Chapter Thirty-Nine
Two months later
Max
As I had suspected, working with Madison while being in a relationship with her had only strengthened the way we were as a team. We decided to tell everyone at work during one of our big conference meetings, and everyone had laughed and said that they had assumed we’d been together from the start.
“I thought that fight you guys had was due to some personal tiff that you had,” someone said.
Thomas, who’d become pretty close to us over the past few months, had come up to me to tell me that he knew that Madison and I weren’t a couple before. Instead, he had wondered why we weren’t.
“The team was divided between those that thought the two of you were together but just hiding it from us at work, and those that thought you weren’t together because you refused to admit that you liked each other.”
“I had no idea that people were talking about us so much behind our backs like that.”
Thomas had laughed. “Are you kidding me? Madison and Max! The two of you have always been the best partners here. We’ve all been itching for you to get together.”
Now, two months later, we were on our way to the police officers’ ball that was held once a year. I usually dreaded it, but now that I was going with Madison, I was actually looking forward to it. Two years ago, I had brought a girl that I had just started dating, and the whole thing had been incredibly awkward. She’d seemed nice at the time, but at the ball she had turned into someone completely different, flirting with all my coworkers and making a complete fool of me. The next year I had gone alone, and that had been just as bad. This year, I would be going with my girlfriend and my partner, and it was nice to know that we would be in on it together.
I made my way to Madison’s house to get her and smiled when she opened the door. She was wearing a beautiful green dress that made her look like a goddess. The dress flowed around her ankles in a way that was both sexy and breathtaking all at once.
“Wow.”
She smiled. “Is it okay?”
“Madi, you’re beautiful.”
She blushed. “I bought this dress the same day that I bought that black one that I wore to Quatre. My sister made me get them both. I have been keeping this one for a special occasion, and I figured tonight would be the perfect night for it.”
“You do realize that all the guys from the office are going to go crazy when they see you like this? I think some of them forget that you’re a girl sometimes.”
She laughed. “Good. I don’t want them to think of me as a girl.”
“Sorry, but tonight there is no chance of them making that mistake.”
“You look handsome too, by the way. I like that suit on you.”
“We know how to scrub up when we want to.”
“We sure do.”
We made our way to the policemen’s ball, and just as I suspected everyone came rushing up to Madison to tell her how beautiful she looked. I could see that everyone was looking her way and I felt so proud that I was the one that had her on my arm. She walked off to talk to someone, and one of the guys from the team came up to me.
“I actually forgot how beautiful Madison was. I mean, I know she is, but I see her every day, and I guess I just forgot. But wow, you’re one lucky son of a gun.”
I chuckled. “Tell me about it. She’s incredible.”
“You do realize that everyone is looking at her, right? Nobody is going to see her in the same way again.”
“That’s what I told her. It’s hard to forget. But hey, where is your girlfriend?”
He sighed. “We broke up. I brought my sister with me tonight. She’s a sweetheart, and I figured it was better than coming alone. But damn, looking at Madison, I wish I had someone like that with me tonight. Any chance you want to swap dates?”
“I think I’ll stick with Madison.”
I watched as she walked from table to table, saying hello to everyone. She had always been a lot more sociable than me, and I was sometimes surprised at how well the two of us got along because of this. She spoke to people with ease, while I was told that my resting face was a grumpy one. On Team Maverick, there was no denying which one of us was the better one. But, naturally, I’d keep that information to myself. She saw me watching and came back over to me. Just then a waiter walked past with a tray of champagne glasses, and we both took one.
“I need this,” I said as I took a sip.
“It’s delicious. But why do you need it? Are you nervous?”
I nodded. I was getting an award that night, and I would have to go up and say thank you for it. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do a long speech, but I was always terrified when it came to being up in front of the public. It didn’t come naturally to me.
“I’m nervous. Also, I’m still not sure that I deserve this award. It feels so strange.”
“Trust me, Max. I wouldn’t be standing here in front of you if it wasn’t for the sacrifice you made for me. You put me before yourself, and I will never forget what you did. You deserve that reward, and you don’t need to feel nervous. Everyone here loves you.”
“Thanks, Madi. I just want to sit and enjoy the food.”
She laughed. “Award first, then food.”
“Isn’t it champagne first?” I said and took a sip.
“Champagne first, then award, then food, then more champagne.”
“I like the way you think.”
We made our way to our seat, a table near the front, and another round of drinks was brought out, which I took gratefully. I looked towards the stage and saw that the chief had just walked on. Madison looked at me and winked. “You’ll be fine,” she said.
I nodded and listened as the chief walked up to the microphone and began talking. He had told me that the evening was going to start off with me and I was glad. I wanted to get this part over with so that I could sit back and relax.
“Of course, as you all know, one of the main awards of the evening is going to go a man that has been through more than any of us could imagine this year. But, before he comes up to collect his award, I want to first introduce you to his incredible partner, Miss Madison Hayes.”
I was just about to stand up when I realized that the chief had called up Madison instead of me. I had no idea that she was going to go up but by the way she was sauntering up the stage, I knew that it wasn’t a surprise to her. A few people whistled as she walked up, and I felt another pang of pride watching her. She looked out over the crowd and then winked at me.
“Hi, everyone. As most of you know, I’m one half of a team. Some would say the better half, of course, but I’m not sure that I can agree,” she said, and the audience chuckled. “I asked the chief if I could be the one to hand over the award today because I still don’t know how to let this man know how grateful I am for what he did. Max Aarons saved my life. Twice. The first time he shot the man that was holding me captive, knowing full well that it would mean someone shooting him straight back. He did that without any hesitation. The second time he literally threw himself in front of me in order to take the bullet from a man we thought we could trust. Again, he did it without hesitation. After that he didn’t save my life, he changed it, although that might be one and the same thing. This time, there were no bullets, no dangerous man in front of us. It was when he asked me to become his girlfriend.” She paused because the entire room had broken into applause. The man next to me slapped me on the back and told me how lucky I was.
“Max Aarons, you’re my hero, and I’m so honored to be in your life, both professionally and romantically. I know that it’s hard for you to accept compliments, but you really and truly deserve all this recognition. Now, if you could please come up on stage, I’d like to present you with this award.”
I stood up with shaking legs while everyone clapped, and took the award from Madison. I also leaned in to kiss her and chuckled as everyone hooted and hollered for us.
“Thank you so much for this award. I don’t feel like I deserve it, but I am most definitely honored to accept it.”
I spoke a little more about how happy I was to be part of such a great team, and how emotional the past few months had been for me. I told them how I would have done anything to save Madison, and that no matter how difficult things were, in a way it had pushed me to realize how much I loved her.
“I learned a lot about myself over those few months. With a lot of my memory missing, I had to rediscover who I was, and the process was something I will never truly forget. One thing I learned about myself is that I’m a complete idiot—I mean, who works with a woman like this for so many years without making a move?” I said, and everyone laughed. I turned to Madison and saw that her cheeks had gone pink. “Thank you all for making my job so much easier, and of course, a special thank you to Madi for turning such a tough job into something worthwhile.”
We stepped down together and went back to the table. I leaned over and whispered in her ear.
“You were amazing up there. Thank you for what you said. It really meant a lot to me.”
“I only said those things because I want to get you into bed later,” she whispered back, and we both chuckled.
Now that the speech was over, and the award was in my hand, I felt like I could relax. I had been dreading that moment, although it had gone a lot better than I thought it would. The food was great, the rest of the speeches were interesting, and the champagne was flowing. It was definitely the best ball that I had attended. People kept coming up to thank me for my service, and even though I still didn’t feel like I deserved it, I couldn’t help but feel a warm glow from all the kind words. I wasn’t used to being the center of attention like this.
Afterwards, we sat in my living room, drinking coffee and reminiscing over the past year. So much had happened in such a short space of time, and even though we’d only officially been dating for two months, it felt like we had been together for years. This was most definitely a year that I would never forget. I had placed the award in my living room so that I would see it as a daily reminder of just how lucky I was every single day that I woke up alive.
“You saved my life too, you know,” I said to her.
“I did?”
“Yeah. You deserve an award too.”
“Oh, I have one,” she said and smiled at me.