Father shoved back from the table, knocking his water glass over in the process, and one look at his face made Max wonder if he had miscounted. Father didn’t usually get this degree of angry until he was well past four.

“Hello, hello!” Marie, god bless her, stuck her head into the room. She met Max’s gaze briefly but didn’t give anything away as she swept her attention over the rest of his family, assessing in her efficient Marie way. “I hope I’m not interrupting. I was about to take a preliminary walk around Cocoa Fest. Leo and Gabby are busy, and I was hoping to drum up some company.”

She smiled brightly, and Max stifled a sigh. He was grateful for the rescue, and he’d much rather be strolling the palace grounds with Marie than lunching with his family, but he couldn’t help thinking that what he really wanted was to click his heels three times and be back in New York.

Chapter Six

Max: How’s the sex quest going?

Max: Any big New Year’s Eve plans?

Max: How’s my namesake?

Dani looked up from her computer, startled as a series of texts from Max arrived. She hadn’t heard from him since Christmas Eve, and she had initiated that contact.

Dani: The sex quest has gone nowhere.

She had done some research on different apps, but the idea of all the getting-to-know-you chatting that would be required was turning out to be more uncomfortable than she’d expected. But that was stupid. If she couldn’t make herself talk to a stranger through a phone, how well did that bode for her ability to get it on with a stranger?

Dani: No New Year’s plans. I’m working, and I might watch a movie later. Living the high life here.

Dani: Dog Max—still not your namesake because as discussed, I had him long before I met you—is sick.

She was about to add that Dog Max would be fine when a voice call came in from Human Max. Were they going to be talking-on-the-phone friends now? It wasn’t lost on her that this was the thing she was having trouble imagining herself doing with potential hookups. “Hello?”

“What’s wrong with my namesake?”

She smiled at the lack of greeting. Unlike her imaginary app-dude conversations, things weren’t awkward with Max because somehow they had skipped over the polite-pleasantries stage of most relationships. “He’s not your namesake, but he has an ear infection. He started antibiotics today, and he has to wear one of those cone things so he doesn’t scratch his ears.”

“Aww.” Human Max made a noise that was part sympathetic, part amused. “So you can’t leave him alone? That’s too bad.”