The Summer Proposal

“Well…I guess sort of on a blind date.”

One of the wives scoffed. “Really? Max went on a blind date? We’re always trying to fix him up, and he refuses to let anyone play matchmaker.”

“Well, Max wasn’t actually who I was supposed to meet. He just pretended to be until my real date showed up and blew his cover.”

Everyone laughed.

“Now that sounds more like our Max,” Cassidy said.

The sound of bodies colliding and men grunting turned everyone’s attention to the grass once again. Two of the brothers were lying on the grass while Max and Tate high fived. They’d been playing all of about ten or fifteen minutes, yet they were all sweaty and their clothes had grass stains. Max lifted the hem of his shirt and wiped sweat from his forehead, and it suddenly felt warm where I sat, too.

Damn. What a body. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen abs like that on a real, live person. For the most part, the men I’d been with had been physically fit. But there was a hell of a big difference between physically fit and that. Each rippled muscle on Max’s torso was so defined, it was like he’d been hand carved. I found myself thinking about what it would be like to scrape my nails over each one and watch his face for a reaction. That made my mouth go dry. Without thinking, I ran my tongue over my bottom lip, and as luck would have it, Max picked that moment to look over at me. A devilish smirk spread across his handsome face, one that made me question whether he might know exactly what I’d been thinking. I tried to pull off casual by smiling and looking away. But something told me I’d failed miserably.

An hour later, we were already getting ready to leave. I went to use the bathroom before our trek home, and when I came out, Max and his mom were alone in the kitchen. They didn’t hear me come in.

“I really like her. Please tell me she knows.”

“Can we talk about this another time, Mom?”

She frowned. “Max…”

He looked up and saw me. “There she is. It was good seeing you, Mom. I’ll call you next week.”

“Okay.” She smiled and turned to me. “You’re a breath of fresh air. I hope I see you again real soon.”

“You, too.”

She hugged me, and then it took another fifteen minutes to say goodbye to everyone else. Poor Max had to practically pry Four from his nieces’ hands. He soothed away the oldest girl’s impending tears by promising her he’d bring the dog when he came to town for his next game.

Once we got back in the Town Car, I took a deep inhale and exhaled audibly.

Max smiled. “That bad.”

“No, no…I had fun. It was just…a little overwhelming with so many people. Since I’m an only child, my family gatherings are usually just my mom and me. She has one sister, who lives out in Arizona, and we see her maybe once every two years. But I had a good time. Though for a minute there, I thought we were going to go out in a ball of flames with your three nieces crying about Four. It works out great that you’re able to bring him to the game with you.”

“I’ll wind up getting fined for sneaking him on the team plane again. But I’d rather that than tears. Thank God I only had brothers, because I can’t take seeing girls cry. Keri, the woman I dated for eighteen months a couple of years back, cried when I told her I wanted to end things. I gave her my car.”

I laughed, but Max didn’t. “Oh my God. You’re joking, right?”

He shook his head and shrugged. “It made her stop crying.”

“Wow. Okay…well, I’ll keep that in mind if I’m having a hard time getting my way with you.”

Max looked at me tenderly. He brushed his knuckles along my cheek. “Trust me, you won’t have a hard time getting anything from me.”

Warmth flooded my belly. I had the strongest urge to rest my head on his shoulder, so I gave in and did. We were mostly quiet the remainder of the way to the airport, but it didn’t feel awkward, which was nice. Once we boarded the waiting jet, Max and I sat across from each other.

His eyes pointed down to my ankle, where I had a big bruise on the inside of my leg.

“How did you get that?”

“I, uh, jumped out of the shower to write something down that I’d thought of while I was washing my hair, and I slipped on my way back in. My leg hit the side of the tub. I have a matching one on my hip.”

Max looked amused. “Do you run out of the shower often?”

I sighed. “I do, actually. I don’t know why, but I think of things I forgot to do at work when I go in the shower. I could sit at my desk for an hour, and nothing. But the minute I’m lathered up, things start popping into my brain. Does that ever happen to you?”