More to Love

by Alison Bliss

  He reached for it and smirked. “It’s a little small, don’t you think?”

  Sam chuckled. “You could always use it to measure your dick,” he said, making the others laugh.

  Max rolled his eyes at his buddy’s remark and then gazed back at Jessa. “Thanks for the gift,” he said softly. “That was really thoughtful of you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Valerie headed toward the coffeepot. “Anyone want some coffee?”

  Logan nodded. “I’ll take some. You know how I like it.”

  His words came out so sexually charged that Jessa wasn’t sure he was even talking about the coffee anymore. And since Valerie giggled, apparently she was correct about that.

  “I’ll take some,” Max said. “Black, please.”

  Valerie gazed at Jessa. “What about you, Jess? Coffee?”

  Jessa shook her head. “No, thank you. I’ll need to get going soon.”

  “I can put it in a to-go cup for you.”

  “Okay. Well, in that case, I’d love some. With cream and sugar, if you don’t mind.”

  Max and Logan grabbed four chairs from the surrounding tables and scooted them over next to Sam and Leah. Everyone took a seat and waited for Valerie to join them. She did so a minute later, carrying a tray with three mugs and one to-go cup of coffee.

  “I brought the cream and sugar over since I wasn’t sure how much you wanted, Jess.”

  “Thanks,” she said, reaching for one at a time and adding both to her cup.

  Max lifted his steaming mug of black coffee to his lips and sipped carefully as he watched her prepare her coffee. With as much cream and sugar as she added, it could probably be classified as more of a dessert. But that’s how she liked it.

  Although he never said a word, she occasionally caught him eyeing her light-colored coffee. A fit guy like him probably accounted for every calorie he’d ever consumed so he could work it off in the gym. Well, hell if she was going to go to that extreme. She had better things to do.

  “How’s the food truck business going?” Leah asked. “You seem to stay pretty busy over there at lunchtime.”

  “It’s been going really well,” Jessa told her. “And look who’s talking. Every morning when I ride my bicycle past here on the way to the kitchen, you have a line out the door of your bakery. Seems you stay pretty busy as well.”

  Leah nodded. “We’re slammed in the mornings when everyone is coming in to get bagels, doughnuts, and coffee, but it usually winds down around eleven. That’s why we sometimes meet for coffee around this time. I’m just too busy in the mornings to sit still for long.”

  “I hear you. This is actually my busiest time, but since I have Lisa and Mary working, I was able to leave. I won’t be able to do it all the time, but it’s nice to take a short break.” She glanced at her watch. “Speaking of which, I probably should be getting back just in case the girls need any help.” She rose from her chair. “Sorry I can’t stay longer.”

  “Well, what are you doing tonight?” Valerie asked. “We’re all going to hang out at Bottoms Up and have a few drinks. Why don’t you come over and sit with us after you get off work?”

  Jessa shifted her eyes to Max. “Are you okay with that?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?” He brought his coffee mug to his lips.

  “Well, other people would see us out together, and then they’ll know I’m dating the health inspector.”

  Max immediately began choking on his coffee, coughing violently as his eyes darted around to his friends, as if he wanted one of them to save him. But Jessa was the closest one to him, so she patted him on the back, hoping it would help.

  Leah handed Max a napkin as she tilted her head toward Jessa. “You’re dating the health inspector?”

  Jessa nodded but squinted at her. What an odd question for Leah to ask. Hadn’t she been paying attention a few minutes ago? Because she was pretty damn sure they’d already made it perfectly clear that she and Max were indeed dating. “Yes, that’s what he just told you guys.”

  Valerie looked as lost as Leah did. “Who told us that?”

  “Max just did,” Jessa said, motioning to him. His coughing finally seemed to be subsiding, but his eyes darted to Logan and they exchanged a strange look. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m, um…fine,” he said, his voice sounding a bit strained.

  “Wait, so who are you dating again?” Sam asked her. “I think we’re all confused as to what’s going on here.”

  Jessa sighed. It wasn’t all that hard to understand, so she wasn’t sure why she would need to explain it…again. “I’m dating Max.”

  “And the inspector?” Leah asked, her brows furrowing in confusion.

  “Well, yes. I mean that is what Max—”

  “Don’t you have to get going?” Logan asked, cutting her words off. “You said you were running late.”

  “Oh, crap. Yeah, I do need to go. I’ve been gone for quite a while. But I would love to join you guys tonight. Any certain time I should be there?”

  Valerie still looked confused as ever but shrugged. “Just come on over when you get off work. We’ll already be there by then. Leah goes to bed early. Bakery hours,” she explained.

  “Okay, sounds good.” She leaned over and kissed Max quickly on the cheek. “I’m hoping I can convince the inspector to give me a ride home afterward.”

  Everyone’s eyes widened.

  Sam shook his head at Max. “Dude, I thought you said you didn’t share? Looks like you’re sharing whether you want to or not.”

  Now it was Jessa’s turn to be confused. “Huh? Why is everyone looking at me like you guys don’t understand what I’m saying?” Had they all been hitting the sauce a little early or what?

  Logan cleared his throat. “It’s okay, Jess. I think they’re just a little dense today. Don’t worry. I’ll explain everything,” he said, his attention directing back to Max. “In the meantime, you should probably walk her out so she can get back to work.”

  “Good idea,” Max said, practically leaping out of his chair and dragging Jessa toward the door of the bakery.

  “Um, okay,” Jessa said, heading out the door with a wave. “I’ll see you all tonight.”

  Because after this weird conversation, she definitely needed a stiff drink. Maybe even several.

  * * *

  The moment she vacated the bakery, Max had sighed with relief. After spending a moment chatting with Jessa outside, he’d finally kissed her and sent her on her way, considering he still had to return inside to face the music.

  He hated knowing he would have to explain to his friends why he’d been pretending to be the health inspector. Besides Logan, none of them had any idea about it. And no way were any of them going to let him off the hook. But after he’d narrowly avoided Jessa finding out the truth in just the few minutes she’d spent with them all, he didn’t have much of a choice.

  Tonight, they’d be hanging out in a group for probably several hours, and there was no way he would be able to avoid the subject all night long. He just couldn’t take the chance. He had to tell them the truth or risk getting found out…which was something he didn’t want to do. But maybe by confessing to his friends, it would make it easier for him to figure out a way to tell Jessa the truth once and for all.

  And hopefully keep her from hating his guts. Because the longer this went on, the more likely it would be that he wasn’t going to come out on the better side of any of this.

  Max headed back inside the bakery and watched as each of his friends glared at him as he stepped back into the room. Apparently, Logan had talked fast and told them everything.

  “Damn it, Max,” Valerie said. “I can’t believe what you’re doing to that poor girl. What kind of sick game are you playing with her?”

  “It’s not a game, Val. It was more of an accidental thing that got out of hand. I never meant to take it this far. I’m trying to figure out a way to fix it.”

  “Well, that’s easy enou
gh. You have to tell her,” Leah said. “You’re only making things worse for yourself the longer you let this go on.”

  He sighed. No shit. Time was running out, and his choice was a tough one. He could tell Jessa the truth about his lies and risk losing her forever. Or he could wait for her to figure it all out on her own and risk losing her forever anyway.

  “I know. And I’m going to tell her the truth…tomorrow.”

  Valerie cut her eyes over to him. “Max.”

  “No, I’m serious.” He held his hands up in surrender. “I need one more night with Jess before I tell her the whole truth about me. I have a bad feeling that when I do, she’s not going to have anything else to do with me. So I’m taking one more night before that happens.”

  “That isn’t fair to Jessa,” Sam said, shaking his head. “And what the hell, Max? It’s not like you at all to put your own needs before a woman. Stop being selfish and think of her.”

  “Screw you, Sam. That’s easy to say when you’re married to the woman you care about. You know Leah’s not about to walk away from you. Unfortunately, I don’t have that luxury.”

  “So you’re just going to get your jollies once more before you let her go, is that it?” Logan asked. “Because if so, I just lost a hell of a lot more respect for you.”

  “Of course not. It has nothing to do with sex. I want to remind her how good we are together before I tell her something that is going to skew that perception. With any luck, she’ll try to understand why I did it and stay with me. It’s my only chance.”

  Sam sighed. “That’s a desperate move on your part, buddy. You can’t hang on to her like that.”

  “Maybe not. But don’t act like you got to the place you’re at with Leah without any mishaps on your part. I remember the look on Leah’s face when you dissed her on the dance floor the night you met her. I also recall what she said to you the night you found her in the bar. You hurt her…both times.”

  Leah winced, which had Sam rising to his feet. He shoved Max. “You sonofabitch. Since when did whatever happened between Leah and me become any of your damn business?”

  “The moment you started butting your nose into my relationship with Jessa. You aren’t perfect, so you might want to be a little more careful about who the hell you’re passing judgment on. My relationship with Jess is none of your—”

  “What relationship?” Sam snarled. “Jessa doesn’t even know who she’s dating. Jesus, Max. She thinks you’re somebody you’re not.”

  Max grasped Sam’s shirt with two hands and got into his face, nose to nose. “She may not know what I do for a living, but she knows me. Damn it, she knows what kind of man I am.”

  “One who lies?”

  Max tightened his grip on Sam’s shirt, but before he could say anything else, Logan spoke up. “All right, that’s enough,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “I hate to say it, but Max is right, Sam. You and I both made our own fair share of mistakes in our relationships. It isn’t right to judge Max for screwing up too.”

  Max turned Sam loose and turned away from him. “At least someone fucking gets it.”

  Logan nodded. “I do get it. But that’s why I’m going to make this real simple for you, Max.” He waited for Max to turn around and face him before continuing. “You have until tomorrow night to tell Jessa the truth. If you don’t do it by then, I’m going to. Trust me, it would be better coming from you.”

  Thank God. “That’s all I wanted,” he said, relieved that he had one more night to show Jessa who he really was. At least on the inside. “I swear I’ll tell her tomorrow. You may not like me all that much, Logan, but there’s one thing you should know. I’m a man of my word.”

  Well, he would be if he could stop lying to the woman he had fallen in love with.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jessa arrived at the bar a little later than she’d planned.

  She would’ve been here much earlier if it hadn’t been for the unfortunate incident she had while cleaning out the food truck after hours. That one little accident had left her covered in oil from head to toe, leaving her no choice but to ride her bicycle home to change out of her grease-stained shirt and to take a quick shower. It was her own fault though. That was what she got for not keeping her apron on while cleaning out the food truck.

  Oh well. Stuff happens. It didn’t matter anymore now that she was finally at Bottoms Up. And she really wasn’t all that late. Just by an hour or so. Actually, it was only nine o’clock, which—as far as bar standards went—was still pretty early for her to arrive.

  From the look of things, there was a pretty good crowd already inside, but the place wasn’t so packed that she couldn’t move around freely. But give it another hour or two and the bar would probably be standing room only.

  She’d never actually been inside the bar while it was open at night. Only during the day when the place was closed and there was no one else there except for Valerie or Logan. But they’d told her how much effort they’d put into keeping their regular customers happy and how busy their bar usually was.

  Jessa was glad to hear it. She wanted Logan and Valerie’s business to continue to do well. They clearly both worked very hard together and deserved every bit of success they achieved.

  Gazing around the room, she didn’t see Max anywhere. But while looking for him, she spotted Leah and Valerie sitting together at the end of the bar. They must’ve been there for a while since both women had an empty shot glass in front of them and had nearly finished their bright blue, fruity-looking cocktails. Whatever those were.

  Jessa headed directly for them, hoping one of the girls would know whether Max had arrived yet. But as she approached from behind them, she overheard Valerie say, “Were you as surprised as I was about Max and Jessa? I mean, about them being a couple.”

  Jessa froze in place, not sure if she wanted to hear whatever they were talking about. It didn’t sound good.

  Leah nodded. “God, yes. She’s not at all the type of woman Max usually goes for.”

  Yep, just like I thought, definitely not good.

  “I know. I was thinking the same thing,” Valerie agreed. “She’s beautiful though and such a sweet girl. I can totally see why he’s smitten with her.”

  “Same here. I think she’s adorable.”

  Jessa’s brows furrowed at that, and she cleared her throat. Once both women spun around looking at her with surprise lighting their eyes, Jessa crossed her arms. “Okay, what the hell? If you both like me and think I’m beautiful and sweet and adorable, then why wouldn’t I be Max’s type?”

  Valerie winced. “I’m so sorry, Jess. I hope you didn’t think we were talking bad about you. We weren’t, I swear.”

  Leah nodded in agreement. “We were just surprised about you and Max being together. That’s what we were talking about.”

  “I gathered that much already. And just for the record, I wasn’t intentionally eavesdropping on your conversation. I was coming over to say hi. But I still don’t understand why you two think Max wouldn’t go for someone like me. What type of woman does he usually go for?”

  Leah’s eyes shifted to Valerie, who was cringing. But finally she said, “The last thing I want to do is offend you, Jess, so please don’t take this to mean anything toward you personally. It’s just that…well, when it comes to women, Max has always preferred a certain…er, body type over others in the past.”

  Jessa wasn’t an idiot. She knew exactly what Valerie way saying. “You mean he’s only ever dated slender women.”

  Though it wasn’t posed as a question, Leah answered it anyway. “Yes. That probably sounds odd to you since you’re in a relationship with him, but we’ve just never seen him dating a woman who actually has meat on her bones before.”

  “And why’s that?”

  Valerie shrugged. “We don’t know. Although, to be honest, I’m not sure what you could call whatever he does with those ladies dating. Max hasn’t been in a serious relationship for as long as I’ve
known him.”

  “Sam has been friends with him a lot longer than we have,” Leah admitted. “Years actually. But even he says that Max only associates with women who are the size of a fashion runway model.”

  “But he associates with the two of you,” Jessa said without thinking. Then she sucked in a breath and covered her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that quite the way it came out. I think both of you are beautiful women. I just meant—”

  Valerie laughed and held up her hand. “It’s okay, Jess. We’re not at all offended. I think I can speak for both of us when I say that Leah and I know we don’t look like fashion models. At least not the skinny ones.” She winked. “But I think what Leah meant was that Max is associating with those women in more of a romantic aspect.”

  “Oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

  “Not really,” Leah said, shaking her head. “I mean, why would any guy date a woman based solely on what size she is? It’s kind of stupid when you think about it. Yet, it happens all the time.”

  “True,” Valerie said, nodding. “But there’re also guys out there that don’t judge a woman on her hip size. We both know that. Just look at Sam and Logan.”

  “And Max,” Jessa said, feeling the need to defend him. “I mean, I get what you two are saying about the women he’s dated in the past, but he’s never once made me feel like my body was something to be ashamed of.”

  Leah smiled. “Good. I’m glad to hear that.”

  “Me too,” Valerie agreed. “Especially since I’d always wondered about the first night I met him in Rusty’s Bucket. I mean, he was good looking and all. I just wasn’t interested in him because I was still hung up on Logan. But knowing that Max wasn’t interested in me either, I couldn’t help but always wonder if it had something to do with my weight.”

  “Did he ever say something to that effect?” Jessa asked.

  “Oh no. Of course not,” Val said, shaking her head. “Max would never purposely make any woman feel bad about herself. I know that much about him. He’s a good guy. We just always thought he favored one body type over another. Guess we were wrong about that.”