Lana shook her head, not wanting to worry Max. “Mom and I were at the Galleria today and someone spritzed me with perfume. It stunk to high heaven and made my skin burn until I washed it off. It’s starting to fade already.”
Ignoring her attempt to downplay what had happened, Max carefully took her arm and urged her from his apartment’s small entryway into the living room to get a better look. Lana quickly forgot about the rash on her arm as she enjoyed the feel of his warm hands on her body. It was crazy the way a simple touch from him had her getting all tingly.
“This almost looks like a chemical burn,” he said with a frown. “Are you allergic to alcohol?”
“I never have been,” she said. “In fact, I’ve never been allergic to anything. Whatever was in this stuff burned the moment it hit my skin.”
Max’s frown deepened. “I hope you talked to someone at the store you were in and made sure they stopped using the crap.”
Lana nodded, not looking at him as she did. Of course she hadn’t talked to anyone. What would she say? A police officer from Central Division spritzed me with perfume he bought from your store and it burned me? She didn’t even know which store the guy had bought it from.
“Enough about my weird reaction to some perfume,” she said, giving him a smile as she tossed her purse on the couch. “You going to tell me about this crappy day you had?”
One of the big reasons she’d come over to his place was because Max had sounded so wrung out when he’d called her earlier. She’d hoped they might get together tonight, but when eight o’clock had come and gone, she’d thought he’d gotten hung up at work and that she’d have to wait until tomorrow to see him. But when he’d called after nine and told her his day had been a train wreck and that he’d really like to see her, she hadn’t complained. While the day out with her mother had helped, Lana was eager to hang out with Max. She’d also been excited to see what his apartment looked like. Max was a unique man, and when she found herself trying to imagine his place, she simply couldn’t picture it. So she’d turned down his offer to come over and pick her up, figuring her dad would only make a complete butt of himself given the chance, and jumped in her car.
Max gave her a sheepish look, which was an entirely adorable expression on a man his size. “We can get into the details later, but to make a long story short, I kind of pulled a stupid today.”
She had a hard time picturing Max doing anything stupid. It didn’t seem possible. “What’d you do?”
“Yesterday, I got called out to the scene of a domestic violence call along with a few other members of SWAT. We were there to provide backup support in case things turned violent, and when we went inside and I saw the kids, it was obvious that they’d been abused and it really pissed me off.”
Lana felt a slow burn in her stomach. When it came to people she just plain hated, child abusers topped the list. “Did you arrest the guy?”
Max shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. Even though it was obvious what happened, neither the wife nor the kids would say anything, so another report was filed and we had no choice but to leave. I knew the guy would end up smacking his family around again, so when I got a call from the neighbor saying he’d heard shouting coming from inside the house, I went over there on my own.”
She didn’t like where this was going. “You didn’t go in without probable cause, did you?”
“I had cause—I heard screams,” he said. “And when I got inside, it was as bad as I’d thought it would be. But unfortunately, this guy has his family so conditioned, they won’t say a word. Worse, I kind of went a little crazy and got too physical with the guy.”
Lana groaned. “Did you get suspended?”
Now she was even happier Max hadn’t come by to pick her up at her parents’ place. If her father had gotten wind of this, he would have lost his mind at the idea of her seeing Max again.
Max shook his head. “No, I got lucky. I’m basically on probation of sorts. I have to stay completely away from the family or I will be suspended.”
She was relieved to hear that. “Why would you do something so crazy?”
He sighed. “That’s the complex part of the story, so maybe it should wait until later. How about I give you the fifty-cent tour of the place first?”
She would rather have heard the details of his day but resisted the urge to push. They had plenty of time to get into it later.
“I’d love a tour.” She grinned. “I’ve been wanting to see what your place looks like.”
He flashed her one of those charming smiles. “Well, now you’ll get your chance. But try to contain yourself. You’re already looking at about sixty percent of my apartment from where you’re standing.”
Lana waved a hand. “I’ve been living in a college apartment for the past five years. This place is the Taj Mahal in comparison.”
Max laughed and offered his arm to escort her. “If your standards are really that low, this might just work out after all.”
Lana linked her arm with his and let him lead her into the small eat-in kitchen that was connected to the living room. Painted the same off-white color, it made the transition seamless and the apartment seem bigger than it was.
“As you can see, this is the kitchen,” Max said as they walked around the peninsula separating the two rooms. “Better known as the place where all the microwavable magic happens.”
Lana laughed. “You’re kidding, right? You might have forgotten, but I’ve been close enough to those abs of yours to know you don’t eat junk food all the time.”
He gave her a heated look. “Oh, I haven’t forgotten how close you’ve been to my abs. But in this case, I’m being completely honest.”
Before Lana could call him on the obvious lie, he walked over and opened a couple of the upper cabinet doors, revealing an endless collection of chips, pretzels, cookies, boxed dinners, and canned food—of the non-fruit and -veggie variety. But on the bright side, he was obviously getting his protein, since it looked like he had enough peanut butter to feed an army. It appeared to be his favorite food.
