Page 36 of The Young & the Sinner

I deflated a little. “Oh. It’s just, Max can be intimidating when he wants to be.”

“Yeah, that sound about right.”

“Well, you can be intimidating, too.”

He raised an eyebrow in question at this. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I think it’s genetics or something.”

Mason let out a small chuckle. “I hope you don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

“No. It’s not.”

“Listen, I don’t think you have worry so much about today. Everything will work out fine. And if it doesn’t, I don’t think you’d really want to be with someone who scares easily, anyway.”

I bet Mason wasn’t the kind of man others could easily intimidate or scare, if at all. Not even by his brother.

“Thanks, Mason. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Glad I can help. Now I’m going to help Max set up the barbeque. I love my brother to death, but I swear he’s practically useless in front of the grill.”

I smiled at that and watched as he walked away. And I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help my eyes from moving down to his butt, loving the way the jeans fit him. I looked away before someone caught me drooling, only to come up short when I saw Lizzie in the doorway.

She smirked. “I saw that.”

I blushed. “Shh. Do you want him to hear you?”

She laughed. “They’re both in the backyard. I doubt they’ll hear anything we say.”

“Still...”

“Oh, alright. We won’t talk about what I just saw. However, can I just say one last thing before we change the subject?”

I sighed, knowing she wouldn’t let this go until I listened to her. “What?”

“I didn’t know you had it in you. For a virgin, you sure have a lot of dirty thoughts running through your head these days.”

“Okay. Can we stop talking about this now?”

“Alright. But you’re right. Mason’s hot. Like, really hot. Those eyes. Goddamn, I wanted to burst into flames when he looked at me for the first time.”

I hated how jealous I got just hearing her say that. “Yes, he’s hot. Now let’s move on.”

Lizzie seemed taken back by the tone of my voice. “Olivia, you do know I don’t feel anything for him, right?”

My shoulders sagged then. “I know. I don’t know why I’m acting like this. It’s not like he’s mine.”

She shrugged and looked out to the patio door, watching the men light the grill. “It okay. You like him. There’s nothing more to it. And besides, you know I have my eyes on someone else.”

And sure enough, it wasn’t Mason she was watching, but Max. Max, who seemed oblivious to Lizzie’s feelings for him. Max, who seemed to only view her as my best friend, nothing more and nothing less.

“Unrequited love sucks,” I said.

Lizzie snorted out an unladylike laugh. “You can say that again.” She turned to me then, her eyes questioning. “Hey, can I ask you a question and you promise not to get mad?”

“I can’t promise anything like that, but you can ask me.”

“What changed your mind about going out with Lorenzo? I know you said it was because of how sweet he was, but you were pretty adamant before about just being his friend. Are you only with Lorenzo to get over Mason?”

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