She, the Kingdom (She #1)(32)

I looked down, trying not to let the vision of his glistening, golden skin rippling over his taut muscles imprint on my mind.

“My turn,” I said, trying hard not to make eye contact with him as we passed in the doorway.

Max closed the door, and I undressed, slipping behind the curtain. The room was warm, full of steam, and the shower wall and curtain was covered in tiny droplets. I turned on the water, letting it wash over me.

“You should buy new towels. You have the money for that, you know,” Max said from the other side of the curtain.

I startled, and then leaned my head under the water. “I know. I’m getting to it. There are a lot of new things I need.”

“Make a list. I’ll make sure Dawn brings them next time she comes.”

“She’s not coming again, remember?” I said, massaging shampoo into my hair.

His voice was closer, softer. “You take care of me. Let me take care of you.”

I rinsed my hair and washed my body, spending extra time on the parts of me I knew would be used in a few minutes.

“Do you have an extra toothbrush?” he asked.

“White cabinet above the toilet.”

The faucet turned on, and I could hear the toothbrush he’d found scrubbing against his teeth. By the time I’d rinsed, so had he, and he’d tossed a towel over the bar of the shower curtain. I turned off the shower, and the door shut. I stepped out, seeing his blue toothbrush sitting upright in the holder next to my green one. Warmth spread from deep in my chest to my stomach, and then traveled down to my toes. That warmth turned to nausea, and that independent feeling I’d felt the day before fell away. He wasn’t mine, and whatever I was feeling, I needed to stop.

I combed my hair, slipped on my robe, and then pushed open the door, seeing Max comfortably lying in my bed under the covers. His hand was behind his head, and he was sleepily staring up at the ceiling.

I slid in next to him, and lay on my side. He did the same, facing me.

“Thank you for letting me stay,” he said. “I know it was incredibly rude of me to show up unannounced, expecting something so…” he shook his head, the words escaping him.

“It’s okay. You can’t wait until tomorrow night to sleep. That’s unhealthy.”

He grinned, sinking against my spare pillow. “Tell me something good. I need to relax, first.”

I couldn’t help but mirror his expression as I thought about any story that might take his mind off Sophie. I told him about the day I found out I was pregnant with Josh, and then that led into the story of his birth, and then Hannah’s birth. Max asked me how I met and married Nick, so I told him about having a crush on him in high school, and then marrying him a few years after I’d graduated. We talked about Nick’s non-proposal in his car at the gas station, the wedding, and then Max prompted me to go back further. Before long, I was talking about my best friend in first grade, and the first boy I’d kissed.

I yawned, and just as I wondered if there was anything left to tell, I covered the gasp that escaped my mouth. Max Kingston, the man who couldn’t sleep, was lying peacefully with his eyes closed, taking deep breaths just inches from my face.

Afraid to wake him, I slowly reached for the remote to the lamp and tried to click off the light. It flickered a few times, and then extinguished. Max’s face was highlighted by the moonlight seeping in through the window, and I stared at him until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.

*

I held up my hands to shield my eyes from the bright morning sun.

“My apologies,” Max said, pulling on the shades.

He was nearly dressed, looking rested but guilty.

“Everything all right?” I asked, closing my robe as I sat up.

Max stopped to sigh. “Thank you so much for allowing me to stay. I have to go home and explain this to Sophie.”

“Explain what? Surely she’d understand that you were desperate.”

“I fell asleep, Morgan. That will upset her.”

I looked around and shrugged. “Do you have to tell her?”

“I… you don’t think I should?”

I tucked my feet into the covers and pulled them up to my waist. “This is such a strange situation. Sophie will be upset to learn we didn’t… have a session… because you fell asleep. She would have felt better otherwise. That’s so backward. I don’t know the right answer. But I do know that in everyone else’s world, falling asleep next to me instead of the alternative is better.”

“In everyone else’s world. Not mine,” Max said. “I can’t lie to her. That would certainly breech the agreement.”

“So don’t lie.”

“Omission is lying,” he said. “She’ll want to know what happened.”

“You think she’ll feel it was too intimate?”

“She’ll be upset,” he said, somber. “It can’t happen again.”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry… this is crazy.”

“I know.” He seemed hurt, and I immediately regretted my choice of words. He grabbed his jacket, wallet, phone, and keys, and nodded to me once before heading for the front door.

“Should I drive you?” I called.

“No, thank you. I’ll walk,” he called back.