“I did not kidnap, Bean,” he barked.
“Bean?” Rory’s eyebrows hit her hairline.
“I didn’t kidnap Jason,” he ignored his sister’s question about the nickname he gave me. “Carter did.”
“That little bastard,” Rory’s arms on hips became fists. “Where is he?”
“Who?” Max strolled back to the counter and leaned on it as if nothing weird was happening, and he wasn’t discussing a kidnapping of his sister’s boyfriend.
Just thinking about it made my head spin. And what’s with the mood swings? How can he be pissed off one second, laid back, and relaxed the next?
“The Pope!” Rory fired at Max. “Who do you think? Jason! Where is Jason.”
“He’s safe, don’t you worry about it.”
“Do not make me call Mom! If you don’t release him, we’re going to be late, and we can’t be late. It’s the signing dinner!”
Max just stood there, his face now back to looking bored.
“He doesn’t know who it is. I didn’t tell him because I knew you would do this.”
Max was still silent.
“You know I can’t tell you who it is, either.” Rory kept going.
Max crossed his arms on his broad chest, his muscles jumping, and in response, my mouth watered. Two siblings went into a stare-down, and my eyes went from one to the other like I was watching a tennis match. And Melanie started opening and closing cupboards.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
“Looking for popcorn,” she shrugged her shoulders. “This is better than an episode of Lucifer.”
“The one by the fridge,” Max said to Melanie, still not looking away from his sister.
I went back to looking between the two and noticed that Rory was rapidly getting red in the face.
The only thing that could be heard in the silence was the popping of the popcorn. By the time Melanie was shoving her second handful in her mouth, her eyes mimicking the tennis match, Rory looked sideways, heaved a big sigh, then looked back at Max.
“What do you want?”
The blinding smile spread across his face. I swooned. Melanie smiled hugely, catching me doing it.
“Passes.”
“Fine,” Rory said through clenched teeth.
“Field passes,” Max heaved his body on the counter. I watched his every move, transfixed. “Five of them.”
Rory bugged her eyes out. Then after a millisecond, she figured something out, and those beautiful hazel eyes were in a slit.
“You are all in on this. Jason’s playing along.”
Max’s smile shone like a beacon, and I leaned in to follow the light.
“What gave it away?”
“He can’t give you field passes, only I can since I’m the PT of the team.”
The sound of a delicate cough had me darting my eyes to Max, but thankfully he wasn’t looking at me. He was still focused on his negotiations. God, who knew I would ever use the word negotiations, in such a casual way. The cough came again, and I looked to Melanie to see her mimic whipping something from her chin and winking at me. Was I that obvious in my lusting for Max? And how was that even possible? I only met him today. I had never felt such a strong reaction towards someone before. I needed to get out of there.
Fast.
If I didn’t, I was afraid I would do something that was totally out of character and took what I wanted. And what I wanted at that moment was to come between Max’s legs, take his head into my hands to bring him closer to me and kiss him.
“For one game,” Rory countered to Max’s demands.
“Two.”
When Rory’s eyes turned upwards toward the ceiling, I wasn’t sure, but I had a feeling she was praying.
“Deal,” she said, still not looking away from the spot. “Bring him down.”
“You can come down now, Jason,” Max hollered, smiling at his sister.
I realized Rory wasn’t praying, this was obviously a well-practiced dance, and she knew where her boyfriend was.
“Where is Carter?” she asked once we heard the door upstairs opening and footfalls above us.
“Not here.”
“Smart,” she turned once the man started walking down the stairs.
I was back at trying to think how to get away from here and how to clean up the mess that was my life, so I wasn’t paying attention. That was, until Melanie all but squealed.
“That’s Jason Harris!”
The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
“You’re Jason Harris, the quarterback for Denver Thunders,” Melanie accused who I guessed was Jason.
“The one and only,” a deep voice could be heard just beyond my vantage point.
When he came fully into the kitchen, I swooned for the second time that day. Dear God, the man was hot. Brown hair, dark eyes that were aimed at Rory, and a smile that heated up a room in an instant. When he came within touching distance of Rory, his arm flashed around her hips, and he pulled her close. And I mean close. She tried not to let the scowl she had on her face drop, and it was clear by all that happened that he wasn’t so much as kidnapped as he was a willing participant.
“Hi, baby. Did you miss me?”
It was obvious that she could no longer stand on her own two feet. Jason didn’t give Rory a chance to answer. He leaned down and kissed her so passionately I had to look away. My luck would have it that my eyes landed right on Max’s, and from the way he was looking at me, I had to hold on to the table, or my feet wouldn’t be able to hold me up anymore. Still, I didn’t look away.
“Hey, I’m Jason. Nice to meet ya,” I tore my eyes from the captivity of Max’s.
“Hi, I’m Skylar, and that’s Melanie.” I pointed at the now holding-an-empty-bowl woman. It was astonishing how fast she could devour food and still not gain a single pound. “It’s very nice to meet you, but I’m afraid we have to go.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” That came from Max.
I started to walk towards the door, picking up the stuff Melanie brought me, hoping she was following. After a glance back, I saw that she indeed was. Thank God! I was afraid that the sight of Jason would make her forget we had a plan.
“Look, Max,” I stopped and turned, bumping into him. “Sorry. Thank you for everything you did for me today. But I really have to go.”