Max stretched his arms high over his head and yawned. “Yep, my best mate Dean. He moved in after Bonnie left. Started squatting in my spare room, anyway, the freeloading prick.”
“You don’t like him being there?”
“Nah, it’s nice having someone around. Dean’s thirty-four going on sixteen. I met him in high school and emotionally he hasn’t aged a day. Except now I’m his mum. I literally have to tell him when to shower.”
Julia laughed. “It must be nice living with a friend. I love Ash but she’s my sister, sometimes blows are exchanged.”
She caught Max staring at her. “What? Do I have black smudges under my eyes or something?”
“You should always look the way you do now.”
“What, drunk?”
His eyes crinkled. “No, happy.”
Julia flushed. “Thanks, Max. That’s very 1969 of you.”
Slowly, incredibly he reached up and cupped her cheek. “No, no, no. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant…you don’t know how you look when you’re happy.”
Julia’s insides were elastic. “How do I look?”
“So fucking beautiful.”
“Thank you,” she whispered because what else was there to say? The hand against her cheek gently urged her closer and Julia’s eyes closed of their own accord. Every atom of her lips tingled in anticipation.
“Julia…”
Max’s voice was soft as he pulled away, a remorseful smile blunting his features.
“What’s wrong?”
He groaned, scrubbing a hand across his face. “We can’t do this again.”
Chapter 8
MAXexplained everything in a calm, reasonable voice. That they’d been drinking and he was tired, that he thought she was gorgeous but this wasn’t the time or the place. As he talked everything gooey inside her hardened to brittle ice. She kept waiting for Max to call her a “top bloke” or suggest they should be “just friends.” Something humiliating to vacuum seal this rejection and make sure she remembered it for all time.
“So, no hard feelings?”
Ah, there it was. “No hard feelings.” Julia almost nodded. Then she decided she did, in fact, have some hard feelings. Feelings she was going to share.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Bonnie sooner? You must have known I was flirting but you let me think you were married or, at least, you never confirmed I knew you were divorced. Why?”
Max looked decidedly uncomfortable. “I don’t know.”
“You let me kiss you. If you didn’t want it to happen why didn’t you stop me instead of letting me throw myself at you like an idiot?”
“You’re right, I shouldn’t have let you kiss me and it won’t happen again.”
“What if I want it to happen again?”
Max’s brows pulled in. “For all the reasons Ijustlisted it won’t happen again.”
“If you’re not married, what’s the problem? I mean, you’re obviously attracted to me and I’m attracted to you—”
“It’s not that simple.” Max shifted beside her and she noticed that in spite of his inspiring “let’s be friends speech” the bulge in his pants hadn’t subsided. Interesting.
She lightly touched his shoulder, his skin blazing hot beneath the cotton. “So you’re single, I’m single. You wanna hook up?”