Page 45 of Fallen Prince

I pressed my lips together, holding in the response that being tied up in his basement had been upsetting. Caustic words would make him retreat behind that angry mask that obscured his pain, and I didn’t want to lose him. Despite how we’d met, I craved more time with my dark protector, the damaged man who defended me so fiercely.

The man who’d kissed me with such passion that my lips still tingled with the memory of his mouth on mine.

Max’s jaw ticked, but his fingers remained gentle on my skin. “I’m sorry I called you Freckles,” he saidtightly. “I heard that fucker call you that. I’m not a bully like him, and I didn’t say it to be cruel.”

“I know.” My skin pebbled, and I wasn’t sure if it was in response to his intimate touch or because we were both remembering that awful night in his basement. I’d called Max a bully then. He seemed to have made the connection to Gavin’s history of cruelty.

He traced my collarbone, feeling the goosebumps there.

“Are you still rattled after what that asshole tried to do to you tonight?” His frown twisted into his most fearsome scowl.

I squeezed his hand, drawn to comfort him rather than fear him. “I’m okay now. Thank you for pulling him off me. I don’t know what he would’ve done if you hadn’t been there.”

Max’s scowl remained fixed in place, but it wasn’t directed at me. “If I’d realized he was a threat to you, I would’ve punched him sooner. I thought you might be together when he first showed up. Then you shouted at him to let you go.” His eyes flashed. “I never should’ve let him touch you.”

His gaze remained dark and distant, and his touch shifted so that his fingertips brushed over my wrist. I followed the direction of his glower and saw that my skin was red where Gavin had grabbed me.Max traced the tender spot, the light rasp of his callouses making my flesh tingle.

“How do you know that bastard?” he growled.

“I’ve known Gavin since high school,” I replied with a sigh, spilling out my pain without hesitation. I didn’t experience even a flicker of worry that Max would use the knowledge of my vulnerability against me. “He was a bully then, and he’s a bully now. We work at the same internship, and I have to see him almost every day. We had a networking event tonight, and I guess he got his cab to follow mine home.” The tingling sensation on my wrist intensified, making me hyperaware of Max’s touch. “He’s never done anything like that before.”

“And he’ll never do anything like that ever again.” The dangerous glint in his eyes let me know that Max would destroy Gavin if he came anywhere near me.

What if Max isn’t here next time?A worried little voice niggled at me. I didn’t know what I would’ve done if he hadn’t emerged from the shadows and pulled my bully off me. I’d probably still be talking to the police about why I’d gouged Gavin McCrae with my keys. There would be reporters. Scandal.

Max had saved me in so many ways tonight.

Coming to a decision, I held out my hand between us. “Give me your phone.”

His brow furrowed. “Why?”

“I want to give you my number.”

His jaw ticked. “That’s a bad idea, Bambi.”

Oh. We were back to nicknames now.

Well, I wouldn’t let him put that kind of distance between us. This moment was too important to allow him to retreat from me. If I let him walk away now, I might never see him again. He would bury himself in his rage. He would keep pursuing his vendetta against my father, and he’d probably end up in prison, further suffering for a family that’d deceived him.

Love his hard, but blood is everything.His haunting declaration ghosted through my mind.

Love shouldn’t be hard, and Max didn’t deserve any more pain than he’d already endured.

“Don’t call me Bambi,” I insisted.

He shot me a crooked smile, and I forgot how to breathe. “But you get all flushed and cute when I call you Bambi. You don’t really mind it, do you?” He brushed his calloused fingertips over the sensitive skin at the inside of my wrist, feeling my pulse speed up in response to his teasing.

My cheeks flamed, and his grinturned dazzling. He laughed, a strangely raspy sound, as though his vocal cords weren’t used to it.

My breath caught in my throat. Max was beautiful. I’d seen glimpses of it before, but his smile was stunning enough to knock me square in the chest.

“I want to see you again,” I said breathlessly.

“You really are crazy.” I suspected that the words were meant as a blow, but the longing that roughened his tone betrayed the depth of his desire.

My hand twitched toward his face, drawn to comfort him. But I sensed that he’d back away if I dared to make tender contact. He was feeling too vulnerable, and his default was to bury any signs of perceived weakness, hiding them even from himself.

I fixed him with a level stare instead and held out my hand between us, palm-up. “Give me your phone.”

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