Page 13 of Max

I went back to looking between the two and noticed that Rory was rapidly getting red in the face.

The only thing that could be heard in the silence was the popping of the popcorn. By the time Melanie was shoving her second handful in her mouth, her eyes mimicking the tennis match, Rory looked sideways, heaved a big sigh, then looked back at Max.

“What do you want?”

The blinding smile spread across his face. I swooned. Melanie smiled hugely, catching me doing it.

“Passes.”

“Fine,” Rory said through clenched teeth.

“Field passes,” Max heaved his body on the counter. I watched his every move, transfixed. “Five of them.”

Rory bugged her eyes out. Then after a millisecond, she figured something out, and those beautiful hazel eyes were in a slit.

“You are all in on this. Jason’s playing along.”

Max’s smile shone like a beacon, and I leaned in to follow the light.

“What gave it away?”

“He can’t give you field passes, only I can since I’m the PT of the team.”

The sound of a delicate cough had me darting my eyes to Max, but thankfully he wasn’t looking at me. He was still focused on his negotiations. God, who knew I would ever use the word negotiations, in such a casual way. The cough came again, and I looked to Melanie to see her mimic whipping something from her chin and winking at me. Was I that obvious in my lusting for Max? And how was that even possible? I only met him today. I had never felt such a strong reaction towards someone before. I needed to get out of there.

Fast.

If I didn’t, I was afraid I would do something that was totally out of character and took what I wanted. And what I wanted at that moment was to come between Max’s legs, take his head into my hands to bring him closer to me and kiss him.

“For one game,” Rory countered to Max’s demands.

“Two.”

When Rory’s eyes turned upwards toward the ceiling, I wasn’t sure, but I had a feeling she was praying.

“Deal,” she said, still not looking away from the spot. “Bring him down.”

“You can come down now, Jason,” Max hollered, smiling at his sister.

I realized Rory wasn’t praying, this was obviously a well-practiced dance, and she knew where her boyfriend was.

“Where is Carter?” she asked once we heard the door upstairs opening and footfalls above us.

“Not here.”

“Smart,” she turned once the man started walking down the stairs.

I was back at trying to think how to get away from here and how to clean up the mess that was my life, so I wasn’t paying attention. That was, until Melanie all but squealed.

“That’s Jason Harris!”

The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

“You’re Jason Harris, the quarterback for Denver Thunders,” Melanie accused who I guessed was Jason.

“The one and only,” a deep voice could be heard just beyond my vantage point.

When he came fully into the kitchen, I swooned for the second time that day. Dear God, the man was hot. Brown hair, dark eyes that were aimed at Rory, and a smile that heated up a room in an instant. When he came within touching distance of Rory, his arm flashed around her hips, and he pulled her close. And I mean close. She tried not to let the scowl she had on her face drop, and it was clear by all that happened that he wasn’t so much as kidnapped as he was a willing participant.