CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
MILO
The first thought that came to me as I tried to remove my sandpaper tongue from the roof of my mouth?
Tequila may have been a bad idea.
The second thought?
Colton. Naked. A naked Colton standing before me in all his godlike glory and me staring. Like a psychopath. I mean, I should have said something, right? Like “Oh, you’re hot,” or “Wow, work out much?” Instead I’m pretty sure I said something inappropriate and then yelled at him in the car.
I believe puking was also involved in my night of fun, as well as a heavy dose of shame.
“Ugh . . .” I moved to a sitting position.
“Feeling better?” Max held out a cup of coffee.
“Don’t shout!”
“Trust me, you did plenty of shouting in bed last night.” He winked.
Holy crap.
I set the coffee down on the nightstand and looked under the covers to make sure my clothes were still on.
Was I that girl?
The drunk hussy who slept with her best friend?
“Was it good for you?” Max leaned toward me.
“Yes?”
“Wow, I expected you to be more enthusiastic.”
“It was awesome.”
Max rolled his eyes. “You didn’t even taste it.”
“P-pardon?”
“You have to put it in your mouth to actually experience the flavor.”
I felt my cheeks turn about seven shades of red before Max grabbed the discarded coffee.
“Now, taste.”
“The coffee?”
He frowned, then offered a sly smile. “Of course the coffee, why? What did you think I was talking about?”
The smolder in my cheeks was going to light my face on fire.
“Aw, sweetie.” Max laughed and pulled me in for a hug. I winced as my pounding head made contact with his chest. “Believe me, if we would have slept together, you would remember, even drunk, you would remember.”
“Someone’s cocky.”
“Confident.” He released me. “So are we upset or are we okay?”
“We?”
“Partners.” He winked. “For life. You and me, we’re a we.” He lifted the coffee to his lips. “Hey, that rhymed. How badass am I, after getting drunk last night?” He nodded his head. “Sharp as a tack.”
The coffee slid out of the cup and onto his hand.
Lots of cursing followed.
Then flailing.
“Yeah.” I took the coffee away. “Sharp as something.”
“So.” Max reached behind him and pulled out my diary. “Curious minds want to know, when you drew that picture of the house you and Colton were going to live in once you got married in front of the queen of England, did you purposefully draw the dog without a tail or were you just confused?”
“Give me that!” I lunged for the pink diary. “How the hell did you find it?”
Max held it above his head and took a sip of coffee. “People always hide interesting stuff under their mattresses, though I had you pinned for more of a signed ’N Sync poster, considering all the stupid hearts around JC Chasez’s face on the torn-up poster in your closet.” The freak had gone in my closet too? “This is just as good. Though I have to admit, I’m a bit disappointed that you chose Prince Harry to walk you down the aisle. Do I mean nothing to you?”
“I had a thing for royalty!” I shouted, my headache making a fierce pounding in my temples.
“Mmm.” Max set his coffee down but kept the diary above his head. “One last question.”
“If I answer, will you give it back so I can burn it?”
“I’ll give it back.” He held up his hand. “But burning this would be a crime. It’s like reality TV only worse, I seriously cried real tears and it wasn’t because the story was sad. Oh, and P.S. It took you five years to spell nightmare right, just thought I’d let you know.”
“What’s the question?” I ignored his teasing and focused on calming myself so I didn’t throw up again.
“Did you mean it?”
Aw crap. “Mean what?”
“In here.” He shook the diary. “Did you mean it about Colton?”
“How am I supposed to even remember—”
“No worries, I folded the page.” He cleared his throat. “ ‘Colton is my favorite, he is like my best friend. He reminds me of my dad only I want to kiss him all the time. Colton is like my superhero. Sometimes when I watch movies I imagine I’m the princess and he’s rescuing me. Today we played dragon slayer. He rescued me and then said I was pretty. I hope he means it. Because one day I’m going to marry him. He’s going to be mine forever, and then we’ll play dragon slayer again and it’s going to be real—because everyone knows you’re playing pretend until you get true love’s kiss. And I’m going to get mine. In my castle.’ ”
I looked down at the blankets, not trusting myself to actually look Max in the face. How could words I’d written years ago make such an impact on the way my heart slammed against my chest?
“Not gonna lie, I’m kinda pissed about the whole ‘best friend’ part, and I may have red-penned that bitch, but the rest of it looks about right.” Max slammed it shut. “So, let’s toss you in the shower, throw a hell of a lot of cover-up under those eyes of yours, save your brother’s ass, then get you a groom!”
“You watch too much TV.”
“I cut my teeth on daytime soap operas growing up.” Max shrugged. “I can’t fight my true nature. Now, let’s do this.”