Page 52 of Sparks Fly
“I won’t be alone.”
There was a beat of silence, and Max knew he’d made a mistake but it was too late now.
“You won’t be alone?” Miles asked. “What do you mean, you won’t be alone?”
Max hesitated. He knew he couldn’t very well tell Miles he was dating one of his employees, but he also didn’t enjoy lying to his little brother either.
“I mean I won’t be alone,” he said. “I have someone coming over, which means I should probably hang up so I can prepare.”
“Ah, yeah, you gotta douche.”
“What the fuck do you even know about douching?” Max asked, choking on a laugh.
“I read,” Miles said. “I listen. I learn.”
“Alright, DEI master. Well, yeah, I gotta do all that, so bye.”
Without letting Miles get another word in, Max hung up the phone. Now Miles would think Max had a guy coming over, and maybe that was for the best.
Max’s phone began vibrating in his hand again. It was the doorman.
“Hello?”
“Good evening, sir. I have a Stella Johnson here for you.”
“You can send her up, thanks,” Max said.
“No problem, sir.”
The call ended and Max put his phone back on the table. He stood, did a full circle, and then sat back down, unsure what to do with himself. Everything was clean, and he’d taken another shower because cleaning ended up being a workout whenever he did it. And yet he felt like he needed to be doing something when Stella arrived, although he wasn’t sure why.
Was he nervous?
Max thankfully didn’t have time to dwell on the thought because his doorbell rang. He sprang up and did a light jog to the door, pulling it open to reveal Stella in a different outfit than the one she left in. Her puffer coat was unzipped, and underneath she was wearing a long red sweaterdress that hugged all her curves. The hem stopped right above her combat boots, but there was a long slit on her right that revealed a large portion of her leg when she moved.
“Hi,” Stella said, sounding slightly out of breath. “Can I come in?”
“Oh, right, of course, sorry.” Max stepped aside and let her through as she shrugged out of her coat, brushing off the sleeves. He realized then that she was covered in tiny snowflakes.
“It’s snowing?” he asked, even though the answer was obvious.
“Yeah, just a little,” Stella said. “It started right as I got off the train so I sprinted over here. I think I avoided most of it.”
She bent over to untie her shoes, and Max, because he was a gentleman, focused his eyes everywhere but on her ass.
“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked. “I would’ve sent a car for you. Or picked you up myself.”
Stella straightened. Without her shoes, she lost a smidge of height on him, making her seem even smaller.
“I appreciate the thought, but there would be no easy way for me to explain to my parents how I could afford an Uber all the way back to Brooklyn, which is where they thought I was going after we left dinner.”
“Ah, right. I guess it is a bit too early for them to know about me.”
Max meant for it to be a joke. A silly throwaway line about meeting the parents, which of course wouldn’t happen anytime soon, if ever, because they were only casually seeing each other. And yet the look of pure terror on Stella’s face still felt like a punch in the gut. Was it really that bad if her folks knew they were seeing each other?
“I’m kidding,” Max said quickly.
“Oh, I know,” Stella said with a laugh that sounded forced. “Sorry, I just, well, I love my parents, but they can be a lot. They peppered me with a hundred questions about my life today, so I think I’m still on edge from their inquisition.”
