Page 55 of Her Righteous Protector

He chuckled as his thumbs brushed away her tears. “You’re not crying.”

“Liar.”

He shrugged. She must have bitten her lip, because his thumb pulled it from her teeth, then started to caress it. Hannah felt that caress deep in her belly.

“Can you tell me how you feel, Hannah?”

“I started to fall in love with you when you brushed off the bench at the park that first day,” she admitted. “But I knew it was hopeless and wrong.”

“Not hopeless. Not wrong.”

“God, I love you so much, Max Hogan.”

His lips hovered above hers and she drew back. She pushed strongly against his chest. “Sit back down on the couch.”

He sat back and gave her his full attention.

“I know kids are resilient,” Hannah said. “Zephyr is a testament to that.”

Max nodded.

“My gut. My heart. My head. Everything believes all that you’ve told me,” she said quietly.

“But?” he asked slowly.

“No buts,” she smiled. “I believe you. I believe you mean them…now.”

His smile turned wide. “So that’s it. Okay, I see where you’re going with this. You’re worried that things might change and Zephyr will get caught in the crosshairs.”

“Exactly.” She was so relieved he got it.

“Hannah, I believed it when you told me that you loved me,” he smiled. “What’s more, I believe it’s going to be a forever kind of love.”

She leaned forward and dropped her head onto his chest. “Fuck, you know how to mess with my heart.”

Max stroked her hair and waited for what she was going to say next. She finally sat up and looked at him. “When do you need to go back to Virginia?”

“I want to get all of the medical expense paperwork taken care of, and all this shit with Meghan’s parents, I’m thinking a month.”

“Okay. A month then. We give this relationship a month and see where it goes. In the end, I’m moving to Virginia no matter what. My job is portable and there is no way I’m not going to live close to Zephyr.”

Max stroked a hand from the top of her knee up to the apex of her thighs. “Oh, I know where this relationship is going,” he murmured with a wicked smile.

Hannah stood up. “My bed is better than the guest bed.”

17

“How come you make Zephyr make his bed if you don’t make yours?” Max asked as he peeked into her bedroom for the first time.

“Oh for goodness sake, all he has to do is pull up his comforter,” Hannah laughed. “It’s good for him. Especially after Meghan died, he needed even more of a sense of normalcy. He wasn’t doing well when I just let things slide.”

Max nodded. He’d noticed that each week he’d spent here, Zephyr had become less rude, more relaxed, and kinder. Hannah’s way of dealing with him definitely garnered results. He watched as she picked at her comforter and tried to smooth it out, her hand trembling.

What the hell?

He took three steps and pulled her into his arms. “Your room is beautiful, just like you are.”

“Don’t you mean we’re both a mess?” she breathed up at him.