The hope in his eyes died as his face closed off, like he shut down all emotions. Then Max swallowed hard and turned to leave the room. KC’s eyes widened when she realized what she had unthinkingly uttered. Leaping forward she grabbed his arm. He opened his mouth.
“I thought you wanted to stay?” His voice was quiet, but she still caught the underlying hurt. Her heart shattered for what he must feel. That wasn’t what she meant.
“That didn’t come out the way I intended. What I mean is this is home, but it’s not...” Struggling for the word she needed, KC groped desperately for the right combination.
The words eluded any attempts she made to grasp them.
“It’s not what you want long term?” He finished for her.
“No! I mean, yes. I do want to stay with you long term, just not like this.”
He frowned, and looked confused. She could handle a perplexed Max. But she couldn’t bear to hurt him and that’s why she was having such difficulty explaining herself. If he didn’t love her like she loved him, she would hurt both of them.
KC stumbled around trying to discover the words she needed to make him understand.
“KC, I thought—” he shoved a hand through his hair and then shook his head. “I need to think about this.” He turned but she caught the utter hurt and bewilderment in his eyes. For the first time she could remember, Max didn’t quite make it through the door, but his shoulder bounced painfully off the doorframe. He didn’t appear to notice.
She just spent eight months in temperatures most human beings couldn’t endure. Like sandstorms, very little sleep, and barely palatable food. Yet trying to express herself to Max was the hardest thing she had ever done. And now that she tried, she might have botched the attempt beyond repair.
Hanging her head, KC wondered if she should return to Kuwait.
Max paced from the room, his heart somewhere near his heels. He stupidly thought KC wanted what he did. A permanent place in the other’s life. Obviously, he read her all wrong. All that hoping and wanting for naught.
Then why had she kissed him like that this morning? Why had she willingly entered his arms? She loved him. He knew that. But apparently she wasn’t in love with him. A huge difference. It was like an ocean still stood between them.
Those kisses though. KC kissed him with everything she possessed just yesterday, and every time since when they could manage. He could feel her emotions. She couldn’t have, nor would she have faked such weighty matters. A little voice reminded him he hadn’t waited around for her to explain why she didn’t want to stay with him. Why she had returned his kisses with such fervor and sent him signals that made his heart swell with joy.
He hadn’t given her much time to explain because he was afraid. But then he remembered KC didn’t excel at expressing her thoughts. Her words tended to tumble over themselves and he usually had to step in and do the actual explaining when something mattered to her. Not that he could have today.
Afraid of what he might say, Max knew he needed to exit because this mattered too much to him. For once he and KC didn’t appear to be on the same page. Being fearful of his actions, or more to the point, his reaction to her words, he’d left.
Like a spineless coward.
KC had to be spazing right now. That was her nature. Turning on his heel, he retraced his footsteps, and stopped when he heard her crying.
“No,” he said. He couldn’t bear her tears, but suddenly, he couldn’t bear the thought of her leaving him. He had already told her she could leave once, and she had. Once. That was all she was allowed.
She looked up when he crossed the floor, but he didn’t give her much opportunity to do or say anything.
Instead he scooped her out of the heap she had collapsed into.
“No.” He repeated the word. That felt right. No more. KC Gilmore was his.
KC looked up when she heard Max say no. He cleared the space between them so quickly, she blinked. He lifted her off the floor and into his arms. KC gaped at him when he repeated the no. Firmly.
“No, what?” she croaked. Tears continued to flood her face, her mind blank of anything but Max. She was back where she wanted to be, and as added insurance, twined her arms around his neck. Binding him to her since her words had utterly failed to do so.
“No, you’re not leaving. I told you, once. You left. For eight months. That’s all the time away from Ryan and me you get. No more. You’re staying.”
KC gaped at this new Max. This possessive, all male version she had received mere glimpses of in the past. Wow. Her hormones fired up, but she tamped them down.
“I’m staying?” she echoed inanely.
“Yes.” He used his I’m-not-budging-on-this voice again. Spirals of excitement and happiness intertwined to tie her to him.
“But—”
He shook his head. “And to make it official, we’re getting married. I’m not letting you out of my life, KC. You’re mine. Ryan’s mine.” He looked so determined, so sure, KC couldn’t help herself.
“Now order me to kiss you,” she said, a grin growing on her face.
“Kiss me,” he demanded, but his lips started to twitch.
KC did as she was told. She kissed him, her tears making their kiss salty. But they were of joy now, no longer sorrowful, because Max Morrison wanted her like she wanted him.
“Since you kissed me, I’m assuming you’re not going to fight me on getting married?” Max sat on the sofa, with her anchored on his lap by the arms he kept tightly banded around her. He couldn’t let her go. She might run.
She shook her head. “No way. That’s what I was trying to say. I didn’t want to live with you without a commitment. I was holding out for marriage.”
Max turned her until he could look into her eyes. “You wanted to get married all along? That’s what you were trying to tell me?” Even to his own ears, he sounded incredulous. Disbelieving too.
“Yep. I did a pretty good job of messing the whole thing up, didn’t I?”
“Spectacularly,” he agreed. Happy to have her warm weight in his lap again.
She punched him. “Max Morrison, you’re not supposed to agree with me.”
Laughing, he avoided her next swing. “You did—”
KC stopped his statement with a kiss. A heart stopping, wonderful kiss. His body responded, and he liked the conversation their bodies were conducting. Especially now that he knew she felt the same way.
“Mmm, I needed that.”
“MMM, is you,” she murmured in a dreamy voice.
“What?”
“Your initials are M-M-M, and the girls said, ‘See, even his name spells yummy’.”
“Even my name spells yummy?” He thought he understood but wasn’t certain. Max didn’t particularly care, not when her willing lips were so close.
“Yes, they decided that when you tried on your new sweater from me and Lainy. They also saw the picture she sent of you, Ryan, and Spuds asleep. I had to hide that photo because of the drool.” KC shook her head sadly.
Max grinned. “Did you drool?” This was one answer he definitely wanted as his heart pounded out an extra beat.
“Oh, yeah. I’d already had... unsettling thoughts about you before I left. Then I see that picture, and I realized I find you very attractive.” She stroked a possessive hand down his chest.
“Really?” Wow, ask a question and you got an answer.
“Yes. That first morning with beard stubble, mmm, you looked especially yummy. Your hair was all tussled. I think you blew my neurons. Not nice.” She mock scowled at him.
He kissed her. Since he was on a roll, might as well continue. Maybe he could blow some of his neurons too. She moaned and he savored the sound. And her taste. He finally could taste KC whenever he wanted to. Life was good.
Life was excellent.
“Any more confessions you’d like to make?” He couldn’t imagine being happier.
“Yeah. I love you.”
Okay, so maybe he could actually burst from happiness. “Oh, baby, I love you too.”
“For how long?”
“I’ve loved you since the first time we met.”
“What?” KC reared back and stared at him. Her huge eyes and slightly gaping mouth were the loveliest sight he had ever seen.
“KC, I bought Gilmore Products because of you.”
“Because of me?” She looked and sounded utterly shell-shocked. After fighting a war for eight months, he managed to do at home what Kuwait hadn’t. Go, him.
“I did. Even if there was no way to salvage the company, which by the way, you somehow managed to do, I still would have bought in.”
“I poured every penny of my inheritance into the company. You won’t be getting an heiress,” she warned.
“I figured that’s what you’d done. But I am getting an heiress. Already we’re seeing some very nice profits.”
“We are?”
“Of course. You’ll get everything back you put into Gilmore Products, plus.”
“While that’s wonderful news, I don’t care.”
His turn to be surprised. “Oh?”
“I like the benefits more.”
He felt things respond to the hot look she sent him.
“The benefits?” His voice sounded uncomfortable.
“Yeah. I’m planning to sleep with the boss.” Her voice was extra husky.
He really liked the sound of that. “That can be arranged.”