have to walk out on that limb and tell him what she wanted. They were temporary. She knew they were temporary. But what she really wanted was something else entirely. Only one thought saved her from being a complete nervous wreck.
He’d called them a couple.
She swallowed, carefully choosing her words. “We’re together. Exclusive. I guess I’d call you my boyfriend.” I guess I’m totally in love with you.
She watched his face, ready for him to bolt at the word. Max didn’t do girlfriends. He had dates. But he just nodded. Calm. All business as he gathered up the condom wrapper. While Parv was quietly having a nervous breakdown.
“Good.” He helped her up from the floor.
Good. Like it was easy. Like it was simple.
The word boyfriend made it real. It made this thing between them something they couldn’t hide anymore. “We need to tell Sidney.”
Max nodded, opening the door into the rear of the bakery for her. “I’ll tell her.”
“You don’t think it would be better coming from me?” Parvati glanced behind her, checking for evidence of the fact that they’d just had a quickie in the storeroom, but it looked totally normal. Though she was definitely going to guilt-mop that floor later.
“We could tell her together. What more do you need to do to close up here?”
“Just finish restocking the displays—and disinfect the storeroom floor. I was almost done when I thought I heard someone back here.”
Max nodded. “Do you have a number for Lacey? I need to get her permission if I’m going to install cameras on site, but I have some in my car and it’ll only take a few minutes. I can do that while you finish up.”
Parvati pointed him toward Lacey’s cell phone number on the bulletin board next to the office. “Don’t you think it will be weird if we tell her together?” At his blank look, she clarified, “Sidney. I don’t want her to feel like she’s being ganged up on.”
“I think you’re over-thinking this.”
“I just think it’s going to be weird enough for her without us sitting her down and telling her we’re together the same way a tween’s parents might sit them down and explain they’re getting a divorce. I’m her best friend—and you never talk to her about your love life anyway. I should be the one to tell her.”
“Okay.”
She glared at him. “Sometimes I hate how blasé you are about things.”
He slanted her a glance as he punched Lacey’s number into his phone. “You realize you make things more difficult than they have to be by worrying about how people will react before they do. Don’t borrow trouble.”
“It’s not borrowing trouble. It’s being mentally prepared. You are constantly thinking ahead and trying to predict reactions in your business,” she reminded him. “Why not do it in your personal life?”
Max frowned. “I’m going to call Lacey.”
Parvati glared after him after he unlocked the back door and slipped into the back parking lot—still running away from the real moments.
Then she went to disinfect the storeroom floor.
* * * * *
Max leaned against the back of the bakery after he got off the phone with Lacey, taking a moment before he went to get the cameras out of his trunk, Parvati’s words still working their way through his system like a slow-acting drug.
He didn’t look ahead in his personal life, didn’t try to anticipate or predict the way he would in his professional world, in part because he’d never really had a personal life. At least not the way Parv was talking about—maneuvering the emotions and reactions of the people he cared about.
He’d breezed through his personal life, never taking anything too seriously. Never taking anything to heart. Because what was the point? He’d never been able to change anything that upset him in his personal life so he’d learned not to care.
He had power in business, the power to control his own fate, but he’d always felt helpless to change the people around him. His parents. His sister. They had fixed ideas of who he was. He couldn’t seem to crack the already established concrete of his relationships with them and he’d hated the helpless feeling, so he’d shrugged it off. He’d learned not to try.
And he’d done the same thing with women. When things got complicated, he shrugged them off. He went for the easy get. Never expending effort. Never putting himself out there—especially not emotionally. Max Dewitt didn’t put his heart on the line.
But Parvati always did.
She lived her life caring what other people thought, worrying about making them happy. Because she had those connections he lacked.
He’d worried about her being too open. About her vulnerability. But he was the one who was broken. He was the one whose default setting seemed to be careless
indifference. How was he ever going to be what she needed?
He pushed away from the exterior wall, moving to his car to get the surveillance gear. He may not ever be enough for her, but he would keep her safe.
Chapter Thirty-One
Parvati arrived at Once Upon a Bride on Monday morning determined to find the perfect moment to explain to Sidney that she was seeing Max. She’d practiced a couple oh-so-subtle segues to introduce the idea—only resisting the urge to make Max rehearse with her because she didn’t want to hear him talk any more about borrowing trouble or psyching herself out.
The phones began ringing early on Monday, but Parv kept one eye on the door, watching for Sidney to come in as she did what they paid her for. The work at Once Upon a Bride wasn’t hard—keeping up with scheduling and fielding basic questions from prospective brides who had heard about them through the television show, referring the brides who wanted to be on the show to the production company’s website—but it did keep her busy, making the hours fly by.
It was lunchtime before she realized it—and Sidney still hadn’t been in. Parvati set the answering machine to take over during her lunch break and wandered over to Tori’s office, poking her head through the open doorway.
“Hey. Do you know if Sid’s going to be in today?”
Tori looked up from her computer, a frown pulling between her brows. “What’s today?”
“Monday.”
Tori nodded absently. “Filming all day. Sorry. I should have mentioned it earlier. Pregnancy brain. Have people been calling for her?”
“No more than usual. I was just hoping to talk to her about something. I’ll catch her tomorrow.”
Tori nodded, her attention already back on her computer, and Parvati retreated—feeling a little guilty for the depth of her relief that she’d been granted a twenty-four hour reprieve.
