One Snowy Night (Heartbreaker Bay #2.5)(3)

Max caught her expression as he slid in behind the wheel. “What?” he asked.

“What what?” she asked.

“You’re smiling.”

“Is there a law against that?”

He put his truck in gear and pulled out into the street. “No, but you don’t usually aim it at me.”

“You’ve got that backward, don’t you?” she asked, deciding not to mention that she’d been aiming the smile at Carl.

Max slid her a look that sizzled her nerve endings and then redirected his attention to the streets. San Francisco was looking pretty gorgeous in her Christmaswear, a myriad of lights decorating the buildings, light poles wrapped in garlands. As they made their way through the busy district and got on the freeway, it began to rain. Hard.

The sound of the rain pinging off the truck was loud, echoing in the interior. Max didn’t speak and she blew out a breath. It was going to be a long ride home. Home. Just the word brought more than a few nerves. And nerves made her babble. “So what’s your problem with me?”

Nothing from Max but a slight tightening of his scruffy jaw.

“Can’t decide on one thing?” she asked.

“I don’t have a problem.”

Okaaaay. She searched for something to else say, anything at all to draw him out because the silence was going to drive her batty. “Heard you guys had to jump off the roof of a building to catch some bad guys for the good guys yesterday.”

He smiled at the memory as if it’d been fun. “Can’t talk about work,” he said.

Right. “So who’s the chick who tried to swallow your tongue?”

He choked out a laugh but didn’t speak, which just plain old pissed her off. She knew damn well he could talk; she’d seen him do it plenty. But he absolutely wasn’t interested in conversation with her. Fine. Point served, silence it was. She went with it for all of three minutes, but in the end she couldn’t do it. Turning in her seat, she studied her driver.

Tall, hard, and lean, he’d definitely changed since they’d gone to high school together. She’d left home immediately after her junior year. She’d eventually gotten a job and taken her GED but she hadn’t kept up with anyone from Tahoe. Mostly because she’d had such a crap time growing up. She’d needed to get away with a clean slate, badly, and frankly there’d been no one she’d wanted to stay in touch with.

Except maybe . . . secretly . . . Max himself, a fact she’d take to her grave, thank you very much. They’d had a science class together, that was it; nothing memorable for him, she was certain. But he’d been kind to her, twice taking her on as a lab partner when no one else had wanted the shy, bad--at--science wallflower, and she’d never been able to forget it. Or him. “So what college did you end up at?” she asked.

Surprisingly enough, this got her a reaction. He looked at her across the dark console, rain and wind and city lights slashing as harshly across his features as his voice sounded when he asked, “Are you kidding me?”





Chapter Two


MAX HADN’T MEANT to respond to Rory’s questions at all but that last one—-where had he gone to college?—-cut through all his good intentions and lit the fuse of his rare temper.

She couldn’t be serious. She knew damn well what she’d done to him, what she’d cost him.

She had to.

Didn’t she?

He glanced at her, and the intensity that was always between them ratcheted up a notch, something he’d have sworn wasn’t possible.

“Why would I be kidding you?” she asked.

Like he was going to go there with her, but at whatever was in his expression along with the tone of his voice, Carl whined.

Rory narrowed her eyes at Max, clearly blaming him for upsetting the dog, before she twisted, going up on her knees to reach over the back of her seat for Carl.

His dog, hampered by his seatbelt, whined again and leaned into her touch.

Rory made a soft sound in her throat and clicked out of her seatbelt to wrap her arms around the big oaf—-a fact Max knew only because he could see her both in his rearview mirror and over his shoulder. He watched as she loved up on his big, slobbery dog, not seeming to care one little bit when Carl smiled and drooled all over her pretty sweater.

Most women didn’t like Carl.

Which didn’t matter in the least to Max. Women came and went, if he was very lucky. And yeah, he’d been luckier than most in that regard. But there’d been no keepers, much to his family’s ever loving dismay. So far, Carl was his only keeper.

And Carl clearly loved and adored Rory.

That wasn’t the problem. Nope, the problem was that Rory seemed completely clueless to what she’d done to Max. She’d ruined his life and she’d either forgotten or she didn’t care. The crazy thing was that he’d hardly known her. The only reason he’d even known her name was because he’d been her lab partner a few times. But though he’d enjoyed her company, she’d ignored him outside of class.

And back then she hadn’t been his type anyway. He’d been an unapologetic jock, and he’d be the first to admit that he’d been enough of an ass to enjoy the perks of that—-including going out with girls known to enjoy sleeping with the most popular athletes.

He glanced in the rearview mirror again. Huge mistake. All he could see was Rory’s heart--stopping ass covered in snug, faded denim that outlined her every curve, and his mouth actually watered, wanting to bite it.