Page 12 of Be My Baby

Max flipped through the material. He skimmed short introductory passages, nodding, and came up short. He raised his brow and looked at Millie.

“No jerking off in the few days before a specimen is due. Gee, Mil. Not sure I can get on board with that,” he deadpanned.

She blinked in surprise then burst out laughing. “Stop it. It’s serious.”

A soft smile widened his mouth. He hadn’t seen her this animated for a long time. Perhaps years. She’d shut herself down so far that the stitched-up, unhappy Millie she showed the world was the one everyone thought she was inside.

Sure, she’d always had a snarky sense of humour, but they’d all seemed to have forgotten the happy, friendly, outgoing person she’d been before.

Before Ryan. Before Lucy.

So much loss had made her lose that vivacity that had drawn people—men and women—to her like bees to pollen. So much pain. She’d turned that pain in on herself and become something unrecognisable. She’d ended up pushing almost every one of her friends away, seemingly unable to rein in the self-destruction.

Suddenly the room seemed too small, too hot. He needed to get out of there. He held up the sheaf of papers and stood.

“I’ll, ah… read these properly at home and message you, okay?”

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, his hand supporting him on the back of the sofa. Millie grabbed his shoulder and looked up, her face so close that the temptation to kiss her nearly overwhelmed his common sense.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

His gut tied itself in a knot at the expression on her face; at the gratefulness, the hope.

He didn’t have it in him to do this right now. Not when she looked at him like that.

Not when all he wanted to do was kiss her silly and lean her back into that soft sofa and make love to her… slowly.

“Catch you later. I need to get back.” He tried to ignore the scratchiness of his voice and hoped she didn’t notice it either.

Her hand slid from his neck, moving slowly down his shoulder to his chest, over the top of his button-up shirt. She nodded.

“I’ll keep you posted on when.”

Max stood straight and nodded, not trusting himself to speak coherently.

He closed the front door gently after himself and got into his old Jeep, leaning back into the comfy leather seats. He scraped a hand over his face and blew out a heavy breath.

Now all he had to do was tell his meddling family that he was going to knock up Millie Stevens.

On purpose.

Chapter Seven

Max watched Gabetake a stack of dishes through to the kitchen while he served a customer.

“Here you go. One cherry blossom G and T.”

The woman was unfamiliar to him, possibly one of the many tourists that flocked to the Crossing each week. He had a good mixture of regular locals and a solid turnover of tourists who kept him busy, even on Wednesday nights like this one.

She looked at him over the edge of the glass as she put it to her lips and sipped. Her bright fuchsia lips rounded in an exaggeratedoh.

“That’s delicious!”

Max dipped his head in acknowledgement. “Thank you.” His grin widened. “It’s the secret ingredient that makes it.”

She leaned forward on her stool. “Which is?”

She touched the tip of her pink tongue to the rim of the glass and licked it. Simon coughed beside him to cover his choking laugh as Max blinked, surprised at her overt come-on. Si’s overly loud, “What can I getcha?” to the next guy in line snapped Max out of his stupor.

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