“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She gave me her best innocent smile. “Bring Kari and have dinner with us. Get to know him and see if he’s worth keeping around. I’m a goner for his baby blue eyes and if he isn’t going to be able to get beyond this stuff in his past, maybe you can clue me in. You need a distraction tonight, anyway.”
I lifted my briefcase off the table and returned her smile.
“Come on, Max. What do you say? Help me out.”
“Let me run it by my Kari, but I think it sounds better than sitting around tonight, wallowing in defeat.”
EIGHTEEN
KARI
The ER had been relatively calm all day, allowing me a bit of time to reflect over the past 24 hours. I just couldn’t get my head wrapped around Samantha West. She seemed so sweet and so likable, and then she could come across so sneaky. It just drove me crazy all day.
Am I just jealous? Am I that girl that sees things that aren’t there, that reads into things because I’m afraid?
Dr. Manning noticed my unusual quietness and asked me about it. He and I had forged some sort of friendly relationship; I liked him. He never crossed the professional line, but we had a natural give-or-take between us. It was like I had worked with him, known him, for a long time.
When he asked me what was wrong, I tried to play it off. He flashed me the smirk I’ve come to notice is reserved for me and said he was “waiting on me to stop lying”. Reluctantly, I gave him a rundown of the day before. He said it was his medical opinion that Samantha needed someone to keep an eye on her. I agreed.
But Max knows her better than Connor or me...
I had gotten home before Max and washed and dried a load of laundry. I folded it while watching an old episode ofSons of Anarchyand then started to put it away. I held Max’s shirt to my face and inhaled. I loved the smell of him, the scent of musk and cedar mingled together. It made me smile, relax, and ache at the same time. I stuck the shirt on a hanger and hung it in the closet. Out of nowhere, a set of arms wrapped around me.
“What the—” I shouted before realizing it was Max. “I didn’t hear you come in.” He just held me tight, my back to his front, his face buried in the crook of my neck. He swayed back and forth with me for a minute before pressing a kiss to my neck and letting me go. I turned to face him. His eyes lacked the sparkle I had come to expect in them. His mouth dipped at the corners, lines marring his face. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t even know where to start, Kar.”
“The bid?”
He shook his head. “We lost it. I don’t know how, but we did.”
“Oh, baby,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around his waist. “I’m sorry. I know you were hoping to get that.”
“I’ll have to go in early tomorrow and make some calls. I know it’s Saturday and we were supposed to go hiking, but I have to try to get something else figured out. Cane’s busy with Jada, so I’m trying to take the pressure off of him.”
I rested my cheek against his chest. “Cane called here earlier and asked me to stay with Jada tomorrow. He said she wasn’t feeling good and he needed to be in the office all day.”
“That’s a good plan.”
We stood like that for a while. “You hungry or anything?” I asked.
“That’s something else...” His chest rumbled as he spoke. “Samantha wants us to go out to dinner tonight with her and some guy she’s dating.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, the thought of spending an evening with her—date or no date—didn’t sound all that appealing. It occurred to me, however, that if she was with a date, maybe that was a good thing to support. If she had a man, she’d have less interest, theoretically, in mine.
“If you don’t wanna go, we won’t go. End of story,” he mumbled into my hair. “She just wanted me to check this guy out for her. And it’ll save us from cooking anything. I’m tired as hell and I know you probably are, too.”
I couldn’t argue that either. With a heavy sigh, I said, “It’s fine. Let’s keep it casual, though. I don’t have the energy for something dramatic.”
Kari
A couple of hours later,we pulled into Maisano’s. Max led me into the restaurant looking edible himself in a pair of khaki pants and a black Polo shirt. He smelled all outdoorsy and wonderful and I wished for a split second we were home alone.
Without the Polo shirt and khakis.
Max gave the hostess our name and we were seated in the back of the restaurant. The hostess said she’d bring Sam and her date back when they arrived.
