“Whoa, there.” Max burst out laughing. “Hey, I have an idea. Let’s get back at Reid.”

“Huh?” I perked up a little.

“Serves him right for going behind your back, making all those big decisions without you! And he expects, what? You to be waiting for him at the apartment? Pining over him. Wearing sexy lingerie and wishing he was with you? I say, hell, no!”

“Hell, no!” I stood and thrust my hand into the air, suddenly liking Max a whole lot more. “You’re right!”

“I’m always right.” Max’s grin grew. “That jackass needs to know what he’s missing! Why don’t you stay in my guest room and give him something to panic about? Mess with his mind a bit before he goes and evicts you. Bastard!”

“Bastard!” I repeated.

“Great.” Max rubbed his hands together. “Why don’t you just get ready over there and I’ll help you pack up your stuff? That way it looks like you left him and not the other way around.”

“That actually makes sense.” I nodded. “Then it’s like I get the final say.”

“You deserve the final say.” Max nodded emphatically. “You’re a strong, independent woman.”

“I am!”

“R-e-s-p-e-c-t, find out what it means to me!” Max started singing and dancing around.

“What are you doing?”

“Sorry.” Max stopped dancing. “Got caught up in the moment.”

“No more dancing. It’s making me dizzy.”

“So you did drink the whole bottle.”

I held up my fingers. “All but this much.”

“So all but a half inch? Why not all of it?”

“I felt guilty.” My shoulders slumped. I was emotionally exhausted.

“Aw, little slugger.” Max wrapped an arm around me. “Why don’t you go down the hall, first door on your right? Sleep it off. I’ll go pack your shit.”

“Really?”

“Sure, what are Maxes for?”

“World domination,” I offered.

“I knew I liked you the moment I met you, Jordan.”

“You didn’t call me Jezebel!”

“Caught that, did ya?” He winked. “Off you go. Oh, and by the way, I’m leaving Otis. Hades doesn’t like dogs.”

“Hades?”

A goat was somehow summoned and began prancing down the hall full speed. A gecko masquerading as a cowboy rode on its back.

In a saddle.

“Kids,” Max said in a low voice, “I said bedtime. No more Phineas and Ferb. Hades, I’m disappointed—you know what that does to Little G! He gets nightmares.”

Hades, the goat, hung his head while the gecko stayed completely still on his back. Was it dead?

Max rolled his eyes. “Kids, am I right?”

“Am I high?” I asked in a weak voice while the goat shot a bored look in my direction.

Max coughed out a laugh. “Please. Hugs, not drugs.”

I pointed, “But there’s a goat and a gecko.”

With a shrug, Max made a little sound in the back of his throat, and Hades walked slowly back down the hall with the gecko on top.

“That may be the strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” I mumbled.

“Hell, you should have seen them at Halloween. Hades wanted to be a lizard. Little G wanted to be a goat. It was funny as hell—a bit awkward, though, when a lady goat came to the party. Poor Little G was so confused.”

I frowned.

“Well.” Max slapped me on the back. “Off to bed. Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

Too tired and emotionally drained to argue, I waved good-bye and managed to stumble into the guest bedroom. The last thing I thought of was that I should have locked my door just in case the goat decided to interrupt my sleep.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

REID

It was nearing midnight by the time I finally made it back to the apartment. A part of me was hoping Jordan would still be up, but I knew she had to be exhausted—besides, she’d been acting strange the entire day. Sleep was more necessary than a deep talk where I blurted out my feelings and asked her to live with me.

Two weeks after meeting me.

It sounded crazy.

It was crazy.

I knew it.

And she’d probably laugh in my face.

But I wanted her. I wanted her close. I wanted her damn hair. I even wanted her dog. Waking up without her neurotic coffee drinking just seemed like a horrible way to start any day.

The apartment was dark, which was strange considering Jordan had a ridiculous habit of keeping all the living room lights on even if she was in her bedroom sleeping.

Her bedroom.

Soon to be vacant, because I was moving her ass into mine.

My body trembled at the thought. Was I crazy? To want her to live with me? To want more than just a fling for the cameras?

Sighing, I set my keys on the counter just as Otis barreled toward me, his little body shaking with excitement.

“Hey, Otis, where’s your mom?”

“Not here.” Max’s voice echoed in the large room, bouncing off the ceiling and driving straight into my chest. “She’s gone, Reid.”

“Max?”

A light flicked on, revealing Max as he sat on one of my couches, smoking a cigar and drinking my finest whiskey, the ass.

“Not Max,” he said slowly. “I’m the ghost of Christmas present.”