Sophie Oak - Three to Ride

“You lied to me.”

“What does it matter? I fully intend to be there, Max.” Rachel tried to soothe him. She put a hand on his bicep and rubbed. She was pretty sure now that he wasn’t trying to break it off with her. “I wasn’t trying to trick you.”

“I want to know what his name is.”

Rachel went cold and dropped her hand from his arm. She took a step back. She couldn’t believe this was happening again. “Who are you talking about, Max?”

“Whoever it is you’re living with,” he said darkly. “Are you married?”

“No.” There was a little ember of rage that was always in her belly. Most of the time fear drowned out the rage, but Max was stoking that fire, and Rachel felt her hands start to tremble. “I don’t have a boyfriend, either. I thought I might have one, but he turned out to be just another asshole.” She stepped forward and pulled the bouquet of roses out of his hand. His face registered shock as she pushed him back. “You’re the only man I’ve slept with in years. I told you that yesterday, but somewhere along the way, I completely forgot you were a man. Men don’t believe women.”

“Now, Rachel,” Max started with obvious trepidation in his voice. He looked like a man whose whole world had just turned over. He backed up, and she continued to push him. His back hit the diner doors.

“I won’t put up with it, Max!” Rachel no longer cared that they had an audience. “I won’t put up with some possessive asshole who accuses me of cheating every time I’m out of his line of sight.”

“I didn’t exactly accuse you of cheating.” Max muttered something about being wrong just before he tripped and found himself on his ass. His hat came off his head and fell to the side.

It gave Rachel the perfect opportunity to make a few things clear to him. She hit him as hard as she could with the bunch of roses. “You will treat me like a lady, Maxwell Harper. You will politely ask me questions, and you will not accuse me of anything again unless you’re damn sure I’ve done something to deserve it. You will not walk into my place of business and tell the town I’m some sort of harlot. Is that understood?”

Max looked up at her. There were rose petals and greenery in his hair. He looked like he wanted to argue, but he swallowed twice and replied simply, “Yes, baby.”

There was a surprised burst of laughter, and Rachel turned to see the Sheriff standing there. He quickly stopped laughing when she turned on him. “Do you want some of this, too?” She held the sad flowers out threateningly.

“No, ma’am,” he said.

She glared at him. She’d just whacked the hell out of his brother. He might not take kindly to that sort of behavior. “Are you planning to arrest me?”

“No!” Max shouted.

Rye tipped his hat in a gallant gesture. “Ma’am, anyone can see that your assault of my brother’s person was entirely provoked.”

“Good.” Rachel suddenly felt the weight of the entire diner looking at her. She turned, and, sure enough, there were a whole bunch of faces pressed against the glass. Rachel smoothed her apron down and tossed the bouquet on Max’s lap. “I’m going back to work now. You’ll understand if I choose not to see you this evening, Max. I’ve had my fill of men thinking they own me.”

“Rachel—” Max got to his feet.

“Goodbye, Max,” she said. He looked so sad standing there that she wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around him and tell him she forgave him. It was a mistake she couldn’t afford to make. She forced herself to turn and walk back into the diner. She told herself she could cry over him later.

There was a loud cheer as she walked through the doors and got back to work.

Max stared at Rachel’s retreating figure and tried to figure out how the hell he was going to fix this. It was obvious now that he’d completely overreacted to the situation. He didn’t even understand what the situation was, but he knew he’d done something wrong. No woman had ever tried to brutally kill a man with a bouquet of flowers unless he’d seriously screwed up.

He dusted the rose petals off his shirt and out of his hair. He picked up his hat off the ground and held it in his hand. He would be polite this time. He would follow the rules of courtesy.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Rye stood firmly in his way, a barrier to all he held dear.

Max hadn’t missed the way his brother looked at Rachel. Rye was falling for her, too, and Max didn’t know what to do about it. He couldn’t see Rachel accepting the type of relationship they would want. None of that would matter if he couldn’t convince her to see him again. “I’m going to talk to Rachel.”

The frown on his brother’s face let Max know exactly what Rye thought of that plan. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, brother. I think she might need a little time to cool down. That honey’s downright mean when you get on her bad side.”

He was going to have to grovel. He knew it would shock most of the people in town, but he was more than willing to do it if it got him back in Rachel’s good graces. “I’ve got to talk to her.”

Rye strode over and put a hand on his shoulder. “She’s not going anywhere. If you walk into that diner, you’ll be doing the very thing she asked you not to do.”

Max let his head fall back in frustration. It was the opposite of the day he’d planned out. He’d bought flowers and champagne. He planned to take her to the Swiss House. It was the nicest restaurant in driving distance from the town. He was going to woo her the way he wanted to. He’d also planned on taking her back to the motel and fucking her brains out, but that was only after he’d made her feel like a princess.

Instead he’d managed to turn his happy kitten into a raging woman scorned because he couldn’t control his damn temper. He shoved a hand through his hair and came back with silky rose petals. “I can’t leave it like this.” He couldn’t. It went against his very nature to sit back and hope things turned out okay.

“We have bigger problems, Max.” Rye lent him a hand and pulled a long green stem out of the neck of his shirt. “There’s a reason she lied about the motel. She’s living out of her car.”

“What?” Max breathed the question. His mind raced. He thought about the tightly packed Jeep. He’d been too eager to take her again last night. He’d completely missed the signs. Now he remembered that she’d had a blanket in the backseat. It hadn’t been neatly folded. It had been laid out and wrinkled up like someone had slept on it. She was sleeping in her car. He’d made love to her, held her, and enjoyed her body and then left her to sleep in her car. Max’s heart started to race. Anything could happen to her. There really were bears in the woods, not to mention the fact that anyone could smash in the window and do what they wanted to her.

Rye slapped him on the back. “Calm down. She won’t need to sleep in her car anymore. We’ll take care of her.”

“We have to convince her to move in with us.” Max was panicking. How long had she been homeless? What had already happened to her?

“I don’t think that’s going to be easy.” Rye crossed his arms over his chest and appeared lost in thought. “Here’s the good news. She isn’t intimidated by your temper.”

Max laughed. “Hardly.” She’d been an avenging goddess coming after him. He’d been intimidated. And strangely aroused.

“The bad news is she now thinks you’re a possessive asshole, and she seems to take exception to the type as a whole.”

“Well, I am a possessive asshole. At least I am where she’s concerned. But hell, Rye, she lied to me. I didn’t just make something up this time. I probably should have asked politely, but you know how I get.” Rye should know. He was the one who had to talk Max down most of the time.