Page 48 of For All It's Worth
Chapter Twenty
Charlie
Ididn’tmeantokiss him and it wasn’t the kiss that I wanted to give him. I wanted to pull him into me and claim his mouth so he wouldn’t even think of another guy. That casual sign of affection was something a boyfriend would do; what I would do if I was more to him than his best friend.
Was this our moment? The time that I’d been waiting for to move things forward with Max? I’d asked for him to let things happen naturally, and this felt as natural as breathing.
Watching Max sit with that smarmy guy and have coffee was torture. He’d been sitting close enough that I could hear almost all of what was said, and Maverick… who calls their kid Maverick? The name was ridiculous. The guy was oily and intense. He kept looking at Max like he wanted to eat him right then and there and it turned my stomach.
I had wanted nothing more than to go over and stake my claim. Except I had no right to do that without talking with Max first. My mind had been spinning. Random thoughts, like maybe he’d changed his mind, went through my head.
I was spiraling a little and making more of what had probably been an innocent supplier meeting and not a coffee date. So I’d taken some deep breaths and kept an eye on them while Finn and I worked through the line that had formed in my distraction.
When I’d heard Maverick ask Max out to dinner, I nearly jumped over the counter in my haste to stop it happening, but Max had looked over to me, and he’d seemed so worried that I knew that he hadn’t wanted the attention. He hadn’t wanted to have to turn the guy down in case that set him off. With Max’s track record, that was a possibility.
It surprised me how quickly I’d settled back into the role of protector. How easily the responsibility dropped onto me. The pride that filled me at doing something so familiar, so necessary.
That kiss, though? Not something I usually did. Sure, Max had been gifting me small kisses this past week, but everything was instigated by him.
Letting it happen naturally was dumb. It wouldn’t happen at all if one of us didn’t make some sort of move. One of us had to take that leap of faith that it wasn’t going to go to shit and that we could recover our friendship if it all went down in flames.
What I knew for sure though, was that we couldn’t keep treading so carefully around what we both felt.
I watched Max out of the corner of my eye as he recovered from the tiny kiss while I was left still filled with the need to pull him to me and kiss him properly.
Not that I was going to do that. Not here in front of his customers and staff.
We needed to have a date. I just needed to have the courage to ask him.
For the rest of the afternoon, we worked alongside each other with our usual ease. I wondered if Max had just brushed the kiss off as playing the part, even if Maverick had already left. The idea that he might think that caused a physical pain in my chest.
I tossed that thought aside because that sort of negative mental talk led to bad places. It didn’t matter because I was done waiting to see if Max would make a move and take the responsibility away from me. I was going to do it and hopefully put us both out of our misery.
Waiting until everyone else had gone and just the two of us were left locking up was excruciating. I tried several times to decide on the right words.
The minutes stretched out while I played out scenario after scenario in my head.
“You okay? You’re more quiet than usual.” Max put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. The worry in his expression had me blurting out the words instead of carefully thinking of how to say them.
“I want us to date.”
Max stilled as the words hung heavy between us.
“You want us to date?” He repeated.
“Yes.” I didn’t say anything more, wanting him to get used to the idea, except he didn’t think.
He launched himself at me, wrapping me in a fierce hug. “I want that, too.”
The relief was staggering and I had to lock my knees to stay on my feet when all I wanted to do was sink to the floor and thank whatever force was out there for giving me this man.
We stood just hugging for a little while, my chin resting on his head, the scent of his coconut shampoo tickling my nose.
“Tomorrow?” he asked hopefully.
“Brunch, tomorrow? Then I’ll figure out a plan for us.”
It was funny, I could almost feel him thinking over what he wanted to do.
