Max certainly understood the resentment. He suppressed a bit himself, but he’d deal with it when the time came.
Right now, he needed to talk to Sky.
He drew in a lungful of cold air, ignoring the gooseflesh on his bare arms. He should have donned a jacket before stepping outside, but his need to see her overshadowed common sense.
Knots of anxiety filled his belly as he stood outside the door. Would she understand? Would she believe him? Would she send him away?
And what about Maddie? He hated disappointing her almost as much he hated the questions he now had to answer. He thought the past would stay buried in time. Obviously, that was just wishful thinking.
Embrace the suck, Marine. Persevere. Adapt. Overcome.
He rapped lightly on the door, then stuffed both hands in his pockets as a blast of cold air blew through the drive.
“Hey,” she said softly as she opened the door.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s late, but…”
She motioned him inside. “Come in. It’s freezing out there.”
Suddenly, anxiety threatened to overwhelm him, and he stopped in front of the stove. His breath came in short pants, and he forced himself to breathe deeply. Persevere. Adapt. Overcome. He silently repeated the mantra he had learned in the Corps. Persevere. Adapt. Overcome.
He flinched at the light touch of her hand on his arm.
“It’s all right, Max. I’m here. You’re okay.”
The calmness in her voice and the gentleness of her touch soothed him. He closed his eyes and straightened. A deep breath brought with it the lemony smell of her shampoo and a light, floral scent uniquely hers. Please, God. Let her understand.
“Are we…” he mumbled. “Are we okay?”
She rubbed one hand over his forearm, the other rested against his lower back. “Yes. We are.”
The soft utterance of three little words filled him with a sense of relief so intense, his thoughts scrambled, and he couldn’t formulate a single word in response. He swallowed twice before he could turn and face her, hands still in his pockets. “I’m not Logan’s father.”
“I know,” she offered. “You would never sluff off that kind of responsibility.”
He could barely breathe. “I heard what Cade said when I walked out.”
She gave a dismissive shrug. “Yeah, well, he’s a jerk, and I don’t believe anything he says.”
He wanted to touch her, let her goodness and warmth take away the pall that went to his soul, but he didn’t move. “I was afraid…”
“You thought I’d take that creep’s word for something like this?”
He flinched at the hurt registering loud and clear in her voice.
“Without talking to you first?”
“I’m sorry.” He stepped back and raked both hands through his hair as he paced in front of the stove. “I’m just not used to anyone…”
She walked over and placed both hands on his chest, her eyes clear and bright, filled with compassion and understanding…and something else that made his pulse jump.
He wondered if she knew the power she held over him.
“You’re a good man, Max. I believe in you.”
This time, he groaned and gave in to the urge to pull her tight against him, unable to speak the words filling his heart.
She stepped into his embrace without hesitation and slid her arms around his waist. Her uneven breath against his chest accelerated his already racing heart to the point he thought it might burst from the exertion. Her soft curves molded to the contours of his body as her arms tightened around his waist.
This was right. This was real.
I’m whole again.
Sky held Max tighter, her breath coming in rapid puffs. A few minutes ago, she had stood at the sink, coffee pot in one hand, tea kettle in the other, the sense of being alone in the world suffocating in its intensity. Now, in his arms, all the sadness fell away, and she felt complete, like putting the last piece of a complicated puzzle in its place.
She was whole.
Sky luxuriated in the tightly controlled passion she sensed in him. The tenderness of his embrace was so male, so bracing; breath lodged in her lungs, and her senses spun. Blood coursed through her veins like a raging river.
She heard the drumming of his heart against her ear as it raced, then matched her own erratic rhythm.
Ever so slowly, beat for beat, two hearts soon beat as one as they remained locked in a tender embrace.
It was amazingly sensual.
Max backed away slightly, the smoldering flame in his eyes unmistakable.