His Best Friend's sister: The Cohan Billionaire Brothers Book Six

by Layla Holt

  “Am I late?” he said, glancing at his watch.

  “No, I was just fed up of trying to describe the taste of chocolate,” Megan said and she snapped on her seatbelt.

  Max prodded her and she told him the whole fiasco of trying to be a taster.

  “I’m ashamed to say this but I couldn’t stop thinking of my hips and everywhere else all that chocolate was going,” she admitted. “I don’t know how they do it.”

  “They probably work out a lot and generally eat healthy food,” Max said.

  She loved his Saturday look. He wore a white casual shirt that was untucked over a pair of gray chino pants.

  “How was your day?” she said.

  “Very good,” Max said. “I got an email from a company I’ve been trying to penetrate.”

  “What do they do?” She loved the business conversations that she and Max had. The service industry was vastly different from what they did at Candin Inc but it was just as fascinating, if not more.

  They spoke all the way to the gallery, their voices animated as they exchanged ideas. As much as Megan was enjoying doing the rounds in Candin Inc, she loved strategizing over a company’s long-term goals.

  “Candin Inc is very lucky to have you,” Max said when he turned off the car. “You’re very smart Megan. That was fun and it’s given me lots to think about.”

  Pleasure swamped her. “I’m glad it was helpful.”

  He got out of the car and came around to open her door. As she got out, Megan caught a whiff his scent and was immediately transported back into his arms. She remembered how it had felt to be wedged against his hard body with his massive hands around her.

  She had to stop thinking about that kiss. It was a mistake and never going to happen again. Megan turned her concentration to her surroundings. The gallery was massive and occupied several floors. Max touched her arm lightly as he held the door and she entered.

  Inside, the atmosphere was muted and she found herself talking in whispers to Max. Megan drank in the variety of colors of the paintings on display.

  “They are all so beautiful,” she said. “I never would have pegged you as an art lover.”

  “Why?” he said.

  “I don’t know. You and Dean were so into the gym and were always comparing muscles and stuff like that.”

  Max laughed.

  “I couldn’t have imagined that you have a soft side to you,” she said. The more she got to know him, the more layers she wanted to peel back.

  “These days our conversations are of a different nature,” Max said. “Do you want to meet Corrine’s aunt? She’s a lovely lady.”

  “I’d love to,” Megan said excitedly. She had never met an artist.

  “Come on then.”

  Max led her to the stairs and they went up one story and then to a door on the right side of the hallway. It was slightly ajar and when he knocked a female voice invited them in.

  “Max Foster! How lucky am I to see you twice in one week,” the older woman said as Max crossed the room to where she stood to give her a kiss on the cheek.

  Megan hung back and watched as they exchanged pleasantries. Corrine’s aunt looked tiny next to Max’s giant-sized frame.

  “Aunt Maureen,” Max said. “I want to introduce you to someone. This is Megan Cohan, the friend I told you about.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Max told me how much help you gave him in picking the painting. Thank you.”

  Aunt Maureen’s eyes gleamed. “So, you were the recipient of the landscape?”

  “Yes,” Megan said.

  “You’re a lucky girl,” the older woman commented.

  “Yes, it’s a beautiful piece,” Megan agreed.

  “I’m not talking about the artwork,” Aunt Maureen said, making Megan’s face heat up.

  They chatted with her for a few minutes. She showed them the piece she was working on and Megan swooned. She had never met someone so gifted with her hands. Later, they thanked her for her time and said goodbye.

  “Is there a piece that caught your eye?” Max said when they were back at the main floor of the gallery.

  “I want all of them,” Megan said with a laugh. “I’m just kidding but it’s too confusing right now. We’ll come back some other time.”

  “How about lunch?” Max said when they stepped outside.

  “Sure, The Aroma?”

  “Do you mind if we go somewhere else?” Max said. “I see too much of it during the week.”

  “Sure. Anywhere in mind?” Megan asked him.

  He shook his head. She felt like stretching her legs after sitting down in the tasting room all morning. “Let’s go to the park.”

  He looked at her weirdly before nodding. They drove the short distance to the park.

  “I’m buying lunch,” Megan said and led him to the hot dog stand at the entrance.

  As expected on a Saturday afternoon, the park was busy with families enjoying the nice weather. They found an empty bench shaded by towering trees, and sat down.

  “You keep surprising me,” Max said as they ate. “I’d have thought you’d be more of a restaurant girl not an ‘eat in the park’ kind of girl.”

  Megan laughed. Before she left the country, she hadn’t even gone to the park once, let alone eaten there. “I spent a lot of time exploring in Italy and the park was one of my favorite places.”

  “Was it lonely for you?” Max said.

  Megan pondered his question. “I guess it was but in retrospect, I think it was good for me. It made me turn inwards and get to know myself.” She bit into her hot dog and closed her eyes as the flavors exploded in her mouth.

  A chuckle made her open her eyes. “What?” she asked Max.

  “It’s just a hot dog,” he said.

  “You’d be surprised at how special it is to just sit in the park eating a hot dog with the best company you can think of,” she said, the words leaving her mouth unchecked.

  Max did not say anything at first. When he spoke, his voice was gruff. “That’s a really nice thing to say. I love your company too.”

  They ate silently for the next couple of minutes. Megan watched a family of four on the playground. The parents were each pushing a child on adjacent swings. A pang of longing came over her. When she got married to Luca, that was the life she had envisioned for them.

  She took a sip of her coffee and turned to Max. “Do you want to have kids some day?”

  “Yeah, but I doubt it will ever happen,” he said.

  He had told her about the woman he’d fallen in love with who got married to someone else. Remembering the conversation now, made Megan feel weird inside. As if her chest was burning. How could any sane woman pick another man over Max?

  “You can fall in love again, you know,” she said to him.

  He shifted and angled his body to face her. “What about you? Didn’t you want kids with Luca?”

  She giggled. “You say his name as if it’s a dirty rug.”

  His expression grew fierce. “Believe me, I’d feel better if I didn’t have to say it at all.”

  She grew serious. She appreciated his protectiveness but Luca was not worth having strong feelings over. “I did want children but Luca didn’t. I didn’t understand why at first but later, I did. He was a child himself and was in no way ready to be responsible for another human being. Honestly, I’m glad we didn’t have kids.”

  Megan trembled at the thought of being connected to Luca all her life, which is what would have happened had they had children together.

  “You’ll make a great mother one day,” Max said.

  She smiled. “Maybe. I can’t envisage letting another man into my heart after that experience. I’m happy as I am.”

  “Don’t let that jerk dictate the rest of your life for you Megan. You’re special and deserve to be loved,” Max said.

  She raised an eyebrow. “I’d say the same about you Max Foster. You shouldn’t let one experience of unrequited love stop you from falling i
n love again.”

  “My situation is different,” he mumbled and looked away. “Hey, how about a walk around the lake?”

  Megan laughed. “That’s a very poor attempt at deflecting the conversation away from you but I’ll flow with it.”

  Max held out his hand and she placed her small one in his giant one. He helped her up but did not let go. His masculine hand curled around hers, making her feel too warm. Her knees felt wobbly and she was glad for the pair of sneakers she had chosen to wear with her jeans.

  Slowly her heartbeat returned to normal but her brain would not go still. Was holding hands a thing that male and female friends did or was Max attracted to her as she was him? The thought made her feel giddy with joy and at the same time, it made her skin prickle with fear.

  She wasn’t ready for another relationship. What if Max hurt her as badly as Luca had but even as that thought formed, Megan knew that it wasn’t true. Max could not be any different from Luca. He would never deliberately hurt her.

  She stole a glance at his profile and sensing her stare, he glanced at her, smiled and continued looking ahead. Megan wished she could read his thoughts. He brought them to a stop in front of the boat stand and they watched a couple get on a boat.

  “Do you still want to travel or was Italy enough for you?” Max said after a moment.

  When she returned home, she had vowed that she would never leave the states again, but those had been emotions speaking. “I would love to travel again. Hopefully, I’ll get to go and visit Jaime and Ariana in Asencia next summer. Make it a proper vacation.”

  “I’d love to visit them too,” Max said. “But I think I’d get my own accommodation.”

  Megan laughed. “Me too. It wasn’t much fun staying in the castle and bumping into uniformed guards every time you left your room.”

  It was fun reminiscing with Max. It dawned on Megan how special it was to be with someone who shared a lot of memories from your past.

  Chapter 13

  Max couldn’t sleep and had woken up hours earlier than his usual time. He had made a mug of coffee and carried it to the balcony and sat looking out at the city from his penthouse apartment. Thoughts of Megan and what was happening between them taunted his mind.

  He had always been sure that she would never be interested in someone like him. She had grown up spoiled with access to money to buy and do what she wanted. He on the other hand, had grown up with just his mom after they lost his dad, and money naturally had been scarce.

  But the Megan who had returned from Italy was neither spoiled nor self-indulgent. She had matured and turned into a very attractive woman. A woman he could easily see himself spending the rest of his life with. The time she was away was the period when his business had grown ten-fold and now he could afford to protect and take care of her.

  There was another problem though. The one reason why he had not tried anything with her. He had been sure that Megan was hurting after her failed marriage and would not be ready to be with anyone else for a long time. But she had instigated the kiss.

  So clearly she believed herself to be ready, else she wouldn’t have done it. Spending time with her had made Max know Megan on an even deeper level. She was one of the smartest women he had ever met and more than that, she was extremely stable emotionally.

  Even after all the things she had gone through. She knew herself and what she wanted. In kissing him, she knew what she was doing. Max drew in a long breath of cold air. His hand trembled slightly and he tightened his hold around the coffee cup.

  He wasn’t going to back off now. All his life, he had dreamed of a time such as this, but had known that it would forever remain a fantasy. Megan Cohan was out of his reach.

  He had to try and see where it was going to go. Give them a chance. Joy smashed into his chest. He envisaged the future with Megan in it. Max grinned like a fool, as above, the skies burst with hints of orange and red, as the night eased into day.

  Max returned to the house and tried to sleep for another hour but he spent it looking up at the ceiling. When it was clear that he wasn’t going to sleep, he went into his home office and worked on his laptop until it was time to get ready to pick up Megan.

  He had no plan on how to take their romance further and the more he thought about it, the more muddled and nervous he got. Eventually, Max settled on going with his gut feeling. That had worked for him more times than he could count in the past.

  His heart rate kicked up a notch as he drove into Glenn Acres. How long had it been since he had seen Megan? A whole day. he’d last been with her on Saturday and by yesterday, he’d been missing her terribly.

  Even Nancy had commented on it when they had gone to watch a movie in the afternoon. Speaking of which, it was time to end his arrangement with Nancy. He had helped her out as much as he could. Her intention had been to make her ex jealous and that seemed to have worked.

  After the movie, they had bumped into Michael in the lobby. Max had not even bothered to ask Nancy how she had known he would be there. The man had shot daggers at Max with his eyes and pulled Nancy to the side to speak to her privately.

  Nancy had not confided in him what had transpired but her eyes had gleamed and she’d worn a permanent smile. It had obviously been good stuff and that’s all that mattered to him. He had done his job and he hoped that he had given her some pointers on how to stop being clingy and to love herself.

  He brought the SUV to a stop in front of Megan’s cottage and as he got out, so did she. He was glad for the sunglasses. Max could not peel his gaze from Megan as she strolled towards him.

  When she got closer, he opened his arms and she walked into them as if she had been doing it all her life.

  “Hey,” he said to her and brushed a strand of hair from her face.

  She smiled as she stared up at him. “Hi.”

  “I’ve missed you,” Max said, protective feelings coming over him as he held her. She was so petite and so fragile, he wanted to be by her side, protecting her from harm.

  She grew serious. “I missed you too.”

  Hearing those words leave her mouth was unbelievable. They gave him hope that maybe he had a chance with her.

  “Are you going to kiss me or do I have to do it first again?” Megan said and he laughed.

  “No one would ever accuse you of not holding back your thoughts,” he said.

  “I never saw a need for it,” she murmured, dropping her gaze to his mouth.

  Max restrained himself and kissed her gently. At first. Her feminine scents surrounded him, playing havoc with his powers of self-control. She fit perfectly in his arms. Her hands splayed against his chest and as the kiss intensified, she fisted his shirt at the front.

  Every hair on his scalp stood to attention, every skin cell tingled, every neuron fired. He forked his fingers through Megan’s mane of soft, silky hair. He restrained himself as best as he could but she could handle his passion.

  She moaned softly into his mouth, igniting his desire to almost unbearable levels. Kissing her felt like coming home. There was nothing awkward about it. When they came up for air, their gazes held and then they both broke out into laughter, startled by the fire that had been lit.

  A fire that was now well ablaze. There was no going back now. No hiding under the guise of friendship. He tucked another lock of hair behind her ear and stepped back to let her enter the car.

  It was crazy how fast things were moving, Max thought as he drove, keeping her hand in his. He was loving it but it also frightened him. What if she was on a rebound and was only acting this way from her pent-up feelings and emotions from her past. He couldn’t handle rejection from Megan. It would kill him.

  It would be like stepping into heaven and then having it taken away from him. The thought rooted in his brain and would not let go. They made small talk all the way to her office.

  “Are you okay?” she said when he stopped the car in front of the building. “Are you regretting what just happened?”

/>   “You mean kissing you?” he asked her, his tone fraught with the disbelief he was feeling.

  She nodded, a vulnerable expression on her face that made him want to hold her tightly in his arms. No other woman had ever brought out the avalanche of feelings that Megan brought out in him. She made him feel too much all at once. She invaded every cell in his body.

  “Hell no!” he growled. “That’s not the problem.”

  She drummed her fingers on her lap. “What is?”

  He angled his body to face her. “I’m worried that you might be doing this on the rebound.”

  It was her turn to look at him in disbelief. “Rebound from what? I would have to have had feelings to rebound from. My feelings for Luca died a long time ago. What I’ve been wrestling with is my pride and self-esteem,” she said.

  Max held her gaze. His feelings aside, he really needed Megan to understand what he was about to tell her. This time, he spoke as her brothers’ best friend. As someone who had loved her most of his life. “Don’t ever let anyone, including myself, ever trample on your self-esteem like that. Nobody. You hear me?”

  “I hear you,” she said softly and snapped open her seatbelt. She leaned forward, cupped his face with one hand and kissed him.

  He groaned, responding instantly, like a switch that had been flicked. Max was aware that they were kissing in an open place where anyone could see them. Just a little bit longer, he told himself, unable to tear himself from the sweetness of her kiss.

  Megan tasted of chocolate and fruits. He made himself slow down to savor her. To familiarize himself with every part of her lips and mouth. Until it dawned on him that it was neither the place not the time. Neither was their position in the car the most comfortable. He reluctantly pulled away.

  Megan laughed and reached out to wipe something on the corner of his mouth. “Lipstick suits you but I doubt your clients will appreciate it.”

  He laughed softly and when she was done, he got out and hurried to open her door.

  “You don’t need to open the door for me every time Max,” Megan said as she got out.