Page 47 of Reckless Liar

“Trust me when I tell you, I will never be Max. I know what he was to you. Better than anyone, I understand. But give us a chance. Let me show you that while what we have isn’t what you had before; it could be something else.”

“Something more?” I asked skeptically.

“I’m not trying to replace anyone. But we can be more than what we are. For now, can that be enough?”

I squeezed his hands in mine, running my thumb over his rough skin, brushing over a scab that’d formed on the back of his hand, likely a work injury. Still looking down I nodded at him.

I could feel him smiling, his shoulders loosening with relief. He brought my hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss to each of my knuckles.

Chapter nineteen

“I can quit whenever I want.”-Max to Eloise

Ifoundmyselfsittingon the side of the road, steam pouring from the hood of my car, and a loud sizzling noise each time I turned over the engine. Still in my scrubs after working a night shift, I had to admit this was beyond the scope of my skills.

I gave it ten minutes of sitting in my car, watching the steam dissipate before I tried to turn it on again, only to have the same sputtering and sizzling. I knew then I had to call Xander.

After our revelations at his dad’s house, we hadn’t talked about what was going on between us. We hadn’t kissed again. I wasn’t intentionally avoiding him, but I wasn’t seeking him out. I had successfully spent a week finding excuses to keep myself busy. I knew I was procrastinating because despite saying I’d give him a chance to show me we could be more, I still wasn’t sure I was ready.

I got lucky. He was only a few miles away, at the local shopping center. He pulled in behind me in his work truck, all his tools crammed in the back. Through the windshield I saw another guy sitting in the front seat next to him. Xander climbed out, pulling a bright yellow beanie out of his coat pocket, and shoving it on his head. The other guy followed suit, stepping down from the truck to look at me. I stepped out of the car, standing between the door and the car.

“So, you finally blew it up?” Xander teased as he sauntered toward me.

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at him. “This car has never done this before. It’s always been reliable.”

Xander put one hand on the top of the car, right next to my shoulder. I looked up at him. His cheeks were flushed pink from the chill in the morning air. He hadn’t bothered shaving. His scruff had grown in golden thick. “You want me to take a look, or did you already call AAA?”

AAA, shit. Why didn’t I think of that?My parents had been paying for my membership since I was eighteen.

“You can look, though I doubt you’ll be able to do much. I was driving down the road when steam started pouring out of the hood. I had to pull over it was so thick. I shut the car off but when I tried to turn it back on the steam started even worse and—“

He stepped closer to me, placing a hand on my hip. It rested there for a moment, his touch burning. I gulped loudly. My breath hitched. He squeezed my hip briefly before nudging me out of the way so he could lean over to pop the hood open. I stepped out of his way, watching him as he opened the hood and looked around. Xander never was the car expert in our friend circle. That was Max’s domain. Xander was handy enough to fix little things, but I doubted he could do much for my little coupe.

He poked around a bit, checking various places with a flashlight. The other guy came up to stand next to me.

“Car trouble?” he asked.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at his question, nodding instead as I watched Xander pull the dipstick to check the oil. I tried to remember the last time I’d checked the oil and came up short. I hoped I didn’t accidentally blow the engine.

“That sucks, good thing we were around the corner, huh?” the guy said.

I glanced at him, chewing my lips. “Yeah, I guess?”

He stuck his hand out to me. “I’m Cory, the new hire.”

I took his hand, shaking it quickly before turning to face Xander. “I’m—“

“Ana, yeah. Mr. Eberhardt told me. Ana the roommate.”

I glanced at Cory, wondering what exactly Xander had told him. “Right.” I didn’t like the sound of being calledthe roommate. But what else should I be called? It had been weeks since we’d talked about what was between us. Neither he nor I made a move forward.

“That sucks about your car. Were you heading to work?”

“Leaving actually.”

“Yeah, Mr. Eberhardt said you’re a nurse, that’s cool. I like nurses. Kind of hot, you know?”

I looked over at him, my eyes wide. Did he really say that? “Good to know.” If Scarlett was here, she would’ve thought of something scathing to say. But with everything that’d happened today, I didn’t have the energy to come up with a witty quip. I looked back at Xander as he put the tension rod down, letting my hood drop.

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