“All the more reason to wonder why you won’t step up for Kate. As far as I can tell, right now, you’re doing the thing that she’s been doing for the last few months. You’re trying to kill your feelings for her. How is that working?”
He didn’t respond.
“The way I see it, Sam, this is your tipping point. Right now, Kate is right there, ready for you to take hold of your future together. But if you miss it, you’re going to lose her for good.”
“That’s assuming Kate even wants me.”
“Sam, what do you really want?”
“I want her!” He turned away like he wished he hadn’t said that.
“Then you have to try again because if you don’t, you will look back at this moment and regret it, probably even worse regret than having left five years ago. You know as well as I do that this is the make-or-break moment for you and Kate.”
He set the glass and scotch bottle on the coffee table and stalked toward the front door.
“Are you going to see Kate?”
He shook his head. “Kate is the last person I plan to see.”
I sighed. It looked like the happily ever after my brother was after wasn’t coming. Thank fuck I didn’t want a committed relationship. That made me think of Amelia. Not of the annulment we needed to get, but of spending time with her.Don't think that, Max.I didn’t want any part of what Sam was going through now.
I stayed a couple of days with Sam. I saw the properties and told him whichever he wanted would work. When I left, I think he was relieved not to have me hovering around.
I had my own issues to deal with, starting with getting my marriage to Amelia annulled. It was a little weird to have our late-night phone trysts and at the same time be getting ready to end our marriage. But it was just sex. It had always been just sex. And now I had to make sure that it stayed that way. In fact, as I disembarked from the plane in Las Vegas and ordered a car to take me to the hotel, I determined that this visit would be platonic and professional. We would take care of the paperwork, and then I would file for the annulment and serve her paperwork as required by Nevada law. Then tomorrow, I would hightail it out of Las Vegas until I had a court date. The Nevada website said it could take up to three months to get a court date, which seemed to me to be plenty of time to move on from a woman. When we went to court, our time together would just be a sweet memory.
While I was in the car heading to the airport’s hotel, I texted Amelia to let her know where I was and that she could drop by anytime. Initially, I thought I would go to her house, and we’d do the paperwork then and I would go to the courthouse to file them and leave. But Amelia insisted that she could meet me at the hotel. I got the feeling she didn't want me at her house. It was weird how that bothered me. But I told myself in the end, it was a good thing. She was on the same page about this relationship as I was. We needed to get this annulment and then go on with our lives like it had never happened. After all, that was the definition of an annulment, right? To make the marriage disappear.
When I got to my hotel suite, I hit the minibar and then kicked back and relaxed until Amelia arrived. I was well into my second drink when there was a knock on the door. Going to it, I peered through the peephole and saw a blast of wild red hair. I flexed and then fisted my fingers as I fought the wave of lust that came over me.
I opened the door, seeing Amelia, and a second wave of need crashed through me. It was like a fucking tidal wave. A tsunami of need that went straight to my dick. Our gazes met and held as she stepped into my room. As the door shut, we stood there like idiots, staring at each other. In the recesses of my brain, a voice was telling me to step away from Amelia. It was reminding me that we were just here to fill out paperwork.
But Jesus fuck, every cell in my body wanted her. I stared down at her, wondering if she was feeling the same. Her hazel eyes sparked with a flame, her cheeks were flushed, and her breath hitched. Yes, she was feeling it too.
"Our phone calls have been nice." My voice was hoarse as I sought to confirm that she wanted what I wanted.
"Yes." Her voice was breathless.
"But not quite like the real thing."
She gave a small shake of her head. "Not even close."
Unable to stand the tension, to fight off the need any longer, I wrapped my arm around her, tugging her against me, fusing my lips to hers as I walked us both back until I had her pressed against the wall. Heaven help me, but I was lost in this woman.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Amelia
I was surprised by how my heart had thumped hard in my chest when Max opened the door and I saw him again in person. But then again, ever since I met him, he’d had a strange effect on me.
While we’d been engaging in phone sex, we hadn’t spoken since before Thanksgiving. Mostly, he sent me short texts letting me know when he’d be here. I wondered if he planned to simply fill out the papers and file them.
But then his green eyes darkened and desire radiated off him. Thank God, because I was halfway to throwing myself into his arms.
He pulled me to him even as he pressed me against the wall.
“What do you do to me?” he murmured against my lips.
I wanted to ask the same thing, except now, his mouth was consuming mine, his tongue dancing with mine.