Page 136 of So Wild

“Ah…how have you been anyway?” Max’s tone was something you reserved for an elderly aunt.Good morning, Aunt Peggy. How are your begonias?

“I’m good thanks. You?”

“I’m fine.”

Silence stretched, long and horrible between them.

Julia let her long brown hair fall in front of her face, hoping it concealed the red that betrayed her every emotion. “What-what are you up to tonight?”

His eyebrows contracted with the implication that it was none of her business. “I’m meeting Bonnie in the city. We’re…going to the football.”

A hateful squirm of jealousy surged through Julia’s stomach. Of course Bonnie and Max were going to the football. Bonnie probably called all the players by their surnames and said things like ‘they’re flooding the backline!’ She, on the other hand, didn’t know the first thing about football, beyond it was boring and emboldened Ash’s boyfriends to drink heavily and abuse the TV.

“Sounds fun.”

Max grunted noncommittally. Julia wanted to declare she was going to a party, an amazing party with boys and alcohol and possibly drugs, but she made herself shut up. Max hadn’t asked what she was doing because he clearly didn’t care. She snuck a glance at him through her hair. She couldn’t tell if he was pissed—the fierce slashes of his eyebrows made him appear unnaturally stern. He had the perfect face for law enforcement; she felt guilty just looking at him. Although that was probably because he was married and she had a big, fat, stupid crush on him.

Actually, it was more like a tiny jagged blade, sharper than the splinters of her phone. That blade was buried in her brain so deep she couldn’t pull it out. God knew Max had given her nothing, not so much a single hello in almost two years, and yet, and yet,and yet, her crush stuttered on like a corrupted MP3 file, making her feel electric and helpless and nauseous and depressed in turns. It was all for nothing, though. Love and sex might be a gamble, but Max Connor was a complete dead end. Julia finished plucking up what had so recently been a working phone and stood. “Okay, I’m ready to leave.”

“You’re lucky I heard you. I almost thought I was imagining the screams.”

Max braced himself against the doorframe. He was much taller than her, which put him well over six feet, and broad. Jacked, as Ash would say. Most cops turned fat in small towns, but Max’s well-honed physique spoke of ambition. Once he earned his stripes in country Victoria, he’d move on to Critical Response or Special Operations, some other city gig kicking down doors, saving lives, etcetera. He was a hero cop in the making.

Shut up with your brain and answer him, dickhead!

She arranged her face into what she hoped was a half-decent smile. “Thanks for finding me. Eating all the weed in the property office to survive would have sucked.”

Max chuckled. “You still living around here?”

Julia almost gasped. Was he actually asking her a personal question? “My sister and I have a place on Church Street.”

“Not that murder place?”

She winced. “Somebody was killed there once, yes.”

“Rough.”

Julia shrugged. “It’s not too bad. Although our bathroomisslowly sinking into the ground like the Titanic.”

“At least you’re aware.”

“We are.” Julia picked up her satchel and adjusted the strap over her shoulder. “Thanks again for finding me. It was looking pretty grim before you showed up.”

He smiled, an easy, panty-combusting smile. “No problem. Hey, are you still into games?”

Julia tucked her hair behind her ears, torn between wanting to escape and exploiting what was surely a once in a lifetime chance to linger in a dark room with the married guy she had a boner for.Fuck it.“Yeah, I’m actually almost finished designing—”

Max strode forward, heavy boots pounding on the concrete. “Jesus, I swear I’m going to report Henrietta.”

She stood stock-still, unsure if she was relieved or insulted he’d cut her off. “What’s up?”

“The shotgun leaning against the overnight cage is loaded. First you were in here unsupervised and now this? That woman’s going to get someone killed.”

Julia was slightly offended. “Just because I locked myself in here you think I go around kicking live firearms?”

Max huffed out a laugh. “Of course n—”

There was a loud creak and they both turned. The property office door, freed from Max’s body was closing. It was closing slow like quicksand, like hot tar, but itwasclosing, her worst nightmare swaying into reality.

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