Chapter 2

“Man, this is good.” Max groaned as he took a big bite of his pepperoni pizza and chewed happily. “I can’t believe I never knew this place was here.”

Lana smiled as she took a much daintier bite of her slice of cheese pizza. She’d never thought watching a man eat could be sexy, but Max was proving her wrong. Then again, maybe it was the simple fact that everything about Max was sexy, from his handsome face to his mesmerizing blue eyes, to his muscular body and casually tousled, dark hair. The man was sinfully attractive and apparently had no idea. It also didn’t hurt that Max had a gorgeous smile that got her going every time he threw it her way. There was a bad boy hiding behind that disarming grin, she was sure of it. And while she thought he’d looked devastating in his dress uniform, he looked even better in jeans, work boots, a casual button-down shirt, and a leather jacket. In a word, he was smoking!

Max had picked her up right on time and they’d headed straight to Piggie Pies. Within minutes of getting in his Camaro, it felt like they’d been dating for months. Lana couldn’t believe how well they clicked. She’d been attracted to Max the moment she saw him at the awards ceremony, but it wasn’t until they’d started bantering and flirting that she knew she’d struck gold. If she’d known there were cute, athletic, interesting guys like him on the police force, she would have made the three-and-a-half-hour drive from Austin for every awards ceremony. Max and his fellow SWAT teammates alone represented more hunks per square inch than she’d seen in her lifetime. Then again, she’d spent the past five years going to college for science. There weren’t a lot of alpha types in the classes she’d taken.

Still, she had to wonder why her dad had always steered her away from any and all police functions. He had to know she’d be interested in guys who were as fit and charming as Max. But every time she’d come home during semester breaks, he’d made sure she stayed away from his office.

Well, she was going to make up for all that lost time now—with Max.

“I stumbled across Piggie Pies Pizza and Pasta a few years ago, and now I eat here whenever I’m back in town,” she said. “Their crust is so good, I think I could eat it plain. The pasta is awesome, too. And their veggie primavera is to die for.”

Max wiped his mouth with his napkin, then lifted his nose and sniffed the air. It was kind of an odd thing to do but also extremely cute. He’d asked her several times what she thought about certain aromas coming out of the kitchen, none of which she could pick up. He must have one heck of a good sense of smell.

“You’re right,” he said. “It smells delicious. Maybe I’ll try some of their carbonara, too.”

She couldn’t help laughing. For a guy as trim and well built as Max, he certainly ate a lot. While she’d ordered two slices of cheese pizza, he’d gotten an entire large pepperoni for himself and had already polished off three slices. She had no idea where he put it, but she had no doubt he could probably polish off a plate of carbonara with no problem.

“You probably can’t give me your recommendation on the carbonara, though, huh?” he asked. “Not with the whole bacon thing?”

She shook her head. “Nope, no bacon for me. But I’m sure it’s good.”

“You know, when you first made that crack about us both being pescatarian, I thought you were kidding. I hope I didn’t offend you.”

Lana smiled. This guy simply kept getting better and better. She vaguely remembered that part of the conversation they’d had back at DPD headquarters. She also remembered being a little confused, wondering what he’d meant by another of our kind. But then her dad had shown up, and she’d forgotten all about it. She considered asking Max about the comment now but decided against it. She’d probably misunderstood what he’d meant.

“No, I wasn’t offended,” she said. “Most people are caught off guard when I tell them I don’t eat meat.”

“Have you always been a pescatarian?” he asked, reaching for another slice of pepperoni. “Or is it a decision you made recently?”

“I’ve been one pretty much my whole life,” she admitted, taking another nibble of her cheese pizza. “Mom is a pescatarian and I picked it up from her.”

“It doesn’t bother you that I eat meat, does it?”

“No, not at all. It’s not like a religious thing. I simply never developed the taste for meat.”

Max lifted a brow, making Lana wonder what she had said that was so shocking. When she abruptly realized the way her words had sounded, she laughed to keep from blushing. “I was not talking about that kind of meat and you know it! Don’t even go there, or I’m going to smack you.”

He held up his free hand in a gesture of surrender, his mouth twitching. “I wasn’t going to say a word, but thanks for confirming the fact that your mind will head straight for the gutter at the drop of a hat.”

“You are so bad,” she laughed.

He was right. Her mind had immediately gone to the naughtiest place possible when he looked at her like that. It wasn’t her fault—Max was so damn hunky.

Max chuckled and went back to eating his pizza. Just like that, her embarrassment disappeared. She got the feeling they could say anything to each other and it would work.

“You said earlier that you’re staying at your parents’ place while you’re in town,” he said in between bites of pizza. “You don’t live in Dallas then?”

It was a casual question, but Lana sensed a little tension in Max’s voice. She tried not to read too much into it, but dare she hope he already felt the same chemistry she did?

“I’m sort of between living arrangements at the moment,” she said.

He frowned, his slice of pizza halfway to his mouth.

Lana laughed. “It’s not as bad as it sounds, I promise. I just finished my master’s program in organic chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. I’m living with my parents while I’m lining up job interviews.” She thought a moment. “This is going to sound weird, but I felt this crazy urge to come back home, like I had to be here.”

“Well, I’m glad you paid attention to those urges, or we wouldn’t have met,” Max said.

“Must be fate.”

“Must be.” His eyes held hers. “Any of those job interviews in Dallas?”

“Some,” she said. “I also have several set up in New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle. Even a few in France.”

He did a double take. “France—wow. That sounds exciting.”

She shrugged. “I’m just keeping my options open. I haven’t decided where I want to work yet. It could be anywhere.”

“Like Dallas?” he mused.

Max’s heated expression suggested that was the option he’d prefer. Considering the fact that they’d known each other for all of two hours, Lana was shocked at how open she was to the idea of working much closer to her childhood home than she’d ever planned.

“Dallas is certainly in the running,” she murmured, licking some Parmesan cheese off her fingers.

Max’s eyes locked on her tongue, and she would have had to be clueless not to notice the way those beautiful blue eyes of his practically sparkled in the dim light of the restaurant as he watched her. Actually, his eyes lit up like a pair of Christmas tree lights. Damn, that was sexy as hell.

She felt a little tremor of excitement in her belly and had to wonder how a simple gaze from a guy she’d just met could get her going so fast. She’d never experienced this kind of immediate sexual intensity with anyone, but with Max, it was like she’d caught lightning in a bottle.

“So,” he said softly, his voice deeper, rougher.

Apparently, Max was as into this date as she was. The knowledge made her feel warm and gooey all over.

“So,” he said again, his voice a bit more in control this time, “a master’s in organic chemistry. Does that mean you’ll be creating new foods, like mashed-potato-flavored soda and veggies that taste like Doritos?”

Lana laughed. “Unfortunately, while I could do that with an organic chemistry degree, it’s not the particular discipline I’m involved with.”

“No cool nacho cheese–flavored green beans then?”

She shook her head. “Sorry. My background is in pharmaceutical R&D. I’ll be developing new medications and drug-testing protocols.”

He nodded. “That’s pretty cool, too. I mean, if you can’t put mashed potatoes in a bottle, saving lives is a good backup plan.”

“I know. I was bummed, too.” She smiled. “But we can’t all make snack-flavored veggies for a living.”

“Too bad. More kids would eat their vegetables if they tasted like Doritos,” he pointed out. “Hell, the vending machine possibilities alone are staggering.”

As they ate, they discussed the best veggie-chip combinations for a while, with Max suggesting he might even try the vegetarian lifestyle if someone could make broccoli taste like Fritos.

By the time Max had polished off his entire pizza, they’d talked about her classes at the university, the long nights studying in her apartment, the stress of wanting to get good grades for both herself and her parents. He listened to all of it, asking serious questions and showing more interest in her college experience than any guy she’d ever talked to, and that included some guys she’d dated at the university. She’d be the first to admit that organic chemistry wasn’t exactly thrilling to anyone other than another organic chemistry major, but Max seemed to be genuinely interested.

“You could study for three days straight without sleep?” he asked, apparently impressed. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I don’t seem to need as much sleep as other people. After seeing me pull all-nighters for the whole five years we went to school together, my roommate, Denise, is convinced I must be from another planet.”

He frowned. “You lived with the same roommate the entire time you were in school? You two must be really good friends.”

She nodded as she sipped her iced tea. “We are. Normally, roomies start to get on each other’s nerves at some point, but Denise is an organic chemistry major who came in the same semester I did. We hit it off right away, so when we were lucky enough to get into off-campus housing together, we jumped at the chance. I don’t think either of us would have done as well in school if we hadn’t had each other to lean on.”

Lana set down her glass, then looked longingly at her empty plate. She should have ordered three slices instead of two. She was still hungry. Max must have seen the way she was gazing unhappily at her plate, because he laughed and asked if she wanted dessert.

“I smelled some killer cheesecake when we walked in.”

She laughed, marveling at him and his super-sniffer as she considered dessert. “I probably shouldn’t.”

He regarded her thoughtfully. “I hope this doesn’t sound rude, but you don’t strike me as someone who’s prone to putting on weight.”

Lana opened her mouth to tell him that was only because she worked out so much, but then decided simply to be honest. “I’m not. In fact, I weigh the same thing I did in high school, and I hardly ever work out. It drives Denise crazy. I can eat anything I want and never gain a pound. She stands too close to a bowl of ice cream and has to go straight to the gym.”

Max smiled. “It’s probably in your DNA. Fast metabolism, you know?”

She pushed back her plate and rested her forearms on the table, returning his smile. “Any chance that you have a fast metabolism like that, too?”

He nodded, his grin broadening. “As a matter of fact, I do. So, how about that cheesecake?”

“Definitely,” she said with a laugh as he caught their server’s eye.

After the cheesecake showed up, Lana decided they’d done enough talking about her. It was time to find out a little about this amazing guy across the table from her.

“Now that you know everything there is to know about me,” she said, licking cheesecake off her fork with a little show of tongue simply because she liked Max watching her do it, “let’s talk about you.”

His smile wilted a little, much to her disappointment. “My life isn’t nearly as interesting as yours. Definitely nothing worth talking about.”

“That’s silly,” she scolded. “I bet you have a lot of fascinating stuff to talk about. I mean, for starters, did you grow up in a cop family here in Dallas?”

Max didn’t say anything, and for a moment, she wasn’t sure he’d heard her. Instead, he focused on his slice of cheesecake, like he was more interested in that than he was in her. Finally, he looked up and gave her another smile—only this time, it lacked humor.

“No, I didn’t grow up in Texas. I was born in Las Vegas and lived there until I was eighteen,” he said quietly. “My family was…well, let’s just say it was about as far as you can get from a cop family. To put things in proper perspective, if one or two events in my life had gone slightly different, you’d be sitting at the table with a guy who works at a Gas-and-Go.”

With his looks, confidence, and knee-weakening charm, Lana had a hard time believing Max could ever be anything but amazing. “But growing up in Vegas must have been cool, with all the lights and excitement?”

Max shook his head, though, turning his attention back to his cheesecake, taking a small bite. “I didn’t grow up on that side of Vegas.” He lifted his head to look at her again. “I lived in what you might call the projects—the low-rent housing section of North Vegas.”

“Rough neighborhood?” she prompted, trying to imagine Max in a place like that. The image just wouldn’t stick. He looked like he could take care of himself in a fight, but the idea of him dealing with that kind of life as a kid bothered her.

“Sometimes it could be,” he admitted. “A lot of my friends ended up in jail or dead. I always considered myself lucky to have gotten out.”

“What about the rest of your family?” she asked, curious despite herself. “Did they get out, too?”

“Not so much,” he murmured.

Lana saw the flash of pain that crossed his face, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, and was immediately sorry she’d asked the question. She waited, expecting Max to say more. When he didn’t, she was smart enough to know it was time to back off that particular subject. There was something bad lurking in his past, something he didn’t want to talk about.

“I’m sorry,” she said, reaching across the table to rest her hand on his heavily muscled forearm. “I didn’t mean to dredge up bad memories.”

He looked at her, a slow smile spreading across his face. Setting down his fork, he placed his hand on top of hers. “You don’t have to be sorry. I had a tough life growing up, and I did a few stupid things. But while the events in my past will always be with me, they don’t necessarily define me. In a lot of ways, although some of it really sucked, that life also made me stronger.”

Lana gazed at him, lost for a moment in those vivid-blue eyes, wondering if maybe the past Max was referring to was the reason her father seemed so resistant to the idea of her hanging out with him. She tried to imagine what he could have done but stopped herself. If Max had done something that terrible, he would never have been allowed to become a cop, especially one on the SWAT team. She knew enough about her dad’s job to know that SWAT only took the very best.

They sat there quietly for a while, eating cheesecake and enjoying each other’s company. Just another indication there was something special going on between them. In her experience, dead air in the middle of a first date was a sure a sign that she wasn’t compatible with a guy. But with Max, she felt completely comfortable with it.

When her dessert plate was clean—short of licking it, of course—she found herself curious about one thing and hoped it was something Max wouldn’t mind talking about.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you get from that bad place in North Vegas, with the tough life you had and the stupid things you did, and into the Dallas PD SWAT Team? That’s got to be a complicated story.”

His mouth quirked mischievously. “Yeah, complicated would be a good word for it. I’m just not sure I should tell you about it.”

“Why not?” she asked, surprised.

“Because, like I said, I did some stupid stuff. Stuff I’m not so proud of. I don’t mind telling you, but I’d hate to give you a bad opinion of me.”

“Is my opinion of you that important already?” she asked coyly.

He smiled again. “Actually, it is. As crazy as that may be.”

She didn’t think it was crazy at all. Probably because the connection between them was growing stronger by the second. She couldn’t imagine anything he told her would affect what they had.

“I hereby solemnly promise not to judge,” she said. “Lay it on me.”

He laughed and reached into the pocket of his jeans. A moment later, he came out with a poker chip and set it down on the table between them. She picked it up to read the logo. It was a fancy ten-dollar chip from a casino in Reno that she’d never heard of. Then again, she didn’t know much about casinos in general, much less those in Reno. She flipped it over, expecting to see something on the backside that would help her understand what she was looking at, but there was nothing special there, either.

“What’s this?” she asked, bouncing the chip in her hand and feeling the weight of it before handing it back to him. “Did you win it while you were in Reno?”

He took the chip back and gazed at it, a slight smile curving the corners of his lips. “No, I didn’t win it. I paid for it out of my own pocket. I keep it as a reminder of the day my entire life changed.”

Lana waited, knowing more was coming.

“It was a Friday.” Max rubbed his thumb back and forth across the front of the chip as he spoke. “It was four in the morning, and I was sitting at a blackjack table with a stack of chips just like this one in front of me. I was too young to be in there, but I was tall enough and big enough, so no one questioned me.”

She shook her head, having a hard time imagining staying up that late for any reason that didn’t involve studying for an exam—or getting naked with a hot guy. “Four a.m.? Were you there on a gambling binge or something?”

He looked up and smiled. “Actually, I was there to rob the place.”

Max said the words so casually that, at first, they went right over her head. Then, when she realized what he’d just said, she was sure he was kidding.

But he wasn’t laughing.

“Seriously?” she asked, then lowered her voice, terrified someone nearby would hear, even though there weren’t many people in the place at the moment. “You were going to rob a casino?”

He chuckled. “I did say I grew up on the wrong side of town and did some stupid stuff, remember? I’ll be the first to admit that when I left home at eighteen, I was pretty screwed up. I got involved with a group of idiots who’d been doing small-time burglary jobs all across the Southwest—pawnshops, electronics warehouses, mom-and-pop jewelry stores. I was stupid as hell to get mixed up with them, but back then, being with them looked about as good as it was going to get.”

“Did you ever hurt anyone?” Lana asked, afraid to ask but needing to know. “Or carry a gun?”

Max shook his head, looking down at the chip in his hand again. “I carried a gun, but I never had a need to use it. We hit small places without security guards, usually late at night. If a situation had ever occurred where I had to pull that gun, I’m not sure what the hell I would have done. I never wanted to hurt anyone.”

“So what happened?” she asked hesitantly, fervently wanting to believe this story had a happy ending.

“The guys running our little crew got greedy and set their sights on a much bigger payoff. One of them had a cousin who worked in a casino in Reno, and they got it in their heads that we could pull off a smash-and-grab job there early in the morning, just as the security company that serviced the place was taking the evening’s winnings to the bank. They figured we could get away with two hundred thousand, easy.”

Max stopped talking, flipping the poker chip over and around his fingers so fast Lana could hardly follow it. She tried to be patient, but it was all she could do to not lean over and smack the chip out of his hand. She needed him to hurry up and tell her what happened.

“I was the biggest guy in the crew, so it was my job to follow the four-person security team through the casino and take out the two in the back as they were pushing the money cart out the rear exit. Then the other members of the crew would sweep in, deal with the two guards up front, and grab the cart full of cash. It was a horrible plan, but in theory, no one was supposed to get hurt.”

“But?” she prompted, her stomach tightening.

“But as I was sitting there at the blackjack table, this big guy sat down beside me. He looked me straight in the eyes as the security guards started to move and casually told me that if I got out of my chair, he was going to put me in jail for the rest of my life.”

O-kay. Lana wasn’t sure what she thought had been coming next, but it hadn’t been that. “He was a cop? They knew you were there to rob the place?”

“He wasn’t just any cop.” Max’s mouth edged up. “He was Gage Dixon, the commander of the Dallas SWAT Team you met at headquarters tonight. And yeah, he knew I was there to rob the place.”

Lana only had a vague recollection of the men with Max at the awards ceremony because she’d been so focused on him. Her mind spun as she imagined the scene he’d described at the casino.

“How the heck did he know you were about to rob the place? Why was he even in Reno?” She waved her hand. “No, wait. Skip all that for now. Tell me the important part first—what the heck did you do?”

Max chuckled. “Well, I wish I could say I did something brilliant and daring, but in reality, I freaked out. The casino guards were already moving past me, and I knew that if I didn’t do something quick, the whole plan would implode. So I did the only thing I could think to do—I tried to punch him.”

Lana stared, her jaw dropping.

“Remember that part where I said I’d done some stupid stuff?” Max said. “Well, me—at nineteen years old—trying to take a swing at a fully trained SWAT officer is definitely in that category.”

“It didn’t work?”

He shook his head with another laugh. “Understatement there. I won’t bore you with the details, mostly because it’s so damn embarrassing to have to remember them. Suffice it to say, Gage had no problem keeping me in that chair.”

“Did the rest of your crew get arrested?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, there were a dozen cops waiting for the job to go down. The moment it did, they swarmed in and grabbed everyone. It was over in seconds.”

“You were arrested?” she asked, but then realized that couldn’t be right. If he’d been arrested for attempted robbery, how the heck could he be in SWAT right now?

“No, I wasn’t arrested,” Max said. “While everyone else was paying attention to all the excitement on the far side of the casino, Gage yanked me to my feet and we walked right out the front door. We got in his rental car and drove straight for the California state line. Then he pulled over and told me I could get out if I wanted to.”

This story was becoming stranger by the second, and if it wasn’t for the deadly serious expression on Max’s face, Lana would have thought he was making the whole thing up.

“Wait a minute,” she said. “Your future commander went all the way from Dallas to stop you from robbing a casino, then let you go?”

“Not quite.” Max’s mouth quirked again. “He was ready to let me walk, but first he wanted to talk to me. I had nowhere better to go, so I listened. We ended up sitting there in his car talking until the sun came up. For reasons that are too complicated to get into, Gage had tracked me to Reno and figured out what I was doing. He got some of his friends from the local PD involved, and in exchange for the tip on the casino robbery, they agreed to look the other way while he got me out of the state.”

Lana frowned. “Why would he go all the way to Reno to do something like that? Is he family?”

Max thought about that a moment, then smiled. “Yeah, I guess that in some ways, he is family. He knew what I was going through and went out of his way to find me. He helped me understand a lot of the things that were going on in my life at that time. He got me straightened out and kept me from totally destroying my life.”

“And he got you into SWAT?”

Max chuckled. “It wasn’t quite that easy. He brought me to Dallas and got me a place to stay, then helped me get into a community college to get enough schooling to meet the minimum DPD requirements. After that, I had to get through thirty-five weeks of training at the police academy, then another twenty-four weeks of field training. Only after all that was he able to get me on the team, and even that was tough. The department wasn’t thrilled at the idea of putting a rookie on the SWAT team. He had to really work to make it happen.”

Lana traced her fingers up and down his forearm. “He must have seen something very special in you to go through all that effort.”

Max shrugged. “I guess. Sometimes I have to admit I don’t know what he saw in me back in the beginning. I was a soup sandwich.”

She laughed. She’d never heard that expression before, but she liked it. “Oh, I don’t know. I think I can see some of the special qualities he might have seen.”

Max raised a brow. “I’m pretty sure the two of you see completely different things when you look at me.”

“I guess that’s possible,” she agreed.

As she continued to run her fingers along his arm, the light caught Max’s eyes again, making them glimmer. Lana was about to remark on it when their server suddenly appeared at their table.

“Sorry to interrupt,” the woman said softly as she put the folio with the bill on the table between them. “But we’re going to be closing soon. Is there anything else I can get for you before you leave?”

Lana glanced at her watch, blinking in surprise when she saw it was almost one o’clock in the morning. She looked around and realized they were the only ones still in the place. Piggie Pies was supposed to close at midnight. No wonder the server was itching to push them out the door. The poor woman was ready to go home.

“No, we’re good,” Max said, slipping a few twenties into the folio. “Thanks for everything.”

The woman gave them a smile and told them to have a good night.

Max looked at Lana, his eyes still full of heat. “So, where to?”

* * *

Lana caught Max giving her a curious look as they slowly walked hand in hand up to the front door of her parents’ two-story house. She would have asked him what was so interesting, but the truth was, she was enjoying herself too much to bother.

It had been difficult to head home after leaving the restaurant. When Max had asked where they should go next, her first thought had been his place. But she’d controlled her urges. Max had to work tomorrow and she definitely didn’t want him being tired the next day, not with the kind of job he had.

“I’m glad we had a chance to go out,” Max said when they reached the porch. “I had an amazing night, and I’m not just talking about the pizza, though that was pretty outstanding, too.”

Lana turned to face him, moving a little closer for warmth against the chilly November air. Not that she was cold. In fact, she rarely ever got cold. But she didn’t mind sharing some of his body heat since he seemed to have so much of it. The cold didn’t seem to bother him, either. He had his jacket hanging open.

“I had a good time, too.” She smiled up at him. “Maybe we can do it again sometime?”

Lana tried her best to not appear too overeager. She didn’t want Max to think she was desperate. Although she was eager to see him again, she couldn’t let him know that. A woman had to play it cool.

“How about tomorrow night?” he asked, his grin suggesting he knew exactly what she was up to. “If you’re not doing anything else?”

Lana didn’t even bother playing silly games anymore. Laughing, she went up on tiptoe and hooked her arms around his neck. “I’m completely free tomorrow night. What do you have in mind?”

Max wrapped his arms around her, tugging her even closer than she already was and snuggling her up against his chest nice and tight. Wow. She already knew that Max was well built, but leaning up against him like this confirmed that she’d underestimated just how fit he was. He had some serious Adonis-like muscles going on under that shirt.

Max slipped his hands under her jacket and settled them comfortably on her lower back. The move was so natural and nonchalant, she might not have noticed it if it wasn’t for the crazy tingles of arousal that wiggled through her body simply at his touch.

“We could go to a club and do some dancing,” he suggested, so close now that she could feel his warm breath on her face. “Or we could have dinner at one of those dine-in movie theaters.”

She was so distracted by knowing Max was about to kiss her that it took a supreme effort of will to even think about what he’d just said. The idea of the dine-in movie sounded cool. She’d seen theaters like that before but had never gone to one. As fun as that would almost certainly be, the thought of getting Max out on a dance floor sounded even better. She’d have a chance to let her hands roam all over his amazing body and not even have to feel guilty about it.

“I’d love to go dancing. I didn’t get a chance to do much of it in school. I need to catch up,” she said, tipping her head back a little more and sending the clearest signal possible that she was ready and waiting for a kiss.

He flashed her that mischievous smile, his lips grazing the curve of her jaw in the most delightful way. “Dancing it is. I’ll pick you up tomorrow around seven and we can get something to eat first.”

“Sounds good,” she murmured.

She turned her head to the side in an attempt to capture his mouth. He let his warm lips briefly touch hers before gliding away to tease one of her earlobes. She groaned in frustration, which only earned her a chuckle from Max.

Deciding she’d had enough teasing, she slipped one hand up to weave her fingers into Max’s short, spiky hair and got a good grip. Then she turned his face to hers and gave him a pointed look. He got the idea. Yanking her tightly to him, he covered her mouth with his. She opened hers, letting his tongue in with a groan of pleasure this time. Mmm, he tasted good.

She tightened her hand in Max’s hair, urging him on, wanting more. He slid his hands down her back, resting them on the top of her jean-clad ass, sparking lightning through her body.

Lana didn’t know what came over her. Since this was a first date, she’d intended to give him a good-night kiss to thank him for a wonderful evening, but she could barely breathe she was getting so excited. As if it had a mind of its own, her free hand ran up and down Max’s strong chest, her fingernails digging into the material of his shirt to trace every bulge and ripple of the heavy muscles underneath. Her body immediately responded, heating up faster than it ever had in her life.

Then she felt his hard-on pressing into her quivering stomach and knew he was as turned on as she was. That knowledge fired her imagination, and ideas of slipping up to her old bedroom without her parents knowing, or even back out to Max’s Camaro, flooded her mind with scenes that she’d never had about any guy she’d ever dated—first date or beyond.

She was close to stripping his clothes off right there on the front porch when the door suddenly jerked open. Startled, she jerked her mouth away from Max’s.

“Lana,” her father said in that flat, emotionless tone he used when he was angry. “I didn’t realize you were going out this evening.”

She looked up at Max to find his face turned toward the street, his eyes closed and his mouth set in a tense line. Though whether he was doing it to keep from cursing at her dad or laughing at him, she had no idea.

She carefully and slowly disengaged herself from Max’s embrace, feeling colder the moment she was out of his arms. Turning, she frowned at her father. “Seriously, Dad? Were you standing there watching me through the window?”

Her father didn’t answer. Instead, he opened the door wider and gestured her in. “You should come in. It’s cold out.”

Lana immediately felt Max start to move away.

Oh, hell no!

She caught his hand and walked into the house, tugging Max in after her. Her father scowled, but Lana ignored him. What did he expect, that she’d leave her date out on the doorstep so he could slam the door in the guy’s face?

Lana’s mother was standing in the middle of the living room, wearing slippers and a cozy-looking robe over her pajamas. But rather than glowering like her father, her mother was smiling warmly at them. Her mom had always been a rebel of sorts and clearly approved of Lana figuratively tweaking her father’s nose.

“Mom, this is Max Lowry, one of Dad’s SWAT officers. We met at the awards ceremony, and he was nice enough to take me out to dinner,” Lana said. “Max, my mother, Nora.”

Her mother offered Max her hand. “Very nice to meet you, Max. Where did you two kids go for dinner?”

“Piggie Pies Pizza and Pasta,” he told her, and Lana saw her mother practically melt at the charming smile Max threw her way. “Lana recommended the place, and I’ve discovered she has excellent taste in restaurants.”

Her mother nodded, her smile broadening as she glanced over at Lana. “Yes…I’d have to agree with you on that. She definitely has excellent taste.”

“Piggie Pies closes at midnight,” her father said. He was still standing over by the open door as if he expected Max to leave now that he’d met her mother. “Where have you been since then?”

It was Lana’s turn to scowl this time. “They were nice enough to stay open a little late for us because we were having such a good time.”

“I see.” Her dad’s mouth tightened. “Well, it’s getting late. Officer Lowry should be going since he has to be up early for work tomorrow.”

Lana might have thrown her purse at her father if her mother hadn’t come to the rescue. “Oh, don’t be silly, Hal. Max has time for a cup of coffee at least. And it’s decaf, so it won’t keep him up the rest of the night. Now, close the door and come into the living room. You’re letting all the heat out.”

Her father hesitated for a moment, but at another stern look from her mother, he finally closed the door and came into the living room.

Lana’s mother looked at her. “Would you help me in the kitchen, dear?”

Lana hesitated, not sure she should leave her dad alone with Max, but her mother took her hand. She gave Max a helpless look as her mom pulled her toward the kitchen. Max grinned, his eyes twinkling with amusement until her father moved to his side and glared at him again.

“Max is adorable,” Lana’s mom said the moment they were in the big eat-in kitchen. While still slightly open to the living room, the upper cabinets made it private enough to talk without Max or her dad hearing. “Is he nice?”

Lana smiled. “Yes, Mom. He’s very nice. And before you ask, yes, we had a very good time and hit it off really well.”

Her mother filled the coffeepot with water from the sink and quickly got the machine going. Then she turned and leaned back against the counter, her blue eyes bright with interest. “You two definitely make a cute couple. Are you going out with him again soon?”

Lana almost laughed. Her mother would be thrilled if she got into a serious relationship with Max simply so she wouldn’t be tempted to take a job far away. She’d even gone so far as to encourage Lana to drop her résumé off at companies in Dallas—and by encouraged, Lana meant her mother had sent the résumés in for her.

“We’re going out to dinner, then dancing tomorrow night.” Lana sighed. “Dad will love that.”

Her mother waved a dismissive hand. “Forget your father. He’s just being obtuse because he doesn’t want you getting involved with a cop. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. If a cop was good enough for me, a cop is good enough for our daughter. Especially when he’s as nice as Max.”

That made complete sense to Lana. Even so, she felt the need to point out the obvious. “Mom, we’ve only been on one date. Maybe you should wait a little while before you start shopping for china patterns.”

Her mother rolled her eyes. “Please. Unlike your father, I refused to spy on you and Max once you reached the porch. But I saw you two walking up to the house together hand in hand. It’s obvious to me there’s some serious chemistry between you two. A mother knows these things.”

Lana didn’t bother to deny it since it was true. “We’ll see, Mom. Is the coffee ready yet?”

“Just about. Grab some sweetener and cream, would you?”

Lana did as asked, even though she was pretty sure Max probably took his coffee black.

Her mother filled the mugs, then put them on a tray along with the sugar and cream. “Come on. Let’s see what the boys are talking about.”

It turned out that Max and her father weren’t talking about anything. Instead, Max was sitting on the couch while her father sat in one of the matching stuffed chairs, glaring at each other. The tension was so thick Lana almost choked on it.

Ignoring her father, Lana took a seat beside Max and handed him one of the mugs. As she suspected, he drank it black. As Max and her mother talked about how long he’d lived in Dallas and when he’d joined the SWAT team, her father sat there, staring holes into Max the entire time, not saying a word and generally being a jerk. Her mother definitely noticed and stared daggers right back at him.

Even though Lana hated to see him go, she didn’t blame Max for chugging his steaming-hot coffee quickly, then getting to his feet.

“I really do have to get up early tomorrow,” he said. “I should be going.”

Lana felt like smacking her father, but she wasn’t going to make a fuss in front of Max. So, she stood and followed him over to the door. Her father made a move as if to follow, but at the fierce look her mother gave him, he sat down again.

“I really did have an amazing time tonight,” Max said when they got to the door. “Better than I could have imagined.”

Lana rose up on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss. Even that little peck made her heart beat faster than normal. Wow, this guy really did it for her.

“Ditto,” she told him with a smile. “Can’t wait until tomorrow night.”

She trailed her hand along his big shoulder and down his arm as he turned to go, wishing she could give him a real kiss before he left but not wanting to get him into any trouble with her father. She didn’t like to think her dad would be so petty as to mess with Max’s job, but as the deputy chief, he could make it happen.

As she closed the door behind Max, her father’s heavy footsteps echoed in the entryway. “I don’t want you seeing him anymore, Lana.”

She spun around and stared at him in disbelief. Behind her father, her mother looked livid.

“What did you say?” Lana asked.

Her father’s expression softened a little. Like he thought that would help the situation. “Honey, don’t take this the wrong way. Max and the other guys on the SWAT team are good cops—the best. But you just finished your program at the university and have your whole life ahead of you. You can do so much better than a cop.”

Anger welled up inside her. She could do better? She was interested in dating Max, not getting a good deal on a new car. The urge to tell her father exactly what he could do with his opinion was difficult to ignore, and she had to fight hard to calm down. That shocked her a little. She couldn’t remember ever being this furious, especially at her father. But the idea of anyone telling her to stay away from Max goaded her like nothing she’d ever felt.

She closed her eyes and breathed through the anger, slowly tamping the emotions back down. When she had herself back under control, she opened her eyes and leveled her gaze at her father.

“Dad, I appreciate your concern. But I’m twenty-three years old and have been living on my own for five years. If I choose to see Max again, then I will. And I won’t ask for your permission or opinion.”

Her father opened his mouth to say something, but Lana held up her hand, forestalling him.

“It’s late, Dad. We’re done talking about the subject. I’m going to bed.”

Stepping around her father, she kissed her mother on the cheek, then headed for the stairs, refusing to even look in his direction.