Unravel (6 page)

I did none of that.

Sunlight gleamed across the counter. It warmed my skin. Max’s gaze remained steadfast. He made my skin burn like fire.

I backed away slowly. “I gotta go.” I took another step before I pulled my eyes away from him. “It was nice seeing you.” I was only a few steps away when I called out over my shoulder, “Tell your secretary I’m sorry about the whole Starlight thing.”

“When you come back tomorrow and have lunch with me you can tell her.”

I stopped. My blood roared in my ears.

He wasn’t done.

“Better yet, let me take you to dinner Saturday.”

My hand was inches away from the doorknob. I stared down at the metal before I squeezed my eyes shut.

I didn’t want to like what he said. I wanted to feel nothing. But I felt everything. That terrified me. And rightly so. Anyone that has the power to open up your heart without you even knowing, should terrify you.

“Naomi.”

I turned. He leaned against the counter looking so self-possessed that I was ready to claw my way out of the room if I needed to.

With agile ease, he pushed himself away from the counter, only to approach me slowly. “What’s stopping you from saying yes?”

The electric spark between us. The one that becomes more powerful each time I see you. It makes me go from wanting to have your complete attention, to wanting to be the center of your universe.

I said nothing.

Max tilted his head, staring at me, trying to figure out my answer.

“Just have dinner with me,” he said.

“We’ll see,” I said.

“A simple yes or a no will do.”

“We’ll see,” I repeated slowly.

Before he could say another word, I forcefully pushed the door open. And with my legs feeling like jelly, I walked toward the elevator.

Waiting for the elevator doors to part felt like years. I could see Max in the reflection of the stainless steel doors. He was looking right at me. When the doors finally opened, I anxiously walked in and pressed L. Before the doors slid shut, I looked up, hoping he had walked away. But he was still in the same place, with the exact same focus he had on me minutes earlier.

The elevator started to move. My stomach dropped. I closed my eyes and sighed heavily.

The only thing I expected Max to stir in me was lust. It was a natural feeling. A chemical reaction. But he was making me go beyond that. Now I wanted to know his mind. The true Max. I wanted to know everything.

This was bad.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

Sunlight reflecting off my Raybans. Laughing with Lana. My hand outstretched, touching the wind, as I drove.

The days blurred together at warp speed as I played the part of a relaxed college student, enjoying her summer. And I was doing a damn good job. No one knew that those three days were simply a grace period before I had to give Max an answer.

He never called. And it drove me crazy. I stared at my phone, waiting to see his number show up on my screen. I was fifteen again, pining away like a pathetic little puppy.

Saturday arrived.

I spent the morning avoiding my phone. After a shower, after I paced my bedroom for an hour, I called him.

He answered briskly.

“You wanted a yes or no answer from me…” I paused and stared out the window. “Do you still want that?”

“I do,” he said slowly.

Hearing his voice instantly made my blood pump furiously throughout my body.

I exhaled, my breath shaky. “Then yes.”

I could feel his wicked grin through the phone. “I’ll pick you up at 8.”

Everything I told myself I wouldn’t do with Max, I did. I said I wouldn’t have dinner with him and I was sitting across from him in one of the nicest restaurants in McLean. I said I wouldn’t put any effort into getting ready, but I dressed in a deep blue maxi dress that had a V-cut in the front and left almost my entire back exposed. It was one of the sexiest dresses I owned. I said I wouldn’t let him get a reaction out of me, but as we walked into the restaurant, goose bumps instantly prickled my skin when his hand settled on the bare skin of my lower back, making me regret this dress.

And now I was barely surviving, because of the looks that Max shot in my direction. When he looked at me, his eyes narrowed slightly, like he was trying to get a better focus on me. I leaned back in my chair. Feeling like I had been shot in the chest.

Bang.

I opened up to him in a way that seemed impossible. I told him about college, my dislike of exams and papers and the professors. And Max listened the whole time, his eyes never straying, his attention purely focused on me. It was thrilling.

Max took a drink of his water. He was leaning back with one arm draped over his chair. His gray dress shirt stretched across his chest and arms. I took a sip of my drink. I had already gone through three glasses of wine. Every time I looked over at him, my mouth suddenly became dry. I needed to find a better coping mechanism or my liver was going to shut down.

“So did you get your college experience?” he asked.

“I guess so.”

“You guess so?”

I shrugged. “It was nothing like I expected.”

“What did you expect?”

I thought over his question, chewed on my bottom lip. “More… freedom.” His brows lifted and I quickly spoke up. “I don’t know… I guess I just thought I would find myself. Sounds cliché, right?”

Max grinned and my heart started to pound at an alarming rate. “Not at all. Everyone expects that, but hardly anyone really gets that.”

“Did you change?”

“No. You see I was good at studying but even better at having fun.”

When I pictured him having fun I pictured his arm slung around a new girl each week and jealousy took root in my stomach, twisting its way up my body until I had to force away the image of College Max.

“If we had crossed paths in college…” I started out slowly, contemplating my words. “Would you have noticed me?”

“I would’ve noticed you then, just like I notice you now,” he said in an intimately. His words slammed into me.

Max paused and braced his elbows on the table, like whatever he was about to say was going to take everything out of him. Right then was my cue to speak up. It was the perfect moment to tell him that I didn’t need to hear anything. My lips parted, but nothing came out.

“Is there someone in your life?”

“There are a lot of people in my life,” I pretended to mull over his question. “Yesterday I had lunch with a friend and after that I had to go get gas and I ended up talking to the cashier at 7-Eleven… I could keep going on and on,” I said cheekily.

He smiled wickedly and leaned in closer. “What I meant was, are you dating someone right now?”

Lachlan barged into my mind abruptly. Without asking, without caring that I was trying so hard not to think about him. I shifted awkwardly in my seat. “Actually… there’s someone from my childhood,” I said quietly.

“Yeah?” he said. I couldn’t figure out if I was seeing jealousy or intrigue in his eyes.

“It’s a long story,” I explained.

“I have all the time in the world,” Max replied.

“Not for this story you don’t.”

I wasn’t going to say any more. I didn’t want to talk about Lachlan; I think that showed in my expression. Max asked for the check and the subject was quickly dropped. I breathed a sigh of relief.

We stood up from the table at the same time. I squeezed my clutch as he slipped on his jacket. As we walked toward the exit, I felt his palm settle against my back. His fingers spread against my bare skin. It was the exact same spot as before.

The valet parked his car in front of the restaurant. To everyone else, it was probably a warm summer night. But everyone else hadn’t sat across from Max. They didn’t have his eyes on them for minutes on end, making their skin feel like it was in flames.

I took a deep breath.

I slid into the passenger seat. The door shut. I was surrounded by the scent of Max’s aftershave. I rubbed my hands against the goose bumps on my arms. They started to fade. When Max opened his door, they came back to life.

Before he put the car in drive, his fingers curved around the steering wheel and he thoughtfully stared at his hands with a tense expression, as if they had all the answers to his problems. When he finally turned to me, his eyes raked from my blonde hair, down to my legs.

“I can take you back to your house.”

I waited for him to continue.

“Or… ” he drew out.

Never had I ever been more relieved to hear that word.

“You can come home with me.”

When he said those words, his voice lowered.

Max stayed silent. I stayed silent. The engine hummed. Car doors slammed. Conversations and laughter were heard. Everyone and everything in the world continued around us, completely oblivious that whatever I said next had the potential to change everything.

I could have lied and made up some bullshit story about having to be up early tomorrow. I could have told him that I didn’t feel good. Or that I was really tired. But I didn’t. I went with what felt right.

“Your house,” I confirmed.

The entire drive to his house was tense. My heel tapped against the floorboard. I clutched my seatbelt like it was a lifeline. Max asked questions and I would give him one-word answers. I didn’t want to talk. All I could think about was what would happen when we arrived.

I wanted time to stop. I wanted to take a deep breath and calm my heart. But we were all too quickly turning into his driveway. Max cut the engine and glanced over at me. I was achingly aware of the heat coming from his body, of what he could give me.

He got out of the car. I stayed put. Seconds later he opened my door and ducked his head to look at me. The interior light slanted across his face, brightening his hazel eyes. I watched his gaze flick between my lips and eyes.

Lips. Eyes.

Lips. Eyes.

Finally, he settled on my lips.

“It’s okay to get out,” Max said slowly.

Was it really? Even when the words slipped out of his mouth he seemed unconvinced. What were we walking into?

My lips curled into a tense smile and I let him lead the way up the sidewalk. I barely gave his house a passing glance the last time I was here. But tonight I took it all in. His house was a decent size. Not too big. Not too little. The exterior was nothing but brick. Spotlights placed behind the shrubs cast a yellow glow onto the windows. It was nothing like the exorbitant mansions around here. It surprised me, in a good way. We walked through the front door. The foyer was spacious, with minimal decor. It was so quiet. The sounds of our footsteps echoed loudly. It sounded unnatural. Every single click of my heels reminded me that I was alone with him.

“Home sweet home,” I murmured underneath my breath.

Max was close enough to hear me though. He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled. “You want a tour?”

“Sure.” A tour was harmless.

His first stop was to the right. He turned on the lights. “This is my office.”

Max walked over to his desk as if it were his first instinct. He took off his black blazer, dropped it onto his chair and glanced down at the papers on his desk.

I leaned against the wall. “Not too shabby.”

He smiled. “Glad it meets your approval.”

I watched him as he moved papers around, his sharp brows knitted in concentration. His arms were braced on the desk and I wanted to walk closer, until I was caged in between him and the desk. I wanted all his focus on me.

On cue, Max glanced up at me, and smirked. There was nothing playful in his gaze. His eyes pinned me to the wall and left me immobile. They dared me to walk forward and act out my thoughts.

It took me a second to gather my breath. My heart pounded in my ribs almost to the point of being painful. Finally, when I could move without shaking, I walked around the room, looking it over. A large mahogany desk stood in the middle of the room. The walls were painted a coffee brown. Two leather chairs faced his desk and the wall to the left was nothing but a floor to ceiling bookshelf. Opposite the bookshelf was a couch that looked like it was there more for show than anything.