“Aw, he’s so romantic. Chaz said Treat showed up today. Did he call you? I knew there was something going on at the wedding.”
Max heard a faint ringing. “There was nothing going on at the wedding, and he didn’t come to see me. He’s in Weston visiting his dad, and it was just a coincidence that he was at the festival.” I wish he’d been there to see me. No. I wish he’d come to see me weeks ago.
“Danica would tell you that there are no coincidences in life,” Kaylie said. Her older sister was more like Max than Kaylie. “Hey, is that your phone ringing?”
“I thought it was the house phone,” Max answered.
Kaylie shook her head. “We turn off the ringers when the kids go to bed.”
Max ran for her car and tugged the door open, but her phone had already stopped ringing. She checked the missed call log and saw the restricted number had popped up again. She let out a breath and felt the confidence she’d bolstered begin to deflate.
“Sorry, Max. Were you expecting him to call?” Kaylie asked.
Max couldn’t hide her disappointment. “Not really. He asked for my number, but you know how that goes.”
“Sometimes men suck,” Kaylie said. “Oh, Max. Look at you. I didn’t even notice how gorgeous you look. Girl, if he is at that after-party, he won’t be able to keep his eyes—or his hands—off you.”
“Thanks. I’m sure he won’t be there.” Treat didn’t seem like the partying type, which was one of things that had attracted her to him. He was strong and confident, but not showy or arrogant. Until that look. The look he already apologized for. If anything, she needed to apologize to him for acting rude when she was flustered this afternoon.
With a sigh, she said, “I’m not like you, Kaylie. This would be so easy for you. I had to talk myself into dressing like this, and I still feel like I’m playing dress-up. All I wanted was to look sexy and flirt a little to get my mind off of…”
“Well, you sure fooled me into thinking you were confident about how you looked. Listen, this is all there is to it. Flirting, meeting guys, it’s all a game. It’s them against you, and usually you both have the same agenda—to get the sexiest one into bed.”
“Kay—”
“Save it, sister. And trust me, okay? I know what I’m talking about. The next time you see Treat, you act as if you’re the sex-starved man, like you can’t keep your eyes or hands off him. That’ll knock him off his game, and you’ll start to see the real him.”
“I don’t know if I can do that.” A sex-starved man?
“If you want to win him over, then you have to. Then, when he thinks he’s going to get you into bed, you pull back. Remember, you control the strings. Think of him as a marionette and yourself as the puppet master.” Kaylie looked up at the dark sky. Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “Hey, that’s good. I just made that up.” She looked at Max and said, “Anyway, when you’re in control, you’ll totally knock down his defenses and it’ll be more comfortable—for both of you.”
Max shook her head. “I don’t know if I can play games, Kaylie.”
“Listen, Max. At that point, you won’t have to do anything. You pull away and he sees you as the queen of seduction. You follow through and you’re a sexual tigress. Win-win.” Kaylie shrugged.
“What if I want to be with him and he turns me down?”
“Any man who turns you down isn’t worth it.” Kaylie must have seen Max cringe, because she quickly added, “No way. Did he turn you down at the wedding?”
Max shook her head. “No, but I turned him down when he asked me to go back to his room, and then we had a misunderstanding the next morning when he saw me with Justin.” Kaylie had been in the elevator when Max had gotten on the next morning wearing the same clothes as she’d had on the day before. Kaylie had teased her about her walk-of-shame outfit, but she hadn’t known about Max and Treat’s evening together. She’d only assumed, as Treat had, that Max had slept with Justin.
“Oh, Maxy. You said you didn’t hook up with Justin.” Kaylie pulled her into a hug.
“I didn’t, but Treat assumed I did.” She’d never told Kaylie about Ryan, or what she’d been through with him, and she didn’t want to get into that now. It was too private, too embarrassing.
“Well, trust me. He won’t hesitate after you do this. Win-win. You remember that.” Kaylie ran her eyes over Max and said, “More importantly, remember that you are in control of your own emotional state. I learned the hard way that misunderstandings can spread like weeds if you let them. So if you really care about Treat, you might bring some Emotional Roundup with you, so you can nix any more of them.”
“Emotional Round Up,” Max repeated.
Maybe she could pull this off after all.
Chapter Six
HUGH AND HIS date, Nova Bashe, a comically tall, impossibly skinny Swedish swimsuit model, were flanked by photographers as they made their way into the party. Hugh looked back with a shrug and a wave at Treat and Savannah. Treat was glad to be out of the limelight. The last thing he wanted to do was hang out with drunken celebrities. He planned to hide in the shadows and keep an eye on his sister.
“Thanks for coming with me,” Savannah said as he handed her a drink. “I knew I could count on you.”
“Why aren’t you with Connor tonight?” Treat asked, swirling the liquor in his glass.
“Are you kidding? He’ll have a whole entourage. I’m off duty when he’s out drinking. I can’t be held responsible for his liquored-up state, even if that’s when he gets in the most trouble. He gave me tickets, of course, but I gave them to the girls in my office. Now, they’re the kind of girls who love this stuff.”
“Then why did you get all dolled up in that gold minidress and want to come so badly?”
Savannah looked around and then pointed across the room.
There, in the dimly lit nightclub, outshining all the other women with her natural beauty, was Max.
“See you later, big brother.” Savannah kissed his cheek and disappeared into the crowd.
Max was gorgeous no matter what she wore, but she looked stunning with her smoky eyes, her hair sexily framing her face, and a little black dress that hugged all her curves. His fingers itched to touch her, his body ached to discover how she felt lying beneath him. He stopped himself from taking that thought any further. He wanted much more than sex with Max. He’d blown it once, and he wasn’t going to blow it again.
She lifted her face, and their eyes connected like metal to magnet. The air sizzled and popped as he crossed the dance floor, eating up the space between them. He ignored the gyrating bodies and seductive glances from women. The only woman he wanted was right there in front of him, and he never took his eyes off her, afraid if he did, she might not be there when he looked again.
She held a drink between her hands, her gaze flitting nervously away, then skittering back again as he approached. She was breathing harder, and she bit her lower lip. His body heated up when she released her lip and ran her tongue along the corner of her mouth, exhaling a ragged breath. He remembered those ragged, nervous breaths as they lay on the sand kissing, their hands roaming over each other’s bodies.
Two more steps and he’d be close enough to touch her. In the next breath her sweet scent permeated his senses. His body thrummed as memories of their steamy night came rushing back. It had been years since Treat had spent time only kissing a woman, and with Max, he’d wanted to savor every second. It had been enough all those weeks ago. At least it had been when he’d imagined they’d have many more nights to find their way to darker pleasures.
“Hello, Max.”
She didn’t lower her eyes in the tentative way she had in Nassau. Her eyes narrowed enticingly behind her red-framed glasses. He drank in her revealing dress. It hugged her curves, plunging so deeply between her breasts it made him want to taste every inch of her from her neck to her belly button, and then take his time devouring the rest of her until she was out of her mind with desire.
“Treat,” she said with a sultry tone, her gaze moving seductively down his body. She sipped her drink, then licked her lips, holding his stare. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
What happened to the shy girl who couldn’t hold my gaze?
He had adored the careful woman he’d spent time with in Nassau. She’d been a refreshing change to the women he was used to being with, but the hungry look in Max’s eyes, and seeing her sweetness all sexed up, made him want to forget his good intentions.
“My brother had extra tickets. I came with Savannah.”
She looked around the room. “Savannah’s here?”
“She’s mingling.” He stepped closer, enjoying the hitch in her breathing, the darkening of her eyes. Wearing that delectable dress and with the way she was visually devouring him, she was begging to be touched. Several weeks was a long time to think about a woman. An even longer time to refuse himself anyone else. “I don’t want to talk about who I came with or why I’m here. I’d much rather talk about us.”
She inhaled another uneven breath, revealing a hint of the woman he’d known. She quickly wiped away that image by boldly running her finger down his chest. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Man, she was killing him. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her right then and there until all that nonsense from Nassau was forgotten.
She tugged his tie playfully, and Treat swore it had a direct line south.
She looked up, her eyes suddenly innocent again, making him want to take her in his arms to protect her and love her at once.
TREAT BRADEN HAD the conflicting effects of a tornado on Max by first knocking the strength from her knees, then gathering her into the center of the storm and buffering her from everything else. That’s how he’d made her feel that night in Nassau. After sweeping her off her feet, he made her his sole focus, and she felt safe and special, like she could let her guard down. She couldn’t afford to be knocked off-balance by him again with so much riding on her shoulders. She straightened her spine, forcing herself back into the sexy-girl persona she’d momentarily slipped out of. She’d liked the way she’d felt seconds earlier, so different from her normal self—from the seductive glances to the words that expertly slipped off her tongue. The minute their eyes had connected, she’d known it was now or never, and she still couldn’t believe she was pulling off all the things Kaylie had suggested. And they were working! He was putty in her hands. The problem was, she would be putty in his the minute the tables turned. But when she was in that powerful position, she could almost pretend they didn’t have anything to overcome, that Ryan hadn’t ruined her for all men and her painful past didn’t exist.
She’d planned on finding a stranger to distract her from thoughts of Treat, but now that he was right there before her, she knew a stranger wasn’t the answer.
There was no forgetting Treat Braden.
In this new, daring headspace she possessed, she didn’t want to hold back. Treat took her drink and set it, along with his, on a table, and without a word, he placed his hand on her lower back and led her to the dance floor. In the next breath she was in his arms, desire washing over her as she sank into his broad, hard frame. The scent of musk and spice with undertones of virility embraced her. He was more refined than any man she’d ever met, the perfect blend of sensitivity and strength. He put all other men to shame. How could he have thought she’d leave his arms and race into the bed of another man?
“You wouldn’t listen before,” he said into her ear, “but you need to hear me now. I was wrong to look at you the way I did in Nassau.”
Max held her breath. She’d spent the last several weeks as consumed with Treat as she was with the way he’d looked at her that night.
“After spending that incredible evening together, I wanted to be the guy you were with. I wanted to be yours and for you to be mine. It didn’t matter that we hadn’t slept together, or that we’d known each other only by phone for months before finally landing in each other’s arms.”
He gazed into her eyes, and the honesty and emotions she saw made her heart tumble.
“Max, when I saw you with Justin that next morning, wearing the same clothes you’d had on when we were together the night before, I assumed you’d spent the night with him, and I realized I’d lost my chance. You saw an ugly, jealous, petty side of me that I haven’t felt since college, and I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”
“Since college?” slipped out before she could stop it.
His jaw clenched and his hand slid up her back, keeping her close. “It’s embarrassing to admit, but when I was in college, my brother Dane came to visit and he slept with my girlfriend.”
How was it possible for them to have so much in common that they were both hurt at the same time in their lives? “Oh my gosh, Treat. That’s awful.”
“It was not fun,” he said, half laughing, half scoffing, but the truth shone in his soulful eyes. “It took a long time for Dane and me to move past that. But, Max, I wasn’t your boyfriend. I had no claim on you, no right to look at you or judge you.”
“Exactly,” she said too sharply.
“I let my pain guide me, and I never should have. I’ve regretted it since the very second I saw the hurt in your eyes. I didn’t know what to do with the magnitude of emotions I was feeling. There’s no excuse for what I did, and if you’ll let me, I’d like to try to make it up to you.”
“I should have accepted your apology earlier today. I’m sorry I was too overwhelmed to think straight.” Her heart ached for both of them. “I had a horrible experience in college, too. A boyfriend I trusted and thought I loved changed radically and really hurt me. When you gave me that look, it brought all that fear rushing back. If you had done that to any other woman, she probably would have chased you and explained, but I was too scared to put myself in that position again.”
“Max, I…” He held her tighter, crushing her to him, and when he drew back again, his eyes were as fierce as they were loving. “I will never, ever put you in that position again.”
“Thank you, but you also need to know that I didn’t sleep with Justin.”
His brows knitted. “Max, I might have acted like an idiot, but you don’t have to try to make me feel better. We’re both adults. We both have pasts.”
If he only knew the truth. “I’m afraid my sexual past isn’t very exciting. The truth is, just as it was for you in Nassau that morning, my heart was controlling everything in me. And my heart wanted you. After we said good night I went up to my room alone, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you, so I went down to the beach to look for you. When I didn’t find you there, I checked the bar, the restaurant, everywhere…I finally gave up looking, and I went back out to where we’d sat by the water, and it was there that I met Justin, and we talked.”
As she gazed into his eyes, feeling the vibrations of the music, vaguely aware of couples dancing around them, she thought about how she’d wished it was Treat she’d been talking with that night by the water. “We talked about you and the way you’d turned my heart inside out. I never told him who I was talking about, but he was a good listener. He was kind, and he had just come off a bad relationship. He said we gave him hope that he could find someone special one day, too. I didn’t sleep with him, Treat. The kiss you saw him give me by the elevator was on my cheek, and it was a thank-you kiss. He was a filler. He filled the gap you had created.”
“I probably shouldn’t feel the amount of relief I do over that.” He touched his forehead to hers and said, “I’ve been thinking about you for so long. I’ve tried to put you out of my mind, but I can’t, Max. And I no longer want to try.”
His gaze moved over the crowded room, and then his smoldering eyes landed on her again, and her heart went a little crazy.
“Let’s get out of here,” he suggested.
As he guided her toward the exit, she became aware of envious glances from other women. She lifted her chin, proud to be with him. Even more so no
w that they’d cleared the air. Her pulse spiked as she thought about what it would feel like to kiss him again, to have his hands on her bare skin.
When they stepped through the doors and into the cool night air, Max crossed her arms against the chill. She’d been in such a hurry to go to Kaylie’s, she’d forgotten to bring a jacket. Treat gathered her in his arms again. He felt safe and warm, and the way he was looking at her sent her mind reeling.
“I want to take you someplace special.” The sensuousness of his tone mixed with the seductive glimmer in his eyes, sending shivers down her spine.
The valet brought his SUV, and Treat helped her into her seat and then settled in behind the wheel. She nervously rubbed the goose bumps from her arms.
“Let me warm you up,” he said with a husky tone.
She licked her lips, readying for the kiss she’d been craving. And, boy, was she ready. His arm stretched across her, bringing his magnificent lips a whisper away from hers. She slowed her breathing, her lips parted in anticipation, and he pushed a button on her door.
“Heated seats,” he said as he sat back in his seat.
Max thought her heart might explode. Really? I should have leaned in and taken the kiss. Next time…
He reached for her hand, squeezing it gently as he leaned closer and said, “Ready, beautiful?”
Ready? Was he kidding? The way her heart raced and her mind played with thoughts of kissing him, she didn’t know if she’d ever be ready for the whirlwind Treat caused inside her, but she sure as heck wanted to try.
Chapter Seven
TREAT SENT A quick text, and fifteen minutes later they were in a dark, nearly empty parking lot. He shifted mischievous eyes to Max and said, “Be right back, sweetness.”
Sweetness. That’s what he’d called her in Nassau.
He left the engine running, and Max watched as he strode toward another SUV. A tall man stepped out, and the two men disappeared behind the vehicle. She didn’t know what was going on, but it made Treat even more mysterious. She played with ideas that made her laugh about the clandestine meeting, picturing him as a drug lord or a mobster, neither of which could be true. But the amusement helped ease her nerves.
Lovers at Heart, Reimagined (The Bradens) Page 4