Page 59 of Be My Baby

Hope washed over his face. “You love me,” he whispered. He shook his head. “I can’t… I mean, I don’t dare question it. Millie, I’ve wanted this for so long.”

“How long?” she asked quietly.

Max breathed deep. “Depending on which part we’re talking about—years.”

The tears won. Her vision blurred and they tumbled onto her face. She gasped in a ragged breath.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

The swipe of a slightly calloused thumb wiped at the tears. She couldn’t help the sob that left her. His thumb dipped until it rested on her lips.

“Because I didn’t think you’d ever love me back.”

A simple statement. Straight to the point. Words that speared into her heart and coiled deep.

“There’s so much we need to talk about. Lucy included. I’ve never compared you, not once. Not like that. I loved her, but there’s a lot you don’t know. Before that, when you were with Ryan? I loved you even then.”

Millie opened her eyes, confused. “I don’t understand.”

Max stroked her bottom lip, his face shadowed with pain, but also… acceptance. He raised his beautiful blue eyes to hers. “I know. Right now all I can think of is this.” He tentatively touched her stomach again. “And the not-so-small bombshell that you love me.”

He closed his eyes and a wistful smile tilted his lush mouth. Millie couldn’t stop looking at it, at his face.

Max leaned in and rested his forehead against hers. “I’d wake up every Friday with a smile, knowing I’d see you in a few hours. It didn’t matter what mood you were in, or if the day had gone pear-shaped—just knowing I’d see you made my entire day. Each time I’d catch sight of you, my breath would catch and my heart would pound. Besides the fact I loved that pub like crazy, I think what upset me more was knowing I wouldn’t have you sauntering in after work to get me all hot under the collar.”

Millie chuckled. “This whole time you’ve been leering at me, huh?”

Max nodded as much as their position would let him. “Sure did. And I’m not ashamed in the least.”

She placed her hand on his chest, over his fast-beating heart. It matched hers, still racing from his revelation.

“What did you mean about Lucy? And that you loved me way back then?”

He lifted his head. His eyes glinted in the flashes of light still splitting the sky.

“Exactly that. I promise I’ll explain everything.” He tilted his head. “But right now I need to kiss you, Millie Stevens, or else my heart might just explode.”

She pressed her lips to his and kissed him through a smile. “We can’t have that, now.”

Max got to his feet and hauled her up effortlessly. “We need to get you dry and warm and into something a little less muddy. Come on.”

She shed her soiled shoes and squelched along behind him in damp socks as he took her arm gently and hurried down the short hallway to the main bathroom of the old, beautifully renovated home. Her socks slapped with each step on the highly polished floorboards. He grabbed a huge towel from the linen closet and set in down on the vanity next to the shower.

Millie let Max gently strip the mud-splattered clothes from her body, set the water temperature and hand her into the open-front shower recess. She watched, bemused, as he fussed over her. She stepped into the shower, steam billowing around her as it warmed the cool tiles lining the floor and walls.

The warm water sluiced all over her like a lover’s hands. She shivered as it slowly heated her chilled skin.

Only minutes ago she’d been convinced that he would hear her out, sure, but in the end would turn her away. She’d wound herself up into such a knot, expecting the worst, expecting him to reject her, that her stomach was tumbling like crazy, even now.

She tilted her neck into the spray and closed her eyes.

“Would you like me to scrub your back?”

Max’s voice sounded behind her. She blinked the water from her eyes and glanced over her shoulder. He hadn’t moved. She grabbed the body wash sitting in the recessed shelf and held it out to him, silent acceptance of his offer.

He dropped his clothes to the tiled floor, grabbed a washcloth from the vanity drawer and took the body wash from her outstretched hand.

She couldn’t help but look him up and down. He had the most delectable body she’d ever seen. Her gaze caught on his straining erection, and she smiled, turning her back to him.

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