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He reached around her to open her door. She paused before she got into the car, tossing her bag on the floor and putting her hand on his chest. Their eyes met and she hesitated for a moment then licked her lips and leaned in and kissed him. Just a quick brush of their mouths before she sank down into the car.
He closed the door and stood there for a moment, tipping his head back to stare up at the stars. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected but not this. Which maybe was what he should have expected.
The unexpected was what she always delivered.
*
The Dragonfly wasin neighboring Last Stand and was run by her sister-in-law Delilah. The restaurant was built with a huge seating area that overlooked the river. For Christmas the lobby and restaurant had been decorated with trees and garland throughout. Delilah’s mother owned a local shop called Yippee Ki Yay and stocked all sorts of Texas-themed Christmas items, which someone had used to decorate the Dragonfly.
They were seated away from the other guests at a private table for two with a nice view. Max ordered a bottle of champagne as they sat down.
“We are celebrating you tonight,” he said. “I am curious how you went from being enemies with that blonde to her booking a party with you.”
Angelica shrugged her shoulder as she took a sip of her water. “I’m not sure exactly but when we were on the dance floor after dinner, I made room for her in the dance circle and I think…she wasn’t expecting me to do anything nice after our earlier exchange.”
“She misjudged you,” Max said.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Angelica said. But she knew that judgment had been based on the video, so a part of Angelica felt almost as if Roxanne had been justified, but she was glad they’d had the chance to clear the air.
“What’s that mean?”
“I don’t know. I mean she based her opinion on my behavior in that video. I’m glad I got to meet her in person and that we were able to get past her misconception of me.”
“That’s not an easy thing to do,” he said. “At first I thought you were playing at being nice to try to fix your reputation, which isn’t that unheard of, but the more time I spend with you, I’m beginning to see that being nice is your thing.”
“It used to be,” she said. “Enough talk about me. How have you been? We didn’t really get to talk at the house last night. How was L.A.?”
“It was good. I solved the problem and a few others. I almost stayed there,” he said at last. “That’s why I didn’t text you about dinner last night.”
“Why did you come back then?”
“I wanted to see you again,” he said.
There was a note of raw desire in his voice but there was something else. Something she couldn’t identify that just made her crave him. She shook her head. She wasn’t going to screw up now. She was riding a high with the business deal with Roxanne and with her and Cosima’s proposal being accepted for The Barrels. She didn’t need to add Max to that mix.
“I’m glad to hear that,” she said, glancing around for the waiter who was nowhere in sight because she needed a distraction from this conversation.
“But?”
Ugh.
“I’m not sure what this is,” she said after a moment, gesturing to the two of them.
“A date.”
She made a face at him. “I know that. I meant the attraction between us. I’m not really a one-night stand gal, especially with guys who are friends with my brother.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” he said dryly.
It took her a minute to realize he wasn’t going to say anything else. That he was going to leave her to figure her way out of this awkward subject she’d led them to.
Fine.
“I’m not interested in just sleeping with you, Max, but I’m also not ready for a relationship, not that you’re interested in one.”
He leaned forward, putting his hand over hers where it lay on the table. “I want you. I like you and respect you and your family. I flat-out suck at relationships. I told myself I wasn’t going to see you again but here I am back in Texas having dinner with you.”
She heard the sincerity in his words, the truth, the desire, the longing, and if she were honest the anger. It mirrored the emotions roiling through her right now. She turned her hand under his and laced their fingers together.
