She’d wondered how she’d feel about seeing Max again after their night of intimacy and declarations of love, but for now, the presence of food definitely outweighed any awkwardness she might have felt.
Ordinarily, Rosie wouldn’t have eaten something as unhealthy as bacon and sausage for breakfast, let alone together in a bread roll and covered in ketchup. But she was starving. So much so, her groan of pleasure after taking the first bite must have sounded obscene, because all the Kingston men turned to look at her with varying degrees of amusement.
Her gaze clashed with Max’s after she’d taken a second bite and made a noise equally as pornographic. The humor in his eyes told her he was about to make a less than acceptable comment about her groans of ecstasy. The fierceness of hers dared him to do so in front of his brothers and cousin.
In the end, Max erred on the side of caution and, after giving her a pointed wink, instead took a sip of coffee from the disposable cup he held.
“Am I missing something…?” Malachi’s voice was as deep and rasping as his cousin Adam’s.
Casper gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t ask,” he advised. “Max gets all growly if you do.”
“Why?” Malachi said doubtfully.
Max moved to stand next to Rosie. “Do you have a problem?” he challenged his brother.
“No.” Malachi looked completely puzzled by the whole conversation.
“Good.” Max nodded.
“I obviously am missing something.” Malachi grimaced. “But in all honesty, I’m tired and have zero interest in knowing what it is.”
Rosie bit her top lip to stop herself from laughing at his totally disinterested tone. Oh yes, Malachi was most definitely a Kingston. These men had taken arrogance to a whole new level.
“You’re a dick,” Casper informed him.
“Always have been, always will be,” Malachi accepted with that same lack of interest. “Are we going to get a move on or waste any more time talking about stuff I don’t want to hear.”
To Rosie’s surprise, the calm and reserved Sinclair cuffed his brother up the side of his head with the added comment. “Romance Philistine!”
Malachi appeared unconcerned by the cuff to his head or the accusation. “The helo will have been refueled by now,” he reminded. “It’s going to take a couple of hours to fly to Bortkov’s island.”
Rosie dropped what was left of her food into the bin at Malachi’s pointed reminder of exactly why they were all here. Not that any of them had forgotten for a moment that Cara was in danger, but the urgency of yesterday now returned with a vengeance, along with the need to get to Cara as soon as possible
“I apologize for Malachi,” Max said softly as he and Rosie sat together in the van on the drive to the airport. “He’s really low on the autism spectrum, but it still means he has zero filter.” He glanced at his brother sitting on the front bench seat beside Adam, Sinclair once again behind the wheel. “Although sometimes I think he just uses it as an excuse to behave like a complete prick.”
Rosie gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “As long as he flies us all safely to Caesar Bortkov’s island, he can say what he pleases.”
Max grimaced. “Rosie, I’m completely here for you if—”
“I know what you’re going to say,” she cut in abruptly. “I also know that, whatever we find, we’ll weather it together.”
He leaned toward her to nuzzle his lips against her ear before whispering, “Until I saw you a year ago, I was as much of a romance skeptic as Malachi,” he confessed. “Making love with you last night felt like the first time of my life.” He spoke softly enough that no one else could hear him. “Do you feel okay? Not too…sore, or…or anything?”
Max looked more uncomfortable than she felt when he straightened to eye her warily, probably because he’d never had to have a conversation like this one before. “I’m fine,” she soothed. “Looking forward to doing it again soon.”
Some of the tension eased from his shoulders and expression. “We need to discuss what we’re going to do next, where we’ll live, stuff like that. Not now.” He accepted at her look of alarm. “But, just so you know, I don’t ever intend to spend another night away from you.”
“Fair enough.” The thought of being away from Max wasn’t one she was happy with either. But the logistics of where they would live together was going to take some working out.
Despite owning a penthouse apartment in London, Max obviously spent a lot of his time at Kingston Manor. Both of his residences were too far away from Rosie’s florist shop for her to live in either of them. But she really couldn’t see Max being comfortable living in her tiny apartment over the shop.
“Don’t worry, we’ll work it out,” he comforted when he obviously saw her anxiety. “We can always visit Kingston Manor on Sundays and stay over until Monday evening ready for you to open the shop again on Tuesday. I can sell my apartment, and we can buy one that’s closer to your shop, if that’s what we need to do.”
“Fucking hell, I did miss something?” Malachi spoke up from the front of the vehicle. “Max fell in love with that penthouse apartment five years ago and has refused every offer since to sell it. If you do decide to give it up for a woman, then I’ll buy it off you,” he added with that lack of filter.
“One of these days, Mal…” Max warned through gritted teeth. “Her name is Rosie, and I’m trying to be romantic and self-sacrificing here, and you’re fucking ruining it!”
“Sorry!”
“We should have that word tattooed on your forehead for the number of times you have to say it!”
“I can think of much more descriptive things I’d rather have tattooed on my forehead,” Malachi drawled.
“None of us want to know the size of your dick, thanks very much,” Casper scorned.
Rosie laughed at their antics, as she was probably meant to do.
Sinclair and Adam remained silent, as usual.
The tension in all of them rose exponentially once they were safely aboard the large black helicopter that looked as if it might once have belonged to the military. And low-level autistic or not, Malachi flew that machine as if it was part of him.
Rosie didn’t speak once they’d taken off. Instead, she clung to Max’s hand, telling herself that nothing bad could happen when he was with her.
Nothing.
Max had a bad feeling about what they were going to find once they reached Bortkov’s island. Not that he allowed Rosie to see any of that trepidation. Instead, he continued to hold her hand and smile reassuringly at her whenever she glanced at him, instantly feeling a warm glow in his chest when she immediately relaxed a little and smiled back at him.
His life had changed drastically in the past forty-eight hours, the most important way being that he’d met and fallen in love with the woman of his dreams. Dreams Max hadn’t even known he’d had until he saw Rosie a year ago. But she was everything, the full package: beautiful, feisty, brave, and, most important of all, she seemed to love him back.
Jesus, sometime during the night while Rosie slept, he’d even found himself thinking about babies, and seeing Rosie’s body round and ripe with their sons and daughters. Little girls and boys with the same red hair and green eyes as her mother, calling him Daddy and Rosie Mummy.
He’d never given children of his own so much as a thought before now. Before Rosie. But he wanted it all with her. Marriage. Children. Forever.
But first they had to deal with Bortkov junior, and hope and pray that Rosie’s sister was safe and still alive.
Then he could ask Rosie if she would marry him.
In the meantime, Max wasn’t in the least surprised when Malachi, with his usual disregard for anything other than what was practical, landed the helo in an open area beside another much smaller machine. The red-and-white helo was obviously the one Bortkov had flown himself and Cara to the island in yesterday.
They’d seen a house about a quarter of a mile away as they flew over, but there were no other vehicles visible.
“I’m going in first,” Adam announced as he jumped down from the helo before it had landed properly, an automatic rifle in his arms.
A firearm Max acknowledged none of them were licensed for. But this was a privately owned island, and the primary law that existed here was Bortkov’s. Max had no doubt that Bortkov would have some illegal weapons of his own. Even if he didn’t, as he was holding Cara against her will, none of them gave a damn what he had to say about the firepower they had chosen to bring with them.
“Stand to attention, soldier,” Max instructed as he also jumped down from the helo.
Adam froze for several seconds, out of the years of Max being his commanding officer, before he turned a fierce scowl toward Max. “Fuck off,” he rasped. “Bortkov is mine,” he added harshly.
“No one’s disputing that—”
“I am.” Rosie frowned as she joined them on the ground. “Sometime soon, I’m going to want to have a conversation with Adam regarding his intentions toward my sister.”
Adam’s tension eased slightly. “And sometime soon, I’ll be happy to have that conversation, but right now, my priority is ensuring Cara’s safety.”
“Mine too.” She gave his forearm a squeeze. “Let’s go in together, hm?” she encouraged as she accepted the loaded handgun Sinclair gave her. “I promise not to touch anything.”
Max stayed behind the two of them as they moved stealthily toward the house, his chest swollen with pride for this magnificent woman he had fallen in love with.
Ha, he hadn’t had any option but to fall in love with Rosie once he’d seen her a year ago and been instantly captivated. He was completely and utterly in love with her after spending several days getting to know her.
Rosie was it for him.
Always would be.
Rosie felt her tension growing as they all approached the back of the house, several hand-movement conversations between Adam and Max having decided that was the best way to go in. Rosie didn’t care how they went in, only that they did, and as soon as possible.
But she didn’t dispute it when Adam indicated he was going in first. The determined expression on his face dared anyone to argue with him.
No one did.
Yep, a conversation was definitely going to be necessary in the near future. She—
“I was wondering how much longer it was going to take you to get here!”
Rosie would recognize her sister’s voice anywhere, although she was a little confused about what Cara was saying.