Colorado 01 The Gamble (36 page)

His head came up but his arms gave me a
squeeze and he kissed my temple before letting me go.

“Steak, yeah,” he muttered with obvious lack
of enthusiasm, he grabbed my hand, I grabbed my bag and scarf and
he pulled me to the closet.

“Am I too fancy?” I asked, settling my scarf
around my neck with difficulty as I also was holding my clutch in
that hand as he opened the door, dropped my other hand, reached in
and grabbed my coat.

He closed the door and his eyes hit me. I
stopped breathing under the heat of his stare. Then he gave me a
one word answer.

“No.”

He shook out my coat and held it up and I
realized he was holding it for me to slide my arms into. I turned
my back and did so, he settled it on my shoulders then his arms
came around, his fingers curling around the edges of my coat and he
brought it closer around me. I’d had men help me with my coat but
not like that. As with everything Max, he did it far, far
better.

He let my coat go, grabbed my hand and
pulled me to the door.

We were standing outside while he locked it
when he muttered, “Keep that top close.”

“Sorry?” I asked his profile and he turned
to me, moving fast, all of a sudden he reached a hand out to curl
around the back of my head and he yanked me forward so I had to put
up both hands to break my fall. I did and they hit the hard wall of
his chest.

“That top,” he said when he dipped his face
close and I realized his voice sounded funny. It was intense but it
was also hoarse like when we were fooling around and I understood
why when he again spoke. “Tonight, when I fuck you, I want you
naked. Later, I want you ridin’ my cock wearin’ nothin’ but that
fuckin’ top.”

My knees buckled and my fingers curled, the
nails of the hand not clutching my bag grazing his chest as they
did so and I just stared at him unable to function mainly because I
was lost in his eyes at the same time I was focused on what my body
was feeling and I liked both of these things so much there was no
room for anything else.

“Babe, you don’t move away, Mindy and Brody
are gonna eat alone.”

“Okay,” I whispered but didn’t move.

We both stood there staring at each other
unmoving in the cold night air on his porch.

His mouth twitched and he murmured his
prompt, “Duchess.”

I jumped and pulled away, mumbling,
“Right.”

He slung his arm around my shoulders and
walked me to the passenger side of the Cherokee beeping the locks
as he went. He opened my door and waited for me to pull myself in
before he closed my door again.

I was buckling up and Max was rounding the
hood when I realized he’d helped me with my coat and he’d opened my
door.

I was in trouble. Wonder Max was getting
even more wonderful, something I didn’t think was possible but
there it was, all around me.

Drat.

Max got in, buckled in, started the truck
and backed out. We were out of the lane and on our way and I was
trying to pull myself together, remember all the reasons why Max
equaled future disaster for me. I’d thought it through at lunch and
I remembered I’d been pretty convinced. However, an amazing orgasm
and Max’s brand of flattery seemed to have built an invisible wall
against my mind travelling down that path.

Max’s hand found mine and his fingers laced
through it, tugging it toward him and again resting the back of it
against his hard thigh.

“Brody seems nice,” I said into the silence,
suddenly wanting it filled so I wasn’t stuck in my head.

“He is,” Max replied and shared no
further.

“How long have you two been friends?”

“Long’s I can remember,” Max answered. “He
lived next to us while I was growin’ up. His Mom and Dad got
divorced, his Dad moved away, remarried. His Mom remarried too, had
Mindy and his Mom and stepdad still live next to my Mom.”

“Oh.”

He let my fingers go but, strangely, turned
my hand and pressed the palm into his thigh, curling my fingers
around its muscled contour. I pulled in a silent breath at this
intimate gesture as he downshifted to take the turn, gained speed
then his hand came back to mine and his fingers laced through.

I understood it then. This was Max’s way of
telling me he didn’t want me to pull my hand away when he had to
let me go.

Yes, I was right, Max was becoming more
wonderful and I was in trouble.

I swallowed and out of nowhere thoughts
assailed me. His sister telling me he was a player. His
unfathomable relationship with Shauna. His talented hand between my
legs. His inability or perhaps unwillingness to share important
facts about his life.

And this last leading me to remember the
photograph of him and Anna on their wedding day.

All of this reminding me that Max had once
been married and bringing to mind the fact that, for what I deduced
was a good while, he had not.

However, it was my guess and Kami’s
insinuation that he had been busy.

None of which he’d shared with me but all of
which he’d demanded I share with him.

“There were pictures in Bitsy’s house,” I
blurted as he stopped at the intersection to the main road, his
hand flattened mine on his thigh again and he looked to the left
and right, waiting for his opportunity to turn.

“Yeah?” he asked distractedly and I slid my
hand way.

He stopped looking left and right, his head
twisted to me and his hand shot out and grabbed mine, bringing it
back and pressing it against his thigh.

His voice was soft when he explained, “I
like your touch, honey.”

I left my hand where it was because I liked
his explanation probably better than he liked my touch. I did this
even though my protective instinct was waking up and it was likely
I did it not only because I liked his explanation but I also liked
touching him.

His attention went back to the road, he
found his opening, turned right and after he’d gained our cruising
speed, his fingers laced in mine again.

“There were pictures of you,” I went back to
my topic and Max’s hand squeezed mine.

“Not surprised,” Max replied off-handedly.
“Bitsy likes photos and I’ve known her a long time.”

“How long?”

“Since school.”

“She a friend that long?”

“Yeah.”

“There was a picture of you and Curtis
Dodd,” I told him. “It looked like you were friends.”

I thought he’d understand where I was
leading with this and maybe share. But he didn’t or at least he
didn’t share the important bits.

“
Yeah, we were friends, long time ago.
Brody, Curt and me hung out together in high school. We all played
ball.”

“Ball?”

“Football.”

“Oh.”

He said no more and I waited, giving him his
opening and he didn’t take it.

“What happened?” I asked softly, thinking I
knew and bracing for impact.

“Lotsa shit,” Max answered and kept talking,
“after school, Curt and me were in business together, construction,
small jobs. He wanted to take it in a different direction, the one
he took and he wanted me with him. He was determined and eventually
got in my face. I didn’t like it, not him gettin’ in my face or
what he planned to do and I knew the town wouldn’t either. I tried
to talk him out of it. He didn’t listen.”

He stopped speaking and I waited again for
him to share further.

He didn’t.

“But you stayed close to Bitsy,” I
remarked.

“Yeah,” he replied and he started to move
his thumb, using it to stroke the back of my hand.

That felt nice in a way that interfered with
my ability to put together the words to tell him I’d seen his
wedding photo when Max changed the subject.

“Got an idea.”

“An idea?”

“Yeah.”

“What idea?”

“Next week, I’ll introduce you to
George.”

“George?”

“Attorney in town, only one we got. Last
time I talked to him he was talkin’ about expanding, findin’ a
partner. All the new folks around, work’s pilin’ up.”

My heart started beating faster and I said
softly, “Max –”

But Max kept talking, proving that while my
mind was on future disaster, Max’s mind was on other things
entirely. “Best season to rent the house is winter. The A-Frame is
in demand, I jack up the rent and, still, it’s booked solid,
back-to-back. Construction dies down in winter too, jobs less easy
to find. You and me can go to your brother’s house after
Thanksgivin’, come back February, March. That enough for you?”

He was planning our future.

And it sounded like a good plan, a
thoughtful plan, a generous plan. Max giving me what I needed, time
in Charlie’s house, time to spend in England, my other home. It
was, if we could swing it financially, the perfect compromise.

Even so, I informed him quietly, “Max, we’ve
known each other a week.”

His hand squeezed mine and he asked,
“And?”

I looked at him and repeated incredulously,
“And?”

“Yeah,” he replied, not taking his eyes from
the road, “and?”

“We barely know each other,” I explained
unnecessarily.

“Met your Dad, heard your history with all
those dicks and your Mom likes me,” he said and this was, of
course, all true. “Also seen you pissed, sick, sweet, you love my
house and it’s fair to say we got chemistry.”

“Yes, but –”

“No ‘but’, just ‘yes’.”

“
Yes, but, that’s
insane
.”

He glanced at me and asked, sounding like he
was getting annoyed, “Why the fuck’s it insane?”

“
Max, we’ve known each other
a
week,
” I
repeated.

“You like the town?” he asked.

“Yes, it’s pretty.”

“You like Mindy, Arlene, Cotton, Becca,
Bitsy?”

“Of course.”

“They like you too.”

That, I had to admit, felt nice since I
liked them all a whole lot.

However, for sanity’s sake, I kept fighting
my corner and explained, “Max, you don’t make decisions like this
on the fly.”

His hand tightened in mine and it was so
tight it almost hurt.

“So… what? You’re sayin’ you sit, you wait,
you let life slide by while you decide to make the decision you
were gonna make in the first damned place and hope to God some shit
doesn’t happen, like you get in a car accident, lose your legs or
worse, your fuckin’ life.”

I felt my chest freeze at what I read in his
words so I could do nothing but breathe, “Max –”

He maybe didn’t hear me for he kept
speaking. “Say you just lose your legs then you got the rest of
your life to think about all those months you wasted, not livin’
it.”

That I knew too well.

Still, I whispered, “Max –”

But he knew I knew it and his voice dipped
softer, he was still irate but he was attempting to be gentle. “I
figure, what you went through with your brother, Duchess, you get
it.”

“I just got out of a relationship,” I
explained, latching onto another defense, no matter how lame.

“You didn’t just get out of that
relationship, Nina, you been out of it for awhile, you just
recognized you were.”

God, it was
so
annoying how bloody
smart
he was.

I yanked at my hand to no avail so I let it
relax but twisted my head to look out the window and suggested
sharply, “Let’s not talk about this.”

“Why? Because you know I’m right?”

I twisted my head back to him and used my
words as an accusation, a loud one, a loud one that bounced around
the cab. “You’re moving too fast!”

“Found somethin’ I want, don’t tend to fuck
around when that happens, Duchess. Ever.”

Although his words made my belly feel kind
of squishy in a good way, my mind reminded me he was annoying.

“Perhaps, Macho Mountain Man Max, you’ll
give me a second to breathe and get my head sorted before I decide
to turn my life on a dime. Or would that be asking too much?” I
queried sarcastically.

“You don’t wanna breathe, babe, you wanna
find time to repair your shield to hold me back. Since I’m guessin’
I got in more than your pants today the answer is, yeah, that’s
askin’ too much.”

I yanked at my hand, again to no avail,
gave up and snapped, “God, you’re so
annoying
.”

“You fight with Niles?” Max asked
suddenly.

“No.”

“Never?”

“No! And stop asking about Niles,” I
demanded.

He ignored my demand and kept questioning.
“Didn’t care enough to fight, didn’t match you in fire or was so
lazy, he just put up with your shit?”

My head shook back and forth, short, angry
shakes.

Then I repeated, “My shit?”

“Yeah, babe, your shit.”

I crossed my one free arm on my chest, it
wasn’t much but I suspected it made somewhat of a statement, and
declared, “I’m not talking about this.”

“That’s what I thought,” Max said, not
sounding annoyed anymore but amused. “All of ‘em, didn’t care, no
fire and lazy as hell.”

I looked out the passenger side window
unable to retort since he was correct, on all counts.

“Poor Nina,” Max muttered, lifting my hand
in his and I felt his lips against my knuckles before he dropped it
back to his thigh and he finished, still muttering, “you must have
been bored outta your fuckin’ brain.”

I turned to look at him and announced,
“Regardless of the fact that Brody has been your friend since
childhood and you undoubtedly wish for me to make a good
impression, I’m giving you fair warning that I am, as of now,
officially no longer speaking to you.”

This made him burst out laughing. I turned
my head away and commenced fuming.

His hand gave mine another squeeze and he
said, “Have at it, Duchess, Brody got you the minute you put your
arms around Mindy this afternoon. You could probably set fire to
the Cherokee in The Rooster’s parking lot and Brody’d still like
you.”