Lovers at Heart (The Bradens, Book One: Love in Bloom Series)

Chapter Nine, Lovers at Heart

IT WASN’T UNTIL Max stopped to buy coffee on her way to the festival that she realized she’d left her purse in Treat’s vehicle. After she’d gone back to her apartment and changed the sheets, she’d tried to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw Treat’s eyes looking back at her with so much emotion that it sent her running from her bedroom to the couch, where she’d tossed and turned all night.

When she got to the office, Max consumed enough caffeine to hold her through the morning. Now her stomach was growling as loud as could be as she sat across from Chaz going over figures from the day before. The second day of the festival always ran a little smoother than the first. The staff was used to the procedures, and Max wasn’t called every ten minutes to handle an issue. She was always amazed at how much more responsibility the staff could handle after a single day of being thrown feetfirst into the fire, and she was thankful for the breathing room.

“Wanna stop for lunch?” Chaz asked.

“No. I’m fine.” All these numbers are blurring together, and I see Treat on every page.

He closed the ledger and stood. “Nonsense. We’ve been at it all morning. Come on. We’ll go to Kale’s and grab a bite.”

She pushed herself to her feet with a sigh.

“What’s up with you today? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this tired.”

I was this tired the two weeks after your wedding, but you were on your honeymoon. “I just didn’t sleep very well last night.” Or at all.

“Stay too late at the party?” Chaz held the door open for her.

She shrugged, avoiding real communication. They were graced with another warm afternoon, and Max knew that the beauty of the day was lost on her sour mood. She couldn’t think past what she’d felt for Treat the night before. She’d never initiated touching a man like she had with him, and oddly, she wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed by her actions. She’d wanted to do it—and that was the only thing that gave her pause. That was the buffer of the hurt he’d caused her in Nassau. What exactly that was, she couldn’t nail down.

At the restaurant, she picked at her salad while Chaz caught her up on all of the new things the twins had been learning.

Max’s phone vibrated, and she froze.

“Aren’t you going to check that?” Chaz asked.

“No.”

“Okay, Max, spill it. You always check your phone. What is it that you always tell me?” He looked up, thinking.

“If someone takes the time to text, you damned well better be kind enough to check it.”

“Right,” he said. “That’s it. I seem to remember you drilling that into my head a few years ago.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t do a very good job, considering that I had to remind you about what I’d said.”

Chaz’s phone vibrated. “Great, it’s probably an issue. Maybe our earpieces aren’t working?” He checked his text.

She turned on her microphone and spoke to one of the staff members, then turned it off again. “Radio’s fine.”

“This is from Kaylie, and I’m reading this word for word. Something must be wrong with Max. Not answering my texts. Check pls. So, don’t tell me I’m reading you wrong.”

His cocky smile was too much for Max to try to dissuade. She was too exhausted to argue about if her head was or wasn’t on straight today. It wasn’t. And she blamed Treat.