The Billionaire Playboy's Regret (Lark and Max)

"I can do that," his smile was pulling his lips, and he was trying to stop from blurting more out.

She moved to sit on his lap and stared into his eyes, "I would marry you within the month, within the week, even tomorrow if we could arrange it. I don't need anyone else's opinion on what is best for me or how they think you should treat me different. I am certain anyone else looking in would say I need to treat you different too and I'm so bloody sick of it."

"Lark," he cupped her cheek, "I love you so much."

"I know you do. There is nothing, not a single grain of doubt in my mind concerning your love for me. I love you with my entire heart. I would do anything for you. What I wanted, more than anything, was for you to ask me to stay and not go to Houston and you didn't and so I made executive decisions the way you would if the roles were flipped. I'm here to extort you, Max."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Here is the thing." She took a deep breath, "I want to have your babies. Ever since you mentioned it the night you were high, it's all I can think of. I want it, but you need to be healthy first and I'm not having babies without being married. So, here is my extortion attempt." She watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed nervously, "you work hard and get an all clear from the surgeon and you and I will elope to Vegas the very next day. In the meantime, I'll come off my birth control in preparation for us starting our family."

"You want to elope?"

"Yes."

"The family will be angry."

"I'm not marrying them. I'm marrying you. I don't need their noise or their opinions or their two cents. The only voices which matter in our lives belong to you and to me.Stop reading the wrong and incomplete storyline, jo b ni b.com has the correct and complete book. It's not to say we can't vent to them or unload on our friends because I know we need our friends and our family but, and I say this with all the love int the world, they're a bunch of interfering assholes and I'm done listening to unsolicited advice."

"I'm falling harder for you with every passing second."

"I love you too, Max. I know you felt bad for pressuring me to marry you with the whole coming to Dallas safely thing but Max, I really did tell Ollie after the pain meds kicked your ass the other night in Houston, I was going to force you to hold onto your proposal."

"You did?"

"I did. She even joked about showing up with a cleric and a white dress and waiting for you to wake up." "You want to marry me?"

"More than anything in the world."

"Come here," he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her softly.

Margot's groan, "oh for crying out loud. I thought he was too sick," made them both giggle.

At bedtime, Lark was nervous because their evening had been broken up with Margot until she declared

she really needed to get some sleep for school in the morning. Now they were going to have time to themselves and really talk things out.

Max was brushing his teeth in the bathroom, and she was settling on what Lark was claiming as her side of the bed.

He poked his head out of the bathroom, his toothbrush in his mouth, toothpaste coating his lips, but her toothbrush in his hand. "Is it weird this being here makes me ecstatic?"

She immediately felt her nerves melt away. "No because when I put it in there it made me happy too." His eyes rounded as a thought formed and he raced to the wardrobe and came out holding a pair of lacy thongs, "now these make me happy," his eyes danced, "and a smidge horny."

She threw her head back and laughed, "you're insane. Go finish brushing your teeth. You're getting toothpaste everywhere." He came out holding the container which held his retainer, "it's going to be weird putting this in when you're here."

"It's a good time for us to get to know each other's quirks without the added pressures of sex."

"Oh, there is going to be pressure," he groaned as he flicked the bathroom light out. "I had the most insane wet dream last night. Do you know how humiliating it is to wake up in a hospital bed with wet underwear needing to explain to the nurse she could not assist with cleaning up?"

"Max!" Lark's cheeks burned with his comment.

"I dreamed the craziest dream of you, giving me an amazing blow job then poof I woke up all alone, for the first time since I was a teenage boy, with wet drawers. I didn't even have time to get adjusted either. Damn nurse came right in telling me since it was my last day in the hospital there was lots to do today and one of them was to get cleaned up and to show me how to take care of my incision. She was trying to take off my top!"

"What did you do?" she was laughing in earnest now.

"I asked her for privacy for a couple of minutes and she finally agreed. I got to the bathroom, cleaned up and thanked the heavens above for the knowledge my c**k still works."

She swatted his arm as he crawled into the bed with her. Cuddling up to him she was thrilled at how natural it felt to be with him.

"Did you sleep here last night?" He asked playing with her hair.

"Yes. We spent the last two nights

here. When I got home from the hospital after seeing you the other morning, Mom and Dad were loading up the rental van which was taking some of their belongings to their rental apartment in Houston got hit with the most overwhelming feeling of not wanting to go. Don't get me wrong. I love Gracie. She's my sister and I want to be there for her, but I hated knowing you were going to be here on your own and before you say you're an adult, I know Max. But where you are, is where I belong. When you're hurt or sick or in pain, I need to be with you. Being away from you is the worst feeling and being away from you when you're not well, it's a thousand times worse.”

"Oh chère," he whispered quietly, a tear edging the corner of his eye as he kissed her forehead softly. "I would not want you to choose between me and your family."

"You are my family, Max. I am where I need to be and where I want to be. I've been doing videochats with Dad and Mom every day while they're in Gracie's room. They let me talk to her and say hello. Its also giving Mom and Dad time with Gracie on their own, even if she's not awake yet. Johan is switching off with them as is Fallon. I'm contributing more here, than I am there."

"You mean with Margot?" He shot a look over his shoulder past his closed door.

"The day Mom and Dad were leaving, not ten minutes after I pulled in the driveway your mom was on the front step having a meltdown. While Mom consoled her, I went to talk to your Dad. He said he'd been trying to figure out a way to make your mom see the world won't burn to the ground if she doesn't walk around with a fire extinguisher all the time. He said they've argued lately over her inability to let go and accept the triplets need to make their own

mistakes and learn from them. She's

worried LJ will blame her more for the things which go wrong."

"Why does she feel so guilty?"

"Mom guilt is apparently a real thing and my mom said she feels it all the time and we're grown. When I ended things with Doug, she felt horrible because she felt she should have told me eons ago how she hated him. Moms apparently never know when they're doing right or wrong and there is no book which is perfect for any situation. I told Olivier, Margot can come stay with us and he should kidnap your mom." He chuckled, "you told my dad to kidnap my mom?"

"I did." She was all teeth as she grinned, "he asked me if Villeneuve blood ran in my veins."

"I'd like to put some Villeneuve in you right now," he leaned over her laughing.

"Max, behave," she tugged his pyjama shirt, "you've been really careful to hide your chest from me in the hospital. I want to see.'

He met her gaze, his smile fading away, "I don't know."

"Max, you've been carrying this on your own. I know you. You've been acting strong and brave for everyone but we're home now and it's just you and just me. If there is anyone in the world you should feel safe to be vulnerable with, it's me. Please."

He slowly unbuttoned his shirt, and she didn't miss the trembling in his fingers. The red scar ran down the middle of his chest and was thick and angry looking.

"Oh Max," she wiped a tear off her cheek, "you expected me to leave you home alone like this?" "It's healing."

"Healing, not healed." She leaned forward and pressed kisses to the flesh where his heart beat and then rested her head against his chest, careful not to be heavy on him. "This sound," she expelled a shaky breath, "is my favorite one in the world. Never let this stop again, please?"

His arms wound around her hugging

her tight, "I love you, Lark. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure I don't lose another second of life with you Every single time I look in the mirror

Por and see this, it's a

reflection of my own hubris. My pride made me think I was infallible, and I almost died," his voice hitched resulting in Lark's own sobs bubbling up. "I want us to live long lives together, Lark."

"Me too, Max. I love you more than anything in the world."

For a long time, they cried in each other's arms, the pain of the past couple of weeks seeping out. Max gave a sniff as he reached for the box of tissues, "I was worried about sleeping with my retainer in and then went and ugly cried on you."

"This is what I want for us, Max. I want the truth, as ugly or as hard as it is for us to speak. I want to cry with you and laugh with you. I want us to have the relationships our parents have where they know, as hard as things get, we'll always have each other's backs." She paused, "I don't want kids like the triplets though."

"We can have ones like Margot, she seems normal," Max chuckled.

"What I don't want, Max, is the opinions of others making us too frightened to talk to each other. I'm sorry I

let their words get in my head and I'm sorrier still in doing so, I put doubt in your mind about whether or

not

I want to marry you. I really do."

He pressed his lips to hers softly, "I cannot wait."

"Now, I don't know about you, but this past week has been hellish. What I really want is to fall asleep in

your arms."

"This sounds perfect," he bundled her up tight. "Good night, Lark."

"Good night, Max."

They were going to be fine. There was no doubt.