Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 18896 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 94(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 63(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18896 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 94(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 63(@300wpm)
Max glanced around but all he saw was a rumpled bed. “Son of a bitch.” He muttered more under his breath.
He didn’t need to look around his small apartment. Every instinct he had and prided himself on told him she was gone. What he didn’t know was why.
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Yes, he did. He knew exactly why she’d bolted. Fear, pure and simple. Because Max Corbin, ace PI, had made a major miscalculation when dealing with a vulnerable, skittish woman. Despite her calculated seduction, he didn’t kid himself that Brandy was anything less than vulnerable. That innocence was what held him in thrall. Her beauty would never fade but her looks weren’t what had caused him to fall so damn hard. It was the whole package.
And Max had blown it. He’d given her too much to process too soon.
What do you want from me, she’d asked.
I want everything.
“Damn.” Curses and regrets were the only things he could manage about now. He walked to the bed they’d shared and lowered himself onto the mattress. The sheets had cooled but his body hadn’t. Not even a cold shower could dull the aching need she inspired.
He glanced at the phone he’d put down on the dresser but a folded note blocked his view of the numbers and his stomach plummeted as he read her hastily scrawled words. “Dear Max, please remember I can’t do relationships. Thank you for wanting to try. Brandy.”
Can’t not won’t, he thought, grasping onto the difference. He could be there to guide her through making things work. She just needed to be willing to try.
He needed to find her.
Max pulled on his jeans and made his way down to the empty bar. The pool table was just as they’d left it last night, but Brandy had retrieved her clothing. Not a trace of her remained except in Max’s heart.
He dressed and walked downstairs and outside to his car. The only thing he could do was ask Stephan where he might find her. Maybe he knew and would be willing to violate office policy to share.
* * *
Max entered his brother’s luxury condo, an apartment opposite in furnishing and feel from Max’s own casual over-the-bar rental.
“So what brings you to my neck of the woods?” Stephan asked, gesturing to a chair in the kitchen. “We’re supposed to meet Dad at his place in a couple of hours.”
Max shook his head. He didn’t have time to sit. Still, his brother had asked a fair question since Max couldn’t remember the last time he’d shown up here unannounced. But today was different, just as his relationship with his twin had undergone a subtle shift since last night. Many things had changed since then, he thought wryly.
Swallowing both his pride and his rule against talking about the women he slept with, Max unloaded on his brother. It was the first time in too damn long he’d had a heart-to-heart with his twin. Realizing how much he missed it and seeing the same in Stephan’s face, Max knew the distance had closed.
Distance Max had placed there for no good reason. Just as Brandy’s insecurities drove her to succeed and to bolt this morning, Max now knew his own insecurities had driven him from his family. He planned to rectify both his and Brandy’s misperceptions—immediately.
Max finished relating last night’s history to his brother, leaving out the more intimate details.
Stephan nodded. “I’m glad to see you screw up every once in a while. Makes the rest of us feel like you’re human, too.”
“Come again?” Max raised an eyebrow. “I screw up more than once in a while. Isn’t that what Dad always says?”
“Dad says it to instill guilt and you buy into it every time. But you always hold your ground and live your life. To me, that’s not screwing up, that’s playing it smart. A part of me has always envied that.”
Shock rendered Max mute. For twins, he and his brother had been operating on opposite wavelengths for too long. “You don’t want to be in corporate life?” Max asked.
“I never gave it a thought. It was expected and I followed through, though at least I avoided the drudgery of law. Now I’m an associate manager in PR and since Brandy is moving offices with Samantha, our boss, I’ll take over that job, too. It’s all I know and I can’t imagine doing anything else. But sometimes I wonder ‘what if.’” He shrugged. “Then I take a look at how following a different road has kept you far from the family and I figure I’ll accept my life as it is. But in case you’re wondering, distancing yourself is the only screwup I think you’ve made.” His brother let out a wry laugh. “Until now.”
“Now meaning Brandy.” Just saying her name caused the twisting in Max’s gut to return. He had the rest of his life to process his brother’s admission and make things right. He had too little time to catch Brandy and explain before she withdrew for good. “I need her address.”