Page 147 of Full Mountie

Particularly so when they’re in the final countdown days to a baby arriving.

But Max at least knows something about how I feel about Beth. And like Tate, he’s also seriously kinky, so he’s not likely to balk at Hugh being part of the relationship equation.

I’m still having a heated debate with myself when there’s a knock on my window.

I look over to see Max standing there, gesturing for me to open it.

“You’ve been sitting there with the engine running for the last ten minutes and you look like shit.”

Jesus. I’m a fucking planet killer on top of everything else. “Sorry, I should go,” I say as I reach for the gear shifter, ready to put it in reverse and back out of the driveway.

He shakes his head. “Not in the state you’re in. Get your sorry ass inside. Violet’s asleep and I need a distraction. You’re it.” He crosses his arms and stands there. Waiting.

I’m not going to win this one, and deep down, I don’t really want to, so I close the window, turn off the ignition, and follow him.

He leads me through the house to the kitchen. “Have a seat,” he says, pointing towards the table. “Beer?”

I pull out a chair and nod. “Yeah, thanks.”

He grabs a couple of bottles from the fridge and sets one in front of me, then sits in the spot adjacent as he twists the cap off. “So, what have you done to fuck things up with Beth?”

I twist the cap off my own beer and stare for a minute. “It’s complicated.”

He chuckles. “It usually is.”

“And unconventional.”

Max’s head perks up and he leans forward. “Oh, really?”

Part of me is screaming to get the fuck out, this is a mistake. The rest of me knows I have to suck it up, to accept Max’s help—however much he needs to make me uncomfortable in the process.

But that screaming fear is familiar. It’s the same thing I ran scared from a decade earlier.

And if I’m going to sort this out, we’re going to have to start being honest with people we trust. Hugh deserves that much. He deserves the moon, but this is what I can control.

“It’s not just Beth I’ve fucked things up with.”

Max doesn’t even blink. “Hugh?”

I do a double-take. As much as he’s not shocked, I am doubly so that he’s figured it out. “How did you guess?”

He gives me a bland look. “I had an inkling right from the start. I was there the day he arrived for a meeting with Gavin, remember?”

Yeah. I remember that day only too well. I hadn’t realized how transparent I was at the time.

“But it was really a combination of things over time. Some glances at the wedding, and then that tension after hockey last week.”

Shit.

If Max has guessed… Does the prime minister know?If he does, then he hasn’t said anything, has he?

Max leans back in his chair. “Are you getting serious with one of them?”

“Both.”

“Oh.”

I take a long swig of my beer. “It’s not what you think. There’s no cheating involved.”

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