The Grand Pact (The Grand Men #1)(70)

“Rear of the what?”

“Nothing,” I say, feeling insensitive. “You never said about the fire before. I’m sorry if I made the night all about me.”

“You didn’t. Alec is a private person, and I wasn’t going to bring it up. Don’t sweat it.”

I look to the bar and then back to our table, where my full drink sits. Day drinking seems like the last thing I really want to be doing right now.

“Come on, let’s get you home.”

My eyes snap to Maxwell. “We don’t have to leave.”

“Do you want to stay?” he asks, tilting his head to the side.

I look at him sheepishly and shrug.

He shakes his head and laughs. “Go home, run a bath, and wait for your friends to call. They’ll be having a shit time without you.”

“Thank you, Max,” I tell him, appreciating his understanding.

Maxwell walks me back to my house, making sure he sees me to my door.

“Thank you for this afternoon, I had a great time.”

“Me too. Are you around tomorrow? We could get breakfast.”

Crap. I have a list as long as my arm to get through tomorrow, and I want to catch up with the girls and Elliot. I feel like I used Maxwell today because if my friends weren’t busy, I wouldn’t have gone out.

I’m a horrible person.

“I can’t tomorrow.”

“Right,” he frowns and kicks the frame with his toe.

“I’m sorry, Max,” I groan. “I feel like I should be honest. I really like you, and you’re a super great person, and you’ve been unbelievably kind to me since I moved here, but—”

“Miller.”

I snap my mouth closed, shocked. “You remember that?” I didn’t think he listened to a word I said that first night he took me out.

“I do.”

“It isn’t anything serious right now.”

“But he could be?”

“Maybe.” I shrug, feeling my heart swell.

I hope so.

“It’s complicated.”

Maxwell rubs a hand over his buzz cut, taking a step back. “You’re a lovely girl, Luce. A good, honest girl.” He nods and smiles. “I like that.”

“I hope you don’t feel like I led you on at all. When I got here, I didn’t really know what was going on at home. Things have changed—fast. But I’d really love to have you as a friend here.”

“Of course. You have my number.” He backs away. “Don’t be a stranger, yeah?”

“I won’t.” I step forward as he walks away, feeling good as I watch him disappear down the street.

Once inside, I pull off my coat and walk to the kitchen in search of a bottle of wine. It’s been a week of living at Ralph’s, and it already feels like a safe space.

It’s so homely and wholesome.

I smile to myself as I stand at the kitchen counter. Now I’m home for the night, I feel ready to put on my comfiest pyjamas and sit out on the terrace on the second floor. It’s only six thirty, and my subconscious mind is counting down the hours to the end of the gala. It finishes at midnight, so not long.

Once I’ve poured myself a glass of red wine, I run a bath, adding more bubbles than necessary. Then I slip in and let the heat of the water soothe me. I last five minutes before I reach for my phone.

First, I try Nina, not wanting to come across as needy by calling Elliot, but she doesn’t answer.

I want to call him.

We’ve spoken every night on the phone this week, and it’s equally terrifying as it is exciting. I always knew this side of Elliot existed, and it’s not shocking to me. If anything, it’s completely normal, and it’s the same things he’s always said and done.

What’s changed is the way I’m behaving. The way I’m allowing him in that little bit deeper and egging him on.

We haven’t just crossed the line this time. We’ve unwritten it. As if it never belonged there to begin with. And as I lie in this steaming hot bath, I can’t help but think about the conversation we had the night before.

“I can’t wait to kiss you.” He grins at me like a kid in a sweet shop, his head dropped to the side as his eyes grow heavier by the second. “It’s a fucking travesty that I haven’t felt those sweet lips against my mouth already.”

“You think I’d let you kiss me?”

“Yes. And if you didn’t, I’d steal them anyway. They belong to me now.”

I smile. “You’ve felt them before.”

“When?” He frowns in question.

“Remember in the hospital with Nina? You had pancakes and—”

“I fed you,” he rasps out, finishing for me.

I nod, thinking back to the way his finger curled over my tongue as I took the syrup covered batter from him.

“It was the first time I saw you crack. You knew what it did to me, and you played up to it. You licked my finger as if it was my dick.” He bites his bottom lip as his smile spreads. “It’s making me hard just thinking about it.”

I surface from the water and drag my hands over my face, wiping away the water. Without thought or trepidation, I call Elliot. It’s been a long day, and I’m desperate to hear his voice, have him tell me all about the night, or just absorb any scrap of information he wants to give me.