Page 14 of My Surprising Valentine

He shifted, and I realized his fingers were still tracing a path over my shoulder. He seemed to notice it, too, and pulled back, running his hand through his hair instead. “Okay, your turn to ask me something.”

I racked my brain for something I didn’t already know about him, finally settling on, “What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you?”

“Besides showing up to rescue you from a daddy longlegs in the middle of the night wearing my Pokemon pajamas?”

I snorted. “You say that like you don’t love them.”

Frankly, while they looked ridiculous on everyone else my brother had given those pajamas to last Christmas, on Max, they somehow weren’t such an eyesore. On me, though? They somehow managed to be both too big and too small. Still, they’d been a gift from my brother at a time when all of his excess cash was put toward trying to get his latest app off the ground, and Max was nothing if not a good friend, so rather than donating them to Goodwill like the rest of us had, he’d actually kept them—andwore them.

“Of course I do. They’re comfortable.” He paused for a moment, rubbing his palm back and forth over the stubble lining his chiseled jaw. “The most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to me,” he mused, taking time to consider his answer. “Honestly? Probably the time in college that I accidentally sent a very personal, very explicit email meant for the girl I was dating at the time—” he cleared his throat; we both knewdatingwas a euphemism forfucking“—to my entire class, including the professor.”

While I wasn’t all that interested in hearing about the people Max had been with, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to learnabout him making a fool of himself. Somehow, it made the ordinarily unflappable Max Bennett seem mortal … like the rest of us.

I sat up straighter, intrigued. “How have I never heard this story?”

Translation: why hadn’t my brother ever told me?

“Because it’s mortifying, and I’ve spent years trying to suppress it?” He groaned, covering his eyes with his hands. “I had to drop the class.”

“Oh, come on. It couldn’t have been that bad.”

He peeked at me through his fingers. “Let’s just say I waxed poetic about some creative uses for rope and whipped cream and leave it at that.”

“You kinky bastard!” I gasped, something low in my belly clenching. I chose to ignore it.

“Says the woman who was unwittingly part of a throuple!”

I groaned, flopping back against the cushions. “That wasnotmy fault. How was I supposed to know Stephanie was Noel’s girlfriend? The way he talked about her, I thought they were roommates! And then, once I finally mether, I assumed we’d hit it off as friends, too. Was it weird they kept inviting me to things and being super intense about including me in everything? Yes, fine. But in my defense, nothing about us ever turned physical.”

He snickered. “Not until you went on vacation with them.”

“I thought it was a group thing.”

“So did they,” he said with a smirk.

“Shush, you. Once I figured out they both wanted to fuck me, I high-tailed it out of there.” Even now, all these years later, my cheeks still burned at the memory of them inviting me to their bed.

Max grinned at me, shaking his head in dismay. “You know, for someone so smart, you can be incredibly oblivious sometimes.”

I forced a laugh, but something twisted in my chest at his words. Oblivious? That was rich, coming from him. For someone who prided himself on reading people so well—who’d been able to sense exactly what was bothering me about the wedding when even my brother and Percy hadn’t, who could tell when I was having a bad day just by the way I said hello—he was remarkably blind when it came to my feelings for him. Or maybe he wasn’t blind at all. Perhaps he sawexactlyhow I felt and chose to ignore it, like that kiss we were both pretending hadn’t rocked my world twenty minutes ago.

When I caught his expression, though, the teasing glint in his eyes had faded into something darker, more intense. My breath caught as I realized he was staring at my lips again.

“Hannah.” My name came out rough, like he’d swallowed gravel. His body shifted closer, the couch creaking beneath him, his knee brushing mine in the process.

At that moment, my phone chirped loudly from the coffee table, making us both jump. A message from my mom lit up the screen:David just called. His car won’t start, and he needs a ride to his doctor’s appointment. Can you take him? I’m at the hairdresser.

“I should go deal with this,” I said quickly, holding my phone up as gratitude for the interruption washed over me even as part of me wanted to throw my phone out the window.

Max blinked as though he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t. He pushed to his feet, but the movement felt somehow reluctant. “Right, yeah. Of course.” He cleared his throat. “Do you … umm … maybe want some company?” His voice was hesitant, as though he wasn’t sure he should be offering. “You know my car handles snow like a tank.”

“No, that’s okay,” I told him, moving about the room to gather my purse and slip on my shoes, pointedly ignoring how my hands trembled. Some time away from Max would be good.Smart, even. I needed to get my head on straight, and that wasn’t going to happen sitting next to him in his fancy Range Rover, where the warm, spicy scent of his cologne would wrap around me, making it impossible to think straight. “My CRV is plenty capable, thank you very much. Besides, we’ll probably have to run by the pharmacy after his appointment.”

“You sure?” His hands flexed at his sides as if resisting the urge to reach for something—me, maybe?

“Yeah.” I forced myself to meet his eyes, pasting on what I hoped was a casual smile. “Thanks, though.”

Max lingered for a beat too long, his weight shifting between his feet. He started to turn but stopped halfway, glancing back at me as though he wanted to say something else—something that sat heavily on his tongue but refused to come out. Instead, he gave a slight nod, his lips twitching into a tight, almost apologetic smile.

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