Page 125 of Maximum Dare
“Nick, I don’t think I can bring myself to board this plane.”
He sat up straight. “What can I do to make it easier?”
“I keep thinking of Liam.” I bit my lip to suppress the panic I was feeling. “What he went through. How scared he must have been.”
“It happened fast, Daisy.”
“I want to believe that.” I turned to face him. “You were there for me. When I needed you, Nick. I’ll always be grateful. I couldn’t have made it through without you.”
“You were there for me, too, when Dad died. I don’t know how I would have coped without you. I pushed everyone else away. But you, you knew what I was going through. You got me.”
I squeezed his hand.
“When I was injured you were there for me, too.” He shook his head. “You came to the hospital. Maybe you should have told me about Max then.”
“I know. We wanted to protect you.”
“Can I do the same for you now, and give you some advice?” He turned to look at me. “Liam would want you to go after the man you love. He’d never want to think that what happened to him had stopped you from finding happiness.” Nick wrapped his arm around me. “Max is as good as it gets, Daisy. We have to get you on this plane.”
Tears stung my eyes. “Tell him…tell Max…”
Gillian headed back towards us. Nick gave a shake of his head to let her know it wasn’t happening.
She gripped the handrail and looked at Nick. “Dear, will you let me talk with Daisy alone?”
He gave a resigned nod, pushing himself up and navigating down the steps with his crutches like a pro.
Gillian sat beside me again. “Max is the practical one. The methodical one. He is changing careers because he wants his life to be different. I believe that he was ready to have a serious relationship and give it the time it deserves.” She reached into her handbag. “It seemed like a small thing—” She held something in her palm. “Maybe with some afterthought, it’s a big thing.”
“What is it?”
“Max left his tuxedo jacket behind when he rushed off the night of the party. I know he’ll regret leaving you like that for the rest of his life. He believed he was doing the right thing. He always does—to his own detriment.”
She opened her hand. Resting in the center of her palm lay my tiny ladybug button—the one that had popped off my blouse the night I’d slid down the glass chute and landed on Max.
He’d kept it.
Minutes later, in the elevator, he’d tugged at my blouse telling me I’d lost that button. All the while knowing he had it in his pocket.
Max had fallen for me that night…
Just as I’d fallen for him.
Gillian dropped the ladybug button onto my palm. “He was carrying this with him.”
All those times he’d turned up at the same events with some excuse or other, he’d been feeling the pull toward me, too.
“He was willing to walk away for you, too, Daisy,” she said softly. “He thought you may still have a fondness for Nick.”
I shook my head, denying it.
“I know that now. And you need to let Max know. What are you willing to do for him?”
I hugged my knees, resting my head on them.
“You’ve proven yourself very brave over the last few weeks.” She rubbed my back with the affection of a mother. “Go to him.”
Ahead of me lay an endless stack of paperwork and an infinite number of tension-filled hours spent in chilled courtrooms.
