Max had left town a few weeks later. No one had known where he’d gone. About a year ago he’d reappeared. She’d carefully stayed out of his way, not sure how she felt about her old boyfriend returning to the scene of the crime.
He looked good, she thought absently. His blond hair had gone gray, but it suited him. The blue eyes were as piercing as she remembered, the smile as easy, the body as muscled.
“Hello, Max.”
“Denise.”
She stepped back to invite him in.
As he walked past her, she felt a remembered thrill, as if all that time hadn’t passed. It was kind of comforting to know she could be as foolish now as she had been at nineteen.
They faced each other.
“It’s been a while,” she said. “How are you?”
“Good. I moved back last year.”
“So I heard.”
“I’ve seen you around town a time or two.”
She nodded, then looked away. “I’ve avoided you.”
“I noticed. I figured you needed time.”
She laughed. “It’s been thirty-five years. How much more time were you going to give me?”
He smiled and it was just like it had been back then. Her knees went weak and her heart fluttered.
“Until today,” he told her.
She didn’t know what he wanted or what he expected, but none of that mattered. This was Max. Her Max.
“Ralph died nearly eleven years ago,” she said.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“I loved him very much. We had a wonderful life together and he gave me six beautiful children.”
Max nodded slowly. “I saw what was happening. After your first date with him. That’s why I left. I knew I couldn’t compete with him. I could have seduced you back into my bed, but I couldn’t have kept you there. I didn’t deserve you back then.”
They stared at each other.
“Now that we have that out of the way,” she said, “what happens now?”
“I thought we could start with a cup of coffee. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
TUCKER STOOD AT THE SIDE of the dirt road, looking stunned. He held a casserole dish in his hands.
Nevada sighed. “This is where you tell me you can handle it yourself. Isn’t that what you said? That a few single women couldn’t frighten you?”
“They’re everywhere.”
A slight exaggeration, she thought, amused. “Only three.”
“In one morning.”
She knew it wasn’t just the food. He’d also had two invitations to dinner and one request for a coffee date.
“I warned you and you didn’t want to listen.”
“I was wrong.” He turned to her. “What do I do?”
She smiled. “Am I correct in assuming you’re not interested in a liaison with one of the lovely ladies in town?”
“No. I’m not. But I also don’t want them pissed at me. You have to help.”
“Technically, I don’t.”
Maybe it was wrong to enjoy watching him squirm, but she was willing to live with the guilt.
“Face it, Tucker. The town has something of a man shortage and you’re a man.”
A man who knew how to kiss, she thought, then pushed the memories of the other night out of her head. It had been a whole lot easier not to think about Tucker when she didn’t have to see him every day. And when the last memory of their time together had been so awful. Now she knew what it was like to kiss him when he was sober and just as interested as she was.
“You have to make them stop,” he told her.
“What will you give me if I do?”
The question was automatic, honed from being one of six siblings. Before he could say anything, she held up her hands.
“Never mind. Don’t answer that. I’ll help you because I’m a nice person and it will make my mother proud. There’s no other reason. Come on.”
She started walking to her truck.
“Where are we going?”
“Into town.”
They were there in less than fifteen minutes. She parked by the lake and turned off the engine.
“We’re going to walk through town and you’re going to pretend you’re completely into me. By the time we get back here, word will have spread and your problem will be solved.”
“I can do that.”
She was grateful he didn’t press her on why she was helping. Sure, some of it really was about her mother. But while she’d enjoyed watching Tucker squirm, she didn’t actually like those other women coming on to him.
She and Tucker might have agreed they were going to be all business, all the time, but that didn’t make her any less aware of him.
“We’ll hit the grocery store, then Morgan’s Books. After that we’ll do a quick walk down Frank Lane and you’ll be untouchable.”
“I owe you,” he said as he got out of her truck.
In more ways than he knew, she thought.
They started toward the center of town. When they reached the corner and stopped for the light, Tucker grabbed her hand.
It took her a second to remember this was part of a plan, and her idea. While her brain was busy processing the information, her body was stirring as heat sparked and her girl parts woke up.