Free Fixed up in February (Spring River Valley Book 2) by Clarice Wynter Page A

prompted him to ask her out, properly this time and not for a ride to the hardware store or some other silly errand. Instead he’d ignored her hint and acted like the damn chicken soup was all he cared about. If she hadn’t eaten all of hers, she’d have spilled it on him.
    Then, in the middle of her trying to make a hasty retreat, he’d popped up in front of her and kissed her nearly senseless.
    She had to be nearly senseless to begin with to have gone to his apartment in the first place. What was she thinking? She wasn’t into Max. He made her insane, in fact.
    And that kiss had made her lose her mind. She thought of scooping up a handful of snow and dropping it down the front of her shirt to cool herself off. She was way too young to be having hot flashes, but this had to be what one felt like. Thank God Chad had showed up, or who knew what would have happened?
    Not true. She knew exactly what would have happened, and the thought of it left her quaking in her boots. She would have led Max Shannon to his bedroom and shown him exactly what physically demanding activity she had in mind.
    And now she couldn’t get it out of her mind.
    “I need help. Serious help.” She climbed into her car and slammed the door, shaking loose an avalanche of snow from the windows. While the heater blasted warm air and the windows defrosted, she dialed Cassandra’s number. The girl owed her one, and she planned to collect.

Chapter Nine
     
     
    “I think you’re out of your mind.” Harper plunked a tuna sandwich and a can of iced tea down on her kitchen table in front of Audrey, then stood, hands on hips, glaring at her. “You’re being utterly unreasonable.”
    Audrey eyed the sandwich. “You forgot the pickle.”
    “Oh, my god. Are you even listening to me?” Harper rummaged in her fridge and returned a second later with a jar of dill spears. She threw herself into the chair across from Audrey and picked up half of her own sandwich. “Don’t try that wide-eyed innocent look with me.”
    “What?” Audrey said after a bite. “The guy just isn’t right for me. When we’re together, it’s like a roller coaster. One minute he’s sweet and charming and I’m contemplating tearing his clothes off; the next minute he says something that makes me want to kick him in the…shins.”
    “Ever heard the word ‘passion,’ my dear? Look it up. Obviously the two of you are pushing each other’s buttons. You bring out the worst in each other because you can’t get over yourselves and just be honest.”
    “No. That’s not it.” Audrey attacked her pickle. “We’re…like oil and water. Yes, he’s hot. My god, is he hot. His abs…you could bounce a Buick off them. And apparently he did that. He threw himself in front of Chad Marchand and saved the guy’s life.”
    “I know. Chad must have told his father because Mr. Marchand told me to call him and offer him free tax service as a thank you.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Chad said he was the black sheep of the family.”
    “He is, but only because he refuses to work at the firm. Mr. Marchand adores him. If anything had happened to him…I don’t know. Max’s name is like gold around my office.”
    “Hmm. Well, regardless. Maybe he can date Chad, but Max and me—not going to ever work out. When I left his place, I thought my head was going to explode.”
    “You’d just kissed him. That’s sort of normal.”
    “I’ve kissed guys before. I never felt like that afterwards.”
    Harper just looked at her, silent, a knowing smile on her face.
    “No. Don’t even,” Audrey said, waving away the implication.
    “Just listen to yourself. He makes you crazy; you can’t stop talking about him. You said when you saw his chart at the hospital, you panicked because you were afraid he might have been badly hurt . You ran to his place to bring him soup, he kissed you into a momentary coma, and your answer to all that is to ask his cousin to fix you up with Appendix Guy?