Free Defeat the Darkness (Hearts of Darkness) by Eliza March

test, he was a fool to risk it. She’d never been immune to Max—not his good looks, his charm, nor their chemistry. Every woman who met him recognized he was one of the good guys, and he was, by far, one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen.
    Fortunately for her, knowing him since pre-school put his good looks in perspective. She remembered him when he was scrawny without his front teeth, and then with braces. Of course, their past was also something that warmed her heart.
    There was no denying their attraction, just their bad timing.
    Everything about Max mirrored the epitome of the South—well, everything except his overly long blond hair that he tied back in a neat ponytail. Nevertheless, she knew it was a big “ef you” to the country club conservatives.
    It was one of two rules Max excluded from his traditional image. The other was his sexual appetite.
    She mostly relied on hearsay after their short teenage foray into sexual-research-gone-awry. He didn’t think sexual monogamy was the same as emotional monogamy. Maybe he was right, but convincing her broken teenage heart took a while.
    They decided—she decided—they liked each other too much to risk ruining what they had with sex. Max would have let sex rule over his good sense back then even when it came to risking what they had—mostly because he was a teenage hor n dog. Maybe because it was her he took the highroad and agreed.
    Max made it clear there wasn’t much he wouldn’t explore or enjoy in the name of sexual experimentation. While she was all about finding her soul mate.
    Besides, she discovered he was light years ahead of her when it came to sex after the one time they’d tried again once they were older. He probably still was.
    “La la la” She didn’t want to think about it.
    She paced the apartment she’d shared with Kyle and waited for Dr. Salazar or Max to call back with some news.
    What was taking so long? His father was retired from the state department. Surely, he had friends with connections. He’d know how to break through the red tape if anyone did. Her parents and his had been good friends as long as she could remember.
    Everyone, including Shelby herself, expected the two of them to end up together someday. And would that have been so bad?
    Yes.
    She had Kyle now, and her feelings for him to consider. If she had committed to Max the way everyone expected, there never would have been a Kyle in her life.
    Why Kyle, she often wondered, and not Max. One she’d loved all her life, versus the soul mate who swooped into her life, captured her heart, and scared the living hell out of her.
    He’d brought her old world to a grinding halt—lighting it in colors she’d never seen. He challenged her in ways she’d never dreamed possible, loved her so thoroughly and completely there was no doubt she was his world and he was hers. He emotionally satisfied her on every level, including a new level of sexual desire, almost a desperate need that she felt with only him.
    If Max wasn’t the one, after all they’d been through, then how could she feel so connected to Kyle in such a short time? Would it last? Or, would it turn into something else, too? Kyle’s disappearance had her questioning her feelings about everything.
    Kyle rocked her world—Max stabilized it—brought balance to her being. They got along almost too well, agreed on everything—even about Kyle. He’d taken her attraction to Kyle in stride the way he did everything else. Nothing ever rattled him. Instead, he continued dating every hot woman he ran across in New Orleans and yet was always still there when she needed him.
    She knew nothing would ever interfere with their friendship. Anyone who expected to be part of their lives would have to accept their connection. Kyle was her future, but Max was her past and a part of her. She could never live without him. He would always be her other half—her best friend.
    She looked at her watch and calculated the time