“’Night!” I called when Max’s hands turned my body toward the door and then lifted me up so I had no choice but to crawl in.
“’Night, Neens!” Mindy called back.
“Yeah, Neens, later. Max, bro, be safe,” Brody said.
“Always,” Max muttered and slammed my door.
Max disappeared from the window but suddenly Mindy was there. I smiled at her through the window then saw her flatten her hand on it. I lifted my hand and flattened it against hers. She gave me a funny, little smile that I didn’t quite understand before her hand disappeared and she walked away.
I hummed while I fastened my seatbelt and Max got in beside me. My mind was on Mindy being so very sweet as well as the baked, marble cheesecake I most recently consumed, washing it down with Amaretto.
“In a good mood?” Max asked, starting the truck.
“I love Mindy,” I announced.
“Figure she loves you too, Duchess, you’re a match made in hell.”
I didn’t really listen to his words, I just kept talking. “That cheesecake was yummy.”
“You blitzed?” Max asked, his hand on the back of my seat, his torso twisted to look out the rear window to pull out.
“I’m tipsy, not blitzed.”
Max twisted back and pulled into the road. “What chance I got you won’t pass out on the way home?”
I waved my hand in front of me and declared, “Oh, I’ll be fine.”
“Right,” Max muttered.
“Can we listen to music?” I requested and Max turned on the music.
Five minutes later I was dead to the world.
Chapter Eight
Concoctions
“Oh… my… God! I love your house!” I heard my mother cry.
I blinked away my weird dream into the morning sunlight shining into Max’s loft and I saw his empty pillow. Why I was dreaming about my mother, I didn’t –
“And you’re gorgeous!” she exclaimed.
My heart stuttered and my eyes went wide.
“No,” I whispered, threw the covers back and stopped dead when I saw my body. I was na**d except for a pair of white, lace panties.
My mind flew back to last night, waking up in Max’s arms as he carried me from the car to the house. Me telling him I’d be okay to walk. Him putting me on my feet at the foot of the spiral staircase. Me stumbling up, taking off all my clothes but my underwear and my shoes and falling face down in bed.
And that was it.
Oh.
My.
God.
“I love it here!” my mother shrieked, the sound jerking my mind from my dismaying thoughts and my body into motion. “Steve, I want to move here.”