AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No.” She shook her head. “Last year this wouldn’t have happened. I think it’s only because I met you, Max. You taking a chance on me and of course Cosima too, changed something. You made me think of possibilities. Your kindness to me made me be kind to Roxanne, which made her be kind to me.”
He smiled at the way she said it, and though it was obvious from the way she was talking that she’d had too much champagne, he felt the sincerity behind it. Remembering from late-night talks with his brother when Cal had been using, he’d always realized that the truth came out. It wasn’t necessarily things he’d always wanted to hear but it was honest.
That old adage about drunks and kids and the truth rattled around in his head. “Well I could see that you were someone I could believe in.”
She lifted both eyebrows in an exaggerated way and sat back from him, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Sort of. You did say you’d keep a close eye on me.”
“That’s because you were hot even in that wool suit.”
“I was hot and not the way you mean—I was sweating so much. I shouldn’t have worn that outfit,” she said.
“Why did you then?”
She chewed her lower lip and glanced around the table to make sure no one was listening to them and then leaned in. “I wanted to be the ice queen. I wanted to show the good people of Whiskey River who’d judged me and found me wanting that I was above them.”
He related to that sentiment because he’d heard his brother say it so many times. The difference, he realized with Angelica, was that she had faith in herself, an inner strength that Cal never had. “Well it worked. You looked gorgeous and icy. I was determined to try to crack through that frozen exterior and find the woman underneath.”
She leaned in and kissed him much more intimately than he’d have expected given her family were seated all around them but then pulled back and smiled the sweetest and sexiest smile he’d ever seen. He felt himself getting hard just watching her.
“It worked.”
“I’m glad. Are you ready to go home?” he asked.
“I am,” she said. “But I have to say good night to everyone. I have a big a family.”
“You do.”
“Do you like them?” she asked as she pushed back her chair and stood.
“I do,” he admitted. Her family was loud and big, but welcoming and caring. They made him feel like he belonged even though his connection to them could be temporary. That was something he hadn’t realized he’d been missing until he’d met them.
“Good. Do y’all like Max?” she asked.
“We do,” Jock said. “Not as much as you. Are you getting ready to go? Do you need me to call a cab?”
“I’m fine to drive,” Max said. He hadn’t had anything after the initial champagne toast to Angelica, which had been almost two hours earlier.
“Okay,” Jock said, holding out his hand to shake Max’s while Angelica moved around the room hugging everyone. “It was good to get to know you a bit better. I liked what I saw of you with my sister.”
“Thanks?”
“I know it’s awkward, right. I mean you’re dating and figuring each other out and she’s got a big family.”
“That sounds like the voice of experience,” Max said dryly.
“It is. Delilah’s got a big-ass family and her sister is married to someone with a big family. Pretty soon I think I’m going to be related by blood or marriage to everyone in Hill Country.”
Max laughed at that. “It’s odd, I’ll say that. My family isn’t that big and we all live in close proximity when we’re on the East Coast but we rarely get together like this.”
“Yeah? That is odd. Just kidding, I know that not all families are like ours,” Jock said. “I think we’re an acquired taste.”
One that Max thought he could get used to but he didn’t say that. He still had to figure out what was going to happen with himself and Angelica. He wasn’t going to move here as he’d previously thought, but he wanted her in his life. He just wasn’t sure that was something that would happen.
This kind of get-together, the closeness of her family, made it seem as if long distance would be an anathema to her. And he got that. Also this might just be a Christmas time of year, missing his brother and finally seeing his mom and dad together again kind of thing. By comparison Angelica was a nice change of pace.
But it had to be more than that if he was going to shake up his routine and hers. He needed to figure out if this was Christmas and lust or if it was something more. And tonight hadn’t really gotten him any closer to the answer, but it had shown him a preview of what their life could be. He just wasn’t sure that he really fit in here.
*
