Page 31 of The Chase

CHAPTER ELEVEN

TJ

My sister bounded across the room and opened the front door. My breath caught in my throat when I saw Max walk in wearing a black sweater dress that hugged her lean body in all the right places and those boots again. Those fucking boots! Did she know I liked them so much? Because she seemed to always wear them around me. She slipped them off at the door while she and my sister talked.

What was she doing here? Not that I was complaining. Seeing Maxine in my condo after we won a game was a good sign.

I gave my sister an annoyed look, but she pretended not to see it as she led Max to the couch. Max took the seat next to Benny, who gave her a smile and said hello.

I took my hat off and ran my fingers through my hair, trying to smooth it down. If my sister told me she was inviting Max over, I wouldn’t have changed into a plain t-shirt and jeans after the game. I probably would have stayed in the monkey suit, if only to impress her.

Man, what was with me? I never let chicks get me this nervous. I didn’t know what it was about Maxine that made me want to be good enough for her.

I realized I didn’t have any wine, so I took out my phone and texted Dinah.

ME: Any chance you have wine?

DINAH: I’ll ask Noah to check.

Seconds later, Noah opened the door to my condo with a bottle of merlot in his hand. He handed it to me with a smirk on his face. I grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and poured a generous amount into both. I swatted Noah’s hand away when he tried to swipe the glass.

“Not for you,” I said.

He laughed and ran a hand through his long hockey flow. “I saw Max’s here. Rox’s doing?”

I nodded.

“Did she like the flowers?”

It had been Noah’s idea to send flowers to Max after our date with a note. I shrugged. “Not sure yet.”

He pushed me towards the living room. “Well, get over there and talk to the lady already.”

Max’s eyes lit up when she saw me, and I handed her the glass of wine. “Oh, you didn’t have to do that,” she said sheepishly.

I situated myself in the armchair next to her. “No problem.”

She took a sip of the wine and tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. Next to her, my sister and Benny cuddled together and spoke in hushed whispers.

“Oh, thanks for the flowers. You didn’t have to do that,” Max said. She stared blankly into her wineglass and wouldn’t look me in the eye.

Max was such a mystery to me. I didn’t normally go for the shy woman, but I felt like she was coming out of her shell last night. Now it felt like she had gone back inside, and I didn’t like that.

“Glad you liked them,” I said with a smile.

I felt my sister’s eyes on me, and we had a telepathic conversation.

Benny glared at me. “I wish you two would stop doing that shit.”

Max looked between the two of us with a confused look. “What?”

I shrugged. “Twin intuition.”

Rox scoffed and rolled her eyes. “That’s made up, and you know it.”

I shook my head. “It’s real, and you know it. I felt awful that day you got that concussion.”

This was an argument we would have on our deathbeds. Rox didn’t think twin intuition was real, but I knew it was. In her last year at the University of Toronto, she had a nasty spill on the ice and ended up with a concussion. That same day, I felt weird all day and played the worst game of my career. When I got the call about her accident on the ice, I realized why.