Neighborly Complications (Stories of Serendipity #1) (7 page)

Claire shrugged and turned to go back into the house, leaving the door open behind her. She was so tired of thinking about him, and lookie lookie —- he shows up. Perfect.

He looked at her with those chocolaty, caramel eyes, full of remorse. “I’m sorry about what I did tonight. I’m not sure what came over me. I just saw you there, and I had to do something.” His hand ran through his hair, which flopped back down in its naturally tousled appearance. “I actually went to the bar tonight to get you off my mind. I’m pretty sure I probably had too much to drink. You’re just so…” He dropped the six pack on the floor and turned to walk away. “If I messed up any possibilities of something happening between us, I’m sorry.”

“Between us?” Claire gaped at him disbelievingly. “There is no
us
. You are an arrogant, egotistical, sexist asshole!” Max flinched, visibly. “What in the hell did you think you were doing? Getting me off in public? In a bar?
At
the bar?”

He initially looked surprised at her outburst, but then an amused glint stole into his eyes, and his mouth turned up into a smirk, and Claire couldn’t contain her anger. He was laughing at her. After everything he’d put her through, he was laughing.

She looked around for something to throw at him, finding a bag of supplies she had bought to remove wallpaper. Digging around, her fingers closed on a bottle of glue remover. She chunked it at him, hitting him squarely in the chest. She felt bad immediately, but that didn’t discount the fact that he had made her lose control, and she didn’t like it.

“What right did you have to touch me like that? To make me
feel
like that?” Her fingers found a scraper next. He dodged it, as it went flying at his face. Looking like he was barely containing laughter, he started stalking towards her. She retreated, a sense of impending doom sinking into her belly.

“What’s so funny? Huh? Why are you laughing at me?” Her voice was weak, little more than a breathless whisper. Claire had cornered herself and had nowhere to go, as he came closer to her. She could see enjoyment warring with remorse in his features. Underneath those emotions was a predatory look that made her want to flee, but she couldn’t tear her eyes from his.

“Aw hell…” He took her in his arms, one hand behind Claire’s head, crushing her mouth to his. The other hand went around her waist and pulled her body against his. He let loose a guttural growl, as his mouth pressed against hers insistently. The kiss was full of need, of want. His tongue teased the outside of her lips, willing them to open for him.

Against her will, Claire’s body responded. She felt her panties dampen, and her breasts getting heavy. Digging her fingers into his hair, she pulled him impossibly closer. She opened her lips for him, and his tongue was in her mouth, tickling her teeth, teasing the roof of her mouth. She whimpered into him. His tongue retreated, and her tongue took over, exploring his mouth, his teeth, his tongue. One of her hands reached around and down, and cupped his ass.

He gasped against her mouth. Claire’s hand was squeezing and kneading his tight butt. One of his hands came around under her shirt and cupped her breast. His thumb rubbed the nipple, through her bra, bringing it to full attention. It was Claire’s turn to gasp.
My goodness; that feels good.

In one frantic motion, Max pulled her blouse over her head, and his hands reached around and unclasped her bra before his mouth trailed kisses down her neck to her breast and took it into his mouth. His tongue teased the nipple, his teeth grazed it, then he sucked it. Claire arched against him, needing more.

“You taste better than I imagined.” He breathed around the nipple in his mouth. “I lose all control around you…” Both of her hands went up under his shirt and pulled it off his head. She needed to feel his skin against hers. She pulled his mouth back up to hers, and pressed her chest to him. Max groaned into her mouth as she felt his skin against hers was hot and smooth. His heart pounded against her chest, hard and erratic. His arousal pressed against her hip, long and hard. God help her, she wanted him.

He broke away from the kiss and leaned his forehead into hers, taking in torn gulps of air.

“Do you want to do this? If we go any further, I may not be able to stop. You are unbelievable, Claire.” His voice was a ragged whisper.

“No.”
What?
“I mean, yes.” What was she saying? “I don’t know…um…” She leaned forward to kiss him again, but he pushed her away, gently.

“You need to know for sure. I don’t want regrets tomorrow. I’m not sure I could handle it if you regretted this. And I’ve probably had too much to drink, anyway…” He ran his fingers through his hair, exhaled slowly, and turned to leave.

“Wait, Max!” Claire went after him, desperate for it not to end.

“What?” He stopped and turned to look at her, indecision in his face.

She felt like a teenager, and hated it. The words that came out of her mouth were akin to post-coital ‘does this mean we’re boyfriend and girlfriend?’ and she hated it, but was powerless to stop them. “What does this make us?”

He smiled a secret smile that only he knew the meaning of. Claire sure couldn’t think of anything to smile about right now. “I’d say this makes us complicated.” He said simply, before walking out the door.

M
ax woke up the next morning in a twisted mess of sweaty sheets, visions of the night before fresh on his mind, as they had filled his dreams.

Swinging his feet out of his bed, he involuntarily looked across the hedge to Claire’s bedroom window. Last night she had nailed a sheet up over the window. He had watched her do it, irritation radiating from her actions as she wielded the hammer.

He swung his gaze around to the picture on his nightstand. Katherine smiled at him, and he could swear it was a different smile from the blissful honeymooners’ smile that had graced the picture before. Now it seemed like a knowing smile, as if she was aware that he wanted Claire, and was screwing up royally with her. His finger traced the frame.

“She’s so different, Katy-bug. You would like her, I think.”

The picture gave him no response, no words of wisdom or encouragement. He heaved an exhausted sigh, and got out of bed. He had no idea what he was going to do.

He knew Claire was mad at him for stopping last night. He could tell she was unsure about the whole thing, though. And the fact that she thought he was ‘an arrogant, egotistical, sexist asshole,’ made him question why he wanted her.

Well, Max knew why he wanted her. Claire was the most awesome woman he’d met. Ever. She used power tools, she played pool, she drank good beer, she knew Glenn Miller. And she was sexy as hell.

Sorry Katy-bug. But she’s amazing.

Max rubbed his face and walked to the kitchen to make some coffee, still thinking about Claire. She sure seemed to be mad at him a lot, and he wished he could figure out what irked her so badly. Granted, he loved the way the anger flashed in her eyes and made her cheeks flush. But he hated that she was pissed at him all the time.

With the coffee maker brewing, Max went back upstairs to shower. On the way to the bathroom, he looked over at Claire’s house again. She had really done good work in the yard. It was looking better. He wondered what her plans for the place were. Since she didn’t seem willing to sell it to him, he may need to get beyond his own dream of owning it. It had been something he’d shared with Katherine. They had memories with that house, plans for it. It had been a fun dream they’d shared on rainy days, sitting around, talking about all the ways they would improve that house.

He’d wanted the house badly for a really long time, since high school probably. He’d dreamed of opening up a bed and breakfast in that house since he and Katherine had lost their virginity in it. They had whispered sweet nothings in their future master bedroom, while a bunch of their friends had been drunk and partying downstairs. That was the night Max had decided to go to college for architectural design and remodel homes for a living.

He’d asked Claire’s uncle to sell it to him, but the man had been unwilling, saying he had plans for the place. But nothing had ever happened to it, and Max had always wondered what exactly his plans were.

Katherine had never been as gung-ho about moving back to Serendipity to run a B and B in that house. Max had always felt like she was humoring him when he talked about it. After she had died, he’d continued with his dream, as a way of preserving the memory of their dream, even though as time went on, he realized more fully it never really was her dream. It had been his, and he needed something to separate him from her memory. When Eddie wouldn’t sell him the house, he’d started in on the furniture.

Now that Claire lived there, she didn’t seem inclined to sell, and honestly, Max wasn’t too inclined to see her leave. And he felt guilty about it.

He felt the tell-tale signs of tears behind his eyes, and sniffed furiously to hold them at bay. He needed to get started on his day. He could finish the deck today, if he got busy.

After showering, dressing, and drinking a cup of coffee, a knock at his door gave him something to do besides think traitorous thoughts about Claire. It was Summer.

“Hey. Come in. Is something broken?” He stood back to let her inside.

“No. I was just wondering what happened last night. With Claire.”

“At the bar?” Max was stalling, putting her off. No way was he going to talk to Summer about Claire.

“Yeah. She seemed to be having fun, until you came over. I went to go dance, and the next thing I know, she was ready to leave. What happened?” Summer looked at him, perturbed, expecting an answer that he wasn’t willing to give.

“She didn’t tell you?”

“No. I asked a million times on the way home, but she wouldn’t give me anything.”

“Well, I’m not going to tell you, then.” Max crossed his arms.

Summer stomped her foot. “Oh come on, Max. Don’t you start holding out on me!”

“I acted inappropriately. Let’s just leave it at that.”

“What did you do?” Summer put her hands on her hips, as if she was going to wait him out.

He sighed, “I’m not going to tell you, Summer, so you might as well leave, if that’s all you came over for.”

“Do you like her?”

“Yes, I do. Now don’t go sticking your meddling little nose in my business. I’m going over there later to apologize. I don’t need you interfering.”

“I don’t interfere. I offer solicited advice. Don’t make me out to be my grandma.” The jutted out chin and hands on her hips screamed petulant.

“I miss your grandma. She was an awesome lady.”

“Yeah, me too. But don’t try to change the subject. You’d better make up with Claire. I like her.”

“I know. Me too.” Max started to usher Summer out the door, but her stance was firm. “What?”

“I want to tell you something, and I don’t want you to get mad at me.”

Max let out an exasperated sigh. He knew exactly what she was going to say.

“I loved Katherine. Everybody did. And we all miss her.” Summer reached for Max’s hand, and he let her hold it, her tiny grasp a warm comfort in his larger one. “But she’s gone, honey. And you’re still here.” She squeezed, her grip surprisingly strong, for such a tiny woman. “And Claire’s right next door, in
the
house. That’s saying something, Max. You guys have something going on between you, and you can’t deny it. It’s obvious.” She pulled him into a friendly hug. “You need to tell Claire about Katy. She’ll understand.” Summer pulled back. “You owe it to Katy to keep living your life, Max. She wouldn’t want you to be alone forever, you know.”

Max nodded, the damn tears prickling behind his eyes again. He gently pushed Summer towards the door, because he had something he wanted to do before he could go see Claire.

A couple of hours later, Max had finished his project before taking it next door. He wanted Claire, that much was true, but he wanted her to want him. There was something holding her back though, and he needed to get to the bottom of it. He had tried the whole ‘starting over’ thing, and that had seemed to bomb, so he was going to try something different.

When she answered the door, Claire was wearing the tee shirt that he had apparently left over there last night. It hung to the middle of her thighs, and Max briefly conjectured about what was underneath it. He ignored the tightening of his groin, as well as the thoughts that it looked better on her than it did on him. Max looked at the tee shirt pointedly, as she ushered him inside with a wary look on her face.

“It’s complicated,” she replied wryly. He laughed, and handed her the package. Claire looked at him, “My first present from my new complication. I’m so excited!” She didn’t look excited. Her tone was sarcastic as she turned the box all around, shaking it and squeezing it. “It’s so big…”

Max chuckled through the awkward moment. “Open it.” All thoughts of Katherine disappeared when he was around Claire.

She carefully unwrapped the box, and using a pocketknife that she’d picked up from a table by the door, slit the tape that Max had wrapped the box in. When she pulled out the shelf, she gasped.

“Oh, Max! Did you make this?” Sarcasm gave way to awe, as she turned the shelf over in her hands, inspecting it from every angle.

“Yeah. I did. Do you like it?” It was a knick-knack shelf that he had made from some scraps of wood. “I didn’t stain it or anything, I just put it together this morning. I didn’t take the time to finish the outside. I wasn’t sure what the décor would be when you finish the house, so I didn’t want to presume anything.”

“You made this today? It’s not even noon yet.”

“Yeah, well, I got up early. Didn’t sleep well last night.” He shrugged, trying to affect a manner of nonchalance, even though she was the reason he didn’t sleep.

“Me neither.” The way she said those two words gave Max a little hope. Maybe she was just as twisted up about him as he was about her.

“Um, I’m sorry about last night.” He gestured to the shelf. “This is a sort of apology gift.”

“What are you sorry about?” She looked at him with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.