Beyond the Breaking Point (11 page)

Get a hold of yourself. The man’s going to think you’re a nut. Or worse, figure out you’re lusting after him.
Mortified, Cassidy pulled herself together, closed the door, and followed him in.

He stood in the empty living room, looking around. “Nice place.”

“Thanks. Let me get the keys.” She walked to her bedroom where her purse lay on the bed.

“This is nice.” Max’s voice came from the doorway.

Cassidy jerked, almost dropping her purse, not having realized he’d followed her.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him. “You move very quietly. I didn’t hear you come down the hall.”

He leaned casually against the door jab. “From the empty condition of this place, I’d say you didn’t take much from your house.”

“No.” She pulled the spare keys from the zippered pocket where she’d secured it earlier. “I wanted a clean break and a fresh start.”

Max glanced around the room, and it seemed to her his gaze lingered a little too long on the bed. She started toward him, keys held out in front of her. As he took them from her hold, their fingers brushed. Cassidy concentrated fiercely to ignore the tingles his touch excited and to keep her expression neutral. “If you come with me, I’ll tell you what’s being delivered tomorrow and where I’d like it.”

“All right.” He seemed to be watching her face closely, but he stepped aside easily enough at her approach.

Cassidy glided past Max into the hallway and if she held her breath while doing so, no one else needed to know.

“How are you, Cassidy, really?”

With his question, Cassidy relaxed as she realized Max wasn’t contemplating making a move on her. Simply examining her as any friend would to see how she was doing after a traumatic personal event.

“I’m fine, Max. Or I will be,” she added more honestly. “I won’t say it’s been easy but I know what I want. Or rather, what I don’t want and regardless what Phillip says, I can’t be in a relationship with a man I don’t trust.”

He nodded, still watching her closely. “You’ve spoken to him, then?”

They walked together into the living room, his taller height dwarfing her shorter one. “Not since he’s been back in Philly. He’s been blowing up my phone, leaving messages.” She snorted. “I listened to one, deleted the rest. I’m not interested in anything he has to say.” It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Max about the porn she’d found on the computer, but she resisted. No sense dragging Max any further into this mess than he already was.

“What about you? Did Amber come and get her things?”

Max’s gaze hardened, grew colder. “Not yet. She called to schedule a pickup once she realized I wasn’t changing my mind.”

Cassidy winced. “I take it the call wasn’t a pleasant one?”

He smiled grimly. “Not by a long shot, but it’s over now. I made that very clear.”

She rested her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry, Max. I know you loved her.”

He covered it with his, then took her hand into his own and held it. “They say things happen for a reason. I’m just glad I found out now what Amber was really like. Now,” he said, changing the subject, “tell me what’s being delivered and where you want it.”

For the next ten minutes she explained what she was expecting, showed him the paperwork, and gave him a general idea of where she wanted everything. “Of course, when I get home and actually see it, I may change my mind and switch things around.”

“If you do, call me. I don’t want you lifting anything,” he said.

Cassidy laughed. “It’s not like I’m going to try and pick up the sofa.”

He narrowed his gaze. “I mean it, Cass.”

“Okay, I promise.” She glanced at her watch. “I need to get moving. I still haven’t packed and Erika’s expecting me.”

“Where are you going?”

“Caesar’s in Atlantic City. We’re going to take advantage of one of their spa packages. It’s my way of trying to salvage something of my vacation,” she said with a wry grin.

He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Have fun. If you run into any trouble, call me.”

“I doubt we will, and I’m sure Dave would come riding to the rescue if we did. Erika’s his wife,” she reminded Max.

“Even so. Do me a favor and call, okay? We’re friends now. Friends worry about friends,” he said so simply, she didn’t have room to argue.

She sighed deeply. “Lawyers. You can never win an argument with one.”

He grinned, showing a mouth full of perfectly white teeth, and flicked her on the nose. “No you can’t, so give in.”

She rolled her eyes. “I promise if we run into trouble, I’ll call.”

“And you’ll text me to let me know you arrived safely,” he ordered.

“I will?” she asked, widening her eyes innocently.

When he merely stared at her with those penetrating blue eyes, she caved. “And I’ll send you a text when we get there.”

“Thank you.” Max headed for the door. “Does Phillip know where you are?”

“No and if you don’t mind, I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Don’t worry. He and I have nothing to discuss, not anymore.” In the open doorway, he leaned down and brushed his lips over her cheek. “Drive carefully, and don’t worry about things here. I’ll handle it for you.”

“Thanks, Max,” she said to his retreating back. Slowly Cassidy closed the door and leaned her forehead against the wood. That night had done something to her, altering her body chemistry in some fundamental way. She was simply unable to be unaware of Max as a sexual being. The most Cassidy could pray for was that she’d be able to control it by smothering it or ignoring it until it went away.

Cassidy wasn’t looking for a man and if she were, it wouldn’t be her husband’s former best friend.

“Do you suppose it’s ever possible for a woman to go back to being sexually unaware of a man after he’s given her back-clawing, mind-blowing, screaming orgasms?”

A stunned silence descended, breaking the almost non-stop flow of chatter Erika had maintained for the last half-hour. Cassidy glanced over to find her friend staring at her, shining eyes wide in the passing car lights and mouth gaped. She winced. “Sorry, forget I said anything.”

“Um, Cassidy. Is there something you want to tell me?”

“No,” Cassidy said emphatically. This was something she definitely did not want to discuss. The thought had been nagging at her for the last hour or so, every since Max had left, but she hadn’t meant to blurt it out.

“Are you sure?”

Cassidy kept her eyes completely on the road as she firmly reiterated, “Positive.”

“Because you know, if you can’t tell your bestest when something’s bothering you, who can you tell?” Erika continued.

“There’s nothing to tell,” Cassidy denied. The intensity of Erika’s considering gaze on her profile made Cassidy twitchy, but on this she wouldn’t budge. She’d go to her grave keeping the secret of what she and Max had done in that hotel room in Orlando.

“Max and I had sex.” Cassidy slapped a hand over her mouth, unable to believe she’d just blurted it out.

Erika screamed. “You and Max? Oh. My. God. Phillip’s best friend Max? Hunk-a-licious Max? And you’re just now telling me?” She shrieked again and popped Cassidy on the arm. Then fanning her face and panting as she visibly calmed herself, demanded, “Okay, I want deets. Tell me everything.”

“It was nothing,” Cassidy said weakly, rubbing her stinging bicep.

“Girl, who you kidding? Sex with that man could never be ‘nothing.’ He positively oozes sex appeal.”

“Does he?” Cassidy sniffed. “I never noticed.”
But you’re damn sure noticing now, aren’t you
? her libido asked.

“Are you kidding me?” Erika asked, shocked disbelief in every note. “You’d have to be dead from the neck down not to notice all that testosterone.”

“Or happily married,” Cassidy mumbled defensively.

“Whatever! I’m a happily married woman. Doesn’t mean I’m dead or that I stopped noticing really good-looking men like Max,” she disagreed.

Cassidy said nothing. The truth was until this week, she hadn’t really paid attention to Max. He was Phillip’s best friend. End of story. Yes, she knew he was good looking and that women were attracted to him, but it was abstract, in the same manner one viewed an expensive work of art. One could look and admire but never touch.

Erika airily waved that away. “Now, about you and Max. You have to tell me. More, you want to tell me or you wouldn’t have brought it up.”

Cassidy sighed, knowing she’d have no peace until she satisfied Erika’s curiosity. “We were drunk…and angry…”

“Ooh, revenge sex,” Erika said knowingly.

“Yes, that’s all it was. It would have never happened if we hadn’t been drunk—”

“And angry. Yeah, I got that part. But was it good? I guess it must have been,” she continued, answering her own question. “Mind-blowing, I believe was your description.”

Don’t forget the back clawing and the screaming
, Cassidy thought.

“Wait a minute!” Erika held up a hand. When Cassidy glanced over, her friend was studying her through narrowed eyes. “You said orgasms. Just how many times did you and Max…?”

Gaze once more glued to the highway, Cassidy mumbled, “Five.”

There was complete and total silence. Erika was very, rarely quiet. Cassidy felt the muscles in her neck tightening as she waited for Erika’s response.

Finally, Erika broke out into a fit of infectious giggles. “That’s a hell of a lot of revenge.”

First Cassidy smiled. Then she chuckled before admitting, “Yes, I guess it was.”

For the rest of the road trip, Erika pried details out of Cassidy that she wasn’t sure she wanted to give. But Erika was good at interrogation and if Cassidy were honest, it felt good to talk about it.

“So what are you going to do now?” Erika asked, referring to Max.

“Nothing. It was a one-time deal.”

“Five times,” Erika corrected smugly. “In one night no less.”

Cassidy shot a glare at her. “You’re going to make me regret telling you. Fine, it was a one-night deal. A one-night stand, never to be repeated.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why? The answer should be obvious,” Cassidy said.

“Obvious to who? He’s single and you’re—”

“Married,” Cassidy interjected. “I’m married and should know better.”