Chapter Twenty-Three
THE NEXT MORNING Treat was talking on the phone on the back deck when Max came downstairs. She sat beside the open window with a mug of coffee, watching him pace as the tide rolled out. After they’d made love this morning, they’d showered together, which Max decided was the perfect way to greet the day. She loved his little bungalow, and she knew it had less to do with the time she spent there and everything to do with whom she spent it with.
Treat lowered his big body to a chair, and his voice sailed in through the open window. “I know I said I was sending an offer, but it’s off. I can’t move forward with it right now.”
She didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the frustration in his voice was alarming. She wondered what he wasn’t moving forward with, and she realized the response he’d given her about where he lived hadn’t really answered her question. Did he have a place that he called home, or did he literally travel all the time? It sure seemed that way to her.
He pushed to his feet, sending his chair skidding across the deck. “Cut it off. I’m done. No more acquisitions.”
Max froze, now intent on listening to every word.
“I’ve got enough money to last me two lifetimes. I don’t care. I’m done with it,” he said, pacing angrily. “It’s one property. Yes, I know it’s only three months, but I can’t spare the time right now.” He paused, obviously listening to whoever was on the phone.
Max hoped she hadn’t had anything to do with his spoiled plans.
“Understood,” Treat continued. “I know it’s Thailand. Yes, I know what this will mean for my international business.”
Thailand? He’d been working on that deal when she first met him in Nassau. He’d canceled his flight there to officiate the wedding. Her stomach sank.
He ran his hand through his hair, staring out over the bay. “I’m changing things, beginning right now. I’ve got someone important in my life. No more constant traveling. No more foreign acquisitions that consume all of my attention.”
As much as Max knew she should be flattered by what she was hearing, she was too conflicted to enjoy it. There was no forgetting the look in Treat’s eyes when he told her how his work provided the biggest thrill he’d ever known. She braced herself as he came inside.
“Hey, sweetness. Sorry about that.” He kissed her cheek, refilled his coffee cup, and sat at the table as though the tense phone conversation had never happened.
“Everything okay?”
“Fine, why?”
“Nothing. I just thought…Never mind.” More worries burrowed into her. She’d been eavesdropping. She couldn’t come out and ask about what she’d overheard.
He reached for her hand, and Max said, “If you have to do something for work, I totally understand. Don’t let me hold you up. I can catch an earlier flight.”
“There’s nothing I have to do.”
Max swore there was a hint of discomfort in his response, and she worried that even if it started as a hint, it could grow to something much bigger. She knew couples who gave up too much for their relationship could end up resenting each other. In the back of her mind, she’d always wondered if that had been the thing that had changed Ryan. Since he’d studied hotel management and could likely find a job anywhere, he’d agreed to move to wherever she found a job. He’d been prepared to relinquish any goals he’d been reaching for in his career in order for Max to follow her dreams. And then he ended up hating me for it.
She decided not to ruin their day with her worries and tabled her thoughts as much as she could. By midafternoon temperatures had risen, and they took a walk along the beach.
“I’ve never been a beach walker until that night in Nassau.” Treat lifted their interlaced fingers and kissed her hand.
She loved knowing that. “I guess we’ve got a world of firsts between us, then, because I’ve never been a masseuse or had anyone give me a foot massage.”
“Really? You’ve never had a foot massage? Well, sweetness, I’ll be sure to take care of that from now on.”
The tide was beginning to come in. They went down to the jetty and walked the length of it as the bay rose along the edge of the enormous rocks. Treat looked out over the water with his brows drawn together. Max had been watching his face go from placid to contemplative throughout the morning. She was dying to ask about Thailand, but she knew that if she brought it up, he’d tell her he would change his life for her without ever looking back. The thought of him giving up the aspects of his career that brought him such joy scared her. She couldn’t shake the prickly reminder that being the impetus for such a major change was not a good thing. An intelligent, successful, overachiever like Treat would eventually get bored and blame her for everything he never had a chance to accomplish.
The thought weighed heavily on Max’s mind all afternoon. They ate dinner at the Bookstore Restaurant by the harbor, and despite the cozy atmosphere and the beautiful evening, Max was too sidetracked to eat.
“Are you all right?” Treat asked.
“Just tired.” She feigned a smile.
“That would be my fault for keeping you up so late the last two nights. I’ll let you sleep tonight.”
She reached for his hand, intending to ask him about the call, but before she could say a word, he said, “Max, I thought we should talk about what we want to do after this weekend is up.”
She swallowed against the dull pain in the pit of her stomach. Now was her chance to let him off the hook, give him an easy out to say he needed to spend a few weeks away. She clenched her napkin in her fists beneath the table and said, “I’ll be swamped at work, and I’m sure you will be, too.”
“Never too swamped to spend time with you.”
She loved him so much, but was this a fantasy? Could he really be happy giving up a piece of himself? Maybe she could go with him? Follow his career wherever it took them? Chaz had already said she could telecommute. But would she be happy traveling all over the world? Treat had built an empire, and she knew he needed the excitement of chasing down resorts and handling tough negotiations. He was a mover and a shaker, while she was a homebody. A broken homebody. She never knew when the issues from her past would pop up again, and though she knew for certain Treat would help her through them, part of her wondered if that was fair to him.
“Max? What am I feeling here?”
“Aren’t guys supposed to hate talking about their feelings?” she asked.
“Not your guy,” he said as he paid the bill.
They drove back to the bungalow and sat together under thick blankets on the back deck, watching the night sky bloom above the bay. Max wished she could freeze the evening right then and never have to make another decision.
“Are you ready to talk to me yet?” Treat asked.
Max’s head rested against his chest, and she desperately wanted to tell him no, she didn’t want to talk about it at all. They’d go back to their normal lives and either it would work out between them or it wouldn’t. She wanted to tell him to go through with the acquisition of the Thailand property and not to put his life on hold for her—but she wanted to hold on to him for dear life and never let him go just as much. She’d once worried about trust, but lack of trust would have been easier to deal with than what was looming over her like a waiting storm. Being the reason he gave up what he loved versus holding on to him forever was a tug-of-war that had no winner.
He pulled her closer, and she closed her eyes, allowing herself once again to play with thoughts of spending every night with him, or being there for him when he returned from work. She realized she didn’t even have a handle on what it was that he really did beyond buying resorts.
“Tell me something about what you do. I know you own resorts, but what does that really mean?”
“I don’t want to bore you,” he answered. “It sounds more glamorous than it is.”
She sat up. “I would really like to understand it.”
That flicker of excitement she’d seen back at her apartment appeared in his eyes again. “Well, I don’t have a set schedule of things that I do on any given day. I have staff that take care of the resorts, and I have managers who oversee the staff, so I spend most of my time working on what comes next.”
“What comes next?”
“New acquisitions, mergers, researching areas and distributors, running business valuations. I plan, scheme, analyze, and strategize.” He leaned forward with a burst of enthusiasm. “I’ve been doing this for twelve years and I swear it never gets old. There’s always something new to think about—and then there are renovations, grand openings, social events. I have to keep a pretty heavy social calendar to maintain professional relationships. It’s a crazy, fantastic life. It’s been a dream, really, a very good dream.”
He looked at Max and must have read the worry in her eyes, because when he sat back, the excitement dissipated. “It’s been fun, and I’m set for life now. I don’t need to keep doing more. This is what I did before I found you, Max.” His voice turned serious. “You have to remember, I was filling my days with work and my nights with whatever I could that held no chance for permanence. I was running from having a future outside of work, Max, not living the most fulfilling life I could.”
He put his hand on her leg and squeezed it gently. “What I do is thrilling, and yes, I love it, but now that I’m ready to really live my life, now that I have you by my side, I want more. I want a house, permanence, and maybe even children one day. I want the dream that I’ve spent so many years running from.”
Max didn’t hear anything after It’s a crazy, fantastic life. It’s been a dream, really, a very good dream. She knew better than to take an aggressive, successful man and steal him out of his element for good. That would be like caging a bear. Eventually the bear would recognize the bars for what they were and tear them down—even if it meant hurting the person who had been nurturing him, tending to his needs, loving him for years.