Page 17 of Tempting Max

“I say yes,” I agree, making her clap her hands. It coincides nicely with my plans to get her and Hardware Store Bob together. He has already been into Redpoint a few times, I think in the hopes to find her. He always has one beer and leaves looking a little crestfallen. “You know, you could get out more too.”

Sally looks affronted. “What do you mean? Helen and I have brunch every Wednesday, we have bunko with the ladies on Monday nights and I work. I think I’m doing just fine, thank you very much.”

“I mean with a man,” I press. “You can’t find your great romance from home. There’s probably lots of men around here that wouldn’t mind taking you out on the town.”

“Oh hush,” she reddens just like I do. “I’m just fine on my own. I gave up on having a love story a long time ago.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why?” She asks, the space between her brows crinkling. “I’m old, I love my life, and I’m just fine on my own.”

I can feel there is more to her story and as desperate as I am to pull those threads to help me forget about Max, I can tell by the sudden tension in her shoulders that whatever is there, she’s not ready to talk about it. “Fair enough.” I raise my champagne. “To doing just fine without men.”

She laughs and the tension eases out of her body. She lifts her glass toward mine. “To doing just fine without men.”

We clink and take another drink as our nail techs get started.

“Would you like the massage chair on?” The tech asks Sally.

Her eyes widen. “There’s a massage too?”

I laugh and take the paddle to show her how to operate it. “You can set it however you want.”

“Oh, my Gooooood,” she sighs as the massage starts, shaking her words as she melts into the giant leather pedicure chair. “You’re never going to get me out of here now.”

“We’ll just have to come every couple of weeks. How’s that sound?”

“Like perfection,” she groans as the chair hits what must be a good spot.

I laugh and settle deeper in the chair, letting myself live in the moment, instead of the almost-kiss of the night before. I’m almost to a place of pure Zen when Sally speaks again.

“Tell me about those Sutton boys. The girls at bunko are dying for details. I think they all have nieces and granddaughters they’re trying to marry off.”

And just like that, the good feeling is gone and replaced by teen-level jealousy. Not for Liam and Elliot, but the big angry bear-man that nearly kissed me last night. The thought of someone hitting on him or trying to marry him off, makes every muscle in my body tense. “Uh, well,” I clear my throat, amazed when the mental image of punching another woman shocks the shit out of me. “What do you want to know?”

Sally lifts her shoulders. “Anything really. Are they single?”

“They appear to be,” I answer. “Elliot is sweet but a bit of player, Liam is the brainy quiet type, and Max is…broody.”

“The youngest is about your age, right? Is that Elliot?”

I nod. “A few years older, but yeah, the closest in age.”

“What about him?”

I furrow my brow. “What do you mean?”

“About him foryou. I mean it’s the perfect arrangement, you see him all the time, you both live here, he’s single, you’re single…” She trails off as if it makes all the sense in the world.

And she’s right. Elliot is probably the one I should be pining over. He’s cute, not as tall as the other two, definitely not as serious, but he never crosses my mind. Neither does Liam for that matter. It’s always been Max. Since the day he got mad at me for being a woman. “You know it’s too early for me to date.”

“I know,” she sighs, “But I just meant to have some fun, to make you forget about what’s-his-name.”

I laugh, surprised that I’ve barely thought of Ethan in the last twelve hours or so. I can feel, little by little, day by day, him slipping away from me. I read somewhere that your body sheds it’s entire epidermis in about three weeks. It’s comforting to know that Ethan has never touched, never even seen the body I have now.

But Max has.

My stomach twinges at the thought of my body pressed up against his. I hadn’t meant to get so close—I just wanted him to smile. And then when he grabbed me by the waist, it felt so good, soright. But it can’t be.

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