Up in Flames [The Heroes of Silver Springs 10] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) Read Free Page B

right?”
    “I know you’ve been spending a lot of time in his office the last few months.”
    “Yeah, he’s great. He’s…He reminds me a lot of—” My father. Damnit, she didn’t want to think about her father right now. The last thing she needed to do was morph from babbling drunk to sobbing hysterically with Max Jasper around.
    Max waited a beat. When he apparently decided she wasn’t going to finish, he switched off the engine and opened his door. “C’mon. Let’s get you inside.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Max rounded the front of the truck and reached the passenger door just as Regina opened it. He held out a hand, taking a deep, steadying breath as she put her hand in his. Touching a woman had never sent his insides on a riot of craziness. The slightest skin-to-skin contact with her turned his system into a freaking circus of acrobatic needs and desires.
    He held her hand as she slid out of the truck. Her grip tightened, and her free hand latched onto his bicep when she swayed. Reflex had his other hand shooting out to catch her waist. Her eyes slammed shut, and she giggled softly before taking a deep breath.
    “I guess I’m not quite as steady on my feet as I thought.”
    Max would’ve grinned if the sensations of having her in his arms again hadn’t instantly sent his brain on a fast track to get-it-on-ville. “Yeah, that goes back to the alcohol and the whole chemical process thing. It tends to have quite an effect on the body’s motor skills, too.”
    Her eyes fluttered open, and her gaze slowly dragged up his face to meet his. “Do you ever step out of that lab of yours?”
    Max did grin then. “Am I really that bad?” He winced inwardly and waited for her to let him have it. She didn’t like him. She’d made it perfectly clear on more than one occasion.
    She likes you when she’s drunk.
    Yeah, so far, the only times they’d managed a few minutes of casual conversation that hadn’t ended in him being dubbed Lieutenant Ass and her bearing her pit-bull teeth, ready to take a bite out of him, had been when she’d had a few drinks.
    “You’re…” She shook her head, the movement causing her to sway again and stumble off balance.
    Max steadied her and waited for her to finish, but she left it hanging.
    “I’ve got it now. I’m good.” She added the last with the overpeppiness of the totally inebriated as she released his hand and bicep. “The house is that way.” She lifted a hand to point over his shoulder and nearly took off the tip of his nose. “Oops, sorry. If you’ll back up a bit, I’m sure I can make it up the sidewalk and into the house with no problems.”
    Max eased aside, both hands at the ready if the need arose to make a quick grab for her. “How about I follow you? You know, in case the sidewalk decides it’s time to tilt under your feet or something?”
    Her gaze slammed back into his, and, even in the darkness of the night, he didn’t miss the emotions that flashed in her eyes. Heat, hope, uncertainty, and more he didn’t dare attempt to define shot through her light-blue eyes leaving a trail of irritation in their wake.
    “If I needed a father, Max, I’d—” She huffed a frustrated breath and, once again, left her statement hanging. “Fine. Follow if you want to.” She flattened a hand on the front of his shoulder, pushing him even further aside as she walked around him. “But you’re not coming inside.”
    Max gave her mental props for not tossing that last over her shoulder. If she’d tried to look back while she swayed up the sidewalk the way she was doing, she likely would’ve fallen on her nose. Though he could no longer see said nose with her back to him, he remembered it fondly and rather liked it without the scraped skin and crooked shape a fall to the concrete would probably give it.
    “I wouldn’t dream of coming inside,” he muttered as he shuffled to catch up with her. And, yeah, okay, so that was a lie. He had dreamt of it plenty of