He took a slow, deep drag and flicked the joint into the gravel. He caught her outstretched arm and pulled her onto his lap, pressing his mouth against hers as he exhaled. Her protests quickly turned into sighs as she inhaled deeply, returning his kiss. Too bad this would have to end so badly for her, but he couldn’t risk her showing up later and ruining everything.
***
Olivia was physically and mentally exhausted by the time her last class ended. She went straight home despite Ashley’s several calls trying to persuade her to go to Morgan’s party. Morgan and Olivia hung in the same circles, but she was really more Ashley’s friend than hers. She wasn’t particularly fond of Morgan, and honestly, she felt too exhausted to fake it tonight. Olivia bowed out, promising Ashley a girls’ night in return for her understanding.
She hoped Max would come by tonight. He’d have some explaining to do if he did. Olivia glared at the paper bag with the incriminating napkin inside. She rehearsed what she planned to say to him as she drove home, and was still working on a good ass chewing when she pulled into the driveway.
Max’s Harley was parked beside her dad’s car. Her stomach tightened in a knot. He sat on the wooden swing in her front yard, watching her as she approached. He looked…almost happy. She’d never seen him quite so cheerful before. Broody and melancholy always seemed to be his emotions of choice. Seeing him like this almost made her want to wait to bring up the napkin—almost.
He scooted over and patted the seat beside him, “Hey, babe.”
“Hey.”
Max slung his arm over her shoulder and pulled her into the side of his chest. His fingers casually traced the bare skin of her arm. His eyebrow arched curiously. “What’s the matter, Liv? You look upset.”
“What did you do today, Max?”
He stiffened against her. The knot in her stomach suddenly became a sharp, stabbing pain of betrayal. He’s guilty of something.
“Why do you ask?” His tone sounded suspiciously guarded.
Olivia swallowed past the lump in her throat, trying to keep her voice from cracking, “Oh, I don’t know, I was just wondering if maybe you called Amanda for a good time?” She grabbed the crinkled up napkin out of the bag and tossed it in Max’s lap.
“What are you talking about?” He picked it up and unwrapped the incriminating evidence. She watched his reaction as he read the note, and the corner of his lip quirked up in a smile that could possibly have been a sneer. Certainly not the reaction she’d been expecting. He took a deep breath and let out an exasperated sigh. Her heart pounded in her ears, her body tensed, waiting for Max’s confession of guilt.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Liv. I don’t know anyone named Amanda.” His tone implied boredom. He handed the napkin back to her. “Besides, the only good time I want to have is with you,” he murmured softly, nuzzling the side of her neck. “I think it’s kind of sexy that you’re jealous though. It shows me how much you care.” He kissed her cheek, and she leaned away, pulling out of his embrace, not yet convinced of his innocence.
He sighed again, this time impatience edged into his huff. “Seriously, Liv? Think about it. If I was cheating on you, do you really think I’d leave the girl’s name and number on a napkin for you to find? Give me a little credit will ya? I’m not that stupid.”
That was a good point, and she didn’t have any other evidence that he’d been unfaithful. Maybe she’d jumped to conclusions? He obviously didn’t know the napkin was in there or he would have taken it out.
“I’m sorry I didn’t trust you, Max. It’s just…I know you want more from this relationship than I’m physically willing to give right now. So when other girls put themselves out there like that, it makes me wonder if maybe they’re more of what you’re looking for.”
“You’re what I’m looking for, Liv. That’s why I’m here. Hey, why don’t we do something tomorrow? Whatever you want.”
“Whatever I want, huh? How about you come to church with me tomorrow morning?”
“Except that.”
“You know you might actually like it if you’d just give it a chance.”
“I’m pretty sure not. Been there, done that once. It’s not for me. But I can think of something you might actually like if you’d just give it a chance…” He pulled her closer. The moist heat of his tongue slowly traced up the side of her neck, sending her pulse kicking inside her chest. If she didn’t do something to stop him now, she might not have the willpower later.
Olivia bolted out of the swing. “I need to get inside. Let’s do something tomorrow afternoon. I’ll call you when I get home from church.”
“I actually gotta get going too. I just wanted to stop by and see how your day went.” He stood up and brushed a kiss against her lips. “See ya later.”
“Goodnight.” She stood there watching him as he walked away. The muscles of his broad back outlined through the thin fabric of his t-shirt, and his jeans sat low on his narrow tapered waste. He tipped his bike upright and threw his leg over the seat. With the downward thrust of his booted heel, the bike roared to life, and he walked it backward down her driveway. The engine revved as he goosed the throttle, sending the bike lurching forward. In less than a second, he was out of her sight.
Olivia sighed heavily and sat back down on the swing, not yet ready to go inside. Why did the thought of having sex with Max make her so nervous? She loved him—right? And wasn’t that the normal progression of a relationship? Maybe the problem wasn’t him as much as it was her. Why was she so resistant to him?
As she sat there amid the serenade of bullfrogs and crickets, pondering issues of intimacy with Max, her thoughts unexpectedly turned to Liam. She replayed their brief conversation at the gym today. Guilt edged into her conscience, making her feel bad she’d been so rude to him. It wasn’t like her to be so nasty. None of it had been his fault. She ran into him, too upset over Max to pay any attention to where she’d been going. He expressed genuine concern for her, and his touch…Wow. It affected her more strongly than she cared to admit. Maybe that explained why she’d snapped at him. She’d been emotional and overwhelmed by his touch, letting the first thing that came to mind fly out of her mouth, desperate to put some distance between them. Unfortunately, she’d been a real bitch in doing so. The weight of regret pressed down on her. She decided to apologize the next time she saw him, if she ever saw him again.
She stood up from the swing and crept inside the house, careful not to wake her parents.
The floorboards creaked under foot as she tiptoed into her bedroom. She silently closed her door and walked over to her dresser, pulling out a red thigh-length spaghetti-strapped nightgown. She undressed and climbed into bed, but sleep eluded her. She couldn’t get Max or Liam out of her thoughts. Sometime in the middle of the night, she finally drifted off into a restless, dream-filled slumber.
Morning came much too early. She awoke to the thwack of a bird slamming into her bedroom window. Olivia bolted upright, her heart slamming in her chest. She glanced over at the alarm clock and muttered a curse. It was nine o’clock—she’d overslept, and church started in less than thirty minutes.
Olivia scrambled out of bed and ran over to her closet. She grabbed a pair of black low-rise dress pants and a teal blue chiffon short-sleeve top. She hurried into the bathroom, jumped in and out of the shower in record time, and threw on her clothes, grabbing a blue hair clip out of the drawer on her way out.
She fastened her hair in a twist as she ran down the stairs, pausing at the closet to slip on a pair of black sandals. She grabbed her keys off the hook by the front door and jumped into the Jeep. With less than two minutes to spare, she slid into the back pew.
The hour flew by. Anxious to avoid the crowd of people coming and going, she slipped out the side door. She glanced to her left before stepping into the parking lot and saw Liam walking toward the building, the friend he’d been at the gym with yesterday by his side. She stepped back into the shadows and plastered back
against the brick wall. She peeked around the corner and watched them as they walked up to the front doors. They were deep in conversation, laughing and smiling about something. Her pulse unexpectedly quickened. His beautiful smile was disarming—captivating. He’s so beautiful.
She mentally shook herself. Stop it! This was the third time in three days she’d seen this stranger. Wasn’t that a little odd? Evercrest wasn’t a small town by any means, and wasn’t it peculiar that a guy she met in Clearwater kept showing up here in a town thirty minutes away? He didn’t see her now, or so she thought, so he must not be stalking her, which was a relief. After he’d shown up at the gym yesterday, she’d started to wonder. The fact that he came to church on his own accord was another good sign she wouldn’t end up on the ten o’clock news any time soon. Olivia waited for them to enter the building before stepping into the parking lot.
She stopped at the grocery store on her way home to pick up the fixings for manicotti—one of her parents’ favorite meals. They were visiting Grandma today, and that didn’t always go well. She wanted to surprise them with a nice supper when they got home. Olivia quickly grabbed the items she needed and stood in the shortest line she could find.
“It’s just so frightening,” the lady standing in front of her said to the cashier. “Her car is still at Karen’s Bagel Shop where she works. Her parents called the police when she didn’t come home last night.”
Olivia’s ears perked up. Is someone missing?
“Who would think that here, in Evercrest, you wouldn’t be safe? I know I’m not walking out to my car alone anymore,” the cashier said with a worried frown on her face. “Karen’s is just a mile up the road.”
“The police can’t find any sign of a struggle, but she hasn’t called or spoken to any of her friends. It’s like the poor girl just vanished.”
A chill shot up her spine. The thought of someone being abducted in this town—her home—terrified her.
The gossiping lady grabbed her grocery bags and waved good-bye to the cashier. Olivia put her basket up on the conveyer belt, and the cashier smiled warmly at her.
“Good morning,” she greeted, running the items over the scanner, placing them in a bag.
Olivia replied in kind to the woman as she paid her, and quickly grabbed her bag of groceries. She drove home, still troubled over the disturbing news about the missing girl. How could someone do something so horrible to another person? She pulled into the driveway, grabbed the bag out of the back seat, carried the groceries into the kitchen, and began putting them away.
She thought about calling Max and inviting him over for supper, but she still hadn’t started on her Spanish assignment that was due tomorrow. He probably wouldn’t let her get any work done if he came over.
Olivia stood on her tiptoes, reaching up to the top shelf of the cupboard, struggling to put a box of shells away, when she felt a hand suddenly reach around, pressing flat against her stomach while the other took the box from her, sliding it on the top shelf.
A rush of adrenaline flooded her veins and she let out a terrified scream, spinning around to face the person behind her. She didn’t have time to see who grabbed her, because a pair of lips came crashing down on hers. She struggled against her assailant, when his smoky scent suddenly hit her.
“Max!” she yelled, hitting him in the shoulder. “What the hell are you doing? You scared the crap out of me! Don’t you ever knock?”
“Your door was open. You must not have shut it all the way.”
“Still, sneaking up on me like that? I almost had a heart attack!”
Max gave her a devilish smile, “Come on now, Liv. I think you’re being a bit dramatic.”
“Oh, am I? Maybe that’s because there’s a girl missing, and that has me a bit freaked out. Not to mention you just crept up and attacked me!”
“There’s a girl missing?”
“Yeah, can you believe it? Everyone in town is talking about it. I guess she worked at Karen’s Bagel Shop or something.”
“That’s terrible. When did that happen?”
“Yesterday, I guess. She didn’t come home last night. Her car is still parked at the bagel shop.”
“Geeze, how awful. Do the police have any idea what happened?”
“I don’t know. I only heard part of the story when I was standing in line at the grocery store.”
“Wow, that’s a shame. I guess no place is safe anymore.”
“No, it isn’t. So no more sneak attacks, okay?”
A roguish smile spread across his face as he pulled her into his arms, sliding his hands up the back of her shirt. “Well, how about a full-frontal assault then?”
“How about helping me study for Spanish?” she countered, gently pushing against his arms. “Just because you’re fluent, it doesn’t mean the rest of us are,” she teased, grabbing his hand and leading him upstairs.
“Max,” Olivia complained, pushing him away for the fourth time. “I have to study. Now, are you going to help me or not?” She gave him a pleading smile.
He sighed heavily in surrender and grabbed her Spanish book, turning it around to face him. “Write this down. Mi novio es una bestia sexy.”
Olivia gasped. “That’s not funny, Max! What if I actually said that?”
Max laughed, something he rarely did.
“Senora would fail me for sure!” She cringed just picturing the look on Senora’s face when she told the class her boyfriend was a sexy beast.
“You’d be telling the truth,” he whispered huskily, leaning in to kiss her.
She resisted the temptation to give in. His lips felt so good against hers, he obviously had a lot of experience in the kissing department. Unfortunately, that probably wasn’t where his skills ended, and it was getting harder and harder to resist the temptation.
The front door slammed shut, and Olivia jumped. She scrambled off her bed, grateful for the interruption. “Mom, Dad, is that you?”
“Yeah, honey, we’re home early.”
“I picked up some manicotti fixings for supper tonight.”
“That sounds great. You want some help putting it together?”
“Sure, I’ll be down in a minute.”
He climbed off her bed, “I’m going to take off, Liv.”
“You sure? I was hoping you’d stay for supper.”
“Yeah, I got some stuff I gotta get done before tomorrow. I’ll see you in the morning.” Max pulled her in for one last soft lingering kiss that left her with a subtle ache in the pit of her stomach. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear. His breath brushed against the side of her neck, sending goose bumps shivering down her arms.
Chapter Seven
Olivia slammed her Spanish book closed when the rumble of Max’s Harley called to her from the open window. He hated to be kept waiting. She shoved her book inside her backpack and ran down the stairs, kissing her dad’s cheek on the way out. “See ya later, Dad.”
She bolted out the front door and ran into a solid wall of muscle. A pair of strong arms steadied her and a wave of déjà vu kicked her in the gut, only this time when she looked up, it wasn’t a pair of violet eyes staring down at her. “Max—”
“Hey there, where’s the fire?” he teased, circling his hands around her waist as he pulled her in for a quick kiss.
Well, this is certainly a pleasant change. Something soft brushed against her leg, and she looked down to see a ball of white fur scurry past her.
“Andre!” Olivia shoved her bag into Max’s chest and pushed past him to chase after her cat.
“Andre! You naughty cat, get back in that house!”
The cat stood in the grass, frozen in fear, waiting expectantly for Olivia to rescue him. She scooped him up, tucking the cat into the corner of her arm. He let out a grateful “Meow” in response to her scolding and immediately began purring. She nuzzled him a second before depositing him back through the front door, shutting it tightly behind her.
“Thanks.” Olivia grabbed her
bag from Max and pulled the shoulder strap over her head. She reached up and kissed his cheek. “Come on, we’re going to be late,” she called, jogging over to the Harley.
***
“Are you nervous?”
“Hardly,” Liam scoffed, running his fingers through his hair, styling it in the trendy GQ fashion he’d seen in the magazines Balen so helpfully acquired for him. He’d also returned with bags of clothes, making some teasing comment about Liam needing all the help he could get.
In the end, he opted for jeans and a t-shirt, telling Balen the plan was to blend in, not pose for the magazine’s next cover shoot. Balen told him he’d stand out in a crowd no matter what he wore, asking him how many six-four, two-twenty pound guys did he think went to that school?
Well, more than one—hopefully.
“I’m telling you, it’s going to be brutal in there. I’ve heard stories.”
“Balen—” Liam sighed in exasperation. “If I can do battle in the armies of Heaven, I can surely survive this.”
Balen gave him a look that said he wasn’t so sure, and patted his back as if to say “It was nice knowin’ ya’.”
“Let me know if you need backup,” he smiled, getting one more jab in before becoming serious. “Do you have a plan yet? About the girl, I mean?”
“Not really. I’ve got some ground to catch up on since she thinks I tried to beat up her boyfriend.”
“He’s manipulative. You’re going to have a bit of a learning curve here on this one. Not many people are wise enough to realize that things are rarely as they seem. Max is deceptive. It’s your job to make her see that.”
He grabbed his keys off the counter and walked toward the door, pausing long enough to say, “Thanks for the pep talk.”
“I see you’ve already become well accustomed to sarcasm,” Balen retorted. “Too bad your humor is lost on me.”
Liam pulled the door closed behind him, doubting very much that it was. He climbed into the driver’s seat of his jet-black Camaro and turned the key in the ignition. The engine rumbled to life and he drove his foot into the accelerator, sending the tires skipping across the pavement as the Camaro fishtailed down the road.
The Redemption Series Page 5