Page 15 of The Ruthless and the Strong

“Of course not. Now, Hunter, where are you hurt?”

He took a while to think of the answer. Then he pointed to the back of his left hand.

“Right there, huh?”

He nodded enthusiastically, and I carefully placed that one there. “All better, Maxie.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Now why don’t you guys go play before dinner?”

“Okay.” Hunter wrapped his arms around my neck when I helped him down and I watched as he bounced on his feet a little, waiting for Emma. I put her down, and she gave me one of her sweet, sloppy kisses on my cheek before she moved away. I watched them for a while as they ran around the house once more.

“You’re good with them,” a voice said to my right.

I looked over to see Lizzie standing there, her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes unreadable.“You’ve always been good with kids.”

I nodded. “Yeah, well, there’s nothing to it. They’re kids.”

She moved closer to me, the light catching in her eyes. “Oh, I don’t know about that. Kids can be difficult for some people.”

I shrugged. I wondered if she was saying this from seeing it through Sam. I’ve only met the other man a handful of times, and every time, I didn’t see him play with Hunter, but that could just be because of the occasion. Yet Hunter seemed to be adjusting well with his father living states away from him.

“How are you?” I asked. I hadn’t seen her for two days, not since I carried her back to my house and tended to her injuries. Not since she all but ran out of my house as if being chased by some invisible ghost only she could see.

“I’m fine,” she said, holding out her ankle for me. “The swelling has almost gone down completely.”

“So you won’t need one of Emma’s magical bandages, I see.”

She smiled at that and shook her head. “No, no need for magical bandages.”

I took her in, not knowing what else to say to her. As much as I hated to admit this, Lizzie had become a stranger to me. I saw it now. There wasn’t this easy flow of conversation between us anymore. Even before, when she had been trying to hide her feelings from me, things had been easy between us.

I looked down and moved my hands to my pants pocket while she shifted on her feet awkwardly. She was probably thinking of ways to get out of here without being rude, but as much as I hated the tension between us, I liked even more that she was close. Liked that I could smell her familiar comforting scent. Six years had passed and she still smelled the same.

Always that light jasmine-scented lotion mixed in with what I was sure was wholly her.

“Um, should we…” She trailed off and I looked at her.

“Go see if Olivia needs help?” I finished for her and pretended not to see the relief in her eyes. I tried not to take it personally when she nodded enthusiastically. I waited for her to move ahead of me, then quietly followed behind her, walking into the kitchen.

Olivia looked up at us from the salad she was mixing. Something shifted in her eyes, but I didn’t comment on that.

She placed the tongs that she had been using down on the island and walked over to me. I opened my arms wide and let her move in, reveling the feel of her warmth around me.

“Hey, kiddo.”

“Max. I missed you.”

I laughed at that. “I live just next door. No reason for you to miss me.”

She pulled back slightly and looked up at me with those same animated brown eyes that always got to me. “Yes, but I haven’t seen you in over a week.”

I tweaked her nose, though I didn’t say anything. Besides that one time when she went on her honeymoon with Mason after they got married for two weeks, this was the longest I had gone without seeing her.

It was mostly because Olivia grew up with abandonment issues, and I knew she didn’t like it when I went away for so long. For a while, I had been the only steady adult presence in her life, and she had clung to me more than what anyone would have deemed healthy. I didn’t put a stop to it because I knew that was what she needed, but she was doing a lot better now.

“Well, I missed you, too.”

She pouted slightly, and I hid the smile threatening to show on my face. “And you avoided me.”

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