Crashing into an Old Flame
Chapter 45: You lied

Chapter 45: You lied

In the Master Bedroom.

The glass walls were blocked off by the dark curtains and dim lights reflected on the paintings hanging on the opaque wall.

Angel was long shifted from Maxim’s care to Ivy’s.

Diana sat on the couch, one leg crossed above the other as she glanced at the man who was sitting opposite to her on the bed.

His shoulders were slightly stiff and his gaze was lowered.

Guilty, was he?

"You lied to me,’’ Diana said the first thing that was playing in her head in a loop.

Maxim tilted his head to look at her.

The more nonchalant he looked, the more she wanted to poke him. And provoke him.

God, she was being obsessive over stuff like this. But she wanted to squeeze some expressions out of him. Was it too much to ask for?

’’You said this was the house which was on rent. It wasn’t. It was the neighbor’s place. Is that the reason you didn’t let me go there to check when my stuff was misplaced?"

’’Yes,’’ Maxim said without a hint of guilt that she thought he would show.

’’And you even told me that this was your place,’’ Diana probed.

’’I didn’t tell you. You assumed. I played along.’’

His words were concise and straight to the point.

’’Why would you even play along?" Diana crossed her arms in front of her chest.

When the man did not answer, she pushed herself to her feet and walked towards the bed.

After hesitating for a moment, she sat beside him, leaving some gap between their bodies as she glanced at his side profile, ’’You were riled up at the sight of me and I almost felt like you hated me.’’

"I never hated you,’’ he murmured.

’’Then what was all that anger for? You know I should be the one to be angry with you,’’ Diana’s lips thinned.

’’You have no reason to be angry,’’ he said in the coolest manner.

That over-confident man! "And you do?" she shifted her gaze from his face and focused on the opposite wall, ’’What reason did I give you to be angry at me?"

And if she had not known Maxim the way she did, she would not have noticed the way his jaw ticked. It was a brief moment before his face was back to being calm.

Diana sighed, ’’But you lied,’’ she switched her focus back to the present knowing well enough that this conversation was not going anywhere.

Maxim inched closer to her, discarding the little distance that had remained between them.

Their thighs brushed against each other and while it was nothing weird, the tingles grazing past her leg sent alarm bells in her head. Was it some symptom of monoplegia?

But she bit the bullet and kept her leg pressed against his without pulling it back no matter how ticklish her insides were feeling.

After all, they have been closer than this before and nothing like this had happened. What would he think if she retracted her leg?

’’Are you angry?" Maxim asked her without beating around the bush.

’’You tell me. Should I be angry?" she met his gaze, twisting the crux of his question without hesitation.

Angry at Maxim? Who was she kidding? The man could set fire to her precious walk-in closet back in the Chen Mansion yet she would not be able to be angry at him the moment she saw his face.

She did not answer him because the truth was that she was not angry. Yet, she did want to push his buttons for lying to her.

"You should be angry. I kind of duped you,’’ Maxim’s tongue moved to the inside of his cheek as he looked around the room.

Diana waited for him to continue speaking.

His gaze dropped to her left hand which she had placed on her lap.

He reached out to hold it but before he could do that, Diana pulled her hand back.

The light in his eyes deemed and his face fell slightly.

Just as his expression started turning distant, Diana reached her right hand to grab his hand.

She glanced at him quietly.

And Maxim’s gaze shifted to her delicate palm, her fingers which were tiny compared to his. Her whole hand was easily cocooned in his palm.

’’What?" Diana followed his gaze.

Maxim intertwined their fingers and brought her hand closer before he kissed the corner of her wrist, just like he used to do. But on the left hand usually which she just retracted.

’Thump’

Diana blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice.

’’You were standing at my door. Down and exhausted, did you expect me to send you off to who knows where?" he finally lifted his gaze to meet hers.

And suddenly, Diana had the feeling that this interrogating session was inducing more losses than the profits it should have reaped.

Maxim was supposed to be the speechless one but here he was, putting her at her wits’ end.

’’You lied.’’

Maxim sighed, ’’I am sorry."

"So, you were concerned about me?" the feeling of his big, warm hand encasing hers was making her voice unusually raspy.

Her pornstar tone was taking rise and she could not help it somehow.

"Is it something you need to ask?" he looked at her like she was growing two heads, ’’Of course, I was fucking worried and all I thought about was keeping you with me, keeping you and the baby safe. You don’t trust strangers here or anywhere, Diana.’’

The emphasis on the F-word was just enough to tell her how much concerned he was because she had never heard him use it before.

But then again, the last time they were so close to each other, they were barely in their early 20s. The beautiful boy was a full man now so things came with that. Ahem. Like the muscles and all.

’’Aren’t you curious about anything?" Diana inched closer to him and she hesitated for a moment before she slowly leaned her head against his shoulder.

Seeing that he did not push her away, she fully placed her weight on him, leaning against him.

There was no movement from the man sitting beside her but in the next moment, she felt his strong arm wrapping around her lower back as he pulled her closer, ’’Lift your legs from the floor,’’ Maxim whispered against her hair.