Chapter Eighteen
He’d been silent for too long.
She didn’t know what she’d said, but it felt like some line she hadn’t even known was there had been crossed.
Max wasn’t looking at her. He was making a point of looking everywhere else and as soon as the song ended he released her like she was radioactive.
“I need some air,” he said abruptly. “Do you want some air?”
“Sure.”
He gestured for her to precede him toward the door and fell into step behind her, one hand resting lightly on the small of her back. She wondered if he was even aware of the touch or if it was just instinctive—Max the protector, always with one hand on his subject, aware of her on an instinctual level that had nothing to do with attraction and everything to do with who he was.
She needed to remind herself of that. No matter what he might say about her mouth, Max saw her as someone to look after. His little sister’s friend. His friend, perhaps. But just a friend.
She opened the door to the terrace overlooking the golf course. The tables and patio chairs that would be out here during the day were stacked to one side, leaving only a vast, unused space between them and the carved stone railing that wrapped around the perimeter of the terrace.
Max left the door open, the music drifting out after them as he thrust his hands into his pockets and walked out on the moonlit space. Parv watched him, uncertain what to make of his odd mood.
Things had seemed normal between them while they were dancing. Comfortable. But somehow a switch had flipped and she didn’t know what had changed.
Had she somehow given away her feelings for him?
No. He would have run for the hills if he’d had a clue, not for the nearest balcony.
“Maybe I should try internet dating too,” he said suddenly, still facing the golf course. “These days most of the people I meet are clients and that’s just bad business.”
“You’ll be the toast of online dating.” She came up beside him and boosted herself up on the railing. “Some of the sites are perfect for no strings hook-ups.”
“What if I want strings?” He turned toward her suddenly and she was startled by the intensity on his face. “You think I can’t want what Sidney and Josh have? That I can’t commit to something real?”
Parv stared at him. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? That he wanted a real relationship? Or was it only a hallucination brought on by the romantic lyrics floating out of the ballroom?
Someday my happy arms will hold you…
“I thought you didn’t want that. I guess I figured if you did, it would be easy for you.”
And someday I’ll know that moment divine…
“It’s hard to imagine the great Max Dewitt lonely,” she said, her voice strangely hoarse. “You can have anyone you want.”
“Can I?”
He held her gaze—and the world fell away.
This was it. This was the moment when everything would change. His gaze dropped to her mouth and she remembered what he’d said earlier.
I used to have fantasies about that mouth.
God yes. She’d had fantasies about every part of him. The song continued to whisper seductively about all the things you are and she felt all of her doubts falling away one by one. This was it. Fate. Serendipity. The moment in her life that made all the waiting worth it.
Max Dewitt was going to kiss her.
Finally.
He leaned closer, one hand lifting toward her face.
“Max.” It was more exhale than speech, but he didn’t seem to mind. Nothing broke his focus on her lips.
It was happening. It was really happening. He was so close now.
Parvati would have pinched herself if she didn’t think she’d fall off the railing if she moved a single muscle. The universe was finally giving her the fairy tale—
“Parvati! There you are.”
Max jerked back guiltily—and Parvati jumped in surprise, grabbing at the railing with both hands when she started to tip backward toward the golf course. Max reached out to steady her, but stopped before making contact when she regained her balance without his help.
Which was almost enough to make her let go again, just to see if he would touch her before she took a header toward the sidewalk below.
He wasn’t looking at her lips now. He wasn’t looking at any part of her.
Nearly moaning in frustration, Parv turned to glare at the intruder. Asha stood in the doorway, oblivious to the idea that she might have interrupted something—though, in her defense, Parv had introduced Max as just a friend earlier. “Did you need something, Asha?”
“Mom’s looking for you. There’s someone she wants you to meet who might have a job for you.”
Parv groaned—her parents’ latest attempt to be supportive was to push networking introductions and job interviews on her. “Tell her I’ll be right there.”
“Her friend is leaving soon—”
“I’ll be right there, Asha.”
“No,” Max said suddenly, reaching for her arm. “You should go now.”
The Universe hated her.
The band began a frantic, up-tempo number—as if the mood wasn’t already dead—and Parv took Max’s hand, hopping down from the stone railing. As soon as her feet touched the ground, he let her go—and Parv somehow resisted the urge to cry. Was it really so much to ask that she get the fantasy? Just once?
But the Fates weren’t with her.
For the rest of the night they never returned to the terrace, or to the dance floor. Max was always close, but always with a careful distance between them—too far to touch.
During that moment on the terrace she’d been so sure she was about to get everything she’d ever wanted in one delicious Max-sized package, but the moment was gone and they never came close again. By the time he was driving her home, she’d convinced herself that it was just a trick of the music and the moonlight, making her think things that weren’t real. He hadn’t really been fixated on her mouth. He hadn’t really said he wanted a real relationship. She’d just wanted it so badly she’d convinced herself it was happening.
This was why she should never have let herself fall in love with him.
He’d probably thought they were having a perfectly normal conversation about their respective dating prospects and there she was mentally running away into happily-ever-after-ville. The radio played softly the entire ride home, saving her from having to talk to him, and Parv listened to one romantic song after the next, wondering if she would ever hear a love song without this wistful ache.
Max pulled up in front of her place. He always walked her to the door, always made sure everything was safe and secure before he left, but she still jumped a little when he put his hand on her back as they approached her door.
“I had fun tonight,” he said casually.
“My family loved you.” And why wouldn’t they? He was one of them. The Success Elite.
Yet somehow he’d never made her feel inferior. How was that even possible? How was it Perfect Max never looked at her like she was less than perfect?
“They all adore you,” he commented.
“I know. I’m lucky.” Which just made her beat herself up that much more when she disappointed them. She unlocked her door and turned to face him. “Thank you for tonight, Max. I owe you.”
At first she thought he was nodding, ducking his chin. Later, when she described the moment, she would say it was an accident. She hadn’t expected anything. Frankly, she was still busy being frustrated by the anticlimactic moment on the terrace. She certainly didn’t plan it. Max didn’t give her any kind of look or signal.
It just sort of happened. She couldn’t even be sure which one of them initiated it.
All she knew was one second she was saying goodnight to him and the next they were kissing.
It wasn’t the sort of passionate embrace she’d fantasized about. It was a sweet kiss. A soft, quick brush of his mouth over hers—not a tentative first date kiss, but the kind of kiss two people who had been dating for years might give one another as a hello or goodbye. Absentminded. Automatic. A familiar kiss.
And right when she started to wonder if it was a friendly familiar kiss—if that was all they were, condemned forever as just friends with no chemistry, no heat—Max leaned back just enough to draw in a sharp breath, angled his head and everything changed.
It wasn’t sweet anymore. His lips resettled on hers, coaxing and pressing as he deepened the kiss and her brain stuttered to comprehend what was happening—how had they gotten here?
But then, before she could react, before she could do more than part her lips, he broke away, putting three feet between them and dropping hands she hadn’t even realized had taken hold of her shoulders.
“Goodnight, Parv.” Casual. Collected.
“Goodnight, Max,” she echoed automatically, her higher mental functions thrown offline by the last sixty seconds.
Dazed, she watched him walk to his car and open the driver’s door before she snapped out of it and retreated quickly inside, slamming the door and leaning against it. One hand lifted to touch her lips.
What had just happened?
Well, obviously she knew what had happened, but…what the hell?
What did it mean? And—most importantly—was it going to happen again? Because she’d been so surprised she hadn’t been able to enjoy it properly and if Max was going to start kissing her, she wanted to enjoy every second of it.