Just One More Mistletoe (Sterling Family #2.5)

Chapter Five

M ax looped a towel around his neck and headed out of the bathroom. He had to be at his parents’ house early but damned if he’d miss one minute of time he could spend with Brandy—who, he realized, was nowhere to be found.

Max glanced around but all he saw was a rumpled bed. “Son of a bitch.” He muttered more under his breath.

He didn’t need to look around his small apartment. Every instinct he had and prided himself on told him she was gone. What he didn’t know was why.

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Yes, he did. He knew exactly why she’d bolted. Fear, pure and simple. Because Max Corbin, ace PI, had made a major miscalculation when dealing with a vulnerable, skittish woman. Despite her calculated seduction, he didn’t kid himself that Brandy was anything less than vulnerable. That innocence was what held him in thrall. Her beauty would never fade but her looks weren’t what had caused him to fall so damn hard. It was the whole package.

And Max had blown it. He’d given her too much to process too soon.

What do you want from me, she’d asked.

I want everything.

“Damn.” Curses and regrets were the only things he could manage about now. He walked to the bed they’d shared and lowered himself onto the mattress. The sheets had cooled but his body hadn’t. Not even a cold shower could dull the aching need she inspired.

He glanced at the phone he’d put down on the dresser but a folded note blocked his view of the numbers and his stomach plummeted as he read her hastily scrawled words. “Dear Max, please remember I can’t do relationships. Thank you for wanting to try. Brandy.”

Can’t not won’t, he thought, grasping onto the difference. He could be there to guide her through making things work. She just needed to be willing to try .

He needed to find her.

Max pulled on his jeans and made his way down to the empty bar. The pool table was just as they’d left it last night, but Brandy had retrieved her clothing. Not a trace of her remained except in Max’s heart.

He dressed and walked downstairs and outside to his car. The only thing he could do was ask Stephan where he might find her. Maybe he knew and would be willing to violate office policy to share.

***

Max entered his brother’s luxury condo, an apartment opposite in furnishing and feel from Max’s own casual over-the-bar rental.

“So what brings you to my neck of the woods?” Stephan asked, gesturing to a chair in the kitchen. “We’re supposed to meet Dad at his place in a couple of hours.”

Max shook his head. He didn’t have time to sit. Still, his brother had asked a fair question since Max couldn’t remember the last time he’d shown up here unannounced. But today was different, just as his relationship with his twin had undergone a subtle shift since last night. Many things had changed since then, he thought wryly.

Swallowing both his pride and his rule against talking about the women he slept with, Max unloaded on his brother. It was the first time in too damn long he’d had a heart-to-heart with his twin. Realizing how much he missed it and seeing the same in Stephan’s face, Max knew the distance had closed.

Distance Max had placed there for no good reason. Just as Brandy’s insecurities drove her to succeed and to bolt this morning, Max now knew his own insecurities had driven him from his family. He planned to rectify both his and Brandy’s misperceptions—immediately.

Max finished relating last night’s history to his brother, leaving out the more intimate details.

Stephan nodded. “I’m glad to see you screw up every once in a while. Makes the rest of us feel like you’re human, too.”

“Come again?” Max raised an eyebrow. “I screw up more than once in a while. Isn’t that what Dad always says?”

“Dad says it to instill guilt and you buy into it every time. But you always hold your ground and live your life. To me, that’s not screwing up, that’s playing it smart. A part of me has always envied that.”

Shock rendered Max mute. For twins, he and his brother had been operating on opposite wavelengths for too long. “You don’t want to be in corporate life?” Max asked.

“I never gave it a thought. It was expected and I followed through, though at least I avoided the drudgery of law. Now I’m an associate manager in PR and since Brandy is moving offices with Samantha, our boss, I’ll take over that job, too. It’s all I know and I can’t imagine doing anything else. But sometimes I wonder ‘what if.’” He shrugged. “Then I take a look at how following a different road has kept you far from the family and I figure I’ll accept my life as it is. But in case you’re wondering, distancing yourself is the only screwup I think you’ve made.” His brother let out a wry laugh. “Until now.”

“Now meaning Brandy.” Just saying her name caused the twisting in Max’s gut to return. He had the rest of his life to process his brother’s admission and make things right. He had too little time to catch Brandy and explain before she withdrew for good. “I need her address.”

“There’s no point.” Stephan pushed off the wall and headed for the mugs in the cabinet. “Coffee?”

“No, thanks, and why the hell not?”

“She’s not at home. I stopped by the office to pick up a file and she was there sorting through boxes.” Stephan laughed. “Damn but you need to calm down.”

“After I talk to her. And why is she sorting boxes? Where is she going?”

“She is moving to the firm’s satellite office on Long Island. She didn’t mention it?”

Max groaned and shook his head. He had a lot to find out about his elf. “I’m going to call Dad on the way and reschedule our talk.”

His brother eyed him in surprise. “Then this is a hell of a lot more than a one-night stand, isn’t it?”

Max clenched and unclenched his fists. “It’d better be or I’m looking at a lousy Christmas and a miserable New Year.”

“Well, I’ll be damned. I wonder what I missed in her.”

“Too late for you to find out now,” Max said in warning, then he turned and started for the door before spinning back to face his brother. “Hey Stephan, thanks for inviting me your office party.” Showing up had brought Brandy into his life. Max opened the door and stepped into the hall.

***

Brandy needed to keep busy or else she’d think and she could not afford to think. Not about last night and how much she’d enjoyed herself, and not about Max and how much she’d grown to like and care for him. What irony. After years of avoiding the situation with Stephan, she’d stepped right into it with his twin.

She let out a slow breath of air. Okay, apparently she couldn’t avoid thinking but maybe she could drown out the sound of her own thoughts. She flipped on the radio in her near empty office. As expected, Christmas music filled the air. She tried humming and when that didn’t work she sealed the last box, while singing out loud, but no way could she escape the fact that she’d fallen in love with Max Corbin. In one night. Was such a thing even possible? One thing was for certain, if it wasn’t possible to fall, she was certainly falling . Hard.

She shook her head, unable to believe the truth. She was a woman who hadn’t grown up watching a loving relationship and who’d never once deluded herself that happily ever after was in her future. She prided herself on her independence and feared relying on anyone. It was why she’d run this morning. She was worried she’d do as her mother had done and choose to follow another man’s dreams instead of her own.

Yet over the course of one night—one glorious night—she could step back now and see perhaps she’d overreacted? Look at how carefully he’d pried out her secrets, how gentle he’d been once he’d discovered them. He saw her.

And then Samantha’s words of wisdom had come. Earlier, Samantha had stopped by Brandy’s apartment where they’d exchanged gifts. Brandy was now in possession of a weekend for two to Hunter Mountain for a ski weekend in a private cabin. Extravagant? Yes, but that was her friend. Generous beyond words.

Before she’d left, she informed Brandy she’d seen her sneak out of the party with Max and suggested she bring him skiing for the weekend. Of course, Brandy laughed. Samantha did not.

“Why? Was he an asshole? Bad in bed?” she’d asked.

Brandy blushed because the man had talent, something she hadn’t shared and she now understood why Samantha had never kissed and told about Dex. Some things were too private and personal. They meant too much.

Samantha grinned. “Then maybe you should trust the man. At least try him out for a full weekend.” Chuckling, she’d wished Brandy a Merry early Christmas, given her a hug, and left her alone with her thoughts.

Gripping the edge of her desk, she pondered Samantha’s words. Her friendship with Samantha was so much more than that. Could their relationship be the bridge to trusting Max? Was fear worth giving up something that could be so good?

She closed her eyes, and sighed, then sang along with the final verse of the current song. “We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas… and a happy new year.” The choice was hers to make.

The sound of a man clearing his throat startled her and she whirled around to find herself face-to-face with Max.

Leaning against her doorframe, he was the epitome of her fantasy come to life. And to think, she hadn’t known she had any. “Hello, Max.”

He inclined his head. “Brandy.”

She attempted to swallow but her mouth was too dry. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk.” He walked into her office, making the small area even smaller by virtue of his overwhelming presence.

She grasped the cardboard edges of the box. “I shouldn’t have run out on you this morning.”

“I understand,” he said, his voice soft. “You were acting on instinct and fear.” He eased himself onto the edge of her desk, too close for her peace of mind but his presence also calmed her.

Unusual, she thought, and very welcome.

She inhaled his masculine scent and sighed. Her emotions raw, she accepted them, no matter how difficult.

“I moved too fast and for that I’m sorry. I’m just crazy in love with you. So the issue is, are you going to run from your feelings because of your past? Or are you going to stay and face them… and give us a chance?”

In that instant, Brandy’s past and present flashed in front of her eyes, a kaleidoscope of memories, some good, some bad, some satisfying, but way too many lonely ones. Lonely by choice not necessity, she thought. Last night she’d chosen Max and last night she hadn’t felt alone or isolated.

She was a woman who’d always prided herself on her ability to stand on her own two feet but he wasn’t asking her to give up her independence and she wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms.

“Are you going to leave me hanging after a pronouncement like that?”

She slowly shook her head and his devastating smile nearly knocked her off her feet.

A weight she hadn’t been aware of carrying her whole life eased and lifted inside her.

She could run and hide or give the future a chance. No contest, Brandy thought, a smile pulling at her lips.

More than anything else, his ability to own up to his feelings and emotions touched her heart. She could free hers and learn from him. Be independent and still be in love.

If she dared.

His gaze locked with hers. He lifted his hand, revealing a green sprig of mistletoe and holding it up high. “I thought we could try it again.” He extended his free hand, holding it out to her.

Waiting.

She sensed he’d wait as long as she needed but she was through running.

***

Brandy rushed into his arms and Max lowered his head for a kiss that felt too long in coming. He’d never admit it out loud but she’d had him sweating. But now she was his.

Her lips were soft and willing, welcoming him. His hands slipped around her waist, beneath the band of her sweatshirt until he encountered soft skin. She let out a faint sigh and leaned back against the desk, letting his body mesh with hers. Her thighs spread and his groin settled hard against her stomach.

But warning bells went off in his head. “Not again, sweetheart. Not until we’ve got a few things settled.”

“Mmm.” She purred in his ear and her hand slipped to the bulge in his jeans.

Max nearly caved right then, but knowing his future was on the line, he forced himself to pull back. He’d messed up once and she’d run at the first opportunity. He wasn’t about to screw up again. “I love you” was saying a hell of a lot for a man who’d always lived alone—but it wasn’t a declaration of future intent. And a woman like Brandy both deserved and needed one.

And for the first time, Max realized, so did he. “Brandy.”

She met his gaze.

“I don’t usually sleep with women I just met.”

She grinned. “That’s good because I feel as if I’ve known you all my life.”

“Then prove it. I’m a slob. I don’t put my clean clothes away, I wear them straight from a pile on the chair. I squeeze the toothpaste from the middle, I drink milk out of the carton, and those are the positives.” He paused, deadly serious. “But I still think we have a chance.”

Her eyes were misty and damp but her smile never dimmed. “I’ve been known to hang stockings from doorknobs and eat Chinese food out of the carton. For breakfast.”

His body protested his prolonged wait in making her his but his mind and heart knew he was doing it right this time. “I go to sleep too late and wake up too early. But I promise to give you the best that I’ve got to make us work. You can trust me and you never have to fear me—” Max never got to finish.

She covered his mouth with hers in the sweetest, hottest, most honest kiss he’d ever known. He paused only to slam her door closed and undress her, dropping his jeans as fast as possible. He entered her quickly, this time on the desk she’d be leaving behind. When the aftershocks subsided, his body was still deep inside hers.

“This was naughty,” she murmured.

“I thought that was your plan.”

She laughed. “Only with you, Max. You bring out my decadent side.”

“My pleasure, sweetheart. It’s something I plan on doing again.” His dick stiffened and Max proceeded to seal their bodies, just as they’d sealed their future.

Being naughty under the mistletoe.

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