“Who cares if they do? You’re ridiculously hot, the idea that you somehow conned me onto your dick is ridiculous. If anything,you’reout of my league.”
“Bullshit,” he spat. “I’m sick of explaining this to you, Jules.”
Julia’s temper rose to new, dizzying heights. “Oh, you’re sick of it? You’ve got some fucking nerve saying that after everything that’s happened between us. Or are you going to tell me I imagined all the chemistry between us?”
Max shook his head. “You don’t get it. Having me for a boyfriend would be a nightmare. I’m divorced, I work crazy hours, I’m never gonna go to one of those festivals where you have to sleep in a fucking tent—”
“I’m not asking you to change your life for me. I’d just like to date and see how it goes.”
“It’ll never work. Everywhere we go people will stare, everyone at work’ll talk…How am I supposed to tell my mum I’m going out with a twenty-four-year-old game designer?”
“What’s wrong with designing games?”
“Nothing. It’s just…” His eyes flicked to her tattoo. Her nose piercing. “You’re so…”
“So what?” she demanded and to her utter humiliation her voice broke, completely undercutting her anger.
Max braced his hands on the parking lot fence and bowed his head. “Young.I plead ignorance once. I won’t do it again.”
And just like that, something that had never made sense before suddenly made sense. “Who told you how old I was the night of the party?”
He kicked at the fence. “Brett.”
Julia’s chest contracted painfully. “That’s why you left?”
Max laughed hollowly. “Yeah, it was. Imagine my delight at meeting the perfect girl, convincing her to go home with me, and having someone pull me aside and tell me she’s a fucking teenager.”
“You left me there because I was eighteen?”
Max gripped the fence so hard his knuckles turned white. “I couldn’t believe I’d been so stupid. I never would have come near you if I’d known your age.”
He sounded completely disgusted with himself.
“I was a legal adult. My age didn’t matter—”
“Of course it mattered! What kind of twenty-six-year-old cop has a teenage girlfriend? People would have thought I was a fucking pervert. Ifeltlike a pervert. You knew I was older. You should have said something.”
A single tear fell down Julia’s cheek, hot as fire. “I wasn’t trying to trick you. I just wanted you to like me.”
“Yeah, well, I liked you all right,” Max said bitterly.
“I never meant to lie. I’m not some…Lolitawho goes around seducing older men for kicks.”
Max groaned and fisted both hands in his hair. “I know you’re not. Look Jules, you’re beautiful. You’re smart and funny. Soon your game is gonna take off and you’ll be gone, living in some place a million miles away. Forget about this…thingbetween us. I’m never going to be comfortable dating you.”
Another tear fell down her cheek. “Is this about my age or what I said before? About being in love with you because I swear I didn’t mean it, not the way it sounded.”
“Please don’t cry.” Max didn’t say it in a pleading way, like her pain was causing him pain. He sounded irritated and uncomfortable.
Julia swiped furiously at her eyes. “Don’t you think the fact that we can’t stay away from each other means something?”
Max pushed himself off the fence, pulling his keys from his pocket. “No, I don’t.”
“So that’s it then? We’re done?”
“I can’t say anything I haven’t already said. I think we should go home.”
“Fine,” she whispered. “Fine.”