Harlequin Special Edition January 2022--Box Set 2 of 2 by Shannon Stacey

Author:Shannon Stacey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Well, damn. It had been a week since Max had taken Ava to the family birthday dinner. A week since she’d been such a great help to him in the kitchen. During the week, they’d talked when they ran into each other at the bar or texted on days when they didn’t. Mostly they’d talked about her business plan, which he’d reviewed, and made some changes to. He had plenty of ideas.

Max had begun to feel something he’d have never imagined slowly growing inside him. He’d never felt this comfortable and relaxed with a beautiful woman. He could be himself around Ava. Grumpy at times, he was certain annoying and anal at others, and still she seemed to like him. Then again, she did pretty much like everybody, and he shouldn’t have felt special.

Now this.

She’d set him up with a woman.

The whole thing was your idea, genius.

He supposed he could blame this all on himself since he’d never told her to stop looking for his so-called perfect wife. When he’d never given her any indication that he was interested in her. Clearly, he’d received mixed signals from Ava on the night of her birthday dinner. The night when they’d walked along the boardwalk like a couple of teenagers. The night he’d nearly kissed her again and swore he’d seen that same invitation in her eyes. Wrong.

On the night of the stupid party, Max showered and dressed casual. Jeans, button-down shirt, didn’t bother shaving. Take it or leave it, Donna Abbott, or whatever her name was. He didn’t care anymore. He was a professional businessman, highly successful, and so what if he was a little clueless about love? It wasn’t as if he’d had all kinds of time to devote to the study of it. He’d bet he wasn’t the only former military man sick of the temporary stuff that only lasted until a woman found out he wasn’t made out of steel. Until a woman realized the hard way that sometimes a military man carried a little extra baggage.

He’d been watching Sub all day so that Cole, Valerie and Ava could have zero distractions while they set up for this party. He and Sub had been surfing in the morning, and then hung out in front of the plasma TV screen watching football. Max alternately pitched popcorn for Sub to catch midair, and also threw it at the screen because of the quarterback’s disgusting passes.

“C’mon, let’s go, boy. It’s that time. No more avoiding it.”

He drove to the lighthouse with the top down, Sub in the front seat, buckled in of course. Valerie would kill him otherwise.

“Yap! Yark!” Sub pronounced louder the closer they got to the lighthouse.

“Yeah, yeah.” He pulled into a spot behind Cole’s truck and opened the door for Sub, who bounded toward the front door.

So, he was certainly excited about tonight. Max figured he should be, too. Maybe he should check his pulse. But he smelled the salty scent of the coast, heard the sound of the waves crashing, and he was clearly breathing, so he had to be alive.

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