Spring River Valley: The Winter Collection (Boxed Set) (14 page)

He laughed. “In that sweater, you could make the Christmas issue.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sit down. Pizza can be here in twenty minutes, if you’re still hungry.”

“I am, but the way it’s coming down outside, I wouldn’t bet on a speedy delivery. I know my way around a kitchen. Why don’t you sit with your foot up
, and I’ll make us something?”

She eyed him skeptically, one corner of her upper lip curving just a fraction as he shrugged out of his jacket. Was she giving him the once over? He stretched a little, expanding his chest with a deep breath.
Let her look.

“You’re telling me you can cook?”

“I gotta eat. So I taught myself how to cook. Kitchen’s through there?”

“Yep.” He had made it halfway to the kitchen when he realized her skeptical expression had become pained. She took a step and winced.

“Come on, hop on. I’ll carry you.” He offered his arm, which she stared at as though he was carrying that axe he’d been joking about all night. “I’m not kidding. I’ll carry you into the kitchen, and we can put some ice on that foot.”

“You must be out of your mind.”

Despite her protests, he scooped her up and didn’t set her down again until he’d pulled out a chair at the tiny dinette. “What was so hard about that? You weigh what—a hundred pounds?”

“You
are
out of your mind. But you do know how to flatter a girl.”

“I can bench press more than you.”

“I’m more interested in your cooking skills.”

“That’s all women really want, isn’t it? A guy who’s good in the kitchen.”

Had she blushed? He smiled. Apparently once you got past the prickly side of Iron Audrey, you found the sweet interior.

“So show me your mad skills.”

“Ice first.” Under her direction, he filled up a thick plastic bag with ice cubes, and then he knelt in front of her and gently lifted her injured foot. Her high-heeled boot would have been a major turn on for him, but at the moment it only looked painful for her. Carefully, he tugged the zipper down, and she gasped when he reached her ankle.

“Maybe you should have gone to the ER.”

“Nah, it’ll be fine. Just…ow!”

“Sorry. You’ve got a bad bump there.” He slid the boot off her foot and pulled off the dark sock she wore. A puffy, discolored area surrounded her ankle. Interestingly, the sexy polish on her toes matched the hue of her shimmering red lipstick. A thin gold ring glittered on her little toe. “You must be a knockout in sandals.”

“Hmm?”

“You have nice feet. Well, a nice foot. I assume the other one is similar.”

“So you’re a foot guy?”

“Yeah, they’re the first things I chop off. I like to keep them in my freezer.”

Her pained expression became a glare. “If you’re going to chop me up, can you do it now? Because I can’t take the lame jokes anymore.”

“With an ankle like this, lame should be the only kind of joke you
can
take.” He waited a beat. “Badump bump.”

“Not getting any better.”

“Still prickly I see. Here’s the ice, maybe this will cool you off.” He lowered her foot to the opposite chair and placed the ice pack over the discolored skin of her ankle. She pulled in a sharp breath then sighed and closed her eyes. “Better?”

“Yeah. A little.”

Max watched her for a moment. With her head back and her eyes closed, she was exquisite. Every line and curve of her face was gorgeous. He’d have to remember to thank the guy with the burst appendix. His loss was Max’s gain.

“You’re staring again.”

“I’m not. I’m going to scope out your fridge and see what I can whip us up to eat.”

“I have to warn you, I eat at the hospital cafeteria a lot, so I don’t have much on hand.”

Peering into her fridge, Max had to agree. She had the refrigerator of a guy. But he’d learned a long time ago how to make do since most of his money went for photography equipment. “Just sit back and relax and let me amaze you.” He glanced over his shoulder and caught her staring too.

“I’m already amazed.”

“Oh my god! This is fantastic.” Audrey licked her lips and moaned in delight.

Across the table from her, Max wore a self-satisfied grin. “I’ve been told my omelets are orgasmic.”

She stifled a laugh. “Oh? Do you cook for women often?”

“Not often enough.”

Audrey dropped her gaze and studied her plate. She’d been staring at him a lot since the moment he entered her apartment and tossed his
worn leather jacket on the sofa, revealing a black turtle neck that hugged a professional set of biceps. In the proper lighting she saw his eyes matched the color of the faded Levi’s hugging his hips. His dark hair shimmered, wet from the weather, and sexy stubble shadowed his jaw. Plus, she’d just spent twenty minutes watching his butt while he worked diligently at her stove creating a culinary masterpiece.

“So I guess by filling in for
Appendix Guy, you’re not leaving some other girl home alone and unattended?” Ugh. Had she really just asked him if he was cheating on his girlfriend this evening?

“My wife doesn’t mind if I step out once in a while.”

Audrey choked on her next bite of eggs. “You’re…
wifcuff
?”

“Are you okay? Did you get an eggshell?”

“I got…
you’re married
?”

He smirked and held up his skillful hands. “Do you see a ring? Don’t you think Cassandra would have mentioned that?”

“Hey, she didn’t even tell me the understudy was on duty tonight.”

He broke eye contact and picked at the remaining eggs on his plate. Something that felt suspiciously like guilt stabbed Audrey in the gut. What had she told Cassie about her penchant for shooting her mouth off? “I mean…”

“No, you’re right. I’m the understudy. I was a last minute replacement for the real guy. It’s okay.” He finished his last bite and rose to clear the table. “Look, my cousin called me in a panic. She hated the idea of disappointing you, so she asked me for help. I haven’t been on a date in a while…not because of all the axe murdering I do or anything. I just…spend most of my time with babies and dogs in Santa hats and following around brides on their wedding days. And when I’m not doing that, I’m trying to win a Nobel Prize for photography. So I’m not looking for anything serious. I guess she figured we’d have a nice time and both go our separate ways, and when Mr. Right recovered, he’d come back and take over.”

Audrey watched him, and for the first time thought she saw the real guy Max was talking about, the one he’d been hiding with his smart ass remarks all night. “I’m sorry I’ve been so…prickly. I appreciate you falling on your sword for your cousin.”

His wicked half smile returned. “She owes me now.”

Touché, Audrey thought.
Zing
. She glanced at the clock. It had been almost an hour since he’d come back inside. “So, brides? You’re a wedding photographer…oh, wait…you were going to do my friend Harper’s wedding.”

“Harper? Shaw? Oh…the wedding that got cancelled last month.”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“I felt bad for her. How is she?”

“She’s great. Believe it or not, she met a guy who’s a lot better for her than her fiancé.”

Max finished stacking dishes in the sink and turned to lean casually against the counter. “See? Things work out. You just have to give them time.”

“Is that more advice for me along the ‘you give up too easily’ line?”

“Yes, it is. Hey, I love my cousin, and she means well, but somewhere along the line, she started believing her own press.”

“What’s that mean?”

“She fixed up a couple in high school and they really hit it off. They ended up getting married, and they’re still extraordinarily happy today. In fact, I just took the pictures at the christening of their first baby. Since then, she’s been fixing people up
, and she has a good track record, so everyone started to say she has a gift. But I don’t think it’s magic. I think she just has an ability to listen to people and get to know them. She puts people together who would otherwise probably have hit it off if they’d met on their own.”

“But what if they wouldn’t have met on their own?”

“This is a very small town. Everybody meets everybody eventually.”

“So what are you saying? I’ll eventually meet Mr. Right?”

“Sure you will, and don’t feel bad if it’s not the guy Cassie wanted to set you up with. She’s not always right.”

Audrey removed the ice pack from her foot, which was now just numb enough to make her forget how much it had hurt before. She stood up and tested her ankle and found she could move
a little bit better now. “Well, thanks for that. You sort of sound like my mother.”

Max crossed the kitchen and offered her his arm so she could hobble to the living room. He leaned close to her ear, though, before she could take her first step. “I’m just saying, a girl like you doesn’t need to try so hard.”

“A girl like me?”

He met her gaze, and her heart fluttered. “You’re damn near perfect. Stop chasing guys who aren’t good enough for you, and let the right one come and find you.”

How could he manage to be as irritating as a paper cut one minute and as sexy as a summer night the next? “Damn near…?”

He held her gaze, and it was hypnotic. The magnetic pull of him drew her in until her lips almost touched his. His citrusy cologne filled her nose, and the heat of his body warmed the scant space between them. “Perfect,” he said just before his lips brushed hers.

A charge went off inside Audrey. Every nerve in her body fired at once, leaving her shivering like a person in shock after his too brief ‘almost’ kiss. She wanted more. She craved it. But he pulled away.

The smirk was back. “And yes. I would.”

“You…would what?”

“Have sex with you.”

If she hadn’t just been thinking the very same thing she might have flushed with embarrassment. They’d known each other less than two hours. Sex should not have been on the table at this point. Or the floor. Or the couch, or any of the other places her dirty imagination had already considered it while she’d perused his athlete’s physique. How dare he?

She pulled back. “You really are a piece of work, aren’t you? This entire charming act was just about working up to a roll in the hay?”

“Not at all. I’m just saying, we discussed it before in the car, and I thought you might want to know that yes, based on your looks, I would sleep with you.”

“Wow.” Indignation rolled through Audrey, battling with unbridled lust. How bad would it be to drag him into her bedroom, give him what he was obviously hinting at getting, and then shove him out in the snow and tell him good riddance? The thought of it gave her a little illicit thrill, but she tamped that down and pointed at the door. “So sorry, Romeo. I bet your friend is almost here, so you won’t freeze if you wait outside now.”

“I meant it as a compliment.”

“I’m flattered that I pass muster in the sex department.”

“Well, I didn’t say that. I said I’d give it a try.”

Ignoring the pain in her ankle, Audrey marched to her front door and opened it. “And you know what I’m going to give a try? Axe murdering. And yes, I would.”

“What, have sex with me?” He looked so smug, scooping his jacket off the couch as he headed for the door.

“No, chop you into little pieces. Bye, Max. Thanks for the omelet. They’re the only eggs you’re ever going to get near in this apartment.”

He passed her at the doorway and swooped close again, his warm lips just teasing her jawline. “Prickly. I like that in a woman.”

She growled and slammed the door after him. Cassie was never going to hear the end of this.

* * * *

“Perfect timing. She just threw me out,” Max said as his roommate, Jared Barton, rolled down the window of his pickup.

“I’m impressed. That’s a vast improvement over your last date.”

“Shut up. Where are your cables?”

“In the back.” Jared pulled his truck up to Max’s car, and together they worked on the jump start while the snow fell around them.

“So was this the fill-in date for Cassie?”

“Yeah. You wouldn’t believe the night I had. The restaurant caught fire, the girl almost got a concussion, and she probably would have left me out here to freeze to death.”

“Sounds like one of your dates. What did Cassie promise you to go out with her?”

“The cost of dinner, which I ended up cooking for her in her own apartment.”

“Screwed. Hey, how about we go pick up something at the diner and you can charge it to your cousin? I’m starving.”

Max’s car engine roared to life. “Sure, but you might have to jump me again.”

“No problem.” Jared started to roll up his cables and stowed them in the storage compartment behind the cab of his pickup.