Page 45 of Tinsel Time Treasure
“Ok…”
He nodded. “Good. I know you said you’re not in rut, but I’ll give you a few days of rut pay anyway.”
“Thank you.”
He stood, and I mirrored the action. Then he led me to the changing room, where it was clear that I was on leave until Justin was safe.
Chapter 17 - Justin
Ipropped Max’s laptop on my knees and scrolled through the continuing education offerings at the community college.
I couldn’t sit around and do nothing, but until Kaleb returned the next day, I was still pretending to hide in a hotel room. Which meant my options were limited.
Still, I wasn’t going to give Frederick the satisfaction of completely derailing my life. I could look to the future, which included ensuring that I had the requirements to keep my massage therapist license.
I scrawled a couple seminar details on a pad of paper, forcing myself to think about being in a room of my peers rather than my current situation.
The door opened and I jumped with a yelp of surprise, then relaxed as Max walked in.
“Sorry,” he said. “I should have called.”
I shook my head. “It’s… kinda your apartment.”
“Still,” he murmured, walking over. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I’m fine.”
He gave me a weak smile, then took a seat at the far end of the couch.
I frowned and set the laptop aside. “What happened?”
He turned and studied me for several seconds, then sighed. “Apparently my alpha side is a bit much right now. My boss told me to chill at home until I get it under control.”
“Is it my fault?” I asked softly.
He shook his head. “Don’t think that.”
“But…” I paused. “Do you normally have to fight alpha instincts?”
He chuckled. “No, but if it’s anybody’s fault, it’s that asshole’s for putting you in danger.”
I was about to argue that it was my fault, that if I hadn’t let Frederick knot me… But a glance from Max stilled the words on my lips.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Looking at the continuing education offerings.”
“Really?” he asked, scooting closer. “I wonder if any of our potential classes could overlap.”
“Huh?”
He laughed. “I’ve got to take some this next year too. It might be fun to take a class with somebody I know.”
The heat of a blush spread over my cheeks as I thought about taking a class with him.
We spent close to an hour comparing classes, until we found a couple seminars that would work for both of us. We discussed the similarities and differences between our licensure requirements as we registered, then I settled against him in the sort of physical familiarity that we’d developed over the previous few days.
“Is there anything you want to do this evening?” Max asked, his thumb tracing lines on my shoulder.
