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“Come on. You can tell me all about it from my warm car.”
An offer way too good to pass up. “Thanks.”
I’d never been more grateful for heat than once I got into Max’s SUV. He made sure I was buckled in before pulling into traffic. “Assuming you’re going my way?”
“I am indeed. You staying at the Burgess Hotel?”
“Yes. Kate made me a reservation.” He didn’t exactly look thrilled about it.
Watching Max drive was a treat. It gave me the chance to take in the man he’d become over the last decade. Broad shoulders, fine lines by his eyes, and a slight stubble on his face. Teenage Max had nothing on the Thirty-Something-Year-Old version.
“The asshole in the Beemer your boyfriend?”
“No. Shawn and I dated briefly, but no longer. Unfortunately, he’s in the wedding too.”
“What the hell happened? Aside from him driving like a crazy person?”
“He turned into a road-raging jerk when we hit gridlock. When I said something about not wanting to fake an emergency if we got pulled over, he got even angrier. Then I asked for him not to drive on the shoulder again, and he told me if I didn’t like it, to get the fuck out. He still has my clothes.”
“I’m going to kill him.”
Holy level-ten hotness. Max would have to go and say something all alpha. He’d pushed all my turn-on buttons in one gruff statement. “Take a number. He sprayed me with gravel.” I brought down the visor and opened up the mirror to inspect the damage. A couple nicks on my right cheek stood out.
“Let me see.”
We were stopped again in traffic, so Max could safely take his gaze off the road to inspect my face. This. This was butterflies, zings, and a lot of blood rushing to all the inappropriate places. The intensity was off the charts, and then he had to go and push me into a territory I shall call, “please don’t groan, swoon, or pant” when he gently touched my face.
“Killing the bastard is too quick for what he deserves.”
My entire body shivered. I don’t know if I was relieved or disappointed when traffic started to move, and he had to remove his fingers and divert his gaze.
I let out the breath I was holding. It was for the best his attention was back on the road.
One did not stare at the sun without going blind.
Chapter Four
Max
My rage over the way Shawn the douche had treated Oakley was only tempered by my unexpected attraction to her.
She was adorable. Yep, adorable was a word I was sticking to in order to remind myself she was my little sister’s best friend. The girl who’d sat many a night at our dining room table with her frizzy dark hair and shy smile. She’d spent so many nights at our house people often assumed I had two younger sisters.
But damn if she hadn’t blossomed into a beautiful woman with her long ebony locks, full lips, and incredible, honey-brown eyes.
Nope. I wouldn’t go there. She was all of what? Twenty-four, and guaranteed much too innocent for the likes of me. She, like my sister, was probably looking for a husband by twenty-five, and kids by thirty. I shuddered at the suburban dream most women from my small town desired. More like a nightmare if you asked me.
“When is the last time you’ve been home?” she inquired.
“Eleven years ago.” Over a decade since I’d been called a disgrace to the family. Since I’d become the son who’d not only let my father down by dropping out of law school, but who’d also gone and thrown his life away by owning and working at a sex club. It was unforgivable in his eyes. And the punishment had been banishment for life.
You would think after all these years it would sting less. I suppose it did on a daily basis, where I had no reminders of my father’s rejection in the life I’d built in New York City. But on the road home, all of the past resentments and insecurities bubbled up.
As if sensing my trepidation, she sighed. “I’m sorry. Kate never said what caused the fallout with your folks, but I’m sure whatever it was doesn’t make it easy to come home after all these years.”
Say what now? Until this moment, I’d assumed my reputation had been dragged through the mud all over my small town. It hadn’t occurred to me that my parents would never utter a word about it. I should’ve been relieved. But instead I was—what? Disappointed? They apparently didn’t talk about me at all.
“My sister never mentioned anything?”
