Innocent 'til Proven Otherwise

CHAPTER TWO

MAX returned his gaze to Ali, who was looking ready to bolt again. ‘You’re not really a barista, are you?’

Ali huffed out a breath. ‘No. I just work in Kat’s coffee shop.’

Which was the truth. Or a semblance of it anyway. She did work at the River Breeze.

Now.

Come Monday she was going to spend an awful lot of time talking to her very, very good lawyer about what she’d done before that and she had no desire for a preview.

And besides, that part of her life was over.

Max watched Ali fiddle with her straw. She seemed tense and drawn. There was obviously more of a story there. But even more obviously she didn’t want to talk about it.

Which suited him just fine.

He glanced over at the bar where Pete was charming Kat. He looked back at Ali. ‘So,’ he said, trying to lighten the mood. ‘I’m a little out of practice with this. Should I be asking you your star sign or something?’ He even forced a smile to his lips.

Ali glanced at him, startled to think he might actually be serious. His self-deprecating grin allayed that fear immediately even as it did funny things to her pulse. She gave a half-laugh. It was a relief to talk to him without Kat hovering. Without expectations. Knowing that he was also no longer trying to appease his friend.

‘Something like that, I suppose. I think if you really wanted to impress me, though, you’d try and guess.’

Max liked the sound of her voice. It was evenly modulated. A voice for radio. Or for soothing frightened animals. He smiled and played along. ‘Hmm, let me see,’ he said, rubbing at his jaw. ‘Virgo.’

Ali raised an eyebrow. She knew zip about the zodiac but she could play along. ‘Interesting,’ she murmured. ‘And what makes you think that?’

Now he was stuck. Max didn’t have the faintest idea. He’d obviously been out of the game too long. He shrugged and then grinned. Hadn’t he seen the Virgo symbol often depicted as a curly-haired chick? With large breasts?

‘Because you’re a woman?’

Ali held her breath as his dimples lit up. It didn’t hurt that he’d noticed she was a woman either. ‘Is that an answer or a question?’

Max frowned. ‘I’m sorry?’

‘You don’t seem too sure about me being a woman.’

‘Oh no, sorry.’ Max let his gaze drop briefly to the barest hint of cleavage he’d been ignoring since she’d sat opposite. She had some kind of a silky blouse on, which glided interestingly across her chest with the slightest movement.

He returned his eyes to her face. ‘I’m very sure about that.’

Ali blushed. Actually blushed. She could feel her nipples tighten in blatant response to his appraisal and she blushed some more.

Max laughed as her cheeks grew a very cute shade of pink. ‘So did I guess right?’

Ali struggled to clear her head and act cool, as if good-looking men bantered with her every day. She shook her head. ‘Libran, I’m afraid.’

Max snapped his fingers. ‘That was my next guess.’

Ali laughed. ‘Right.’

Max took a swig of his beer, watching her as he tilted his head back. She’d relaxed a little. They both had. ‘Your turn.’

Ali cleared her throat, her gaze fixed on the tanned column of his neck as she absently swished her straw through her drink. Then, when she realised she was staring, she narrowed her eyes and fixed him with a speculative glance.

She knew already of course—it was a no brainer. It had to be Sagittarius. She could picture him stripped to the waist, all planes and muscles, a bow pulled taut, his torso powerful but leashed, ready for action.

Ali swallowed. Was it legal to have such indecent thoughts about a total stranger? Maybe she could ask him for his legal opinion?

Right—as if she could pull off such an obvious flirt.

The sad fact was she just hadn’t been born with the flirt gene. ‘Pisces.’

Max sucked in a breath. Something had been going on behind those serious eyes. Her pupils had dilated and they’d gone almost khaki they’d darkened so much. It took a moment for her words to sink in. Then he laughed.

Ali frowned. ‘What?’

Max grinned. ‘A fish? You think I’m a fish?’

Ali smiled back. Those dimples were really something. And when that smile went all the way to his eyes, it was truly something as well. ‘Fish are … cute,’ she said.

‘They’re cold and slimy and scaly. Seriously,’ he mocked, ‘do I seem any of those?’

No, he didn’t. She’d bet his skin was warm and smooth and that his mouth was hot and sweet. Ali felt her smile shorten as her brain wandered into dangerous territory. They held each other’s gaze and his shortened too as if they’d both remembered simultaneously that this was just pretend flirting.

For show. For the sake of their friends.

Some music started up loudly behind them and Max was pleased for the interruption. He looked at his watch then leaned in closer to be heard. A whiff of rum and strawberries made him want to move closer. ‘How much longer do you think we need to stick around for?’ He indicated the approaching lovebirds. ‘I think we’re just in the way now, don’t you?’

Ali concurred. ‘Most definitely.’

Pete and Kat arrived back to the table carrying more drinks. ‘Here we are,’ Kat announced, placing them on the table as she sat.

Ali looked at the fifth daiquiri and her stomach rebelled. The four previous ones had well and truly hit their mark and she knew another would not be kind to her head in the morning.

‘Ah, no, thanks,’ she said, pushing the offered drink aside. She risked a brief glance at Max, who nodded slightly and she stood. ‘I’m done in. I’m going to go home.’

‘Oh no!’ Kat implored, standing also. ‘Just a little longer.’

‘It’s okay, you stay. I’ll get a taxi home.’

‘No, Ali, I can’t let you get a cab home by yourself.’

Max, taking his cue, rose to his feet as well. ‘It’s okay, I’ll see she gets home safely. We can share a cab.’

Ali looked at him, surprised. This, she hadn’t expected. Didn’t need. ‘No, really, it’s okay. I’m a big girl—I can get a taxi all by myself.’

Max smiled. ‘I don’t mind. Really.’

His dimples, appearing suddenly again, were her undoing. She knew he wanted out of this mating ritual as much as she did and she felt like a co-conspirator. She just hoped they weren’t being too obvious in their rush to get away.

‘Okay … sure.’ They could always part ways once they were out of sight.

‘Well, I suppose, if you really think it would be all right …’ Kat murmured, looking at Pete and then back at her friend, hope and gratitude blazing in her eyes.

Ali nodded. ‘Can I have a word first?’

Kat grinned, knowing what was coming. ‘Yes, Mother.’

Ali dragged her friend to the side slightly. It was pointless telling Kat not to sleep with Pete. Blind Freddy could see that was where the night was heading. But she couldn’t walk away without knowing that her best friend was going to be safe.

‘Have you got condoms?’ she asked Kat.

‘Yes. Would you like some?’ Kat teased.

‘Some? Bloody hell, how many have you got?’

Kat shrugged. ‘It’s a big bag. I like to be prepared. I can spare a few.’

A few? Ali blinked. Of course. Regular Girl Scout was her Kat. ‘I’m catching a taxi with him, Katarina.’ Or pretending to anyway. ‘I am not sleeping with him.’

Kat shook her head in dismay. ‘He really is very attractive, you know.’

Ali didn’t need her friend to tell her that. Everyone in the bar could see that. But even worse than his good looks was his wounded air. Somehow that appealed even more. She knew, without it ever being spoken, he understood how deeply relationships could wound. And that was way more dangerous.

She pursed her lips about to say something then Kat whispered, ‘Moving-on sex,’ before squeezing Ali’s hand and walking back to Pete.

‘Are you ready?’ Max asked.

Ali flicked her gaze to Kat who winked at her. ‘Sure.’

A minute later they were heading out of the doors.

‘They didn’t exactly protest too much,’ Max said, his hand still at her elbow. She was wearing a floaty black skirt and he liked how it swung around her legs and seemed to skim in all the right places.

Ali laughed, feeling lighter now her escape was at hand. Or maybe it was the way her whole arm was warm from his touch or that her side tingled from the accidental contact of their bodies as the crowded confines of the bar had forced them closer.

He released her arm once they were outside in the comparably empty street. Ali stuck out her hand. ‘It was nice meeting you, Max. Thanks for making that whole friend set-up thing less awkward.’

Max shrugged and ignored her hand. ‘There’s a taxi rank just around the corner?’

‘Oh no,’ she said quickly, dropping her hand. ‘You don’t have to do that. It’s okay, really. They can’t see us now,’ she joked.

He shrugged again. ‘I have to get a taxi home. You have to get a taxi home. It makes sense.’

Their gazes caught and locked for a moment. His was all serious again, grey and solemn, his brow furrowed. She longed to see his dimples one more time and was surprised by the urge to lift her finger and trace the indentations either side of his mouth.

‘Okay,’ she acquiesced before she did something really dumb like follow through on that impulse.

Unfortunately the queue was staggeringly long for so early in the night and Ali almost groaned. Yes, they’d had a bit of banter going at the bar, but now, with their friends nowhere in sight and no real need to talk to each other, would it be horrendously awkward?

They joined the queue and stood silently for the first minute. Ali felt each second tick by like a bloody great doomsday clock. The movement of the crowd jostled her against him and her nose brushed against a cotton clad pectoral. She apologised and pulled away. But not before she’d inhaled a goodly dose of him.

Boy, oh, boy! He smelled like pheromone-laced chocolate. ‘Sorry about the fish thing,’ she said, her scrambled brain snatching at the first disjointed thought that passed by.

Max bestowed her with a half-smile as he cupped her elbow to steady her. ‘I’m sure my ego can stand it.’

Ali returned his smile. He didn’t look like a man whose ego was easily dented. ‘So what is your sign? Really?’

He rolled his eyes. ‘Sagittarius.’

Ali bit her lip as the image from earlier returned with full force, enhanced further by his intoxicating scent. Despite the suit she had no trouble imagining him as the famed archer. Half beast, half man.

All animal.

Max watched her eyes darken again and his gaze was drawn to where her teeth dug into the fullness of her lip. His stomach clenched and his hand tightened on her arm a fraction. ‘What?’

Ali shook her head, trying to dispel the image. ‘Nothing … it’s nothing,’ she said and dropped her gaze to the hollow in his throat.

Hair sprung from her head as he looked down on her crown but she hadn’t been fast enough to hide the rise of colour in her cheeks. ‘You blush easily,’ he murmured.

Ali clamped her eyes shut as more heat suffused her face. ‘Yes,’ she said, then risked a glance at him. ‘Sorry.’

Max shook his head. It was refreshing to meet anyone who could still blush these days. It didn’t happen often in his line of work and it did tend to colour his world view.

‘Don’t be,’ he said. ‘It’s …’ he made a show of searching for the right word, then smiled at her ‘… cute.’

Cute? She was never going to hear the end of that one, was she?

She opened her mouth to say so but he was looking at her with those solemn, sad eyes, his smile not quite reaching them. And the heat at her elbow was radiating to her fingers. And the jostle of the line kept pressing them together, creating more heat wherever they touched. And his scent filled her nostrils. Invaded her brain.

And she felt more like a woman right now than she’d felt for an entire year. Maybe ever felt.

Ali could feel herself melting on the inside.

And she totally lost her train of thought.

It was crazy. She’d known the man for two seconds. Yet here she was liquefying into a puddle at his feet because he had sad eyes and looked at her as if she was a woman.

She shook her head as Kat’s treacherous voice murmured moving-on sex in her head.

Ali cleared her throat, determined to pick up the thread of her last coherent thought. ‘You’re not going to let me forget the Pisces thing, are you?’

Max chuckled. ‘Not a chance.’

The queue moved forward and it seemed only gentlemanly to Max to slide his hand to the small of her back and usher her along. Still his fingers tingled and he rubbed them absently against her blouse to erase it.

‘Nearly there,’ he murmured as the front of the queue came into sight.

Ali swallowed as Max’s fingertips seared through the fabric of her shirt and set fire to every cell in their vicinity. She shut her eyes briefly as her nipples beaded against her bra and long forgotten muscles deep inside her trembled.

God, this was insane!

Was it possible to orgasm through a completely non-sexual touch to an area far away from the usual erogenous zones?

With a stranger?

In public?

She squeezed her thighs together, shifting back slightly, and was thankful when his hand dropped away.

Ten minutes later they were about five groups away from the head of the queue when they were given the chance to jump it to complete the numbers for a share cab. Max raised an eyebrow at her and Ali leapt at the chance to shorten the agonising experience of constantly being bumped against him.

His warmth was way too compelling.

His voice way too smooth.

And he smelled way too male.

It was not her intention to do anything other than go home but her libido seemed to have roared to life tonight and she wanted to get out of his orbit pronto.

Just in case.

Her life was complicated enough.

Max grimaced as Ali’s body was jammed against him by the third person climbing into the back seat. He could smell the alcohol on the other passenger and he turned slightly, his arm along the back of the bench seat shielding Ali from the worst of it.

It did however push them even closer together and he was excruciatingly aware of her breast squashed against his ribcage, her thigh pressed along the length of his, her curls springing against his jaw, tickling his neck.

It won’t be long. It probably won’t kill me.

And then she shifted, her fingernails accidentally scraping against his thigh, and the sensation travelled all the way to his groin and inside his underpants. He went very still as his arousal intensified.

What the hell was happening to him tonight? He hadn’t thought about being with another woman for over a year and now he was acting like a teenager on a first date. Every move, every breath, every whiff of her perfume headed directly south.

Maybe it was as Pete said. Maybe he did need to get laid.

But not her. Definitely not her. He had enough baggage of his own without picking up hers too. Maybe when he got home he’d go find his little black book.

Dust off the cobwebs …

Because he definitely was not going to ask her to come up for a coffee. He was not going to kiss her. And he was not going to sleep with her.

Ali had complicated written all over her.

And then she turned her olive-green eyes on him and gave him a small smile. ‘Thanks so much, for tonight,’ she murmured. ‘For rescuing me from the Kat-and-Pete show and distracting me from a day I didn’t want to have to think about.’

Max swallowed. Her mouth was so close, it would be too easy to move his in closer …

‘I think we rescued each other,’ he said, returning her small smile. ‘We both needed a laugh. I had a good night too. Better than I’d expected.’

Ali nodded. It was nice to know she’d helped him too. It gave her something else to ponder other than the trip of her pulse and the scorching heat of his body against hers.

Despite that, however, Ali also felt overwhelmingly tired. How she could be in such a heightened state of awareness and simultaneously sleepy wasn’t a conundrum her brain cells were up to. She could only assume four daiquiris had something to do with it. It was certainly their usual effect.

She yawned loudly. ‘Sorry,’ she apologised.

Max smiled. She blinked at him slowly through heavy-lidded eyes and he felt another fiery dart to his groin.

‘It’s fine,’ he dismissed. ‘Lay your head on my shoulder. Go to sleep.’

At least then she wouldn’t wiggle so much.

Hopefully.

Ali opened her mouth to protest but the very small part of her that wasn’t utterly turned on was so very tired and somehow she felt safe here next to him with his heat and the daiquiris and the rock of the cab lulling her.

What could it hurt to drop her head against his very inviting shoulder? To sigh as he shifted to make her more comfortable? Place her hand across his chest, burrow it beneath his jacket lapel, feel the scrape of cool satin lining as she snuggled in closer?

#x2018;Ali? Ali?’

Ali murmured as the low sexy notes of a saxophone disturbed her pleasant slumber. The smell of man surrounded her and it had been long—so long—since she’d been held that she pushed her face closer to the source. The warm cushion beneath her cheek was fragrant, a steady boom soothing her into a state of bliss.

‘Ali?’

The voice was more insistent this time and she fluttered her eyes open, shifting to look up towards the source of the rumbling beneath her ear. It took a few seconds for the world to come into focus. For the steady grey gaze to register, the purr of an engine, the glare of an internal light.

Max smiled as the woman he barely knew bathed him with her sleepy olive gaze. He hadn’t felt remotely like moving away from her when they’d got rid of their other back seat passenger and had decided it wasn’t right to disturb her.

Besides she’d been warm and soft and smelled like woman and as agonising as it had been he’d forgotten how good it felt to have curves and perfume pressed against him.

‘Hey, sleepy head. This is my stop.’

‘Sorry.’ She smiled back but didn’t move. She couldn’t. She was utterly reluctant to leave this strange cocoon that balanced on a precipice between platonic and promise.

There was something about his smile. Ali had got the impression from the beginning that he didn’t smile much. Or certainly hadn’t had much reason to since his marriage had crashed and burned. And God knew she got that. The slightly wounded air about him had loaned him a tragic edge that had tugged at her heartstrings back in the bar.

But right now his smile was tugging in other places and she couldn’t deny they’d made a connection tonight, no matter how reluctantly.

Their proximity and the glow from the internal light gave her a close-up she hadn’t had as yet. She noticed for the first time his brown hair was lightly streaked with grey. It gave him a bucketload more virility and in that hazy half-world between sleep and arousal it seemed only natural to move her hand up to stroke his matching stubble.

And natural too, to follow with her mouth, pressing it briefly against his. And even though his lips didn’t react she felt the thunder in his chest beneath her hand and saw his pupils dilate.

Max shut his eyes and felt all his earlier resolve disappear. ‘Do you want to come up?’

Ali nodded.

Hell, yes!

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