Broken Read Free

for him? Cassidy knew he’d drop everything and come running, no matter the cost to his heart. Max rose and went to the closet where he’d stashed a bottle of bourbon, opened it, and took a swig. As he drank, he brooded. There was only one logical answer. She hadn’t wanted him with her.

Chapter Two
    Cassidy Brannon sat in her vehicle and shook violently. Max was home. Coming face-to-face with him had been a shock. She’d wanted to fling herself into his arms, so happy had she been to see him. Reality had slapped her in the face and she’d remembered his betrayal.
    She hated that he was still so devastatingly handsome. Of Italian descent, Max had the right combination of charm, intelligence, and brawn to be nearly irresistible. Add in mesmerizing blue eyes with the power to hold a woman captive in its gaze, dark wavy hair she’d love to run her fingers through, and lickable honey-toned skin that spoke of hours spent under a hot Italian sun, and he was her every fantasy. In the tuxedo which fit his body like it had been custom made for him, he looked more like a GQ model than the lawyer she knew him to be.
    Why couldn’t he have stayed out of the country? Not only was Max here, he’d brought his wife with him.
    Of course he did , she chastised herself. Did you expect him to leave the woman he loved in Italy ?
    He’d loved her once, or so he’d said, his deep blue eyes staring intently into hers. “I’ll wait for you forever.” Cassidy laughed bitterly. He’d barely waited four months before realizing he’d made a mistake.
    Max, her husband Phillip’s best friend until Phillip had betrayed both of them with Max’s live-in lover, Amber, the woman Max had been preparing to ask to marry him. After catching Phillip literally with his pants around his ankles, Cassidy and Max had spent one drunken, passionate night with each other.
    The next morning they’d come to their senses, decided the night before was best forgotten, and determinedly moved on as friends who’d bonded over the betrayal of those closest to them. Max helped her deal with Phillip’s infidelity, and she’d been a sounding board for him about Amber’s.
    Only things quickly became complicated. Cassidy discovered she was pregnant and didn’t know who’d fathered her child. Max had deemed the fetus his and stated he didn’t just want his child, he wanted its mother too. As a result, Max had become not only her friend, her rock, but eventually her lover as well.
    Their affair had been short but intense. She and Max couldn’t be in the same room without touching each other, the sexual attraction between them explosive. In the three months they’d been lovers, Max had won her heart.
    Things between them had escalated so fast. Max urged her to move in with him while they waited for the dissolution of her marriage to be final. She’d been hesitant. Phillip fought the divorce, and her mother sided with him instead of supporting her. Max’s family, particularly his mother, was very vocal in their dislike of her and Max’s growing relationship. Between Max, Phillip, and her pregnancy, there was simply too much going on for her to feel comfortable making that kind of commitment.
    Still, Cassidy had been considering it when she’d received notification from her attorney that the judge had dismissed her case for lack of grounds. She’d known there was a possibility, but the reality was overwhelming. When informed she’d have to wait two years before filing again, she’d lost it. It was Max who’d pulled her from the edge and comforted her while she’d cried at the injustice of it all.
    Then Phillip had offered her a deal. Agree to marriage counseling for a specified length of time and if, at the end of it, she still wanted a divorce, he’d sign off on it. Cassidy had talked it over with Max. He’d been against it, but she’d been resolved. She desperately wanted out of her marriage and didn’t want to wait two years or more years to be free.