Page 2 of A Love So Sweet
Treat pushed away from the fence and headed toward his sister in full protective mode. She might be tough, but those media animals pushing their way forward could easily injure her. He plowed through the crowd. His six-foot-six frame naturally commanded more space, and the sea of paparazzi parted for him. He gently persuaded the few that remained in his path with a domineering stare—a stare he hadn’t needed to rely upon since Savannah was a teenager, when he and his brothers had spent countless hours keeping horny boys away from their precious sister.
He reached up and caught Savannah as she jumped down from the roof of the limo. He spun her around and, as he lowered her to the ground, his eyes landed on a woman standing on top of a car. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, her red-framed glasses perched on her perky nose. She looked fierce and beautiful, and Treat’s breath caught in his throat.Max.
“OKAY, THE SHOW is over.” Max’s voice boomed from the loudspeakers. “Let’s give Mr. Dean some space to continue driving through. He’ll be signing autographs and answering questions after his appearance.” She scanned the area, her gaze landing on a man towering above the crowd with a gorgeous woman in his arms. He spun the woman to the side and his face came into view.
Max froze.
Treat?
Her pulse soared, and the butterflies in her stomach she thought she’d annihilated weeks ago swarmed to life with a vengeance. She had worked with Treat’s assistant, Scarlet, for months coordinating logistics for Chaz’s double wedding, which had taken place at Treat’s Nassau resort. The other groom in the wedding was Treat’s cousin, Blake Carter. She’d dealt with Treat so many times over the phone that he’d become the object of her late-night fantasies. But even her fantasies hadn’t prepared her for meeting the impossibly tall, darkly handsome god that was Treat Braden, with his seductive voice and the way every inch of him screamed of adrenaline-pumping, heart-fluttering masculinity. She’d thought herself unflappable, but Treat had proved her wrong.
Her stomach clenched just thinking about the magical evening they’d spent in each other’s arms. She could still feel his warm, sensuous lips on hers and see him gazing at her as though she were the only woman on earth. He hadn’t even pushed when, after hours of dancing and walking on the beach, kissing like they’d been lovers forever, she’d turned down his offer to return to his suite and extend their evening into morning. Seeing him now, she had a hard time reconciling that incredibly romantic, thoughtful man with the arrogant one who had blown her off the next morning. Sure, she’d been in the same clothes she’d worn the night before, and yes, she’d been out for the remainder of that evening with a man named Justin, but Treat’s assumption about what they’d done pissed her off. And the look he’d given her was too reminiscent of the painful relationship she’d escaped years earlier to chase him down and explain. She had every right to do whatever she wanted to do with whomever she wanted, without judgment. Even if she hadn’t done anything at all.
She shouldn’t care what he thought.
But she did, and that hurt because that awful look he’d given her was in such stark contrast to the impeccable manners he’d otherwise exuded, holding doors, thinking of the needs of her and his other guests before himself, taking extra steps to ensure that every little detail of his cousin’s wedding had been taken care of. The truth was, she’d fallen hard for Treat within a few hours of being with him. But Max knew she shouldn’t let those feelings sway her resolve. She’d been mistreated, demeaned, and judged by a previous boyfriend, and she swore she’d never go down that road again—not even for too-sexy-for-his-own-good Treat Braden.
She stumbled backward. One of the security guards reached for her across the roof of the car, and she grabbed his arm, finding her footing.
“Max! You okay?”
The security guard’s voice wrenched her back to the ensuing chaos. She tore her eyes from Treat and whoever the woman was that he was holding as if she meant everything in the world to him and tried to blink away the unexpected sting of hurt slicing through her.
“Clear a path or you’ll be removed from the premises for the rest of the festival.” Even she could hear the difference in her voice, the weakness. Her gaze darted back to Treat, who was staring at her with an incredulous expression. Suddenly painfully aware of her jeans and T-shirt, the ponytail in her hair—and how she must look like a crazy woman standing on top of the car—she clambered down to the ground as the crowd surprisingly obeyed her orders and began to dissipate. Threats of eviction usually worked.
She turned off the intercom and fumbled for her keys. Treat was heading her way, but she didn’t want to speak to him, couldn’t speak to him, after the way he’d looked at her.
“Max,” he called.
His smooth, deep voice was enough to make her body ache. She cursed under her breath as she started the car and navigated around the crowd. She glanced in her rearview mirror. Treat stood alone in his dark suit, watching her car, while his beautiful companion looked on with a confused expression on her face. Max’s hands trembled as she grasped the steering wheel tighter and drove away. Damn him for having this effect on her.
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Chapter Three
“WHAT THE HECK was that all about?” Savannah asked.
Treat couldn’t believe his eyes.Max.After all this time, he’d thought he had squelched the needs she stirred within him, but seeing the petite brown-haired beauty standing on that car like she could command the world brought all those urges rushing back. He saw right through her ponytailed persona to the sexy woman she tried so hard to ignore. What was Max doing at the festival standing on top of a car? Of course she was there, he realized. She worked for Chaz Crew, the festival’s founder. One phone call would have told him everything he’d ever wanted to know about Max, but he hadn’t made that call. His only goal had been to forget her—and he’d failed.Epically.
Savannah was looking at him like he’d lost his mind, and he wasn’t so sure he hadn’t.
“Nothing,” he finally answered. How could he have been so stupid to have looked at Max so callously that morning at the resort? He’d been a jerk, regardless of how he’d been burned before. He clearly wasn’t over her, and something told him he might never be.
“That was more thannothing, bro.” Savannah flashed a sly smile. “Let me tell Connor I’ll catch up with him later, and we’ll go grab some coffee and chat.”
Treat couldn’t put anything in his stomach if he wanted to. It took every bit of his willpower not to run after Max’s car. He didn’t want to make a scene, and it was obvious that she didn’t want to talk to him, but the rush of emotions consuming him were too strong to ignore. With the hope of forgetting her gone, he accepted what he’d feared all along—he never should have let her go.
TREAT BRADEN. HOLY smokes, Treat Braden.Max drove as fast as she could into the underground garage reserved for the festival’s staff. She slammed her car door shut and paced the concrete floor.What is he doing here?She thought she had become immune to even the sight of him. But the way her heart melted with one look from his piercing dark eyes convinced her she was wrong. Boy, was she wrong.
She needed to get a grip, because Max Armstrong didnotlose control. She didn’t melt, or pine, or otherwise fall apart over a man.
Or at least I never have. Until Treat.
A voice came through her earpiece. “Max, I need you by Marquee One.”
Darn it, Chaz. Now?“Be right there,” she said into the headset. There were thousands of people milling about. What were the chances she’d run into Treat again? Pretty low, she decided. She felt a pang of disappointment, and immediately chided herself for it.
She grabbed her planner and hurried out of the parking garage, flipping through her checklists to make sure there were no issues with that theater that she hadn’t yet taken care of. She found Chaz staring up at the large sign.
