“Hello, beautiful,” Max says as he comes out of the bathroom with a white towel around his hips.
“Hi,” I say slowly, trying not to stare. It’s difficult because the man has a body like a Greek God who ate all the protein bars on Mount Olympus.
“Ot left some coffee for you,” he says, running a hand through his shoulder-length hair.
“I saw. He also signed it ‘Love, Otto.’”
Max huffs a laugh. “And I presume that freaked you out?”
I shrug. “It just seems too soon for… that.”
Sighing, he walks over and sits down next to me. The bed groans under his weight, and as my eyes skim over the corded muscles on every inch of his body, my mouth goes dry.
Stop ogling, Lottie.
“You know what our father did to us,” he starts, leaning back slightly as his eyes skim over my face. “I’m older than Otto. Bigger. Stronger, though not by much these days. I tried to stop it–” He looks down and shakes his head. “Anyway, I did everything I could to protect Otto. Even though my father sexually abused all of us, Otto was barely touched. It only happened once, and I’ll never forgive myself for it.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you. To him. To your siblings. I don’t blame you for letting your father die in front of you. I would’ve done the same thing.”
“I know. And I don’t feel remorse for it. I’ve said this before, but Otto loves with his heart on his sleeve. He doesn’t play games. He’s not mysterious like Lachlan. When he loves someone, he loves them with his whole heart. But don’t take that to mean he loves everyone. He’s selective with his love, so it’s an honor.”
I rub my chest as I digest Max’s words. My eyes drag over the words again, and I see them in a new light.
“Thank you. Being with him is… uncomplicated. He’s like a warm hug. He makes me want to be a better person. You all do,” I add, brushing my shoulder against Max’s. “I’m glad everything worked out the way it did.”
“Me too, little minx.” He kisses me on the forehead before standing up. “As much as I’d love to properly fuck you into this bed, we have the briefing with the Lords in ten minutes.”
I jolt out of bed. “Shit.”
After quickly brushing my teeth, washing my face, and changing into some leggings and a baggy jumper, I drink my still-hot coffee in four gulps before following Max out of the bedroom. He keeps a hand on me the entire walk down the stairs and into the lounge, and I like feeling taken care of by him. Ilikehow he always seems to be touching me–like he’s making sure I’m real. Like he’s reassuring himself by constantly keeping us physically connected.
A small part of me wonders if he, too, has some internal scars from what his father did.
Everyone else is already seated around the large room, and the fire is roaring in the enormous fireplace. It’s cold today–the first truly cold autumn day. Taking a seat next to Lachlan near the fire, my skin pebbles at the warmth licking my hands and bare feet.
I look around at Harlow and the guys, trying to gauge how they feel about everything that happened, but their expressions are indifferent and casual.
“Did you get some rest?” Harlow asks me from her place seated next to Theo, who has an arm around her shoulders.
“I did, thank you.”
“Good. First things first, we wanted to congratulate you all on a job well done.”
“Well, perhaps getting kidnapped wasn’t ideal,” I joke, my tone self-deprecating.
Harlow’s brows furrow as she considers my words. “We wouldn’t have done anything different. The guys and I have gone over the intelligence data, and there was no stopping what happened. They tricked you and they paid the price. You allhandled it beautifully. Ultimately, we won in the end. It’s a learning curve, and we won’t always come out on top at the end of the day. But wewillalways come out on top at the end of the week.”
Shivers claw down my spine, and I’m suddenly filled with a sense of pride.
Wewillalways come out on top at the end of the week.
“Nice use of the tunnels,” Theo adds, looking at Max.
“What they’re both trying to say is that they’re impressed, and we feel ready to complete the handover,” Alaric says slowly, looking directly at Lachlan as the leader.
“We really just want to go to Greece next week,” Harlow blurts, and I smirk at her honesty. “Relax on a beach, sip some wine, not have to worry about being targets or checking our emails twenty-four-seven…”
Harlow clears her throat. “If it’s alright with you, we can do a soft handover this week while you recover. That means instead of feeding you the relevant information, we’ll show you how to access it yourself. Lottie and Max will shadow Theo, Alex will shadow me, Otto will shadow Gideon, and Lachlan will shadow Alaric. Sterling will work with the technical handover, bouncing between everyone as the liaison.”
