Chapter 62
Ten Years Ago
Lana woke to someone poking her in the side. She opened her eyes. Aurora’s face was a few inches away from hers.
“Finally, you’re awake! Do you think Max is up yet? Can we go check?”
Lana groaned, dragging her pillow over her head. “I’m tired. Go check yourself.”
“But if he’s still asleep and he’s annoyed that I wake him, I want him to blame you, instead of me.”
Lana nudged the girl away with her foot. Not quite a kick, but almost. “Aurora, go!”
She grumbled. “Fine.”
But as soon as Aurora left the bed, the memories of last night flooded into Lana’s mind. Max’s relentless kisses. How he’d felt on top of her. Inside of her.
Oh my god. That happened.
She shot upright. She was sore between her legs, but it wasn’t too bad. Mostly she felt warm and gooey and satisfied. She wasn’t a virgin anymore.
I had sex.
I had sex with Max Bennett.
But he was sleeping on the living room couch right now. She’d have to face him. How was she supposed to act now?
She’d only thought about getting him into bed, not about the morning after.
She hurried to get dressed, then snuck into the bathroom to brush her teeth. When Lana came out into the living room, she found Aurora on the couch watching TV.
Max was in the kitchen, standing over the stove.
“You’re making breakfast?” Lana asked.
“Trying. I’m making pancakes. But there’s a certain someone who is supposed to be helping me, if she could drag her face away from the television for a minute or two.
” He sent an amused glance toward the couch, where Aurora was pretending not to have heard him.
“One minute, Rory’s excited to see me. Then it’s, ‘Max, make me pancakes.’ I see how it is. ”
Lana walked into the kitchen, acting casual.
Last night, Max had said he would go back to just being Aurora’s brother.
Nothing more. She’d accepted that. But what did that mean, exactly?
Was she not supposed to stare at his body, while visions of everything they’d done last night danced through her head?
Because that was so happening right now.
Max smiled at her. “I guess you’ll just have to be my assistant instead. Could you grab the eggs?”
She set the carton on the counter beside him.
“You can come a little closer,” he murmured. “Promise I won’t bite.”
They were out of sight of Aurora in the living room. Lana slid over by a couple inches, till she could feel the warmth radiating from him.
“How are you feeling?” His voice had dipped even lower.
“I’m good. Really good.”
“So, you had fun last night?” He almost sounded nervous.
He looked over, and Lana found her confidence.
“Yes, Max.”
He reached over and put his arm around her waist, pulling her in.
Lust immediately lit up Lana’s entire body.
This was Max going back to normal? Did he not remember how they used to be?
He’d always been kind to her. But he’d certainly never touched her.
Not like this, so casually. Like his hands belonged on her.
Swiftly, Max leaned over to kiss her neck before going back to stirring the salt into the flour.
They stopped talking and made the pancakes.
But she kept feeling his gaze on her. And she watched him, too.
Every time one of them caught the other looking, they smiled like they had a secret.
Because they did. She didn’t quite understand what he expected of her, but she liked whatever they were doing right now.
Aurora finally got off the couch when it was time to eat. She shoved blueberry pancakes into her mouth. “Max promised to take me to the beach. Do you want to come too, Lana?”
“Don’t you and your bro need some alone time?” Usually when Max visited, he and Aurora went on their adventures solo. Which made sense. The two siblings almost never got to see one another.
“You should come.” Max’s toes nudged hers beneath the table.
“Then I will.” She nudged back. Max set his heavy, sock-clad foot over hers.
As they got their bathing suits on and packed up to go, Lana tried to analyze everything he’d said, both yesterday and this morning. Max said that he couldn’t be her boyfriend. That he’d go back to being just Aurora’s brother.
But he’d used the words, “when this is finished.”
She’d assumed he meant after last night was finished. But those words had been ambiguous. Open to interpretation. That was the reasoning that judges used sometimes, right? Words didn’t always have a single clear meaning.
Max was in town for two more days.
And her parents wouldn’t be returning until the day that Max was scheduled to leave. That realization made her heart leap and every inch of her come alive with anticipation.
Maybe Max still wanted her. Maybe he wanted them to enjoy each other as much as they could, while they had the chance.
If that was what he had in mind, then she was definitely on board.
At the beach, Max and Aurora horsed around in the surf while Lana stretched out her legs on her beach towel. She liked seeing Max like this, laughing and carefree. So often, he was worrying about his sister and feeling guilty that he couldn’t be with her more.
Lana rarely got to witness these moments between brother and sister, when they let go of everything else and just had fun. Aurora deserved that. And so did Max.
Well, Max had seemed to have fun last night, too. Lana’s chest swelled with pride that she’d made him feel good. Maybe she’d given him almost as much pleasure as he’d given her.
After a while, Aurora and Max returned to the blanket, water dripping from their skin. Lana tried not to let her gaze linger too much on Max in case Aurora might notice.
“Max and I are going to get ice cream,” Aurora said. “Come on.”
“Oh, I don’t need any. I’ll stay here.”
Max’s eyebrows drew down. “You sure? You okay?”
Lana knew that his question held a deeper meaning than just an interest in dessert. She smiled back at him.
“I’m having a great day. I’m going to keep enjoying the sun.”
She wanted to let the siblings have more time to themselves.
But she’d been telling the truth. She really was having a great time just being today.
Just existing. Lana couldn’t remember ever feeling so content.
She had her memories of last night, and she had more of Max to look forward to. How could she complain?
That contentedness lasted until she heard a voice behind her. “You all alone, baby? Why don’t you come and join me.”
She sat up, looking back. There was a guy standing there, probably in his forties. Old enough to be her father. And he was staring at her body with undisguised relish. He held up a beer can. “I’m happy to share.”
Lana grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her shoulders. “No thanks,” she said stiffly.
She heard his feet in the sand, coming closer. “The beer’s cold. Don’t you want to cool down? You must be all hot from the sun. You sure look hot, baby.”
She turned and stared straight at him. “I don’t want to. You can leave.”
The guy traipsed away, muttering about her being a bitch. But he’d taken her good mood with him.
Lana focused on the water, remembering something she’d seen on the news. A teenage girl from West Oaks had been murdered years ago, her body dumped on a beach. Heather Barnes.
Stuff like that didn’t happen much in their town. But rarely wasn’t the same as never.
And Heather’s killer hadn’t been caught. The thought made Lana so angry. She couldn’t wait until she was older and could prosecute rapists and murderers, anybody who went after people who were weaker. Maybe creeps would still stare at her in her bikini, but Lana wouldn’t feel so powerless.
“Was that guy bothering you?”
Max and Aurora had just returned. Aurora was licking her ice cream cone with a confused expression. But Max looked furious. “He was, wasn’t he? I’m going to say something.” He took a step in the retreating man’s direction, going after him.
“No.” Lana put on a smile and started gathering her things. “Should we go to the boardwalk next?”
Aurora loved playing the games over there. She shouted yes. But Max was still eyeing Lana with concern.
Back at the house, Max found Lana doing dishes in the kitchen. Aurora was in the bathroom, taking a shower.
He rested his hip against the counter, his body facing her. “Are you really okay? I’m sorry that jerk at the beach was bugging you.”
She felt embarrassed that Max had seen. As if somehow, Lana had invited the guy’s attention. “It was nothing, really.”
“You obviously handled him well enough yourself. Just wanted to check on you.”
“Thanks.”
“Hey. Look at me.” She did. Max held her chin. “I’d really like to kiss you.”
“Yes,” she whispered, instantly out of breath.
His lips slowly met hers. He wasn’t fast and needy, like last night. This kiss was careful. Intimate. Like she was something special, and he wanted to savor her.
Then he took the scrubber out of her hands. “How about I finish these, and you go relax. Army grunts get antsy without something useful to do.”
She knew he wasn’t a ‘grunt,’ that he was just trying to be self-deprecating and make her smile. And it worked.
Lana went to the kitchen table and flipped through a magazine, though her focus remained on the man scrubbing plates at the sink.
She reminded herself that he would only be here for a couple more days.
Less than that now. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to end up having real feelings for him, though she’d promised that she wouldn’t.
But even as she had these thoughts, she knew that reasoning with herself was hopeless. Max was the kind of guy who didn’t come along very often. Just as sweet as he was sexy. And he was so very sexy.
How could any woman not fall for him?