Chapter Fifteen
They arrived at Max’s parents’ in silence. They got out in silence. Gina took T-Bone over to the grass for a quick potty break in silence. Finally, they stood at the door. Before he raised his hand to knock, Max glanced at her. “You’re sure you want—”
“I promised I would see this through.”
Only she wouldn’t look at him, and the sick feeling punching his stomach into a bruised mess wouldn’t go away, which only served to up his own irritation levels. How had he let her twist him up this much, disrupting a life he had in perfect order?
“You’re sure?”
Gina inhaled sharply through her nose. She tossed a glare his way. “Stop asking.” Then she plastered a smile on her face. “Better?”
Only the expression didn’t reach her eyes, and his gut clenched up more, resulting in another hike in his bad fucking mood.
Before he could comment, she reached out and rang the doorbell for him. Fine. She wanted to go through with it. Let them just get through the night, and it’d be over. Things could go back to normal.
The door opened, the holiday scents of peppermint and pine needles floating out on a burst of warm air. His mother stood there, her gaze only for Gina and a smile as wide as the Atlantic Ocean, beaming at them.
“You must be Gina,” she enthused. “Come in. Come in.”
She drew them inside, shutting the door behind them, then pulled Gina in for a big, welcoming hug. “You are beautiful!” was her next comment, as she took Gina by the arms and held her out for inspection. “With kind eyes. I approve, Max.”
Gina cast him a wide-eyed look tinged with panic. Max honestly hadn’t expected that kind of reception, either, so he shrugged. Roll with it, he silently communicated back.
“And what an adorable dog!” was his mother’s next comment. She bent down to where T-Bone sat beside Gina like a well-trained gentleman on his leash.
“He’s a gift for my brother tomorrow,” Gina explained. “I hope it’s okay to have him here?”
“Of course.” The comment was waved away. Finally, his mother turned his way, still tickled, if her sparkling grin was any indication.
“Merry Christmas,” Max murmured as he kissed her cheek.
“I can’t believe you’re late,” she commented.
Max stiffened but tried his best to keep his irritation from showing on his face. Behind his mother’s back, Gina looked to the ceiling, presumably for an escape hatch.
His mother continued, oblivious of their vibes. “I always knew it would take the right woman to loosen you up.”
Now Gina dropped her face in her hands and shook her head. Was that a snigger she was hiding? Max gritted his teeth.
Gina sobered and spoke up before he could snap. “I’m afraid that was my fault, Mrs. Carter.”
His mother turned away to face her, eyebrows raised.
“I had to work today—wrapping Christmas presents—and it went a little long. Max kindly waited for me.”
That had not been how it went. He’d been the late one. The lie rolled off her lovely lips with such ease that Max frowned.
His mother, still not cluing in to the palpable tension, turned and patted Max on the arm. “That’s was nice of you.”
Max forced his lips into what he hoped was a semblance of a smile, and shrugged.
“Come introduce your girlfriend to everyone, Max.”
He hitched a thumb toward the door. “I need to bring all our presents in.” Cooling off in the brisk air wouldn’t go amiss, either.
“That can wait. You should introduce Gina first.”
He tried not to jump as Gina unexpectedly took his arm, batting her big eyes at him. Part of him acknowledged she’d done so for the effect, but her touch only increased his strain yet another notch.
“Everyone’s eager to meet Gina,” his mother tossed over her shoulder as they walked down the hall.
“Fantastic,” he grumbled under his breath as they followed his mother.
One of Gina’s elbows suddenly smacked into his ribs, hard.
Max grunted, then rubbed at the spot. “What was that for?” he whispered.
“For acting like an ass,” she hissed back. “Get it together, Carter. You’re going to blow your own op. She’ll be suspicious if you keep up the bear with a sore paw act.”
“Mom already has the wedding planned in her head. We’re fine.”
Still, she had a point.
They didn’t have time for her to reply as they walked into a family room—more like a great room that reached the full two-stories of the house, sported a floor-to-ceiling window with a view out over a golf course, and an impressive grand fireplace with rustic stonework—filled with people. A whirlwind of introductions later, including lots of hugs, lots of petting and cooing over T-Bone, and lots more teasing about Max being late, and his jaw was starting to ache with the effort of disguising his ire behind a moronic grin.
He was supposed to be happy, dammit.
“How did you two meet?” his dad asked. “Max hasn’t told us much.”
Gina shook her head at him, though the smile made it look as though she was merely affectionately amused. “T-Bone brought us together.”
“Oh?”
She went into the story of how they met, with T-Bone causing chaos and Max covering for her with the Super. With each word, his shoulders rose until they felt like tightly coiled springs about to bust. Was she about to give him up to his family?
“Gina,” he murmured.
She flicked him a glance but kept going. “After he convinced the Super that all the commotion was from his fall, he came back to where I was hiding in his bedroom.”
Here it comes.
Before she could spill the beans and make his family hate him, Max did the only thing he could think of to shut her up. He tugged her arm, pulling her into him, and kissed her.
Only things went haywire the instant their mouths touched. The familiar taste of her, the soft feel of her in his arms, and Max lost his head. He dipped his tongue into her mouth and hardened at her barely audible gasp.
A wolf whistle broke into his momentary bout of insanity, and Max yanked back.
Eyes that had been sparkling at him with challenge only a second ago were now dark and slumberous with desire.
“You were going to tell them,” he blurted, only loud enough for her to hear.
Desire snapped to anger in a heartbeat. “I was not.”
Gina pushed away from him, her cheeks stained a charming pink that his family would take for embarrassment, but he knew was a sign of how pissed she was. She turned to their audience with a rueful grin. “That’s basically a demonstration of what happened next.”
Laughter bubbled through the room, both at the story and his antics.
This was not going the way he’d pictured. She was miserable but doing her best to play it out, which was making him miserable, as he was the ass who put her here. Meanwhile, his family was on a fucking roll.
His older sister sent him a teasing grin. “So, you’ve seen his wall of suits?”
Gina chuckled, and the husky sound went straight to his dick while that reaction combined with the topic turned up the flame under Max’s slow boil.
“I wanted to add a sweater to the mix…” Gina crossed her arms, challenge in those brown eyes. “But I wouldn’t want to change who he is. Not for me at least.”
“So his constant need for order and schedules doesn’t bother you?” his youngest brother asked.
Gina gave him a sweet smile. “How could I get upset with a man who organized all my modeling supplies for me?”
Max crossed his arms, struggling to keep from defending himself. That had been a nice gesture and she was shoving it in his face…in front of his family…all while making it sound like she hadn’t yelled at him about it? Or at least started to yell at him before… Meanwhile, based on his family’s fond smiles and exchanged glances, they were all falling in love with her.
“Dinner, everyone,” his mother called from the kitchen.
Max expelled a breath. Saved by the dinner bell. Under the guise of taking her hand, Max slowed Gina so they trailed the others inside.
“Organizing your stuff was supposed to be thoughtful,” he said through gritted teeth.
Gina snorted. “You did that for you, because you couldn’t stand the mess. My mess.”
…
With a flick of her wrist, Gina broke the happy-families-hand-holding Max had foisted on her, only to argue with her, and hurried into the room ahead of him. Maybe she could sit on the other side of the table from him? Or would that look weird?
Probably.
At least the Carters had turned out to be down-to-earth folks. Their home, while large, was not ostentatious or pretentious. In fact, she’d call the place homey, with its open floor plan, great room, and now a dining room decorated in a similarly rustic way. Casual jeans and shirts were the outfit of the day, Max had been right about that. In his suit, he stuck out as way too formal.
Besides, his mother had really, truly hugged her when they’d been introduced. With each passing second, Gina was hating every damn lie she was spewing to this lovely group of people. Despite fooling his family with his pleasant smile and that kiss earlier—FBI Agent made total sense now—she could still feel his tension and it was driving her up the wall. This entire thing had been his idea, not hers.
Dinner was served buffet-style from the sideboard. Trying her best to appear happy and relaxed—the total opposite direction from the dance of the nerve fairies being performed in her tummy—Gina tried to fill her plate in a way that meant she could appear as though she’d eaten more than she planned to.
No way was food going to agree with her, despite not stopping for lunch, which should’ve meant she’d be starved.
Max politely held out her chair for her, then took the seat to her right, situating her at the end of the table beside his mother.
“Max, how long have you and Gina been dating?”
Awesome, the grilling about their relationship would be continuing.
She was mid-chew of a piece of ham, which turned to pork rinds in her mouth at the question.
Max answered. “Only a few months.”
Nice and vague.
“What do you do, Gina? You mentioned modeling supplies. Are you a model?” his mother asked.
“I’m trying to start a career as a set designer.” She gave a rueful smile. “What that really means is I do odd jobs most of the time. For the holidays, I’ve been a gift-wrapper and one of Santa’s helpers, non-stop.”
One of Max’s nieces gasped. “You’re a real, live elf?” The girl couldn’t be more than five, With her dark hair and Carter-blue eyes, she was the spitting image of how Gina pictured a little girl Max might have one day.
Consequently, even angry with him as she was, Gina already had a bit of a soft spot for the kiddo. She winked. “I’m not from the North Pole, but Santa lets me help out each Christmas, so that his northern elves can stay busy making all the toys.”
Rounded blue eyes stared back at her with something akin to worship. “Wow. You must be special.”
“And another one bites the dust,” Max muttered into his napkin. No one else would’ve caught it but her.
Gina kicked him under the table, garnering a great deal of satisfaction from his muffled grunt.
“You know,” she said, still addressing his niece. “I’m pretty sure I saw your name on Santa’s list. But I can’t quite remember if your name was on the naughty list or the nice list…” She tapped her lips with her finger and played like she was thinking hard. She pretended to suddenly remember. “The nice list! Definitely the nice list.”
The little girl giggled, her parents smiled, and everyone chucked. And Max’s jaw popped as he ground his teeth.
Smiling, she turned as though she were whispering sweet nothings in his ear. Instead, she hissed. “Quit it with the snide comments, honey.”
“They’re going to hate me when this is over if you don’t tone it down,” he muttered through a clenched smile.
“I’m doing the best I can.” She fluttered her eyelashes and added a kiss on his cheek for their audience. “Now, smile like you mean it.”
“I can do better than that.” Suddenly he did smile, and reached out to run a finger down her cheek, intense gaze just for her.
She was almost fooled, except it didn’t reach his eyes. She swallowed against a swell of longing that the gesture be genuine. Before she did something dumb, like kiss him or cry, she nodded and turned back to her dinner. What could she push around her plate, pretending to eat?
“It sounds like you and Max are a case of opposites attract,” his mother said beside her.
Gina nodded. “I think that’s what makes us good together. He grounds me. I help him loosen up.”
The heartbreaking part was, she meant those words. Meanwhile, he had made it plain he didn’t agree. Sex was all he wanted from her, all he could give her. Gina glanced at the large clock hanging on the wall and bit back a sigh. Only five. She had four more hours of this torture to endure.
“Max has always needed loosening up,” his mother agreed.
Beside her, Max did a terrific impression of a poker, going stiff in his seat.
His mother continued her commentary. “When he was a little boy, all of his Legos had to be sorted by size and color. Heaven forbid a red block end up in the yellow bin.”
One of his brothers laughed at the other end of the table. “Or remember his math homework? If he messed one thing up, instead of erase it, he had to start all over with a clean sheet of paper.”
Max twitched beside her. “Eventually, I never messed up.”
Despite her anger, her heart went out to him. “Which is why you’re the best at what you do now.” Gina reached over and squeezed his hand.
Not for show, but because she wanted to show him she had his back. If he would’ve let her, Gina would have hugged the guy. She could just picture how irritated he’d be with himself for getting those math problems wrong in the first place. That was a lot of pressure for a kiddo to deal with putting on himself.
His mother smiled fondly. “We tried to take away the extra paper so he’d have to erase it, but he’d wait and borrow paper on the bus to copy it neatly over.”
Yikes. Max had needed to do it his way since birth, it sounded like. Gina was no doctor but was sure that had to fall under some sort of OCD-type disorder, just reaffirming what she’d already guessed. She knew his family teased him about it, but had they ever had him tested? Based on what little she was privy to, she’d guess not.
“I worry that he works too hard now,” his mother murmured.
Max rolled his eyes. “Mom. I’m fine.”
“You think you are, but you’re not.” She turned to Gina. “That’s why we’ve always wanted him to settle down, have someone around to take care of him, make him happy.”
Okay, Gina was beginning to see why Max had lied to his family. They were warm and loving, and completely dense when it came to their second child. Max didn’t need fixing or grilling or teasing or worrying. He wasn’t the type to appreciate that.
Max needed support, and maybe a dash of fun. He needed her…only he didn’t want her.
“You work too hard, Max. All those hours.” His mother told him before turning back Gina. “And he hardly ever makes it home. I’m just so thrilled that he’s found you—”
“Stop.” Max snapped the word so abruptly, even Gina jumped.
The room went dead silent. Slowly, in a controlled manner despite his white-knuckled grip on the table, Max pushed his chair back and rose to his feet.
“There is nothing wrong with how I live my life, and I’d appreciate it if everyone would stop using me as the butt of family jokes. Or trying to change me—”
He broke off and shook his head, then turned to her. “I can’t make you do this anymore,” he said. “It’s not fair to you.”
Before she could stop him, he looked back up at the group gathered around the table. “I’m not dating Gina.”
His words dropped into a pool of cringe-worthy silence.
Gina froze in her seat. She had no idea what to do, who to look at, so she continued to keep her gaze on her plate while her heart tried to leave her body behind and make a break for the door. She swallowed the traitorous organ back down and made it sit through this with her.
His mother frowned, concern crinkling her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I lied to you at Thanksgiving when I told you I had a girlfriend.”
A gasp moved through the group.
Maybe I should leave. Too bad one of her stepdads hadn’t been a magician and used her in his act, otherwise she’d be disappearing in a puff of smoke right about now.
“Why would you do that?” His father’s question was quiet, not angry exactly, more disappointed.
Max didn’t back down, staring him straight in the eye. “Because I am sick and tired of being fixed up, talked about, stared at, and tinkered with. I wanted a break from all the matchmaking. If and when I start a relationship, which may be never, it will be on my time with a woman of my choosing.”
Which meant not her. Gina forced back hot tears that stung the back of her eyes.
“I blackmailed Gina—threatened to turn her into the Super about the dog—into pretending to be my girlfriend to get the rest of you off my back.”
Gina debated crawling under the table and hiding as she became the cynosure of all eyes.
“Now…” Max pulled Gina’s chair out for her and waited for her to stand. “If you’ll excuse us, I’ll be getting Gina back to her own family. She’s more than fulfilled her end of the bargain.”