The Gamble (Colorado Mountain #1)(156)



“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 f**k. 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 f**k 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.”

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