She frowned. “Why shouldn’t I? I’m smart, I have great friends, and a ton of vibrators. There aren’t a lot of guys who can add to what I already have and what’s the point of settling?”
Max looked highly amused. “You’re smart, you have great friends…What was that third thing again?”
A bolt of lightning zipped down her spine. “Tell me I didn’t just say that.”
“You didn’t just say that,” Max said obligingly. He lowered his voice. “You did, though.”
Julia pressed her hands against her skull. “You need to forget I said that.”
Max assumed an earnest expression. “Whatexactlydo you want me to forget? Could you explain it to me in more detail?”
Julia’s body temperature skyrocketed. She thanked her lucky stars that she had enough whiskey in her blood to act as an emotional buffer. If sober she probably would have set herself on fire. She gestured frantically for the bottle and Max handed it to her. She took a long, long swallow.
Max tapped her foot with his. “Whoa, slow down there, girl. There’s no need to be upset. What happens in the property office stays in the property office.”
“But the embarrassment. Itburns.”
Max laughed. “Jules, I’m a cop. I hear weirder shit before eight a.m. on a Monday.”
He braced his arms on either side of his enormous body. “Besides, it’s good you know what you want. Most people latch onto anyone who’ll have them.”
Julia grimaced. “My sister is kind of like that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I love her but when she’s not seeing anyone, she’s insufferable.”
“In what way?”
“All the usual ways. Flirting with everything that has a penis and cruising dating sites for the next dude who’s going to solve all her problems. She’d gotten a bit better now that we’re older but still…”
“Still what?”
Julia wrinkled her nose. “I wish she didn’t see herself as incomplete, you know? She’s blind to the fact that she’s amazing. She chooses these complete assholes and becomes a doormat trying to make them happy. It makes my blood boil.”
“Deadbeats?” Max’s voice was so deliberately casual Julia suspected he already knew about her sister’s complicated relationship with love. Ash’s boyfriends collided with the law the way moths collided with fluorescent light bulbs.
“Pretty much. Dropkicks who have no idea how to hold down a job or drink a six-pack without driving afterward.” Julia took a long swallow of whiskey, feeling it burn all the way down to her belly. “Everyone should have to pass a test before they start a relationship. Fill out a form that proves you’re emotionally stable.”
Max frowned. “Did you have a bad breakup or something?”
“No, I’ve never been serious with anyone long enough for a breakup.”
“Seriously? You’ve never had a proper, screaming, ‘I-never-loved-you-anyway’ breakup?”
“Nope. Usually just fizzles out. The last guy I was dating texted me to say it was over.”
Actually, he’d written “I want something real” and she’d responded with a picture of her cleavage and the caption “These were pretty real.”
But she wasn’t going to tell Max that.
Her co-captive shook his head disbelievingly. “I can’t get my head around the idea that you’ve never had a boyfriend. My first long-term girlfriend was when I was like…sixteen.”
Julia wondered what Max would say if she told him she couldn’t talk about money either. Probably“Julia Bennett, you well rounded individual! Where have you been all my life?”
She stared down at her shoes. “I’m not anti-love but being around Ash and my mum has kind of made me a bomb-sniffing dog when it comes to men. I’m always looking for whatever dirty shit they’re hiding.”
“So you’re not hoping to meet someone?”