Page 12 of Hot Shot

“I hate y’all,” Brendan says.

We chit-chat the rest of the lunch about the baby, plans, due dates, etc. Ultimately, I know I have my siblings’ support. They both seemed excited about becoming an aunt and uncle too, which is nice. Honestly, I’m not even sure how I feel about all of it right now, so having their support means everything.

If only I knew how to find Max and tell him.

Not for the first time since that night, I regret not exchanging contact information with him. I’d be a damn liar if I said I didn’t crave him every day. His voice, his touch, the sound of his soft chuckle against my ear. Those soft curls on his head and the hard planes of his body. Yeah, I’ve thought of him every day since that night.

At least now I have a little piece of him that I’ll get to keep forever.

chapter

six

Max

I roll over and grab my phone, picking it up and staring at the screen like I’ve done every morning the last six weeks. I know she can’t contact me. She doesn’t know any more about me than my first name. Still, I crave seeing her name flash across my phone.

I use my fingerprint to open my device and stare at the picture on my home screen. It’s of us after the second time I took her. She’s laying on my chest and we’re both smiling up at the camera.

As ridiculous as it sounds, I feel like I left my heart in that hotel room with her.

There’s a knock on my door. “Maxie-pad! Come eat breakfast. Shelby just got here.”

I roll my eyes at my oldest sister, Luna’s old nickname for me. I came home for the weekend because I’ve been so damn sad. I got tired of my buddies giving me shit about it so I figured some sister time might help.

I got in last night, and so far I’ve only seen Luna and her husband, Mason.

“I’m coming,” I grumble. I climb out of my childhood bed and pull on a t-shirt to go with my athletic shorts.

It’s just me and my sisters now since our parents died when I was young. My sisters are the very best. And I’m so damn happy they both recently found men that almost deserve them. No one would ever be completely good enough for either of them, but Mason and Dane come pretty damn close.

By the time I’ve brushed my teeth and gone downstairs, I find just my sisters at the kitchen table.

“What did y’all do to your husbands?” I ask.

“Dane is waiting on a delivery of new dogs at the sanctuary this morning,” Shelby says.

My brother-in-law, Dane Whitmore, runs a dog sanctuary. They’ve got plenty of acres out there so the pups have plenty of space to run around. Then Dane and some other guys I haven’t yet met work to help find forever homes for the dogs. But at least at the sanctuary they’re saved from being euthanized.

“Mason needed quiet to get some writing done,” Luna says.

“New songs?” I ask.

“Evidently.”

“He’s been writing them nonstop since they first met,” Shelby says.

“Is he going to record them? I thought that tour was just a reunion. Is the boy band back together?” I ask.

Mason was the drummer in Soul Obsession, a boy band from Luna’s teenage years.

“He’s not sure yet. Maybe he’ll record them himself or maybe he’ll sell them. Right now, he’s just happy being here with people who don’t follow him around taking his picture,” Luna says.

“Yeah, I bet that gets old really fast,” I say.

Luna brings me a plate with a hot cinnamon roll on it. “I got these from the new bakery in town Sugar Bakers. These rolls are insane.”

“Thanks,” I say.