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“I’ve had a few,” Max answered, lying his ass off. He’d had more than a few. Several? A lot? Yeah…he thought one of those would be more accurate.
Still, seeing her in front of him, looking as beautiful as she always did, dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a red tank top, nearly killed him. Maybe the alcohol hadn’t helped ease the pain at all, ’cause his chest was aching just from looking at her. She looked…concerned and anxious, and when he saw her blue eyes flash with fear, he nearly lost it. Was she afraid of him, or the whole confrontation thing? She did seem to prefer to run away. But then, he’d done it, too. He just hadn’t done it with another woman.
“You never drink much,” she mumbled, standing back to let him in. “And you never drink and drive.”
Nope. He usually didn’t. In fact, he’d never actually been drunk, which may be the reason he was having such a hard time deciding whether or not he trulywasintoxicated. “Didn’t drive while I was drinking—except up your driveway, which, by the way, has a hell of a lot of damn potholes.” And in his possibly inebriated state, he’d driven into every one of them.
He was sauntering into the living room, trying hard not to fall on his ass, when he heard a stifled laugh.
“You’re completely plastered, Max,” Mia informed him, her eyes concerned, but her lips smiling slightly. “How much did you drink?”
“Don’t know,” he answered honestly. ’Cause really, he didn’t remember how many swigs he’d taken from the bottle. He’d wanted enough to make him numb, enough to keep him from reacting to Mia. The thing was, he didn’t think there was enough alcohol in the world to accomplishthat.
“How did you know I was here?” she questioned carefully.
“Your brothers. I’m not sure…but I think I killed Travis,” he answered cheerfully. He was pretty sure Travis wasn’t dead, but he’d be battered and bruised, and the idea ofthatmade Max pretty damn happy.
“You didn’t kill my brother, and you shouldn’t have gotten in a fight with him. He’s just trying to protect me,” she told him calmly, her hands on her hips as she looked up at him. “Is that how you got that cut over your eye? It’s bleeding.”
Damn.Travishadgotten a few punches in while trying to protect himself. But at the moment, Max was feeling no pain. “Yeah? If you think I look bad, you should seehim,”Max grumbled, highly offended that Mia hadn’t taken him seriously when he’d said he had killed her brother. “He fights like a girl,” he added, knowing he was lying. Had Travis really tried, and had Kade not stopped the fight, Max had no doubt both of them would be in the emergency room right now. “Bastard should have told me. You’re my goddamn wife. I had a right to know that you’d left me for another man.”
Mia reached out and lightly touched the bruises on his face. “Oh, Max. What did they say? That isn’t—”
“I want to hate you. I should hate you. But dammit, I just fucking can’t,” Max said coarsely, hating himself for still not being able to look at her and conjure up the hatred he should have for a wife who had left him desolate and heartbroken for over two years, making everything he’d felt—and still felt—seem like one big joke…at his expense. “Did you know that when I thought you were dead, I wanted to die too? I didn’t want to go on living without you.” Max knew they were drunken words, a pity party for one, but he didn’t give a shit. “I was completely obsessed with you, so out of control that I had to back away from it to keep a leash on myself. And the whole fucking time, your mind was on another man.” He reached out and grasped her wrist, pulling her down with him to the leather sofa, her body beneath his. He might be drunk, but as he looked down at her, he couldn’t mistake the anguished, tormented look in her eyes. Did she feel sorry for him?Christ.He hoped not. The last thing he wanted was her pity.
“I’m not sure what my brothers said, but—”
“They told me you left me because of another man. They told me that you’d been hiding out in Montana at your grandmother’s ranch. All this fucking time, you’ve been alive and content in another state, happily living your life while I tormented myself with thoughts that you were dead, that I’d never fucking see you again,” Max growled, angry now that he’d gotten over feeling sorry for himself. He’d never been soul mates with this woman. Everything between them had always been a lie. “Why marry me? It wasn’t like you didn’t have your own money,” he rasped, pissed that he had ever been such a sucker for her beautiful eyes and sweet demeanor. “And where the hell is this other guy? Did you run away from him, too?”
She struggled beneath him, twisting and turning to free her arms from the bulk of his body on top of hers. “I married you because I loved you. I didn’t want anyone else.” Finally her arms came free and she grabbed him on both sides of his head, staring fiercely into his eyes.
Max stared back, losing himself in the depths of a pair of shimmering blue eyes that had never failed to mesmerize him. Always had. And at that moment, just for a brief period of time, he wanted so damn badly to believe her. Because right now…nothing made sense. His mind was whirling from an overabundance of alcohol and all he could see was Mia’s fiery eyes and tempting lips, and kissing her seemed like something he had to do, he needed to do, and to hell with everything else. Grasping her wrists, he pinned them over her head and almost groaned as her breasts jutted out and brushed his chest. He swooped down and covered her mouth with his, sipping from her like a man dying of thirst. She opened to him immediately, like a flower that had just been waiting to fully bloom. Max allowed himself to indulge, and if he wasn’t already drunk on alcohol, he’d be intoxicated byher.Her taste, her smell, her response—everything about her enchanted him, and he couldn’t get enough. God help him, but he was completely lost.
Suddenly, sobriety prevailed. She betrayed me. She’s playing me. And I’m letting her do it knowingly this time.
“Fuck.” The curse flew forcefully from his lips as he tore his mouth away from hers, angry with himself. “What the hell am I doing? I must have some kind of secret masochistic tendencies.”
Mia squirmed out from under him, getting to her feet and leaving him laid out on the couch on his stomach, white spots starting to form in front of his eyes.
Either the couch is twirling, or I’m really wasted.
“I think you need coffee,” she said quietly, walking away and into the kitchen.
“I need you,” he whispered huskily, knowing she couldn’t hear him, and feeling more lonely and abandoned than he’d ever felt in his life. Closing his eyes from the pain he was feeling, all he could think of were the things Kade and Travis had revealed before he’d left to find Mia.
She had to leave…
There was this boyfriend…
She was at Gran’s house in Montana, and I think that’s where she is now…
She never meant to hurt you…
Yeah, I helped her disappear…
The last comment had come from Travis, and Max hadn’t been able to keep himself from trying to throttle the bastard. With the conversation still droning in his muddled mind, he gave in to the darkness that was threatening to consume him. It would give him a brief period of time in which he didn’t need to think.
Being grateful for some sort of mercy, Max promptly passed out.