But a part of him didn’t want to feel beholden to anyone in Savannah, not even to Maxi. Sharing space with her was dangerous territory. That was the main reason he wanted her out of his cabin. Around Maxi he would need every ounce of his mental faculties. She had a way of making him not think straight. She had a way of making him remember things best left forgotten.
His thoughts were interrupted when the bartender returned with his drink. “Is there anything else I can get for you, sir?”
“No, this will be it.” Christopher rolled his shoulders, aware of his tense muscles and wondering if he would get the relaxation on this cruise that he’d been counting on. For some reason he didn’t think so.
Maxi groaned upon waking, accepting ruefully that she had not dreamed the entire thing and that a mix-up in the ship’s computer had her and Christopher sharing a cabin…at least for the time being. Hopefully, he was getting the matter resolved and the ship would be able to accommodate her elsewhere.
She stretched, wondering how long she’d slept. Whatever medication the ship’s doctor had given her had certainly worked. She was feeling much better. Getting out of bed she went into the bathroom to wash out her mouth and brush her teeth, knowing doing both would make her feel even better.
Standing in front of the mirror she caught her reflection and thought of the situation she was presently in. Christopher Chandler. She shook her head incredulously. Of all people. But what she’d told him earlier had been true. She had been glad to see him and was glad he came. She hoped and prayed that during the last ten years their fellow classmates had matured, faced a few of life’s challenges of their own, and were beyond holding anything against Christopher because of his less than humble beginnings.
She frowned. She knew for a fact that Ronald Swindel hadn’t changed. He was still the egotistical jerk he’d been ten years ago, and even after three wives he still tried coming on to her whenever she ran into him in town. For some reason someone had fed him the lie that he was God’s gift to women and he believed it. As a police officer he made it a point whenever he was in the vicinity of the university just to drop by and flirt with her when he could catch her in between classes. It had gotten to the point where she would dodge him whenever she saw him coming. He was intent on being the man to replace Jason in her life and had told her so on more than one occasion. What he refused to accept was that even if she was ready for anyone to replace Jason he would not be her top pick. The one thing she dreaded about this cruise was the fact that Ronald was somewhere on board. She knew it was highly unlikely their paths would not cross since they were scheduled to attend the same functions.
Maxi’s current avenue of thoughts was interrupted with the ringing of the phone. Leaving the bathroom she moved across the cabin to answer it. “Yes?”
“Maxi, hi, this is Mya.”
Maxi’s face broke into a wide smile. “Mya, hey girl. It’s good hearing your voice. It’s been too long. How have you been?”
“I’ve been doing fine.”
“And how are Garrett and the boys?”
“They’re fine, too.”
“Are you and Garrett all settled into your cabin?”
“Yeah, just about. What about you?”
“There’s been a mix-up with my roommate assignment but I’m hoping the matter is cleared up soon.” She decided not to tell Mya that she and Christopher Chandler had been assigned the same cabin by mistake. Being her best friend in high school, Mya had known about her infatuation with him during their senior year.
“If things aren’t cleared up you can always stay here in the cabin with me and Garrett. We have a suite so it’s plenty big enough.”
“Thanks but I refuse to impose on the two of you. Things will work themselves out. Are you and Garrett going to the welcome reception tonight?”
“Yes, you?”
“Yes, now that my bout with motion sickness has passed.”
“Garrett and I have decided to stay in and order dinner in our cabin. How about if the three of us meet on the upper deck to chat before the reception starts? Let’s say thirty minutes before.”
“Sounds like a wonderful idea. I’ll see you then.”
“All right. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Same here.”
As soon as Maxi hung up the phone there was a soft knock on the cabin door just seconds before it opened and Christopher walked in. Her breath caught in her throat. Now that she was feeling better and could see more clearly, the hard jolt of seeing him hit her. He was an imposing figure, but not an intimidating one and was even more handsome than she’d thought earlier. She actually felt herself feeling weak in the knees and her jaw went slack. His sable brown coloring brought everything about him into focus. His cheekbones were sharply defined and made his mouth all the more fascinating and provocative. His eyes were deep, dark, riveting. And his nose was decisively masculine and blended well with the strength of his jawbone. The combination of all his features reflected his African-American heritage and was totally male. She tried to downplay the quivering tension that began coiling in her stomach.
For years after he had left town she’d fantasized about him returning and how she would react if she were to accidentally bump into him one day on the streets of Savannah. But as time went by she knew he would never return and had accepted as much. She’d often wondered if he had remembered anything about the six weeks that they had spent working close together, sharing dreams and becoming what she had considered as friends. But when he’d left town without saying goodbye and never hearing from him again, she had accepted that the brief friendship they’d shared had meant everything to her but nothing to him.
Christopher paused as he stood in the doorway, studying Maxi as intently as she was studying him. Again he wasn’t prepared for the sight of her. Earlier when he’d seen her, her features had been flushed from motion sickness. But now it was obvious that she was feeling better. Her face had a healthy glow. Her chocolate-brown features were clear, radiant, sculpted perfectly, and more beautiful than ever before. Maxine Chandler had grown up to be quite a looker.
Gone was the long, wavy hair that used to fan her shoulders. Her hair was cut short in a style that boasted sass and sophistication. And over the years her slender hips had filled out with nice womanly curves. He drew in a deep, steadying breath. His attraction to her was stronger than it had ever been before. He thought that was strange since ten years had passed since they had spent any time together. And during those ten years he had met and dated countless other women, but he’d never had to get a firm grip on himself or his emotions for any of them. As far as he was concerned, they were easy come, easy lay, easy go. Therefore, nothing could have prepared him for the emotions that were spiraling through him now. Emotions he’d thought a glass of brandy would straighten out. He hadn’t been tormented with thoughts of Maxi for a good five years now. At least not since Mr. Thompson had written to tell him that Maxi had gotten engaged. Evidently something had happened since she was still using her maiden name and there wasn’t a wedding band on her finger. Had she gotten a divorce?
He hoped not. In his opinion she was a woman who should be happily married. All she had ever talked about during those six weeks when they weren’t working on the project was getting married and having babies. At the time he had thought that she deserved a man who could give her everything she wanted. A man who was solid, tender, loving, and respectable. Everything that he wasn’t. That stark, cold realization was one of the reasons he’d known he had to leave Savannah. Not only to pursue his dreams but to put as much distance between him and the one woman he’d always wanted and could not claim as his.
Finally closing the door behind him he entered the cabin. He took a tentative step toward her then stopped at what he considered was a safe distance between them. He couldn’t allow what he’d felt upon opening the door and seeing her get next to him. However, as much as he wanted to deny the possibility, as much as he resented the fact, it seemed that
fate had intervened and they were in trouble.
Deep trouble.
He decided the best way to deal with it was to make her aware of that fact as well.
“We have a problem, Maxi,” he murmured finally.
CHAPTER NINE
Maxi’s chest rose and fell with each labored breath as she met Christopher’s unwavering gaze. Inwardly, she told herself that her attraction to him wasn’t such a big deal. After all, she had lusted after him during her entire senior year of high school, probably even before then, but he’d never paid her any attention. However, what she couldn’t dismiss was her sudden feeling of vulnerability. To be this attracted to a man you hadn’t seen in over ten years couldn’t be normal. And to make matters worse, she couldn’t ever think of a time with Jason that he’d made her feel this tense to the point where she ached with an emptiness she hadn’t known existed. As far as her encounter with Dr. Reginald Tanner, and any other men she’d dated since Jason’s death, whatever attraction she’d felt for them didn’t compare to the attraction she was feeling now for Christopher.
Several seconds ticked by before she realized she hadn’t given Christopher a response to his statement. Wrinkling her brow, “What’s the problem?” she asked in a voice that didn’t even sound like her own.
Christopher paused before saying anything when he sensed her uneasiness and nervousness. For a quick moment he wondered if he had been wrong about her. Had she been putting on a front all those years when she’d acted like she hadn’t been afraid of him? Had she believed all those stories that had circulated around school about him that had been more fiction than fact? Had she thought he’d been nothing but a shiftless thug like everyone else did? There was only one way to find out.
“According to the ship’s director there aren’t any more cabins. So it looks like you and I are it,” he responded in a clipped tone.
Maxi lifted her brow. “What do you mean we’re it?”
“Just what I said. The ship can’t correct their screw-up which means you and I will have to share the cabin.” He continued to watch her intently. “Unless you know of someone you can move in with for seven days.”
Maxi released a deep sigh as she wrapped her arms around her body, clasping her elbows. “Mya and Garrett. You remember them don’t you?”
At his slow nod, she continued. “They have a suite and Mya indicated it’s big enough for another person but I don’t want to intrude on them. But then I don’t want to intrude on you either.”
Christopher’s eyes widened just a fraction. “You’re concerned about intruding on me?”
“Of course. You evidently intended to spend time on this cruise alone, otherwise you would have gotten a cabinmate. The rates are certainly cheaper doing so.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “And that’s the only reason you wouldn’t share a cabin with me because you think you’d be intruding?”
Maxi shrugged. “I’m not sure. Are you married?”
“No.”
“Engaged?”
“No.”
“Wanted by the police for any reason?”
Christopher lifted a brow. “No.”
“Okay, now I’m sure. My not wanting to intrude would be the only reason.”
Christopher shook his head, not sure whether to believe her or not. He decided not to. He took a step forward and grabbed her shoulders. “Tell me the truth,” he said, gritting the words through clenched teeth. “Admit the reason you wouldn’t think of sharing this cabin with me is because you’re afraid of me. After all, I was scum in school. What makes you think I’m any different now?”
Christopher felt a hard fist punch him in the gut, literally knocking the air out of him. He released Maxi immediately. “Why the hell did you do that for?” he barely got out through his lungs.
Maxi took a step forward and got all into his face. Her eyes flashed in anger. “Because you’ve never acted like an ass around me before, and I would appreciate if you didn’t start acting like one now. The very idea that I’m afraid of you is ludicrous, Christopher Chandler.”
Christopher shook his head. This was a side of Maxi Chandler he’d never seen. Around him she’d always been sweet, meek, and mild. She certainly never went around punching guys in the stomach when they got her pissed off about something. “And why is it ludicrous?”
“Because it is.”
“Why?”
Instead of answering Maxi took a step back and gave them space. However, it was space Christopher didn’t intend for them to have. He took a step forward and stood directly in front of her. “Why is it ludicrous, Maxi?”
Maxi’s lips parted slightly on an indrawn breath, filled with apprehension. The tables had been turned. Now he was all in her face—eyeball to eyeball.
“Answer me and I want the truth,” he said, his eyes darkening just a fraction as he stared at her.
“Because,” Maxi snapped, reaching what she felt as her limit with him. “I know you would never hurt me or take advantage of me. So why should I be afraid of you?”
Christopher paused for a moment. Maxi’s voice had been filled with such conviction that he became edgy with the notion that anyone thought they knew him that well, especially someone who hadn’t seen him in ten years. “You don’t know me, Maxi. For all you know I may not be the same person. I could be a rapist, an axe-murderer, a con-man, or a—”
“I asked if you were wanted by the police didn’t I?” she asked, spitting mad as her brown eyes flared with mesmerizing intensity.
Christopher’s jaw twitched in anger. Totally frustrated, he dragged his hand across his face. Did she actually believe he would have admitted to having a criminal record even if he had one? He then shook his head. “Are you this trusting with everyone?”
“Only with people I know,” she responded easily.
His eyes narrowed. “And you think you know me?”
Hers narrowed right back. “Yes.”
His gaze held hers. She was right. She did know him. Even after ten years she could still see beyond his outward appearance and look deep within, right into his very soul. That was something no one else had ever done or had ever tried doing. In their senior year of high school, she had discovered more about him than people who’d known him all his life, because she hadn’t been judge, jury, and hangman. Instead she had offered him something no one else had—friendship. Whether she knew it or not, during the time they had spent working close together, she’d become the closest thing to a best friend he’d had before Gabe. And that was the main reason he’d left Savannah. He had wanted more than just her friendship and had known he hadn’t deserved to even think of anything more.
“Ten years is a long time,” he finally said. “I could have changed, Maxi.”
She refused to buckle to the intensity of his stare. “You have changed, Christopher. Everyone changes with time. But with some things we remain the same. You haven’t changed in the ways I believe count the most.”
“How can you be so sure?”
A part of Maxi was getting fed up with his line of questioning. Although she knew he wasn’t the same person she had fallen hard for in their senior year of high school, like she’d told him, there were certain things about him that were the same. “For one reason, because of the way you handled me earlier, when I was sick. You could have been rude to me but you weren’t. And I know the only reason you weren’t was because even after ten years you still consider me a friend. Right?”
Christopher knew that he could tell her she was wrong and end her goody-goody-two-shoes beliefs about him then and there. But what good would that do when she was right? In fact she didn’t know just how right she was. He would never, ever hurt one single strand of hair on Maxine Chandler’s head and he wouldn’t stand by and let someone else do it either.
“Right, Christopher?” Maxi repeated.
He crossed his arms over his chest and gazed down at her. “I’m not sure. Are you married?”
She lifted a brow. “No.”
“Engaged?”
He knew he had asked the wrong question when faint lines of pain appeared around her eyes and mouth. “Not anymore. Jason was killed by a drunk driver a week before our wedding,” she said softly.
He said nothing for a few moments because frankly he didn’t know what to say. The man she had planned to marry had died a week before doing so. For that reason, and that reason alone he didn’t really feel bad because a part of him was still possessive where Maxi was concerned. But then again, by losing the man she intended to marry evidently set her back with having the family she’d always wanted. And because he knew just how much having a husband and children meant to her, for that reason alone he was sorry for her loss. “I’m sorry. That must have been hard on you.”
“Yes, it was,” she said softly. “But it happened four years ago. Jason was a very special person. You would have liked him.”
Christopher shrugged. He doubted it but decided not to tell her that. He knew for a fact he would not have liked any man Maxi had loved enough to share her life with forever. “So, are you wanted by the police for any reason?” he asked.
Maxi blinked at the abrupt change back to their earlier topic of conversation. He was interrogating her like she had done him earlier. After concentrating on his question she thought about Ronald Swindel. “Yes, I’m wanted by the police but not the way you think.”
He lifted a dark brow. “Is there any other way?”
“Yes. Ronald Swindel, remember him? He’s a police officer and for some reason he’s envisioned the two of us having a future together,” she said smiling faintly.
Christopher frowned. “Don’t tell me he’s still sniffing behind you like he used to.”
Perfect Timing Page 6