Page 36 of Red Hunt

Then the bell above the door chimed, and Alan and his wife Jessie came in.

“Milli, what have you done?” Jessie let go of her little boy’s hand, flew over to where I was sitting, and grabbed me by my forearms.

I suddenly felt lightheaded, and my breath lodged in my throat.

“Alan told me, and we’ve all been worried sick. He didn’t think you’d be working today, but when I saw the lights on, I had to stop by and—”

“Babe. Back up. Give her some breathing room.” Alan’s calm voice was like a cold shower.

A much-needed cold shower that brought me back out of my over-the-top reaction and back into reality. She was just a friend being worried about me.

Jessie backed up immediately. Only then did my eyes fall on Max again, who looked fierce and ready to attack or defend.

Me—

I cringed, then forced myself to smile at Jessie. I was still adapting to everyone in Moon Lake being so friendly and concerned, but those unexpected touches…those surprise hugs, and the touchy-feely business, were hard to get used to.

“I had an accident, nothing serious.”

Max scoffed, and my eyes shot back to him. “What?”

But he just shook his head.

That’s when Alan chimed in. He inspected my leg, asked me about my pain levels, then turned toward Max. “I didn’t expect you here.”

It wasn’t so much what he was saying, but the way he said it. As if he wanted Max gone…now.

I braced myself for any kind of reaction, but Max just turned toward Alan, laid a hand on my shoulder, and…

They engaged in some kind of staring contest. Long enough so that Jessie’s eyes whipped from her husband to Max, to his hand on my shoulder to me. The question in her eyes was as clear as day. “What is going on?”

And what was going on indeed? Max had stood by my side, he’d showed up unexpectedly, helped me, protected me, spent time with me. Because he liked me or because he felt obligated to do so?

I still wasn’t entirely sure about his motives, but I was suddenly sure he was the first man I felt truly attracted to, the first man whose touch I desired, not feared. And even though I knew almost nothing of him, his actions spoke volumes.

And that was enough for me. At least enough for now. I laid my hand above Max’s. “He drove me to the hospital, protected me from a shooter, and he’s helping me with re-stocking the shelves. Do you have any problem with any of that, doc?”

Alan’s eyes shot to mine, and his mouth fell open, probably because he’d never witnessed me speaking up. And I never had. But this was important. Max was important.

Making clear I wanted him by my side was important.

20

MILLI

Two hours later, I still braced for the moment to come for him to leave me. Logically, it was silly to hope this moment would never come. He couldn’t put his life on hold just to help me stock the shelves and greet customers as if he’d worked in Grandpa’s store his whole life. But it felt…normal. He withstood the scrutiny of all my friends, who showed up all afternoon to check in on me. They all brought something, of course. But anyone could see that was not the real reason they were showing up. Every one of them was here to check out Max.

The Moon Lake rumor mill had been in full force.

The bell above the door chimed again, and I took a deep inhale. “Here we go again.”

My eyes fell on Max, who immediately made me smile, staring back at me, waggling his eyebrows.

He grinned, then pushed a stray strand of hair back behind my ear. “Another neighbor?”

My skin tingled where he’d touched my ear. He enjoyed playing with my hair a lot, caressing it, teasing me, easily bantering whenever one of my so-called friends left. He looked right through them. The only one getting increasingly irritated was me.

To him, it was all a big game. He looked content. As if all the intrusive questions, thinly veiled warnings, and covert scrutiny weren’t annoying him in any way.

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