Talk to Me

by D K Sutton

  I was tempted to take him up on his suggestion, but it was too risky. “I really don’t want to get caught.”

  “Can I see you tonight?”

  I sighed. “I’m having dinner with my sister and her family.”

  “Maybe tomorrow?”

  “Come with me,” I said, before I could lose my nerve. It was probably too soon for us to do the meet the family thing, but I really wanted him to come. “I’d love for you to meet my sister.”

  Before he could reply, Amica walked over and sat down. “Hey, guys, what’s up?”

  I let Max take over the conversation. He was good at that. Before long, he and Amica were laughing about something that happened that morning. I lost track of the conversation because Max had never answered me. Did he not want to meet my sister? Or did he just not have a chance to respond? I glanced up at Max. He was watching me intently. He winked before answering Amica’s question. Jon joined us and although these were my friends—I could believe that now—I probably wouldn’t participate in the conversation. I was good one-on-one but add more people, and I was not comfortable speaking. Every once in a while, Max asked me a direct question, and it wasn’t like he was trying to get me to speak, which was exactly what Cameron would’ve done, but more about him letting me know he was still thinking of me. I appreciated that.

  I left early to go back to my desk, hoping Max would follow. He did but instead of going to his desk, he lightly touched my elbow, steering me toward the copy room. Once inside he shut the door and pressed himself up against me.

  “Please let me know if this is not okay,” Max began. “I know it’s wrong to just accost you like this, but I had to touch you.”

  I waited for Max to kiss me and realized he needed an answer first. “Yes,” I said breathlessly. “Please.” We only had a few minutes.

  Max pressed our palms together, rocking against me as he claimed my mouth in a searing kiss. I practically melted in his arms, kissing him back urgently. Max pulled back and I whimpered in response. I wanted more.

  “I just want to give you an answer,” he said.

  I could not for the life of me remember what question I asked. “Please,” I said instead.

  “We have to go back to work, Chase.”

  “Fuck it.”

  “I like it when you talk dirty to me.” He kissed me again and then pulled himself away. “My answer is yes.”

  I looked at him blankly, arousal making me stupid.

  “On going to see your sister. But hell, afterwards there might be some time for more of this. Three minutes not near enough time.” He took a deep breath, kissed my forehead, and walked out of the copy room, shutting the door behind him.

  I took a moment to get myself together, before going back to my desk. I still had another four hours of work before I’d get to see Max again. The anxiety that had been simmering below the surface all afternoon bubbled to the top by the end of the day. I wanted Max to meet my family, but knowing my sister, no way was this going to go well.

  I planned to pick up Max around five thirty. I questioned my decision to drive every mile until I reached his apartment building. What had I been thinking? I was a careful driver. More than necessary, according to Cameron. He’d always made me nervous and caused me to make mistakes. Cameron would sometimes ask me to pull over so he could drive. I tried to push him from my mind. He really was an asshole. Why had I stayed with him for so long? And even though Max wasn’t like that, I worried about making mistakes.

  Max stood waiting for me when I pulled up to his building. He looked amazing and his smile was warm and inviting. My stomach did somersaults, mostly from nerves, as Max got in the car and buckled up. I turned on my blinker and took my time moving into traffic, not even looking at Max.

  “Hey, I’m the one who should be nervous,” he said. “I’m meeting your family.”

  “Are you?” I glanced over at him. He looked away, nervously, and his hand tapped on the side of his leg. I reached over and squeezed his hand. “My sister’s going to love you.”

  “You don’t know that.” Max laughed. “There are plenty of people who don’t like me.”

  I brought his hand up and kissed it, giving another squeeze before letting go to focus on the road. “I find that hard to believe.”

  The ride to my sister’s home went smoothly. Max didn’t pay any attention to my driving as if he trusted me completely. It really boosted my confidence, especially after the way Cameron had treated me.

  As we got closer, Max seemed to get more nervous. His knee jiggled up and down and at one point, I put my hand on it to calm him. Max put his hand over mine and squeezed it.

  “If I blow this, and I mean completely blow it,” Max said, “you’re not going to dump me, are you?”

  “I guess it depends…”

  Max pinched my arm.

  “Ow,” I said with a laugh. “Of course not, sweetie. I’ll still love you even if my sister doesn’t.”

  I realized what I’d said as soon as I said it and wished I could take it back. How could I bring out the L word, even as a joke?

  When I glanced at Max, he was smiling. “The way to a woman’s heart is through her kids,” he said. “Kids love me.”

  “We’ll see.” Sunny’s kids could be a handful. It might be fun to watch Max squirm.

  Once we arrived at the house, I realized I should’ve warned Max. My sister could be a little eccentric. I tried to see the house through Max’s eyes. Her tastes were very eclectic. Her house was a hodgepodge of furniture and knickknacks. She liked what she liked, even if it didn’t go together. Her only reoccurring theme was animals. An elephant coffee table, the glass top being held up by the trunk and the back, clashed nicely with bright pink flamingo lamps and wooden bears atop the bookshelf. Brad didn’t care as long as she was happy.

  She was also too impatient to wait for me to introduce her. “You must be Max.” Sunny held out her hand, sizing him up before giving him a smile. “I’m Sunday.”

  “Excuse me?” Max looked at me for confirmation that he had heard correctly as he shook her hand.

  “My name is Sunday, but everyone calls me Sunny.”

  “It was the day we were born,” I explained. “Our parents are a bit odd, but I am forever thankful she came out first.”

  Max chuckled. “Why did they name you Chase?”

  “Because he followed me out. And he’s been chasing after me ever since,” Sunny said with a wink.

  “Not true.”

  “You followed me to Missouri.”

  I ignored that comment. We didn’t talk about why I moved away from San Diego. “And this is her husband, Brad. But we call him St. Brad for putting up with my sister.”

  “Hush,” she told me. “Your boyfriend’s going to think we don’t get along. When in fact, we are very close. Very close.” She narrowed her eyes at Max. Was she trying to intimidate him? And did she really have to use the word ‘boyfriend’?

  My nieces ran in, distracting everyone, thankfully. “These are our daughters, Della and Cassie,” Brad said.

  The girls hugged me tightly. They wore their shiniest dresses, and I was sure they wanted to impress Max. He bent down to talk to each of them and they giggled adorably. He wasn’t lying. The girls were already enamored.

  “Dinner’s almost ready,” Brad said, leading them into the dining room.

  “I was worried for a sec that their names might be Tuesday and Wednesday,” he whispered to me.

  I smacked his arm, but I couldn’t hold in my own giggle. The girls weren’t the only ones charmed by Max. He was so self-assured, even with the nerves. He seemed at home wherever he went.

  As expected, my sister drove the conversation in whatever direction she wanted. She was naturally bubbly and very talkative. The complete opposite of me. Max was able to keep up without a problem. He answered her questions, which weren’t always appropriate.

  “What’s on the horizon for you two?”

  “Sunny,” I began.<
br />
  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean what’s next?”

  “Wait,” Max said. “Is this the what’s-your-intentions-toward-my-brother speech? I’ve been really looking forward to that.”

  “It is.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “What are your intentions?”

  I huffed out my disapproval, but they both ignored me.

  “I want to spend as much time with him as I can for as long as he’ll let me.”

  “That’s enough, Sunny,” I said firmly. My heart warmed at his answer, but I didn’t need my sister to protect me. “This is all new, and we don’t need you pushing it.”

  She held up her hands, defensively, not looking the least bit sorry, and changed the subject. We talked about music, television, and movies—safe enough topics. Or so I thought.

  “Have you guys seen that forensic files show on TV? It’s all about murders and how people get caught or not.”

  “If it’s not home improvement, a show about cooking, or Star Wars,” I said, “I probably haven’t seen it.”

  “You like watching comedies with me.” Max kissed my cheek and the girls giggled.

  “Those are stupid. But I do enjoy watching them with you.” I mostly loved to listen to him laugh. His face would light up and his eyes crinkled at the edges. The man oozed sex all the time. How was I supposed to resist him? Our gazes locked until my sister cleared her throat.

  “As I was saying before you guys started making out, I saw this really good episode. It had these twins on it.”

  I narrowed my eyes in warning. I didn’t know where she was going with this, but I didn’t trust her. Not one bit.

  “You know Chase and I are twins,” she said to Max.

  “I did know that.”

  “Well, in the episode there were these twins and one of them had a really bad break up. So one of them murdered the ex-boyfriend.”

  “Sunny,” I said. “Is this really appropriate?” I nodded toward the girls, but they weren’t paying attention to us. They were arguing over whose dress had the most sparkles.

  “It’s fine.” Sunny waved her hand. “The point is, the twin who did it actually got off because of the forensic evidence. The twins’ DNA was so close, they couldn’t rule out either one of them. They had introduced reasonable doubt, so they had no choice but to let both of them go.”

  “Sunday.” I glared at my sister. She needed to stop talking. Wasn’t it time to leave yet?

  “I thought Max would find that story interesting,” she said with a smile. “You know, in case he ever decided to hurt you.”

  “Doesn’t that only work if you’re identical twins?” Max didn’t miss a beat.

  “You really want to take that chance?” They stared at each other, neither backing down.

  “All right, that’s enough,” Chase said. “I can take care of myself, Sunny.”

  “I have no doubt of that. But I also remember what happened last time.”

  “We’re done with this conversation or we’re leaving.”

  “Touchy.”

  “So, Max,” Brad cut in. “You guys work in the same place, right? That’s handy.”

  Max jumped on the subject change. “It’s nice to get to see him every day.” He reached down and squeezed my leg in support. “But it’s also a little complicated since inter-office romances are forbidden.”

  “Really?” Sunny glanced over at me, eyebrows raised.

  “Mind your own business.”

  “We’re their two best employees. I think as long as we don’t throw it in their faces, we’ll be fine.”

  I squeezed his hand, smiling up at him. Max leaned in and kissed me. I didn’t even care that Sunny watched me like I was a teenager on my first date.

  The conversation turned to football. Sunny loved the sport. I watched it sometimes, but I didn’t have a favorite team. Max and Sunny discussed quarterback stats and who was the best in each division. I didn’t follow the conversation much. In spite of my sister’s attempts at interference, the evening went well. There was no storming out, so it went better than most of the dinners we had when I dated Cameron.

  “You okay?” Max whispered, his voice concerned.

  It reminded me that Max was nothing like Cameron. He actually cared how I was feeling. I smiled up at him. “Perfect.”

  The rest of the dinner went smoothly, but I had one problem. I had to pee. And there was no way I was leaving Max alone with my sister. I should have thought about this before drinking the third glass of iced tea. Finally, my bladder had had enough, and I couldn’t wait.

  “Excuse me,” I said standing up. Max stood up with me. What a gentleman. “I’m just going to the bathroom.” I kissed his cheek and glared at my sister to behave.

  I hurried as fast as I could, not sure I even had anything to worry about. I mean, she had already threatened to murder him if he hurt me, could it get any worse?

  I arrived back at the table, but Max and my sister were gone. Brad motioned to the kitchen with an apologetic look. I sighed as I headed toward the kitchen to ward off trouble. I realized as I entered the room that I was too late.

  CHAPTER 15

  MAX

  CHASE SEEMED AFRAID TO LEAVE ME alone with his sister. He gave us both nervous glances. I’d seen him squirming, but I just thought he was nervous. I smiled at him, trying to reassure him. He sighed and kissed me before darting from the room. I was sure he had nothing to worry about. I was wrong.

  He was barely out the door when she spoke up.

  “Max, can you give me a hand in the kitchen?” She was gathering up the plates.

  I should have trusted Chase. As I followed her in, I wondered how bad it would be.

  We put the plates on the kitchen counter by the sink.

  “Do you want me to help you load the dishwasher?”

  “No,” she said, turning to me. “We don’t have time for that. He’ll be right back.”

  “Okay.” I backed up, looking around for an escape plan if I needed it.

  “I know I gave you a hard time about my brother before, but all joking aside…”

  “That was you joking?”

  “Mostly.”

  I wondered how long Chase would be in the bathroom. I also knew if he’d been in there with us, he would have been working on the dishes until they were done and the kitchen was spotless.

  “Chase is a serious guy,” she said. “If that’s not what you want, if serious is not what you’re looking for, get out now. I’ve picked up the pieces before, Max. I don’t want to do it again.”

  “Don’t you trust that Chase knows what he wants?”

  “It’s not Chase I’m worried about. It’s you.”

  “Okay.”

  “You just don’t seem like the white picket fence kind of guy. Am I wrong?”

  I couldn’t lie to her. “I’ve never been before.”

  “And you think Chase is the one?”

  “I’d like to find out,” I said. “Do I seem like I’m going to bolt?”

  “Look, I’m gonna be honest with you. I can tell you care about him. A lot. I see it in the way you look at him. But I also see that fear in your eyes. You’re afraid of where this can go.”

  I narrow my eyes at her. “Are you a witch?”

  “I’m not answering that.” She sighed. “I don’t need your answer. It’s none of my business.”

  “Really.”

  “Mostly none of my business. But again, I’m the one having to pick up the pieces when or if you leave.”

  “I’m not planning on going anywhere.”

  “I’m not sure I’m willing to take that chance.”

  “It’s not up to you, Sunny. Your brother is stronger than you think. He’s the fiercest person I know.”

  “I agree. But I’m worried he’s already in too deep. If you are serious—welcome to the family. If not—get the hell out. That’s all I wanted to say.”

  “What’s going on in here?” Chase stood at the door, glaring
at his sister.

  “Nothing,” Sunny said innocently. “Max is just helping me clean up.”

  Sunny pulled Chase aside as we were leaving. I didn’t have to hear it to know she was warning him to be careful. Her words came back to me. She was right. Chase wanted to settle down. I didn’t want to lose him, but could I give him what he needed? I’d never been one for commitment. Maybe that’s because I hadn’t met the right guy. Or maybe I’d bail one day and break Chase’s heart. I couldn’t imagine it now, but I’d never been with the same guy for over a week. Hell, it usually didn’t last the weekend. Could I give Chase the rest of my life? Our relationship wasn’t to that level. At all. But that’s where it was heading for Chase; he didn’t do casual. Sunny was right. If I wasn’t in it for the long haul, I should get out now. But the thought of being without Chase caused my chest to tighten in panic.

  Sunny trailed behind Chase as they joined us at the door. Chase rolled his eyes, and I bit back a laugh.

  “It was nice meeting you, Max,” Sunny said. She ignored my hand and hugged me. “Remember what I said,” she whispered.

  On our way back to the apartment, Chase apologized over and over. “I’m sorry. I should’ve warned you about my sister.”

  “I like that she’s so protective of you.” I squeezed his leg. I’d wanted to touch him all night, and I no longer had to restrain myself. “Wait until you meet my family. I have five siblings, although none of them are as intense as your sister.”

  “No one is. It’s the twin thing. I was probably just as bad when she first met Brad.”

  Chase smiled at me as he maneuvered the car through traffic. He’d seemed nervous on the trip there, but now he didn’t hesitate as he passed a slow-going semi on the highway. His confidence turned me on. Mostly because it meant he was comfortable with me enough not to stress over his driving. It also reminded me of Chase taking charge during sex. I squeezed his leg again before inching my hand up a little. Just enough to get my point across but not enough to get us into an accident.

  “Max?” He took a few quick breaths. “What are you doing?”

  “Foreplay?”

  “While I’m driving?”