“Don’t be.” He kissed the shell of my ear and down my neck, kissing a trail from my collarbone back up to my mouth. I turned around and caught his mouth with my own, my body working on muscle memory. Our lips found their way to each other instinctively, clicking together immediately. Max kissed me sweetly, gently, reverently.
Finally, I pulled back and Max rested his forehead against mine. “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry about today. I had no idea she had a key.”
I rolled my eyes. “How’d she get it, anyway?”
“I gave her my office keys to copy and she said the store must’ve copied the whole thing by mistake.”
I moved away from him and poured myself a glass of wine. “Want one?”
“Nah,” he said, grabbing a beer from the fridge. “I took her keys away, obviously.”
I took a long drink of the Moscato, praying that it would calm my nerves in a hurry. I could feel myself getting worked up again and I really didn’t want to lose my cool. “Okay, so she made the keys. Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt and just say the store copied them all. Why was she in our bedroom?”
He popped the cap on his Corona and hesitated. “She said she went to find Titus.”
“Sure she did. I’m sure she’s an animal lover from way back.”
“Maybe she did, Kari. It’s not completely unbelievable.”
“She shouldn’t have been in here to start with!” I exclaimed, feeling my blood pressure rise.
“You’re exactly right.”
I rolled my eyes again. “You always think the best when it comes to her. Maybe Cane’s right and she’s a master manipulator.”
“He told you that?”
“More or less.”
Max shook his head and leaned back against the counter. “I’ve told you that she’s been through some shit. I’m trying to help her get on her feet and she’s good at her job. She saves me a ton of time entering shit.”
“Good data enterers are an easy find, Max. This whole thing just seems sneaky and I don’t have some soft spot for her like you do. I’m not biased.”
“Ah, Kari. Come on. If she bothers you this much, I’ll have her get another job. I don’t want this causing a problem between us.” He took a step forward, taking off his hat and tossing it on the counter. The color of his eyes deepened as he bent his head down. “I’m trying to do the right thing here for everyone. But if this doesn’t work for you, then it doesn’t work for me, alright?”
My phone rang, cutting through the tension. I picked it up off the counter and pressed the green button without looking at it—I couldn’t take my eyes off of Max. “Hello?”
“Hey, Kari. It’s Sam.”
I shook my head and let out a little laugh. “What can I do for you, Sam?” I asked with an emphasis on her name. Max put his head in his hands.
“I just wanted to apologize for today. I shouldn’t have gone into your home without you being there. I would’ve flipped out if the roles were reversed. I just felt comfortable there, I’ve been there so many times. Either way, I shouldn’t have just gone in. I’m sorry.”
She’s good. I’ll give her that.
“Thank you for apologizing,” I said, circling around the kitchen island while I thought of the best way to respond. “It’s very nice of you.”
“I really didn’t mean to cause any problems between you and Max,” she said sweetly.
“Oh, honey, you didn’t.” My voice oozed condescendingly with a syrupy-sweetness. “Max and I are great. He’s standing here smiling at me right now. At least we all know now not to trust that hardware store, right?” I laughed, waiting on her to respond.
It took a few seconds before she chimed in with a hollow laugh. “Absolutely. I’ll call them tomorrow and let them know they need to be more careful. You guys have a good night.”
“You, too, Samantha.” I clicked the button.
Max peeked up through his fingers. “She apologized?”
“Yeah. She sure did.”
He raised his head. “See? She didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Whatever,” I muttered, grabbing my wine glass again and heading upstairs. Before I got out the door, Max spoke again.
“I told her if it came down to you or her, you’d win every time.”
I took a deep breath, allowing his words to settle on my soul. “I hope so.”
MAX
I looked across the table at Cane at nine o’clock the next morning. He was standing over the plans laid out on the conference room table, his hands gripping the edge of the marble. A wide smile broke out across his face and he stood slowly, nodding his head.
“I think we got it. It’ll depend on the final supplier quotes, but the price you worked out with Grady is going to be the piece that gets us this bid. No one else will have that number, right?” He tossed his pencil on his yellow notepad.
I leaned back in my chair. “I talked to Wade last night and he said he’d add a few grand to everyone they bid to. They don’t need the work.”
“I think this one’s ours. Good job.”