Max actually looked relieved to see her, which momentarily caught Riley by surprise. She quickly gathered herself, though. After talking things over with Addison, she had made the decision to not give up as easily as she had the previous night.

Addison herself had nearly left Black Oak without talking things out with Gage, so she had warned Riley to not make that mistake. Whatever Max was hiding, Riley felt she was owed some closure at least.

Folding her hands in her lap, she cleared her throat, willing herself to speak before she had a chance to change her mind.

“Look, I know we haven’t promised each other anything, and you are entitled to your privacy, but I thought we really had something. I don’t want to leave things the way we left them last night, and if nothing else, we had a good time together and…” she started, until Max cut her off.

“Stop,” he said, stepping closer. “We do have something, Riley, and I don’t want to you think anything else. The truth is…”

Hesitating for a moment, Max sat down next to her. Riley almost held her breath as she waited to hear what he had to say. She didn’t know what to expect, but there was hope blooming in her chest.

“You’re my mate,” Max admitted, making her eyes grow wide as saucers.

“Your mate,” she muttered numbly.

The words rattled around in her head, slowly starting to make sense. Now that she really thought about it, it actually seemed odd she hadn’t even thought of it. The connection between her and Max had been immediate and powerful, not unlike how Addison had described her own bond with Gage.

“I know this might seem totally out of left field, but I’ve known it for as long as I’ve known you,” Max said, inching closer to her. “You’re smart, beautiful, funny… And the only woman I could ever love.”

Riley was sure her heart had literally skipped a beat. Had Max really just dropped the L-word on her? Her throat felt tight as something powerful inside her wanted her to yell it back.

I love you, too!

It was not something she had let herself think, but now that Max had confessed his feelings, she could feel everything she had suppressed rushing to the surface. She couldn’t imagine herself with anyone else either.

A big part of her was overjoyed. It all made sense. They were meant for each other. All these crazy intense feelings were almost as if justified all of the sudden. But none of it excused what had happened last night.

So instead of proclaiming eternal devotion, she took a step back, forcing herself to come back down to earth.

“But the text,” she said.

Max’s features tightened. For a moment, she thought he might clam up again, but fortunately, he didn’t.

“It was Eve,” he replied.

“Eve? As in your ex, Olivia’s mother?” Riley asked, her voice uncharacteristically high. “She’s here in Black Oak?”

“I met with her yesterday,” Max admitted. “I should have told you right away, when she first contacted me. But I didn’t want to involve you before I knew why the hell she was even here. After I found out, though, I thought I would be protecting everyone by keeping the whole thing to myself.”

“Tell me everything,” Riley said, placing her hand on his.

And he did, starting from meeting Eve at the local motel, to the conversation they had, to his reasons for wanting to keep Riley in the dark. All Riley could do was listen, as the story went from bad to worse, almost unable to believe that someone like Eve existed.

Abandoning your child and then demanding money to stay away, completely disregarding what was best for the little one? That was as low as it got, in Riley’s opinion.

No wonder Max was so bent out of shape.

“I’m so sorry, Max,” she said. “Do you think she could be telling the truth about you not being the father?”

“I don’t believe it for a second, but I can’t take the risk, can I?” he asked. “If they took Olivia away from me…”

“No way, not going to happen,” Riley shook her head. “And you don’t have to deal with this alone. I’m in your corner.”

Max gave her a weak smile.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” he asked.

“Yeah, I know,” she shrugged, earning a laugh from him. “And I’m also a lawyer, in case you’ve forgotten. You should have come to me. You don’t have to do this alone. I don’t need to be protected or coddled, and I don’t want you to make decisions for me. Going forward, nothing but honesty, okay?”

“Okay,” Max nodded. “I made a mistake, I know that now.”

“You were under a ton of pressure,” she replied. “What matters is that you’re trusting me now. And I know that together, we can figure this out. Now I’m not going to lie, this is going to be complicated. Eve is still Olivia’s mother, and you didn’t petition the court to terminate her parental rights. You moving away without notifying her could be a problem as well.”

“I couldn’t even get a hold of her,” Max argued.

“I know that and you know that, but if it actually comes down to a custody battle, it’s all about what we can prove,” she said.

“Or I could pay her like I told her I would,” Max replied quietly.

“You know that’s not a long-term solution,” Riley said. “She will take you for everything you’ve got. You’ll lose your savings. That means no more house for you and Olivia.”

“I’d gladly give up that dream as long as I have my daughter with me,” he replied.

“Of course, but I think there might be another way,” she said, squeezing his hand.

“I don’t want to let Eve win, but I also don’t want to do anything that could result in Olivia being taken away from me,” Max sighed.

“Then we make sure neither of those things happen,” Riley resolved.

Now that she knew exactly what was going on, nothing was going to stand in her way. Max and Olivia didn’t deserve to get their lives upended by Eve. That wasn’t fair, or just, and wasn’t helping people in that kind of situation why she had become a lawyer in the first place?

Not to mention she was personally involved, making her even more determined. Max was a great father. He adored Olivia, and it was easy to see the little girl loved her dad. And now, more than ever, Riley could see herself as a part of that family. Her fate was intertwined with theirs. That realization had come to her as soon as Max had revealed she was his mate. She wasn’t sure what that meant for her future exactly, but she would have time to think about that once this whole thing with Eve was over and done with.

A path to a possible solution was beginning to form in her head, and while she knew there would be some risk involved, the reward would be worth it. All she needed to do was convince Max she had a way out of this situation.

“You look like you have some sort of plan cooking,” Max remarked, reading her like an open book.

“I do,” she replied, a grin spreading over her face.

“You want to let me in on it?” he chuckled.

“You’re going to meet with Eve again,” she said. “But this time, I’ll be there.”

And she won’t know what hit her.