The steely arm gave me a tight squeeze that pushed the breath out of my lungs.
I gave a quiet but happy wheeze when Mindy grinned shyly at Jeff, tucked her hair behind her ear and turned back to her skillet.
Max’s arm loosened but didn’t go away and I heard him call, “What’d I say, Mick?”
Mick’s eyes were moving between Max and me, Mindy and Jeff.
“Yeah, Max,” Mick grinned in Max and my direction. “You were right, Nina’s somethin’ else.”
“I still don’t know what that means,” I complained.
“Trust me,” Mick said, still grinning. “It’s definitely a compliment.”
“Well,” I muttered, “then I guess that’s all right.”
Then the toast popped up.
* * * * *
I was making the bed upstairs and I could hear Mindy in the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast when Max came up after walking Mick and Jeff to their SUV.
I looked at him briefly but didn’t pause as I smoothed the covers and then my head bent to watch what I was doing as I rearranged a pillow that was slightly askew.
“Everything all… oof!”
I stopped speaking when I was hooked at the waist, pulled up, twirled round then I was falling back, Max coming with me. I hit the bed, his big body hit me, the breath evacuated my lungs but I didn’t have time to process this predicament because his mouth came down on mine and he kissed me.
He did it hard and he did it long.
My body was liquid under his, my fingers in his hair, my other hand under his t-shirt at his back and I was breathing heavily when his head came up.
“What was that?” I asked on a mini-gasp.
“It was either kiss you breathless or tan your ass. First is quieter with Mindy in the house.”
All the delights of post-Max-kiss with his hard body on mine in a bed and my hand experiencing for the first time the planes of his muscled back evaporated at his words, my brows went up and I asked, “Sorry?”
“Your intention was sweet, babe, and the way you went about it f**kin’ hilarious, but my girl down there was raped three weeks ago and her man publicly proved himself an ass last night.”
“Yes,” I snapped quietly so Mindy wouldn’t hear, “I was there.”
“Yeah, so, fixin’ her up with the first guy that strolls in maybe ain’t such a good idea.”
“The first guy who strolls in who has a badge, carries a gun and looks at her like he wants to build a fortress around her so no one can ever hurt her again.”
Max’s head jerked and he asked, “What?”
“In other words, Max, he’s sweet on her.”
“Gotta be blind not to see that, Nina, and, by the way, it’s the whole damn reason Mick brought him up here in the first place, seein’ as he coulda done his business alone or he coulda just called me and they both knew Mindy was here. But it still ain’t a good idea.”
“You’re wrong,” I snapped softly.
“No, I’m not.”
I was so angry and Max was being so annoying, I didn’t pause to consider my next words. I just said them and in saying them inadvertently I shared.
“Trust me, I know, you get messed up by a man, it’s important to learn right away that there are good ones out there or you might find yourself so far down a very lonely road that you’ll never be able to find your way back.” His face changed, he hadn’t been exactly angry, just wanting to make his point, but now his eyes were hyper-alert and intense but I also had a point to make, I felt it was important, so I kept talking. “I’m not saying he’s going to heal her wounds, watch her walk down the aisle to him in a month and they’re going to grow old together. I’m just saying he seems like a nice guy, there aren’t many of those around and she needs all the reminders she can get that even a rare breed can be found.”