Colorado 01 The Gamble (61 page)

“So,” I steadfastly ignored him, “you were
all friends.”

As usual, Max steadfastly stayed on target.
“She’s beautiful but she’s cold. Great with her mouth when it’s on
your cock. When she’s usin’ it for anything else, to kiss, speak or
frown, which she uses it for most, not so good.”

“Max –”

“And she doesn’t let go when you fuck her,
wants control, of you, of herself, of everything. The whole thing
was an exercise in manipulation, her tryin’ to wrap you around her
finger, catch you in her honey trap. But what she never got was,
she’s wound up so tight, so intent on her scheme, she never let
herself enjoy it and if she doesn’t, you can’t.”

My eyes caught his and I told him honestly,
“I’m not sure I need this information.”

“Never,” Max said, again ignoring me. “Never
did I walk into a room and see her dressed to go out and forget how
to breathe like I did when I saw you before we went to The
Rooster.” I felt my eyes grow wide at this admission and I, too,
forgot how to breathe.

When I remembered I whispered, “Max –”

His thumb came up and slid back and forth
along my temple. “Technical points at givin’ head, Shauna’s a ten.
Artistic merit, zip.” His mouth came to mine and he muttered, “You,
babe, you get into it and
fuck,
”
his nose slid along mine and I watched his eyes get dark with good
memories as he went on. “Watchin’ you suck my cock, could swear you
like it better than me. Perfect fuckin’ scores.” He kissed me
lightly and continued, “Fuckin’ her, she doesn’t even rank compared
to you. Different league.”

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, this
pleased me greatly.

“And she’s never, not once, not since fifth
grade, made me laugh,” Max finished.

That pleased me even more.

“Okay, I’m better than Shauna,” I mumbled,
feeling slightly shy and also self-conscious (even though I still
felt very pleased), “moving on.”

“Yeah, we’ll move on when you promise never
to get that look on your face again when I’m bein’ honest about
her.”

“What look?” I asked, although even though I
didn’t see it, I figured I knew.

“That look like I caught you off guard and
shoved a knife in your gut.”

Oh dear. Could he really read me that
well?

“Yeah, that’s what you looked like,” he
said, like I’d spoken my unspoken question aloud and I felt my eyes
get wide.

“That’s uncanny,” I blurted.

“Babe, don’t play poker,” he advised and
then smiled before he finished, “ever.”

“Good advice,” I whispered.

His face grew warm and he bent his head,
kissed my nose and whispered back, “Cute.” Then he rolled, wrapping
his arms around and taking me with him so I was mostly on top.

I lifted up with an arm on his chest and an
elbow in the bed and asked, “Are you going to finish your
story?”

“Yeah,” he said on a sigh, “though not much
to it. We graduated and Shauna went to CSU. She disappeared for a
few years after that, got married to some rich, old guy from Aspen,
divorced his ass and fleeced him for as much as she could though
not as much as she wanted. She might be beautiful and he might have
been old but he wasn’t dumb. She came back and has been livin’ on
that payoff, lookin’ for her next one ever since.”

“Sounds like his payoff is dwindling.”

“Yeah, she’s fucked. She’s been workin’ Curt
hard. One good thing about that will and those letters is that he
knew it. She thought she was fuckin’ him but in the end, he took
what he wanted and fucked her.”

“Literally and figuratively,” I noted.

“Yep.”

“And you?”

His head tilted on my pillow and he stated
bluntly, “She’s gorgeous, she’s good with her mouth, she wanted in
my bed, she worked at it, I let her in my bed. She played a game
with me, hid a lot of who she was and I bought it. Right off the
bat it wasn’t near as good as she made it seem like it was gonna
be. Then it got worse. When gettin’ off wasn’t worth puttin’ up
with her, I ended it.”

“You didn’t know she was also sleeping with
Curtis?”

“That was part of gettin’ off not bein’
worth puttin’ up with her, when I found out she was playin’ me and
Curt at the same time.”

“So you don’t like to share?” I asked and
his arms, which were resting around me lightly, tightened.

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“Shauna, I didn’t give a fuck. Even when we
were together it was casual. It’s casual, I don’t care.” His hand
slid up my back bringing my torso close to his and I watched his
eyes grow intense when he said, “It ain’t casual, Duchess, like us,
no, I absolutely do not like to share.”

I bit my lip, liking his answer then I
enquired, “So, if you didn’t mind –?”

Max cut me off, explaining, “It was
Curt.”

“And you didn’t like Curt.”

“Nope, didn’t like him, didn’t like a woman
sharin’ his bed and mine and didn’t like why she was doin’ it.”

“How long were you with her?”

“I work outta town most of the time so it
lasted a year. Probably would have figured it out a lot sooner if
I’d been around. Don’t know exactly but the time I was in town and
with her probably was around a coupla months.”

“When did Harry enter the picture?”

“Awhile ago, some time after I scraped her
off and she figured out she wasn’t gettin’ back in. A year ago, bit
more.”

“How did they hook up?” I asked and Max’s
face changed, his eyes grew distant.

“That’s the fuck of it,” he murmured.

“Sorry?”

His eyes focused and he looked at me.
“Harry’s always had a thing for Bitsy, always. Never had a thing
for Shauna. Surprised everyone when they got together.”

This was news, interesting news.

“Bitsy?”

“Yeah. The day she married Curt he got so
loaded, he tore The Dog apart. Mick had to put him in a cell to
keep an eye on him and dry him out.”

“Wow,” I breathed.

“Yeah,” Max said. “After Curt, Bitsy and
Harry drifted apart, after she lost her legs, they became friends
again, got close. Still are.”

My mother was right, this was the Rocky
Mountain Peyton Place.

“So Kami was with Curt before he was with
Bitsy and Harry has always had a crush on Bitsy –”

“No, honey, Kami was with Curt until Bitsy
broke up with Harry. Brody and I stopped hangin’ with him in high
school but that didn’t mean we weren’t still friends. We were. And
Bitsy dated him through high school and after, until somethin’
happened, she broke it off and Curt wasted no time. He ended things
with Kami and went after Bitsy.”

I blinked at him. “So, Harry and Bitsy were
together?”

“Yeah, six, seven years, at least.”

“Oh my God.”

“Long time ago.”

“Motive for murder?”

Max burst out laughing and rolled again so
we were on our sides but he came up with his elbow in the bed and
his head in his hand and I moved to my back so I could look up at
him.

“Harry wouldn’t hurt a fly, doesn’t have it
in him. He’s never even been huntin’, doesn’t own a gun, far’s I
know,” Max told me. “His folks left him a trust fund but he still
opened his own lumber store, does all right for himself on top of
that stash. And even if he would go after Curt, he’d never go after
Bitsy, not even threaten it.”

“Oh.”

He grinned. “Though, few months, I wouldn’t
be surprised to see him standin’ on her front step, carrying
flowers.”

I liked this idea so I smiled.

Max’s eyes drifted over my face and then his
head dipped close.

“That answer your question?” he asked
quietly, I nodded and Max moved on to a different subject. “So what
are we gonna do today?”

I thought staying in bed watching movies (or
doing other things) held merit but I didn’t suggest that.

Instead, I said, “I vote no brawls.”

He grinned before he suggested, “I thought
I’d take you out shootin’.”

“Shooting?”

“Teach you to use a gun.”

I closed my eyes, my eyebrows went up then
slowly I opened them. “A gun?”

“Yeah, you’re in a house with one, you
should know how to use it.”

“How about I just ignore its existence?”

“How about you wrap up warm and I take you
out and teach you how to shoot?”

“Um…”

His face dipped even closer. “Baby, guns are
dangerous in the hands of people who don’t know how to use them and
people who do who mean for them to be dangerous.”

“But –”

“I’m out on a job, you’re here by yourself,
it’ll make me feel better you know where the gun is, how to get to
it and how to use it.”

“Out on a job?”

“Yeah?”

“What do you mean, out on a job?”

“I work contract, take three month jobs,
sometimes six. Sometimes I take jobs and work fourteen hour days,
six days a week, three months on, one month off. Builds. Mostly in
state, sometimes out. Thought you knew that.”

“Well, kind of, but –”

“So, I’m gone, you’re here, I’ll –”

I cut him off. “Fourteen hour days?”

“Yeah.”

“Is that even legal?”

“When they pay you a shitload to do it,
yeah.”

I pointed out what I thought was the
obvious, “But, that’s insane.”

“You get used to it.”

I didn’t like that he worked fourteen hour
days that was a brutal schedule. I also didn’t like the idea of him
being gone for three months straight, sometimes six. That would be
brutal
for
me.

However, the current subject was a golden
opportunity and I thought if I was careful, I could use it to
suggest helping out financially.

So being cautious, I waded in. “Um, Max,
after awhile, if I move in –”

Then I stopped talking when I realized I
hadn’t been cautious enough and I hadn’t even gotten to the meat of
the matter.

I knew this because his eyes narrowed
dangerously and he cut me off. “After awhile?”

“Well, yes, I thought once I moved here I’d
get an apartment in town, maybe a condo –”

“Those go on year leases,” he informed
me.

“Well, okay.”

“You ain’t stayin’ in town a year.”

“I’m not?”

“Fuck no.”

“Where am I staying?”

“Here.”

My eyes got wide again and I stared at
him.

Then I asked, “
Here?
”

“Yeah.”

“But I can’t move here.”

“Why the hell not?”

I blinked at him, uncertain how to answer
for the answer should be obvious. And that answer was, I couldn’t
move in here because we’d known each other a week.

Max kept talking. “I’m outta town, babe, I
get back, I want you in my bed not in a bed in a condo in
town.”

“Max –”

“And bein’ apart for months, I’m not wastin’
more time waitin’ for you to drive up the mountain or wastin’ gas
drivin’ down to you when you should be here in the first
place.”

“Max –”

“Or fuckin’ you in your bed one night, mine
the other.”

“Max –”

“Draggin’ clothes everywhere.”

“Max!” I said loudly to get his
attention.

“What?”

“What about your rentals?”

“You live here, Duchess, I pull it off the
rental market.”

I blinked again then started to ask, “But
what about –?”

“That’s the reason I can’t keep the land
Curt gave me, losin’ the rental income makes it tough, standard of
living changes.”

I stopped breathing at this news.

Then I asked, “Could you keep it if you
didn’t lose the rental income?”

“Yeah, but you’re movin’ here, I’m losin’
the rental income.”

Suddenly my day brightened and to brighten
Max’s I shared, “So I can help.”

It was evident Max’s day didn’t brighten; I
knew this because his face darkened. “No, you can’t.”

I put my hand to his jaw, my heart getting
lighter. “If I move in, I can’t live here and not contribute.”

“Yeah, babe, you can.”

I blinked again, my heart going right back
to heavy as I grew confused and I asked, “What?”

“Things aren’t tight, they’re good, more
than comfortable, solid. And they can stay good, we can live a nice
life, we contain the acreage. That rental income means I already
paid off the build on this place, got no mortgage, just taxes,
utilities and I pay those.”

“But –”

“Not up for discussion.”

“But –”

“You use your money for your fancy clothes
and you can plant flowers and buy shit for the kitchen.”

I stared at him in shock. Did he say plant
flowers and buy shit for the kitchen?

Helpfully, I reminded him, “Max, we
celebrated a new millennium a few years back.”

“So?”

“So, I’ll be earning money, I can help.”

“No,” he stated shortly, firmly and with a
definite finality.

I stared at him again.

Then I asked, “That’s it? No?”

“That’s it. No.”

“I thought you didn’t have a problem with me
earning more than you?”

“I don’t.”

I was no longer shocked, now I was back to
confused.

“I don’t get it.”

“
I don’t have a problem with you earning
more than me. I
do
have a
problem with you payin’ my bills.”

There it was. Macho Mountain Man Max. I knew
there was a hitch.

“
If I lived here, they would be
our
bills,” I pointed
out.

“
When
you live here, you’ll be my woman, I take care of
my woman therefore they’re
my
bills.”

Losing patience, I called, “Hello? Max? I’m
calling you into the twenty-first century. Follow me into the light
of a world with cell phones and sat navs and computers you can
carry around in a briefcase instead of them taking up entire rooms.
Oh, and where women have been financially contributing to the
household for decades.”