My blood turned to ice.
“The key witness to corroborate your testimony is now a witness for the defense.”
Maria Castel. “When? Why?”
“Not sure why, but I just fielded an unsettling call from your stepfather’s attorney about the matter.”
“What did he say?”
“That they have a recorded statement from her. She alleges she heard a noise that night, and that when she came to investigate, you were arguing with Samuel.”
“We weren’t arguing. Not then.”
Samuel had slapped me for biting him. I touched my cheek now, remembering the sting on my skin then. I’d turned my head to avoid his mouth, only to see Maria standing in the library doorway. Her eyes had been wide with shock.
My breaths grew labored like they had been with his heavy body on top of me.
Hart’s voice softened. “I have your deposition in front of me. Her version of the night’s events differs greatly from yours.”
Could he hear my seesawing breathing over the phone?
“There’s no way around it. You and I will have to go over everything again as soon as I receive the full written transcript of her sworn statement.”
“No,” I whispered, feeling an icy shiver trickle down my spine.
“It’s unavoidable, Miss Wood.”
My eyes burned behind my sunglasses. The bright blue sky seemed to tint to a darker shade than my polarized lenses accounted for.
Samuel was out of my life, yet he was ruining everything. He would continue to ruin everything until I was destroyed, if I persisted. He’d told me I would regret suing him.
And he was right. I did.
“In light of this new development, we’ll need to rethink our strategy.”
“That won’t be necessary,” I said dully. I’d had enough.
“It’s entirely necessary, I assure you.”
“I want to withdraw my allegations.”
There were several beats of silence. “You can’t do that. He’ll sue you for slander. You have lawyer fees with me on contingency. You would have to declare bankruptcy. You would never work in this town again. You’d lose everything.”
I felt like that was already happening. My sleepless nights belonged to Samuel. My hold on my sanity would be gone next. Then Max.
“I hear what you’re saying.”
“You’re upset. The news is unsettling. Take some time to absorb it. I’ll reorganize what I can on my end, but only until you return from Switzerland. I can only delay things so long.”
“I understand.”
“Very well, Miss Wood. I expect to hear from you shortly.” Hart ended the call.
I lowered the phone from my ear. My fingers were wrapped so tightly around the case that my knuckles were blanched.
Why this? Why now? Why me?
I blinked back tears as the sedan slowed. Off the freeway, we were rolling along a residential street with small but well-kept bungalows and lots of dense greenery.
“This is it.” The driver hooked his thumb to a Mediterranean house with a red tile roof and turquoise shutters.
“Okay.” I took in a couple of measured breaths, but they didn’t settle my jangled nerves. I was too out of practice. I’d been too busy in Chicago to devote the time I should have to yoga.
“Thank you,” I said, grabbing my small bag off the seat, and slid my crossbody out of the way to get out. Standing on the street, I closed the door and squared my shoulders as I faced the house. Lori’s house. Now that I was here, arriving unannounced at his employer’s residence didn’t seem like such a brilliant plan.
It will be okay. Everything is okay when Max and I are together.
I moved up the driveway, ran my fingertips along the cool metal of his truck, and had turned to follow the sidewalk to the front door when I heard his voice. My heart skipped a beat.
Max was in the backyard.
I turned the other direction and slipped through the open side gate, greeted by a tropical oasis. Fountains on either side of the walkway tinkled soothingly, but I couldn’t be soothed. It had been months since I’d seen him, touched him.
I started to run. The last time we talked, I hadn’t been sure I would be able to come, but I had. He was going to be so surprised to see me.
The end of the path opened to a larger circular fountain and a cleared grassy area with a bench. I stopped short, my heart no longer skipping but stopped, like I was.
Lori, the beautiful blonde, I recognized from her images on the internet. I had googled her. Lots. She had her hand on Max’s shoulder, staring down at him with such a sweetly intimate expression on her face that I felt like the outsider.
I immediately regretted my choice to surprise him. A razor-sharp blade through the center of my chest would have hurt less than witnessing them together like this.
I’d already lost him.
I must have gasped. I didn’t know. All I knew was that I had to get out of there. Run. Keep running.
“Hollie. Shug. Stop.”
I ran faster as his footsteps pounded behind me. He was close. Then closer. He caught me just outside the gate.
“Don’t.” His hand was heavy on my shoulder.
“Don’t make this harder on me. It’s over. I get it. I—”
“What’s over?” His hands on both my shoulders, Max gently turned me around. He tipped my chin up, prying my gaze from the ground. “Hey. Why are you crying?”
When I simply drew in a shuddering breath, his handsome brow creased. He glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to me.
“I’m not having an affair with Lori.”
“I saw—”
“You saw a friend offering me comfort, offering to help me. I got some unsettling news today.”
“So did I.” The rate of flowing tears slowed.
He cocked his head to the side. “You first.”
“Maria Castel won’t testify for me. She’s going to be a witness for Samuel.”
Max’s eyes narrowed to slits. “That’s terrible.”
“You don’t look surprised.” I tilted my head, mirroring his.
A shadow crossed over his eyes. The line of his jaw tightened. “When it comes to your stepfather, nothing that happens is surprising. Right?”
“I guess not.” Though this development had definitely caught me off guard.
“Can we not talk about him?” Max glided his hands up my arms and hauled me closer. “You’re here. I’ve got you. I can barely believe it. I’ve missed you. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you how much.”
He framed my face in his large hands, and my knees went weak the moment he pressed his mouth to mine.
I grabbed his forearms and held on as he kissed me. Possessively. Deeply. Then long and passionately before he eased off to let me catch my breath.
“How much time do we have?” Max’s eyes searched mine.
Staring back, I trembled. I’d minimized it in my mind, the effect of those eyes of his. The mesmerizing blue. The hold he had on me. How irrevocably I was his.
I couldn’t outrun that truth.
“Till ten tomorrow morning.”
The shadow I’d seen before passed over his face again. “Then we’ll have to make the most of it.” He slid his hands down my arms and captured my hands. “I want you all to myself, but let me take you back and introduce you to Lori first before we go. You’ll like her. She’s very sweet.”
“Sweet like me?” The thought popped up, and it took a concentrated effort on my part to sweep it away.
“No one’s as sweet as you.”
As he led, I followed, telling myself, You have him, Hollie. Not her. Don’t let your doubts taint the time you have with him.
Chapter Fifty-Four
* * *
“Max, why?”
“No talking? No more talking?” In the entryway of the condo, he whirled me around, and my hands landed on his hard chest. “I’ve been jacking off to the sound of your voice for months. I w
ant you, baby. You.”
When he lowered his head, I lifted onto my toes in my flip-flops, meeting him halfway, heat cascading through me the moment his mouth met mine. “I want you too.”
“So good.” He groaned against my mouth, his breath rushing inside before his wet tongue did.
I sucked greedily on it, jumping up and pulling his T-shirt over his head, even as I wrapped my legs around him.
He walked us backward into the nearest wall. “Baby, baby, slow down.”
“You slow down.” I arched my neck so he could rain his devastating kisses down the column of exposed skin.
“Strawberries. You know I get hard every time I even look at one because of you.” Refastening our lips, he explored my mouth and ground his erection into me.
I moaned, throbbing, aching, and shivering, so close, so desperate for him already. I grabbed fistfuls of his hair, tugging my urgency into his scalp as he kissed me deeper and wetter.
“Bed. I’m having you in the bed.” His strides propelled us wickedly fast to the destination.
Yet I made use of every moment, peppering his jaw with kisses and licking his lips, telling him how crazy his lemony scent made me, and how much I’d missed him.
He laid me down in the bed, and as he stared at me hungrily, I stared back at him, wanting him just as much. After quickly ripping the buttons of his jeans open, he had his boxers off in a couple of frantic but fluid motions. I was still working on the tiny buttons on the front of my eyelet sundress when he put his knee to the mattress.
“You’re too slow.”
“My fingers keep fumbling.” I blew a platinum strand out of my face and ducked my chin, determined to go faster.
“How attached are you to this dress?”
I lifted my head. His heated gaze melding to mine, he grasped the hem and yanked upward. Buttons scattered across the bed and the ripped fabric hung tattered off my arms, but there was no time to cast it aside before he was on me.
Lowering the cup of my bra, he sucked and licked one furled nipple while I pulsed and gripped handfuls of his golden hair. Then he moved to the other breast. His hot mouth soaked the tightened tip and his wet tongue struck it, rocketing my desire straight up the steep cliff.
“Max. Please.” I tugged on a silky strand of his hair. “I want you inside me. It’s been too long.”
Lifting his head, he abandoned my breast and climbed over me, pushing me back. He kissed me again while I writhed beneath him, lifting my hips and seeking his cock.
“Let me look at you a minute.” His hair tousled and his eyes cobalt flames, he swept his hot gaze over me. “You’re so beautiful.”
Hooking his fingers in my lacy nude thong, he ripped it off. His vertical grooves appeared as he separated my legs and stared at my exposed pussy for a long beat.
“Mine.” He lifted his gaze, his raw need and his possessiveness making me spasm. “You’re mine. Say it,” he rasped.
“I’m yours.” I grasped his arms. His skin was warm, the tendons rip-cord tense.
“Always.” He aligned his cock.
“Always,” I repeated without having to be told.
“Hell yes.” He surged his length inside me.
I moaned as he filled me. I’d forgotten how good this was. How right.
“Gonna be hard and fast, baby.”
“Promise?”
His grooves deepening, he didn’t answer. He began to move, and I moved with him. My hips lifted up when he drove deep. We crashed together again and again. His driving force speared my need.
“Max. Oh, Max,” I said as I came.
His hips pumping wildly, I held on to his tight ass as he reached for and found his release a moment later. Stiffening, he twitched inside me, and I came a second time, my pleasure pulsing in rhythm to the streamers of his hot cum inside me.
Afterward, we cleaned up together in the shower. He took me again against the wall. No condom like the time before, but we didn’t discuss it. We ignored it, like we ignored everything else but each other.
Back in the bed, making love slow, making love again fast. Me on top. Him on top. Me holding on to the headboard and watching him. Him between my legs, watching me.
Our need was insatiable. It was our time together that was finite.
Chapter Fifty-Five
* * *
“What are you doing over here?” Max rumbled.
“Memorizing the view.” I turned my head away from the window to watch him cross to me.
He frowned. “You should have woken me.”
“I didn’t have the heart to.” I barely had the heart to leave him. “It’s later than late. It’s time for me to go.” I swallowed hard.
“It’s only nine thirty.” His eyes dark, his strong arms slid around my hips to clasp my bottom, and he drew me close. “We have thirty minutes.”
“We need to talk.”
Tension tightened his frame. “About?” he asked carefully, his eyes searching mine.
“So many things.” So many doubts rattling around in my head. New ones too. I had come to see him, determined to solidify things with us. Now I wondered if I should let him go.
Why had Max needed comforting and not come to me for it?
Why did he know so much about Lori personally?
If their relationship was only professional, why had she been touching him?
And the real problem: why was I too afraid to ask?
Max angled his head, seeming to sort through my unspoken thoughts and find the most important one to address. “There’s nothing going on between Lori and me. You have nothing to worry about. She’s in love with someone else, and I’m in love with you.”
“But—”
“I’m yours, Hollie. Do you think in time you’ll be able to trust that and love me in return?”
And he hit the mark. Dead center.
“You should let me go,” I said.
“I don’t want to do that. I don’t think you really want me to. But you didn’t answer my question.”
“Because I don’t know the answer.”
“I think you do. But we’re going to need to be together to get you there. These separations aren’t good for us.”
“No, they’re not. I wholeheartedly agree. But I’ve thought and thought about it, and I don’t have a solution. My job is always going to be unpredictable.”
“When you come back, we’ll figure it out.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Love has a way of making the impossible possible.”
“But is that reality or just wishful thinking?”
“A little of both, I guess. It’s all theoretical until we put it into practice.” He studied me some more. “You’re afraid.”
“I grew up with Samuel and my mother. I didn’t see a successful example.”
“I just had my grandmother.” Max’s brow creased. The shadows that had been in his eyes the day before returned. He might be surer than I was, but he had his doubts too.
“So, this is good-bye. But we’re not taking a break.”
“Just good-bye until we say hello again. Then it’s me and you again, together back inside the frame.”
Hours later, in my seat on the plane with nothing else to do but think, my mind tumbled over our conversation and those last words in particular.
The frame only seemed to work properly for us when we were both together inside it.
Too much of the time, we weren’t.
• • •
“Hey, baby.” Max sounded out of breath when he answered his cell. “How’s the on-location filming going?”
“It’s going,” I grumbled.
“I thought you were excited about getting out there and really digging into the meatier parts of the script.”
“I am.”
Or at least, I had been. I couldn’t seem to muster enthusiasm at the moment. I was tired so much of the time, and his talk about meat reminded me of the sausage I’d had for dinner. The onsite catering
sat heavy in my stomach. All the food I’d eaten in Switzerland seemed to disagree with me.
“You don’t sound enthusiastic.”
“Just frustrated, I guess.” I sank onto the tiny bed, little better than a cot in my temporary cabin.
I had more trouble sleeping here than in Chicago. Part of the reason was missing him. Part was the script. A plane crash, survival in the wilderness, desperation and hard choices, the film’s mood made me feel somber and fatalistic.
“How’s work for you?” I asked.
“It’s okay.”
“That doesn’t sound like a glowing endorsement.”
“It’s a job, shug. It’s not a passion like your work is for you.”
I liked that answer. Despite my best efforts not to be jealous, I was. I kept replaying the scene in the backyard between Lori and him. I told myself being so far away magnified the intimacy of the moment in my mind. I was doing too much second-guessing lately.
Samuel. The trial. Aside from my acting, I felt uncertain about everything.
“Where are you right now?” I asked. “Can I see you?” It had been weeks since we’d messed around on Facetime.
“I can’t. Not right now. I’m . . .” There was a long, significant pause. “I’m not at the condo. I’m out.”
“Are you not alone?” Was he with Lori? I hated the neediness in my voice, and hated myself that I was too cowardly to ask outright about her.
“Are you by yourself?” There was an edge of insinuation to his tone I didn’t like.
“Yes. I’m in my cabin. About to go to sleep. We filmed all day in the cold, and I’m exhausted.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, letting out a loud sigh. “There’s a bunch of photos of you and Cedric that someone just showed me.” Max suddenly sounded as exhausted as me.
“Who showed them to you?” Had it been Lori? This wasn’t the first time jealousy had come up on his end, and now it had infected me too, disturbingly.
“It’s not important.”
Wasn’t it?
“I miss you,” he said.
“I miss you. I miss us.” I couldn’t even imagine the frame anymore.
(Complete Rock Stars, Surf and Second Chances #1-5) Page 115
