Maya Banks: Colters' Daughter

She closed her eyes and tried to look away, but Max’s hands tightened around hers and he pulled so she’d look back at him.

“But then I met you, Callie. I met you and fell so hard for you that I never knew what hit me. I only knew I wanted to make you mine. I forgot all about the meadow. About my promise to my stepfather that I’d keep it in our family and hand it down to my children so they could hand it down to theirs. I forgot all about my honor or what I felt like my obligation was to my family.”

He paused and then took a deep breath before continuing.

“Then I got that call from my sister that my mom was dying. I was so conflicted. How could I have allowed myself to become so distracted, so utterly involved with you that I’d ignored everything else in my life? I pulled back. I pulled way back. I didn’t call you. I didn’t return. My mom died and her last words were an apology to me and my sister for selling our legacy. She begged me to get it back, and I felt so guilty because I made her a promise I never had any intention of keeping.

“And then I knew I had to find you again. For me there was no other option. I was going to do whatever I had to in order to get you back, and I’ll be honest, I never wanted you to know the real reason we’d met. I would have never told you because I never wanted to hurt you so badly.”

He lifted her hands and looked deep into her eyes, his own blazing with sincerity.

“I never intended to coerce you or even ask you to sell the land. I had to make a choice between having you or keeping a promise I’d made to my family. I chose you, Callie. I chose you .”

She stared back at him, her mind in such turmoil that she didn’t even know what to say. How to respond. How could she tell him that she wanted to believe him? Oh God, she wanted to believe him with everything she had. But how could she? How could she risk everything…again?

Max watched the obvious conflict cross her face. How could he be blind to it? He sucked in his breath and then he lowered her hands, gently letting them go.

Then he backed away, just a few steps, enough that there was space between them. And then he slowly sank to his knees on the polished wood floor.

She stared in shock—in absolute horror—as he went to his knees in front of her, his hands turned up, resting on the tops of his thighs. He bowed his head in front of her and simply waited.

Then he spoke. His voice trembled. There was such emotion clogging his throat that she could barely hear him.

“I’m begging you, Callie. Give me another chance. I’ll never ask for more than you’re willing to give. I’ll take whatever you’re capable of giving me.”

“Oh Max. No. Oh no, no, no,” she whispered.

She fell to her knees in front of him, pushing at him with her hands, trying to force him back to his feet. Max was never a man to kneel, to submit, to beg . Not this man. Not her Max.

Tears streamed down her cheeks and sobs tore from her throat, the sound so anguished that it made her wince.

“Don’t do this, Max. Stand up. Please. Not on your knees. I don’t want this. Don’t do this to yourself. To us.”

He lifted his haunted gaze to meet hers. Then he reached for her shoulders and pulled her to him.

“Don’t you understand, Callie? I belong to you. Only you. You gave yourself to me before, but now I’m giving you myself. I just want you to say you can love me again. Maybe not today. Or even tomorrow. But one day. Until then, I’ll love you enough for both of us.”

She threw her arms around him, nearly knocking him to the floor. She sobbed noisily against his neck. She probably got snot and God knows what else all over his shirt. She didn’t care.

“I love you today, Max. Today . And tomorrow. And the next day. A year from now. A decade from now. When we’re both old and gray and toothless, I’ll still love you.”

He crushed her to him. His arms held her so tightly that she couldn’t move—she didn’t want to. His entire body shook, and he just held on to her as she cried.

“Thank God,” he whispered. “Thank God. I love you so damn much, Callie. I’m nothing without you. Please tell me that we’ll live together in your dream house. It was yours before but somehow in the building of this, of making all your daydreams a reality, it became my dream too. I want to live it with you.”

She squeezed him for a long moment because she couldn’t speak around the sobs knotting her throat. He rubbed his hands up and down her back and rocked her back and forth.

“I just want to be with you,” she whispered. “That’s my dream, Max. Not this house. Not this land. Just you.”

He pulled her away and smoothed the ragged strands of hair from her face. “And you’re my dream, Callie. Always. You loving me. Me loving you. That’s enough. It’s all I want. It’s all I’ll ever want.”

She smiled. God, it felt so good to smile and know that the world was finally right. Then she leaned forward and kissed him.

Their lips melted together like snow in the middle of a thaw. He kissed her hungrily. Breathlessly. With so much love and emotion that her chest ached with it.

Then she merely rested her forehead against his as they struggled to catch their breath. He touched her. She touched him. Two lovers reunited after a long separation.

“Your family is worried. We need to go see them,” he said.

She pulled away, startled by his statement.

He grinned. “I think you’ll find that your family and I have come to an…understanding. They love you. I love you. It’s common ground no one can argue.”

She closed her eyes, dangerously close to tears all over again. Euphoria settled over her. After so long of being weighted down by grief and sadness, the jolt of happiness that surged through her veins was intoxicating.

She wanted to yell. She wanted to jump up and down. She wanted to tell the entire world that life was…perfect.

“What do you say we trek over to your folks’ place and let them hug you and welcome you home, and then we can come back here and try out the new bed in the master bedroom.”

She slipped her hand into his and let him pull her to her feet. She smiled up at him, her heart near to bursting.

“I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

“And just so you know, Lily and your mother have been planning our wedding for two months now. I think they all saw just how determined I was never to let you go.”

She laughed. “I’m okay with that. I’m very okay with that.”

As Max pulled her toward the door, he turned back to her and smiled. The shadows in his eyes lifted and were replaced by so much joy that it took her breath away.

“So how’s next week sound to you?”

Maya Banks lives in Texas with her husband, three children and assortment of cats. When she’s not writing, she can be found hunting, fishing or playing poker. A southern girl born and bred, Maya loves life below the Mason Dixon, and more importantly, loves bringing southern characters and settings to life in her stories.

Check Maya’s website out at: www.mayabanks.com

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