L
EA ITCHED HER
hip, tugging down the grass skirt so it fit lower over the waistband of her leggings. Max stood next to her, in a pair of faded hibiscus-patterned swim trunks and a shirt with painted-on pecs and abs. Alec wore a pair of short, snug swim bottoms and a button-down Hawaiian shirt, so he looked like Elvis Presley right out of
Beach Hawaii
. Like Lea, Kat wore a bikini top and a grass skirt over leggings. Lea felt a little naked but she had a cardigan draped over her shoulders. She thought they looked like beach rejects.
But Max had talked up his friend Tanner’s parties and swore his annual beach-themed one was the best. He lived in a big place on the outskirts of Bowler with a couple of roommates. Tanner’s parents were some rich surgeons and bought the house so Tanner could live there, then rented out the other rooms. Tanner’s parties were legendary, because he had an huge living-room area with a high ceiling up to the second floor. Lea looked down at the sand squeezing up over the soles of her flip-flops. She wondered what it cost to bring in all this sand and who was responsible for cleaning it up. Inflatable palm trees strung with Christmas lights glowed from the corners of the room. People had already started sticking the drink umbrellas in their cleavages and pants. Max rolled his in his teeth, the umbrella spinning back in forth in front of his mouth. He looked over at her and winked.
She looked back down at her feet, then shifted her gaze to Kat. She shimmied and danced along the wall, her un-touched rum punch sloshing over the rim of the cup she held in her hand. Alec finally took it from her and nudged her to readjust her top. She blushed and kissed his cheek.
This wasn’t Lea’s scene. She partied enough in high school. Sowed her wild oats. She entered college like a sixty-year-old sniping at the youths to get off her lawn.
But Max was alive in this setting, feeding off the energy of others. She wasn’t sure she’d ever met a true extrovert until him.
He wrapped a hand around her shoulders, and she took a sip of her rum punch. She barely tasted the alcohol. “Is there rum in here?”
Max frowned. “That’s what Tanner said.”
She eyed her cup. “Pretty weak.”
Max fluttered his lips and straightened off the wall. “Fucking Tanner.”
“Fucking Tanner is awesome?” The man himself said, sauntering toward them. He eyed Kat, who ignored him, dancing with her body plastered against Alec.
“Did you put grain in this?” Max said, drawing Tanner’s attention.
“What?” Tanner wasn’t necessarily good-looking. His face was a little narrow, Lea thought. And smarmy charm eased from his pores like oil. But he was rich and threw a lot of parties and got girls drunk, if Max’s glare was any indication.
“You know what I’m talking about. I told you last time—”
“Chill, Patyon. Chill. I swear there’s rum in it. No grain.”
Lea had grain alcohol once in high school. She and her friends had tried to make sangria with it. It was dangerous because it was hard to taste and the effects hit you like a train. She’d been standing one minute, and then hugging the toilet, heaving her guts out, the next.
She shuddered, and Max stepped closer to her.
Which drew Tanner’s attention. Those watery blue eyes took her in from head to toe and back again.
If Lea was a cat, she would have hissed a warning.
Max laid his hand on the small of her back. It didn’t feel like he was trying to act possessive or protective, but like he was letting her know he had her back.
Recognizing she wasn’t some weak little girl.
She wanted to press her lips to his and suck his tongue into her mouth.
“I’m Tanner.”
“Lea.”
His eyes floated to Max’s arm disappearing behind her back. Then he grinned and Lea wanted to wrinkle her nose.
“So what you have planned for tonight?” Max said. Lea knew he tried to hide the underlying irritation in his voice, using his question as a diversion from Tanner’s leering eyes.
Tanner didn’t know Max as well as she did, because he looked at Max with glee.
“Well, I think we’re going to do a limbo competition. And of course, karaoke.” He clapped Max on the shoulder. “I mean, what’s a party where Max Payton is in attendance without a little karaoke?”
Max’s eyes cleared and he laughed. “Man, that’s some pressure.”
Tanner shot him a grin and then with a wink to Lea, he walked away.
“What’s his major? Car salesmanship?”
Max threw back his head and roared with laughter. “He’s so oily, right?”
“Like bad margarine.”
“I know, but he throws good parties.”
“He likes you, though. He wants to impress you.”
Max frowned. “Me? Nah.”
She raised an eyebrow. “He gets a karaoke machine just because you’re coming to his party?”
Max waved his hand. “That doesn’t mean anything.”
“You like doing that?”
“What?”
“Singing cheesy songs in front of people.”
Max chuckled again. “Yeah, it’s fun. People laugh and clap.”
“Yeah, that’s how people react. But do
you
like it?”
He stopped and his smile faded. “What do you mean?”
“Do you do it because you like it or because you like how people react to it?”
He scrunched his lips and his eyes floated over her shoulder before meeting her gaze again. “I do it because I like it how it makes me feel, to get lost in a song.”
His answer made her so happy. He needed to start doing more things for himself. “Good, can’t wait to hear you then.”
He beamed. “I think I have the perfect song.”
Two girls in bikinis and heels held the limbo stick. They were gorgeous and giggly and Lea sort of envied that they were so comfortable standing there in practically nothing.
Max rubbed his hands together and looked at her. “You know this won’t end well for me.”
She eyed the limbo stick, then him. “You’re kind of bulky.”
“Bulky?”
Lea puffed out her cheeks and braced her fists on her hips, elbows out, in a bodybuilder pose.
Max gestured toward her with his hands. “And is this supposed to be me?”
She raised one arm into a bicep curl and lowered her voice. “Welcome to the gun show.”
Max threw back his head and then stepped forward, squeezing her bicep. “You do have some guns, doll.”
She waggled her eyebrows. “Yours are bigger.”
He grinned.
She raised up on her tiptoes. “Size matters, you know.”
He laughed again and wrapped his arms around her waist. She squealed as he lifted her off the ground. “You drive me crazy, you know that?”
She nodded and bit her lip.
He rolled his eyes and placed her gently on the ground.
Drunk party goers stumbled into line, ready to fall flat on their backs under the limbo stick, Lea was sure.
“Jump in the Line,” by Harry Belafonte, blasted over the speakers. Kat squealed and raised her hands in the air, like Winona Ryder in
Beetlejuice
. Alec laughed and mimicked Kat’s actions. Max picked Lea up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he shook his hips.
“
Okay, I believe you!
” Max yelled the lyrics out loud and Lea, Kat, and Alec screamed it on the next verse.
“Time for limbo, baby!” Kat hollered and jogged to the end of the line, still shaking her hips, her arms over her heard, rotating her wrists to the beat. Alec and Max followed her. Lea hung back.
Max stopped when he noticed Lea wasn’t at his side. He turned around to face her. “You coming?”
She could do a lot of things—martial arts, ice skating but limbo while she was slightly intoxicated? No way. Her leg couldn’t handle that.
“No, I’m just going to watch.”
His eyes flicked to her leg. He opened his mouth, surely to protest, then stopped himself. “Okay, doll. You okay if I do it?”
She wanted nothing more than to watch Max do the limbo. “Please, I want you to.”
He smiled, “All right.”
He turned and walked to the end of the line, and she was so grateful he hadn’t argued with her. No one knew her body and her limits but her.
Half an hour later, she was in tears of laughter. Ninety percent of the competitors had fallen on their asses after two limbo-stages. Five percent knocked the limbo stick on the floor. And about three percent had said, “fuck it,” and poured themselves another rum punch.
The bikini-clad girls were drunk and had about a five-inch height difference between them so the limbo stick wasn’t level.
The whole thing was the funniest sight Lea had seen in her life. Why had it taken her so long to get her ass out of her apartment?
Kat was still in the competition. She was small and surprisingly limber. Most of the guys couldn’t take their eyes off of her but her focus was on Alec and his was on her, like no one else really existed. He cheered her on every time and rewarded her with a kiss when she did a crazy back bend shimmy, her chest centimeters below the wobbly limbo bar.
Max was up next. Lea couldn’t believe he’d lasted this long because of his . . . “bulk.”
“Come on, my big man,” she called. “You can do it!”
He glared at her, and she bent over with laughter.
Max and Alec bumped the sagging limbo stick on the next round, and Kat ended up winning. Tanner presented her with a palm-tree beaded necklace. He asked her to flash him for them and she told him, in his dreams.
Kat fiddled with her necklace as she and Lea stood off to the side. Max and Alec were helping Tanner set up the karaoke equipment.
“How are classes?” Lea asked.
Kat groaned. “You want to talk about school? Now? You’re a buzzkill, MBF.”
Lea rolled her eyes with a snort. Kat had started her calling MBF—major best friend—last year when Kat changed her major to education. Lea protested the acronym. Kat didn’t care. And because Lea adored Kat, she let her get away with it.
“I know you had that test Friday. Quit being annoyed. I’m asking because I care, silly.”
Kat grinned at her from under her lashes. “I know. And it went okay, I think.”
Lea smiled. After obtaining a dyslexia diagnosis last year, Kat’s academic life still wasn’t easy. But she got more support and had a ton more confidence and her grades had improved because of it.
“Hey sexy ladies,” drawled a voice that made Lea grin. She turned her head and almost swallowed her tongue.
Danica was a beautiful girl, but sometimes Lea forgot that, distracted by the clothes and wigs and contacts.
But this Danica had gone all out—looking sexier than Lea had ever seen her. A real-life Ariel. She wore a long, lush red wig that fell in waves down her back and over her shoulders. Her eyes were a vivid green and her ample breasts were covered by a seashell bikini top. She wore an emerald iridescent mermaid-style skirt and the whole look made Lea think that if she dove in water, she’d actually swim.
Danica would reel in any sailors who saw her. Too bad she wasn’t interested in seamen.
A whistle sounded from across the room and Danica turned her head, her hair swishing around her upper body. Alec sauntered over. “Well, damn, Dan. You clean up nice.”
She narrowed her eyes and punched his shoulder. “I told you before. That’s not a compliment, Stone.”
Max appeared at Alec’s side, eyes wide on Danica’s boobs. “Fuck, you look hot.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “Quit staring at my cans.”
He shifted his eyes to Lea, and stuck his lower lip out. “Can I look at your cans instead?”
Lea laughed and shimmied her shoulders. “Go right ahead.”
“Good, Danica won’t let me touch hers anyway.”
“Damn straight,” Danica muttered.
Alec laughed and threw an arm around her. “For real, Owens, looking hot. Who you trying to impress? You bring Monica?”
Danica tossed her hair. “I’m single tonight.”
Lea stopped making eyes with Max. “What?”
Danica shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it. I want to get sufficiently drunk and do things I’ll regret tomorrow.”
Kat wiggled her hips, swishing her skirt. “Oooh, that sounds like a blast.”
Alec slipped his hand into hers. “Just don’t leave without me, all right? Drink what you want but stay where I can see you. Tanner’s a dick.”
“Okay,” she said, leaning into his arm and stretching up on her toes to kiss his cheek.
Max leaned in to Lea, his eyes filled with concerned warmth. “You gonna drink a lot?”
She shrugged. She liked to drink but she didn’t like to be so drunk she didn’t have her wits about her. Plus, she wanted to make sure Danica got home okay. “A little.”
Max looked relieved. “Okay, just let me know if you need anything. And . . . uh . . . I know you can take care of yourself.” He pointed to his carotid artery, and Lea threw back her head and laughed. “I sure can,” she said, then beckoned with her finger. “C’mere.”
He took a couple slow, sauntering steps toward her. “I’m here.”
She grabbed the hair at the back of his neck and tugged him down until his lips met hers. She teased them, slowly nipping along his bottom lip, then swiping her tongue across it. When she pulled back, his eyes were half closed, his whole body lax with pleasure.
“Wow, that was sort of hot if I pretended Max was a girl,” Danica said.
Lea sighed and Max pulled back. “Hey. Was it that easy to pretend I was a girl?”
Danica waved. “The facial scrub ruined it for me. Shave next time, okay?”
He frowned and rubbed his chin. Lea replaced his hand with hers. “I like it,” she whispered. He grinned.
“Okay!” Danica clapped. “Where’s the fucking booze?”
T
ANNER WAS TALKI
NG
to him. Something about the bikini limbo girls. Alec had disappeared, probably in the bathroom.
But Max’s attention was on the girls.
Specifically Danica.
Okay, so specifically Danica’s hand on Lea’s bare knee poked up through the strands of her grass skirt.
They sat on stools at one of the bar tables Tanner lined the room with opposite the karaoke stage.
And they were close. Kat sat across from them swaying to the beat but Danica and Lea were sitting with interlocked knees, laughing and touching.
Lea’s cheeks were rosy and her laugh louder than normal. She was on her way to drunk town and Max didn’t mind that. He’d take care of her.
He’d always thought two girls making out would turn him on. That was hot, right out of every straight man’s fantasy. Danica looked smoking and Lea looked gorgeous.
As Tanner droned on, Max sipped his beer and watched. Danica turned her head, looked right at him and then slid her hand a little higher on Lea’s knee.
Max tensed.
He was a little bit turned on but the overriding emotion was . . . was . . . what was this? Jealousy?
Max swallowed. He was jealous. Jealous of someone else putting the moves on his girlfriend.
He wondered if he’d be as jealous if it was Kat—a straight woman—feeling up Lea. Maybe, maybe not.
All he knew was right now, he didn’t like the smug look Danica was shooting him, a curl to her crimson-tinted lips. And he didn’t like how Lea leaned in to Danica. He definitely didn’t like how Lea’s breasts brushed Danica’s arms. Because he remembered those metal-tipped breasts brushing
his
skin. That was the way it should be.
“Dude, are you even paying attention?”
“What?” Max turned to look at Tanner’s exasperated face.
“What’s with you?”
“Nothing, I—”
Tanner waved his hand. “You can stand here by yourself if all you’re gonna do is stare at your girl all night.” And then he walked away.
Max flipped him off behind his back.
“Sorry, man,” Alec said, walking up beside him. “Couldn’t deal listening to that guy talk anymore. Made myself scarce.”
Max shrugged. “I just tuned him out. Hey, what do you see over there?” He pointed to Danica and Lea.
Alec raised his eyebrows. “The girls getting drunk?”
Max shook his head. “No, between Lea and Danica.”
Alec cocked his head. “Um, they’re talking?”
Max speared Alec with a glare. “They’re doing a lot more than talking, don’t you think?”
Alec’s eyes widened. “Are you jealous of Danica?”
“I don’t know!” Max threw up his hands. “Do you know if anything’s ever happened between them?”
“Seriously? I don’t know. Danica isn’t exactly open about her sex life.”
Max looked back at the girls. “I don’t like it.”
Alec stepped in front of him, blocking his view. “You, Max Payton, are not happy about two girls getting a little touchy-feely?”
Max clenched his jaw and crossed his arms over his chest, swirling his now lukewarm beer in his cup. He stayed silent, figuring that was the best course of action with Alec’s intelligent eyes trying to read his mind. The genius bastard.
“Well, fuck me sideways,” Alec said. “Max is jealous of a lesbian. Well then go stake your claim, buddy.” Alec moved to the side, and Max’s eyes met Danica’s.
Lea’s head was turned, talking to Kat, as Danica inched forward, eyes still on Max. He began to walk toward their table and Danica’s lips parted. She grabbed the back of Lea’s head, pulled her forward and Max started walking faster. Danica’s lips moved and he wasn’t a lip reader but the mouthed word “kiss” was unmistakable and then Danica’s lips were on Lea’s.
He knew the taste of Lea’s lips, the feel of them all soft and firm at the same time, the slide of lip gloss, the bold way she used her to tongue to tangle with his. He wanted that to be his hand on Lea’s knee, his mouth on hers.
His lips tasting her cherry lipgloss.
Danica’s hand that wasn’t on Lea’s head was on Lea’s knee, and Lea’s hands gripped the sides of her stool. Her eyes were half open.
When he reached Lea’s side, Danica pulled out of the kiss and opened her blurry eyes, swiping her tongue across the bottom of her now glossy lip.
Lea laughed and turned to Max, her dark eyes glazed, her face flushed, and Max didn’t like it. It wasn’t funny, because he wanted to put that color on her skin. He wanted to be the one to give her kiss-swollen lips.
He wanted to be the one who Lea wanted to be with.
He gripped the sides of her head with both hands, closed his eyes and pressed his lips to hers, wanting to replace the taste of anyone else with his own.
While Lea might have been passive with Danica, she was anything but with Max. She gripped the back of his head and tugged on his hair, mashing their faces together and stroking her tongue into his mouth. There was no one else. No sound. Nothing. Just the feeling of Lea’s lips and the scent of her in his nostrils and the feel of her skin on his palms. He curled a hand around to her ponytail and tugged, angling her head up so he could get further into her.
He might have started out this kiss wanting to replace Danica’s lips with his own, but now Lea’s roommate was the farthest thing from his mind. It was all about Lea and him and this energy between, currently strumming through his body, like he was one giant Lea tuning fork.
The kiss went on indefinitely, until Max registered the pain in his scalp and the tight grip he held on Lea.
He slowed the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. They breathed in each other’s breaths as the rest of the room slowly came back into focus, as Max registered they weren’t alone.
Lea’s lashes fluttered against her cheeks, burning hot beneath Max’s palm. She didn’t laugh after this kiss. She looked drugged.
“Don’t kiss anyone but me,” Max whispered, his voice barely above a growl.
Lea’s eyes blinked open and those dark orbs met his. Her mouth hung open, lips slack. She licked them. “I’m agreeing to your command only because you wiped out some of my brain cells with that kiss.”
Max grinned. Lea smiled back and he pressed his lips to hers in a firm, deal-sealing kiss.
“Whoa,” said a voice and Max pulled back, lifting his eyes over Lea’s head. Kat stared at them, mouth open and Alec stood beside her, arm around her shoulders, his mouth also slack.
Alec gestured toward Danica, Lea and Max. “You take that show on the road?”
Max growled and Lea shoved her face into his chest, giggling.
A throat cleared, and Max directed his glare at Danica.
Her smirk was gone, but a soft smile graced her lips. Without taking her eyes off of Max’s, she reached into her seashell bra, pulled out a ten dollar bill and slapped it in Kat’s outstretched hand.
“What’s that?” Alec pointed at the money as it disappeared into Kat’s cleavage.
Danica was silent, her eyes still on Max.
Kat turned to her boyfriend. “Danica bet me that Max would be turned on if she kissed Lea. I bet that Max would be jealous.”
“I overestimated the power of a girl-on-girl kiss.” Danica shrugged.
Max shifted his weight and ran his fingers through the silky strands of Lea’s ponytail. She sighed and leaned in to him. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m just as surprised by my reaction as you are.”
Danica’s smirk was back. “So you were jealous?”
Lea straightened. “Wait a minute, I was just a pawn in a bet?”
Danica was unashamed. “Yep.”
Lea narrowed her eyes. “Jerk.”
Danica smiled and shifted her gaze to Max. “Yeah, well, your boyfriend passed.”
T
HE LAST TIM
E
Max had sung in front of Lea was in the supply closet of the rec center on campus. He’d pitched his voice high and intentionally sang off-pitch just to mess with her and make her laugh.
He licked his lips and gripped the microphone of the karaoke machine tighter in his hand. At Bowler, Max was known for belting out classic rock, getting the crowd excited. But Lea had never seen him.
She watched him now as he stood on the makeshift stage. A smirk to her mouth, beautiful dark eyes sparkling, like she couldn’t wait to laugh while he made a fool of himself.
Max curled his lip into a smile, feeling a little devilish. He’d show her.
The familiar guitar rift surged through the speakers. Max grinned and Lea returned it.
Alec’s whistle drew Max’s attention and he gave his best friend a chin nod. Kat was already bouncing around, hands in the air.
Max rocked his hips, shimmied his shoulders, then raised the microphone to his mouth and started singing the classic Bon Jovi song.
The emotion in “Livin’ on a Prayer” always warmed him from the inside. The song was friendship and love and celebration. He lost himself in the words and the beat, belting out the chorus with fist pumps, playing air guitar. The crowd clapped and hooted and sang along with him.
When he sang, “
we got each other
,” he stole a glance at Lea. She stood out in the crowd because she was the only one not moving. She watched him, her lips parted, her eyes wide and unblinking. He shouted into the microphone, “
we’ll give it a shot!
” and she jolted at the words, then came out of whatever trance she’d been in, cupping her hands to her mouth and hollering. Then a huge smile stretched over her face and she began dancing to the song.
When the music faded, Max tossed the microphone to Tanner and hopped off the stage. He went right to Lea, grabbed her face, and stole another kiss. Because he was so fucking grateful that he could, that she returned his kiss and clutched his biceps like she didn’t want to let go.
When he pulled back, she licked her lips. “Yeah, let’s give it a shot.”
He smiled.
After grabbing another drink, Max relaxed on one of Tanner’s couches with Lea.
He doubted the couch was sanitary, but he was too tired to protest. He wanted to relax with Lea, enjoy this moment where he felt like he had control of his life. The party swirled around him and he cradled Lea in his lap, protecting her from whatever diseases lived in the fibers under his ass.
She ran her fingers through his hair and he wanted to purr like Wayne. “Why do you always smell like coconut?”
She smiled. “It’s coconut oil.”
“Coconut oil?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I use it like lotion.”
And there went every rational thought in his head. “Are you telling me you cover your body in oil every day?”
“Max—”
He cut her off, closing his eyes. “No, don’t ruin my fantasy. Okay, so you step out of the shower and drop your towel. You are naked and wet and then you rub—”
She pushed his shoulder, laughing. “Max! Stop!”
He opened his eyes grinned. “I’ll cherish that mental image for the rest of my life.”
She rolled her eyes and kissed him, a slow teasing swipe of her lips. “If you could do anything after graduation, what would you do?” she asked, her musical voice trickling into his ear.
He could barely keep his eyes open, a result of too much rum and the warmth of Lea’s lips on his cheek. Oh, now they were traveling down his neck.
“Max,” she whispered below his ear.
He was in that buzzed place where the alcohol in his veins was like a truth serum. And Lea was a pint-sized superhero, coaxing the words from his lips.
“I loved helping teach that self-defense class, you know?”
Lea pulled back, gripping the sides of his neck. She nodded. “I know.”
He rolled his lips between his teeth and admitted to her what he’d barely admitted to himself. “If I could do anything, I’d want to teach gym class at a middle school or high school and coach hockey.”
She licked her lips and rubbed the base of his neck with her thumbs. “So, you wouldn’t help your dad at the garage.”
He clenched his jaw. “I hate it,” he whispered. “And it kills me because it’s a family business. And Dad helps pay for my school. And the money I earn there helps pay for the rest of it. And I love my brothers.” He paused and gulped. “But doll, I hate it.”
He expected sympathy, a whispered, I’m sorry. But instead those thumbs got up the soothing rhythm, like she was urging his vocal chords to release all the words they’d suppressed for so long. And her brow was furrowed in curious determination.
“Why do you hate it?”
“I don’t care much about cars. I don’t feel . . . fulfilled.” God, had he ever uttered that word in his life? “I don’t think I have any purpose.”
“So why don’t you tell your father that? He might understand.”
Max snorted. “No.”
“What? Why?”
“You don’t just . . . tell my dad anything. He tells you how high to jump and you better double that height.”
She scooted closer, the grass of her skirt rustling. “But have you tried?”
He looked into her eyes and saw the fear in his own reflected back at him in her dark depths. “No,” he whispered.
“Do you plan to?”
She didn’t understand. “No.”
Confusion passed over her face before the determination set in. “Promise me you will.”
The alcohol didn’t let him lie, even though he wanted to. “I can’t make that promise.”
“So you’re just going to be miserable?”
He shrugged weakly. “You don’t understand . . .”
“No, you’re right, I don’t.”
He closed his eyes and when he opened them, hers were still on him, imprisoning him, challenging him.
“Can I promise to think about talking to him?”
Her lips twisted and her eyes narrowed slightly. “Okay. I’ll accept that.” Her begrudging tone made him smile.
He slipped his fingers past the grass skirt and burrowed under the waistband of her leggings so he could feel the soft skin at her hips. He loved knowing about the tattoos that were there. “You’re tough, you know that?”
Her lashes dipped and a smirk curled her lips. “I do.”
He nuzzled into her neck, opening his lips at her skin and stealing a taste with the tip of his tongue. “I like it.”
A tremor traveled down her body. She leaned in, her lips at his ear. “I like your limbo skills.”