Julia stared at him. At his powerful chest and tight abdomen, at the thick hair falling over his angular cheeks and heavy brows. Max would be handsome into his fifties, maybe his sixties, but right now he could put someone in the hospital with a case of chronic swooning.Surely he knows that, right? He’s seen him.
“Julia.” Max stared at her. “What did you mean?”
She closed her eyes. “Well, it’s just…you’re the best-looking cop I’ve ever seen. Including any and all movie cops.”
Max laughed, his face going from stern to beautiful in an instant. “Is that right?”
“It is right. I can’t believe someone cheated on you. Especially not Bonnie, I mean, she changed her name to something that rhymed for you.”
“Bonnie Connor doesn’t rhyme.”
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t sound great either. Too manyn’s.”
Max’s smile looked forced. “She’ll be Bonnie Fremantle again soon, that’s one lessnto worry about.”
Julia didn’t want to ask but the words came out before she could stop herself. “Did it hurt when she ended it?”
“Nah, we both knew it was coming, so did most of our friends. I’m surprised you didn’t know about it. I’m pretty sure the whole station found out ten minutes after it happened.”
Julia shrugged. “I don’t socialize with anyone from work.” A by-product of not wanting to be in the same room as Max without getting paid for it. Fat lot of good it did her. If she wasn’t such a wimp she might have known Max was single months ago. Although that would have a whole other can of worms; wondering if he was sleeping around, torturing herself about asking him out. She shuddered. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”
“It’s fine. We weren’t meant to be.”
Silence fell between them and to Julia it was ripe with possibility.We could be meant to be. Or at least meant to be sexually active in an evidence room together. Wouldn’t that be terrifying and nice?
“I’m kind of drunk,” she confessed, ever so gently resting her head on Max’s shoulder.
He chuckled, the sound vibrating through her body. “Me too. Who knew splitting a bottle of whiskey would do that?”
Then he rested his head on hers. Julia froze, scared to move an inch and have him pull away. They balanced against one another for a long, long time, long enough that a seed of hope blossomed rapidly in her chest. They had gone from near-strangers to confidantes in less than twelve hours. Lovers, if you included their one-sided encounter. She didn’t know if it was a symptom of the forced evidence room contact but for the first time in six years, she could see Max as…well,something.
“Did I hear you say I’m the best-looking cop in the world?” Max asked finally.
Julia felt his cheek move against her head and knew he was smirking. “Nope. That must have been about something else.”
“I don’t know. I think your exact words were ‘you are the best-looking cop in the world, including any and all movie cops’.”
“You have no way of proving that.”
“You think I’m hotter than Matt Damon?”
“I think you misheard me.”
Max turned to face her, wriggling his eyebrows. “You think I’m hotter than Leonardo Di Caprio?”
I’m pretty sure I said you were theworstcop in the world and I’m planning on hitting you with one of those rusty hammers.”
Max didn’t even look at the hammers; he just kept raising and lowering his eyebrows at an alarming rate. “You think I’m hotter than Mark Wahlberg?”
Julia giggled. Actually, properly giggled. “Stop it! You’re freaking me out.”
Max, delighting in his new role as property office jester, continued. “What about Jack Nicholson? Do you think I’m sexier than him?”
Julia slapped him across the shoulder. “Enough with the eyebrows! And are you just listing the cast ofThe Departed?”
“Maybe. I love that movie. My housemate and I watched it the other week.”
“You have a housemate?”