The Gamble (Colorado Mountain #1)(44)

On a trip to the Cherokee with a box, I caught Max who was heading back in.

“Isn’t this, um…” I asked quietly, in case Mindy could hear, “a lot of stuff for one week?”

Max put his finger to his lips, winked at me then took the box from me and headed back to the Jeep.

When we were done packing up, we drove across town and then Becca helped us carry it up the two flights of stairs to her third story condo.

After we had Mindy safely ensconced in her new lodgings, Max took us out for lunch at a little rustic but lovely café by the river. We had a booth by the window and Max sat by me. Mindy and Becca did most of the talking, so much I didn’t have time to think much less room to speak. Though I did manage to think it felt nice the way Max lounged beside me, his arm across the booth at my back, his bearing laid back but possessive. And I also managed to remind myself I shouldn’t be thinking that way, even though I couldn’t stop myself from doing it.

The sun was shining and the cold snap had completely disappeared. It had to be twenty, maybe even thirty degrees warmer that day and the snow was melting so fast the gutters in the streets had turned to streams. The sun glistening off the water and the snow made the clear day so much brighter it was cheerful, like the town had its own brand of magic.

Experiencing it, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Mindy had, indeed, lived an enchanted life prior, of course, to being raped.

When we walked out of the café, Mindy proclaimed, “All right, girl time! No boys allowed.”

“Like I’d wanna go shoppin’,” Max muttered, his arm sliding around my shoulders, pulling me into his side.

“Right, so, skedaddle,” Becca ordered.

Max grinned and said, “She’ll be right back.”

Then he walked me to the Jeep, shoved me into it with a hand in my belly, followed me in, slid his fingers in my hair, an arm low at my waist and then he made out with me right there on the street, in town, in broad daylight.

Yes, made out with me. Tongues and all.

I did not fight this mainly because I was focused on fighting my body’s reaction to his hands on me and his tongue in my mouth and, unfortunately, losing.

When his head lifted, I noted vaguely he didn’t let me go.

“You gonna be all right with the terrible twosome?” he asked and I found it unfair he seemed capable of breathing and standing erect. My knees had gone weak and my breath had gone funny.

“I think so.”

“Don’t let them get you into trouble.”

“Okay.”

His face came a few centimeters closer and he whispered, “Look out for her, yeah? She has…” he hesitated, “bad moments.”

At this open evidence of his concern for Mindy, something I liked a lot, my hand, moving of its own accord, slid from his hair to cup his jaw.

“I’ll look out for her,” I promised.

His beautiful eyes looked into mine for seconds that felt like minutes then he touched his mouth to mine in one of his sweet, swift kisses and he pulled me from the truck.

“I’ll see you at home later,” he said.“Okay.”

He chucked me under the chin and started to walk around the Cherokee.

I made a massive effort to pull myself together so I didn’t watch him like a love-struck idiot and headed back to Mindy and Becca. He tooted his horn as he drove passed us and I lifted my hand in a wave, hoping my wave didn’t make me look like a love-struck idiot.

“I think he likes you,” Becca said then she looked at Mindy who was watching me and they both giggled.

“I need to spend money,” I muttered.

“Yeah, me too,” Mindy said, linking her arm with mine and we took off.

There weren’t some great shops in town, there were some really great shops and considering I didn’t have to pay for a wedding anymore and I’d been saving since Niles asked me over a year ago, I went crazy. I bought so much stuff both Becca and Mindy had to help me carry my bags. I also found Sarah’s earrings and feeling generous I bought all three of us a pair even though they were more expensive than I was expecting mainly because they were heavy with silver and beautifully crafted. Becca and Mindy tried to protest but I wouldn’t let them. A girl who’d been raped and her friend who was looking out for her needed new, expensive, heavy, silver, beautifully crafted earrings. It should be a law.

We ran into practically everyone the girls knew it seemed since we were constantly stopped in shops and on the boardwalk. There were a lot of introductions and gabbing. I was a curiosity since some had heard of me already and it was evident Max was a popular person and anyone associated with him was automatically an object of fascination most especially an outsider with an English accent. Others, Becca and Mindy freely told, “Nina’s with Max” which then made me an object of fascination.

After the curiosity about me wore off, most of the talk was about Curtis Dodd and who might have done the deed. Most of this was liberally interspersed with open comments about how no one was really going to miss him. Some of it was catty talk about Shauna who, it was evident, was not a popular person. There were a lot of careful looks at Mindy who seemed to have trouble dealing with these indicated by the pink that would tinge her cheeks. When that happened either Becca or I would get close. Sometimes, if Mindy started shuffling her feet or chewing at her cuticles, I’d grab her hand. When I did this she held on tight and I’d feel the sting of tears behind my eyes but I just held her right back.