Page 67 of Last on the List
Silence descends again before I offer, “Okay, so we’re going to bang it out with rules…what kind of rules are we talking about?”
He nods, his brow furrowed deep in thought. “No hookups while Everly is awake.”
“Obviously,” I reply with a laugh and then wince because it’s literally what we just did.
“No…hooking up in the house,” Max says. “I think the main house needs to be a boundary so we should do it at yours every time.”
“That’s a good one.” I nod seriously, realizing that my tiny house has just been re-labeled as a sex house, and I’m not mad about that. I add to that rule, “And no sleepovers.”
“Really?” Max frowns at me.
“Well, it’s not like we can just leave Everly sleeping alone in the Fletchpad all night.”
“Oh, right, of course.” Max shakes his head as if he can’t believe that thought never occurred to him. “And I’ll be sure to turn the alert on for the security camera in her room when I come over, so I’ll be notified right away if she gets up.”
“There’s a camera in her room?”
Max stares at me like I’m a moron. “There are cameras all over the house, Cassandra.”
“Where?”
Max points at a round thing in the corner.
“I thought those were fire alarms!”
He shakes his head.
“Oh, my God, so you’ve like…seen everything me and Everly do all day long?”
He shrugs, and I see a small smile tease the corner of his mouth.
“What the hell!” I exclaim as a powerful mixture of rage and humiliation swirl in my belly. “That would have been something nice to know a month ago. God…so you’ve seen—”
“The dance parties? Yes, I’ve seen them.” He pins me with his eyes as a smug grin tugs on his lips.
“And the—”
“The time you slipped on the floor in your swimsuit when you ran inside to grab drinks for you and Everly? Yeah, I saw it.” His smile spreads fuller now, revealing his perfect white teeth as he takes a step toward me.
I slice a hand through my hair, absolutely shocked that he has been keeping tabs on me for a month. Have I picked my nose? Removed a wedgy? The horror! “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!”
“I don’t watch everything…just the clips that record movement for more than sixty seconds. And once I started trusting you, I quit watching mostly.” His smile is replaced with chagrin as he fails to quell the anxiety roaring through my body.
“Oh, thanks for that.” I groan in mortification at the things he might have seen. “This is some messed-up nanny-cam stalker bullshit. Like honestly, I don’t know if you are mentally well, Max.” Let’s face it, we’re both fucked up because as much as it horrifies me to think about what he could have seen…I’m also oddly aroused by the stalker vibes. But only a little…
He scoffs and shakes his head. “Cassandra, I’m wealthy and have a large house. Did you really think I wouldn’t have security cameras?”
He makes a good point.
I shake my head and get back to the task at hand. “Okay, so late-night hookups only, no bangers in the Fletchpad, no sleepovers, and…what else? Did we miss anything?”
Max’s jaw muscle tics again, indicating we very much missed something. He props himself on the sawhorse and crosses his arms over his chest. “If we do this, it’s just us, right? You’re not going to go stroke some other dude’s eyebrows at a bar this weekend?”
My jaw drops. “It was one time! I just wanted to see how they felt!”
His eyes dance with mirth. Sexy mirth. The sexiest of all the mirths. “You didn’t answer the question,” he presses, his eyes captivating me.
I lick my lips and struggle not to smile back at him. “Luckily, you have a very nice quizzical brow, so I think my brow fondling needs will be fully satisfied.”
