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“I’ll go inside and get things set up. Take your time,” she said.
She retreated to the house and finished placing her order. Then she decided a salad would be nice with the pizza and went to work making one. She noticed that Max had stood up and was pacing on the back porch. She hadn’t thought a lot about him other than as a rich, hot guy who had the potential to help her win back her reputation, but now…well she saw there was a lot more to him.
She realized she’d sort of liked that he had flaws too. She wished there was something she could do to help him but from her own experience dealing with the humiliation of her own behavior she knew it took time. She chopped and put the finishing touches on the antipasto salad and then mixed her own dressing in a small cocktail shaker and set it aside. He was still on the phone so she went into her bedroom and changed into some leggings and found some Christmas T-shirts that she’d bought premade for the shop last year that weren’t exactly their aesthetic so she’d brought the box home. One of them saidJingle My Ballsand another one saidTop of the Naughty List. She brought them into the living room and found Max waiting. He’d topped up their wineglasses.
She held the shirts up. “Which one do you want?”
“The red one,” he said.
She tossed him the red one which had theNaughty Liston it. She pulled the green on over her sweater.
He started laughing when he read hers. “Not at all what I was expecting.”
Good, she thought. He took his sweater off and she caught her breath at the sight of his naked torso. He caught her looking and flexed his muscles and then winked at her before pulling on the red shirt.
“Another gem,” he said. “I’m guessing these didn’t sell?”
“They didn’t even make it to the shop. I think they were delivered to me by mistake,” she said.
The pizza arrived and they sat on her couch eating it and watching shows from her childhood. She curled next to him as she was singing along toThe Santa Clausand he looked down at her.
“What’s with the tattoo? You don’t strike me as the kind of guy to have ink,” she said.
He pulled his sleeve up and showed it to her. It was a Celtic-looking symbol maybe Gaelic, but she wasn’t sure. She did recognize the initials of C and M.
“My brother and I got them when we were in college. Cal designed them. You would have liked him,” Max said suddenly as if just realizing it.
“I’m sure I would have,” she said and changed the subject to popcorn toppings.
He agreed to try her Parmesan and butter topping and she couldn’t help thinking that something was missing in Max’s life. Someone, she corrected herself: Cal. She wondered if Max even realized that.
They spent the rest of the night like that. She wanted to ask him about his call because he had seemed sort of different after it but she kept quiet. Instead she told stories of her childhood and when she’d used to pretend that she was Clarice fromRudolphand made her brothers play Christmas with her in the middle of the summer.
“Did you ever do anything like that?” she asked.
“We played GTA and Streetfighter,” he said.
“Grand Theft Auto? That was Nico’s favorite game,” she said. “I tried to play with him once but he made me drop out because I was driving too carefully. I just don’t like running people over.”
Max laughed. “That’s one of the things I like about you.”
“Me too. I mean I’ll hit a car or a tree but not a person.”
He shook his head and lifted her into his arms and made love to her on the couch while the movie played in the background. She felt closer to Max than she ever had to another person. She told herself that it wasn’t the time for letting down her guard but after this afternoon, she couldn’t help it.
Max was exactly the type of man she wanted. He was broken but solid. He could be fierce but also playful and she knew if she wasn’t careful, she’d find herself in much more than like with him. She was on the verge of love. And that was dangerous. More dangerous than anything she’d done before.
Chapter Ten
He hadn’t wantedto leave Angelica at her town house on Sunday evening, which made him more determined to go. As he drove back to his place on the outskirts of Whiskey River, he’d passed through downtown, which was decked out in lights that spelled out the name of the town and a large Christmas tree had been placed in the center of the Square. Angelica had mentioned there was a tree-lighting ceremony on the following Friday and that if he was back maybe they could go.
No.
He hated Christmas. He deliberately did projects with Second Start to give back and make himself feel good so he didn’t have to participate in Christmas. But he felt the pull. Not just of Angelica but of the town.
He needed New York more than he’d realized. He texted his dad and told him he’d be in town for the next few days. They’d agreed to have dinner at his dad’s club and Max felt…well more like himself. He texted his mom and told her that he was having dinner with Dad if she wanted to join them.
Her reply about thirty minutes later was that she’d see him there.
