Fixed up in February (Spring River Valley Book 2) (4 page)

Max watched her for a moment. With her head back and her eyes closed, she was exquisite. Every line and curve of her face was gorgeous. He’d have to remember to thank the guy with the burst appendix. His loss was Max’s gain.

“You’re staring again.”

“I’m not. I’m going to scope out your fridge and see what I can whip us up to eat.”

“I have to warn you, I eat at the hospital cafeteria a lot, so I don’t have much on hand.”

Peering into her fridge, Max had to agree. She had the refrigerator of a guy. But he’d learned a long time ago how to make do since most of his money went for photography equipment. “Just sit back and relax and let me amaze you.” He glanced over his shoulder and caught her staring too.

“I’m already amazed.”

“Oh my god! This is fantastic.” Audrey licked her lips and moaned in delight.

Across the table from her, Max wore a self-satisfied grin. “I’ve been told my omelets are orgasmic.”

She stifled a laugh. “Oh? Do you cook for women often?”

“Not often enough.”

Audrey dropped her gaze and studied her plate. She’d been staring at him a lot since the moment he entered her apartment and tossed his
worn leather
jacket on the sofa, revealing a black turtle neck that hugged a professional set of biceps. In the proper lighting she saw his eyes matched the color of the faded Levi’s hugging his hips. His dark hair shimmered, wet from the weather, and sexy stubble
shadowed
his jaw. Plus, she’d just spent twenty minutes watching his butt while he worked diligently at her stove creating a culinary masterpiece.

“So I guess by filling in for
A
ppendix
G
uy, you’re not leaving some other girl home alone and unattended?” Ugh. Had she really just asked him if he was cheating on his girlfriend this evening?

“My wife doesn’t mind if I step out once in a while.”

Audrey choked on her next bite of eggs. “You’re…
wifcuff
?”

“Are you okay? Did you get an eggshell?”

“I got…
you’re married
?”

He smirked and held up his skillful hands. “Do you see a ring? Don’t you think Cassandra would have mentioned that?”

“Hey, she didn’t even tell me the understudy was on duty tonight.”

He broke eye contact and picked at the remaining eggs on his plate. Something that felt suspiciously like guilt stabbed Audrey in the gut. What had she told Cassie about her penchant for shooting her mouth off? “I mean…”

“No, you’re right. I’m the understudy. I was a last minute replacement for the real guy. It’s okay.” He finished his last bite and rose to clear the table. “Look, my cousin called me in a panic. She hated the idea of disappointing you, so she asked me for help. I haven’t been on a date in a while…not because of all the axe murdering I do or anything. I just…spend most of my time with babies and dogs in Santa hats and following around brides on their wedding days. And when I’m not doing that, I’m trying to win a Nobel Prize for photography. So I’m not looking for anything serious. I guess she figured we’d have a nice time and both go our separate ways, and when Mr. Right recovered, he’d come back and take over.”

Audrey watched him, and for the first time thought she saw the real guy Max was talking about, the one he’d been hiding with his smart ass remarks all night. “I’m sorry I’ve been so…prickly. I appreciate you falling on your sword for your cousin.”

His wicked half smile returned. “She owes me now.”

Touché, Audrey thought.
Zing
. She glanced at the clock. It had been almost an hour since he’d come back inside. “So, brides? You’re a wedding photographer…oh, wait…you were going to do my friend Harper’s wedding.”

“Harper? Shaw? Oh…the wedding that got cancelled last month.”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“I felt bad for her. How is she?”

“She’s great. Believe it or not, she met a guy who’s a lot better for her than her fiancé.”

Max finished stacking dishes in the sink and turned to lean casually against the counter. “See? Things work out. You just have to give them time.”

“Is that more advice for me along the ‘you give up too easily’ line?”

“Yes, it is. Hey, I love my cousin, and she means well, but somewhere along the line, she started believing her own press.”

“What’s that mean?”

“She fixed up a couple in high school and they really hit it off. They ended up getting married, and they’re still extraordinarily happy today. In fact, I just took the pictures at the christening of their first baby. Since then, she’s been fixing people
up
,
and she has a good track record, so
everyone
started to say she has a gift. But I don’t think it’s magic. I think she just has an ability to listen to people and get to know them. She puts people together who would otherwise probably have hit it off if they’d met on their own.”

“But what if they wouldn’t have met on their own?”

“This is a very small town. Everybody meets everybody eventually.”

“So what are you saying? I’ll eventually meet Mr. Right?”

“Sure you will, and don’t feel bad if it’s not the guy Cassie wanted to set you up with. She’s not always right.”

Audrey removed the ice pack from her foot, which was now just numb enough to make her forget how much it had hurt before. She stood up and tested her ankle and found she could move
a little bit
better now. “Well, thanks for that. You sort of sound like my mother.”

Max crossed the kitchen and offered her his arm so she could hobble to the living room. He leaned close to her ear, though, before she could take her first step. “I’m just saying, a girl like you doesn’t need to try so hard.”

“A girl like me?”

He met her gaze, and her heart fluttered. “You’re damn near perfect. Stop chasing guys who aren’t good enough for you, and let the right one come and find you.”

How could he manage to be as irritating as a paper cut one minute and as sexy as a summer night the next? “Damn near…?”

He held her gaze, and it was hypnotic. The magnetic pull of him drew her in until her lips almost touched his. His citrusy cologne filled her nose, and the heat of his body warmed the scant space between them. “Perfect,” he said just before his lips brushed hers.

A charge went off inside Audrey. Every nerve in her body fired at once, leaving her shivering like a person in shock after his too brief ‘almost’ kiss. She wanted more. She craved it. But he pulled away.

The smirk was back. “And yes. I would.”

“You…would
w
hat?”

“Have sex with you.”

If she hadn’t just been thinking the very same thing she might have flushed with embarrassment. They’d known each other less than two hours. Sex should not have been on the table at this point. Or the floor. Or the couch, or any of the other places her dirty imagination had already considered it while she’d perused his athlete’s physique. How dare he?

She pulled back. “You really are a piece of work, aren’t you? This entire charming act was just about working up to a roll in the hay?”

“Not at all. I’m just saying, we discussed it before in the car
,
and I thought you might want to know that yes, based on your looks, I would sleep with you.”

“Wow.” Indignation rolled through Audrey, battling with unbridled lust. How bad would it be to drag him into her bedroom, give him what he was obviously hinting at getting, and then shove him out in the snow and tell him good riddance? The thought of it gave her a little illicit thrill, but she tamped that down and pointed at the door. “So sorry, Romeo. I bet your friend is almost here, so you won’t freeze if you wait outside now.”

“I meant it as a compliment.”

“I’m flattered that I pass muster in the sex department.”

“Well, I didn’t say that. I said I’d give it a try.”

Ignoring the pain in her ankle, Audrey marched to her front door and opened it. “And you know what I’m going to give a try? Axe murdering. And yes, I would.”

“What, have sex with me?” He looked so smug, scooping his jacket off the couch as he headed for the door.

“No, chop you into little pieces. Bye, Max. Thanks for the omelet. They’re the only eggs you’re ever going to get near in this apartment.”

He passed her at the doorway and swooped close again, his warm lips just teasing her jawline. “Prickly. I like that in a woman.”

She growled and slammed the door after him. Cassie was never going to hear the end of this.

* * * *

“Perfect timing. She just threw me out,” Max said as his roommate, Jared Barton, rolled down the window of his pickup.

“I’m impressed. That’s a vast improvement over your last date.”

“Shut up. Where are your cables?”

“In the back.” Jared pulled his truck up to Max’s car, and together they worked on the jump start while the snow fell around them.

“So was this the fill-in date for Cassie?”

“Yeah. You wouldn’t believe the night I had. The restaurant caught fire, the girl almost got a concussion, and she probably would have left me out here to freeze to death.”

“Sounds like one of your dates. What did Cassie promise you to go out with her?”

“The cost of dinner, which I ended up cooking for her in her own apartment.”

“Screwed. Hey, how about we go pick up something at the diner and you can charge it to your cousin? I’m starving.”

Max’s car engine roared to life. “Sure, but you
might
have to jump me again.”

“No problem.” Jared started to roll up his cables and stowed them in the storage compartment behind the cab of his pickup.

“Thanks for this, Jared. I appreciate it.” Max said as he pressed his foot steadily to the gas to rev his engine.

“Least I could do for a guy who had the worst date of his life. Right?”

Max shook his head. “Not the worst.”

“You said she wanted you to freeze to death.”

“And I’m sure she’s still hoping I will.” Max eyed the cozy glow of the second-floor living room window and thought of the smooth swell of Audrey’s plump lower lip giving beneath his. His nerves were still on fire from that half kiss, and he wondered what would happen to him if he ever actually took that live wire in his arms and made love to her.

“Sounds like the worst date ever to me.”

Max grinned and gripped the steering wheel. “Nah. I think it’s going to turn out to be one of the best.”

“Are you sure you don’t want a ride to the ER?” Harper asked as Audrey climbed into her car the next morning.

“I’m fine. It looks worse than it is.” She set her sore foot down on the floor of the car, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. “Besides, I have to be at work at six tonight. I’ll go in a little early and have
one of the
resident
s
take a look at it.”

“Are you going to be able to drive your car home? I can call Grant to come and help us.”

“No, he’s busy. Don’t bother him.” Audrey knew Harper’s boyfriend Grant had a big event scheduled tonight at Taverna Fiora, the catering hall he ran. He’d be busy setting up and coordinating the kitchen staff and the decorations which Harper helped design.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“I’m fine. Drive.” Audrey attempted to glower at her friend. “You worry too much.”

“Somebody has to worry about you. You go on a blind date and the next morning you can barely walk and you have a head injury.”

“My head is fine.” Aside from the monster headache, but she figured that had more to do with lack of sleep than anything else. She’d spent a good portion of the night lying awake, thinking of pithy remarks to zing Max Shannon with and watching late night TV to keep her mind off the electrifying touch of his lips.

Harper pulled her car into the light Sunday morning traffic and headed for Colette’s where they faced digging Audrey’s car free of the ten inches of snow that had fallen the night before. “All right, now that you can’t escape, give me all the details of last night. All I know is he was a nut job
,
and you’re practically in traction. This has to be some story.”

Audrey contemplated her evening. She still wasn’t sure how to categorize this last dating disaster. On a scale of one to ten, did it fall above or below the guy with the pet goat? “He’s basically a wise guy, always cracking jokes. I was never sure if he was insulting me or trying to flirt.”

“Seriously? I thought Cassandra knew what she was doing. Everyone I’ve talked to since I met her says she’s phenomenal.”

“Well, she dropped the ball last night. He was a fill-in for the guy she really set me up with who got appendicitis.”