yourself.”
“Actually, I made my strawberry shortcake yesterday.” She gave him a long look, before a small smile bloomed on her lips. “I suppose I can help you out.”
“Great.” They made arrangements for Shayna to come over the next afternoon, and Max wrote the directions to his house on the back of the bake sale flyer. “I appreciate you helping me out like this.”
Her lips curved sweetly. “You were a good friend to me tonight. Helping you with this cake is the least I can do.” Her sweet smile turned wicked as she reached for the door handle. “Even if tonight’s disaster was partially your fault.”
Max turned to look at her, worried she was still upset. She looked over her shoulder, and he saw her eyes dancing with humor.
“Night, Max.”
“Night, Shayna.” As he watched her walk to her door, Max smiled, satisfied that the evening was ending on a positive note.
Just as Shayna’s foot hit her front step, she went down.
Max was out of the truck and halfway up the walk before she got to her feet. “Shayna! Are you all right?”
“Yes, yes,” she said, clutching one of her new shoes to her chest. She brushed away his helpful hands. “I’m fine, really. Thank you.” She waved him off as she scrambled on one foot to the door.
After dropping her keys a few times, she finally managed to hobble into the house. Just before the door closed behind her, he heard her swear.
“Damn! That’s the second pair of shoes I’ve ruined tonight.”
Chuckling, Max walked back to his truck. He never would have guessed Shayna was such a klutz.
The earsplitting shrill of her telephone jolted Shayna into consciousness. She reached across her clock radio for the phone, but her fingers only grazed the receiver as she struggled to make sense of the numbers on the digital display—1:38. In the afternoon! She nearly fell out of bed.
As she pulled herself into an upright position, the phone continued to shriek. She grabbed the receiver. “Hello!”
“Shayna? It’s Max. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, of course.” Never mind that the day was half over and she hadn’t gone to aerobics, started her laundry or reviewed the week’s client files.
“Good. Then we’re still on for this afternoon?”
This afternoon? The cake! “Yes, yes definitely.”
“Didn’t we say one o’clock?”
Her clock now read forty minutes past the hour. “Really? I thought we said two o’clock.” Her pride wouldn’t allow her to admit that, for the first time in ten years, she’d missed an appointment.
“Oh, okay. I should have known. You know how I am about these things. So I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”
“I was just on my way out the door.”
“Good. See you soon.”
Twenty minutes! Shayna stared at her closet in panic. Since she hadn’t done her laundry that morning, most of her jeans and casual clothes were still in the hamper. She studied the array of skirts and suits. It was either a suit or…
Her eyes strayed to the workout clothes she’d laid out for the aerobics class she’d missed. She didn’t have time to be fashion conscious, and if she showed up in a dress, Max might think she was trying to impress him.
Running for the shower, Shayna washed and dressed in record time. She pulled her hair into a ponytail as she raced down the stairs. After grabbing a dessert cookbook from the pantry, she lifted her keys from the hook.
Shayna smiled down at her watch—1:59. Not bad. She’d be a little late, but Max only lived a few minutes away. Once outside, she scanned the lot for her white Toyota.
That was strange. She usually parked it…
Shayna slammed her palm into her forehead. Her car was still at the service station.
Max looked up from the video game he was working on to check the time. Two-thirty. His brows rose. He’d expected to hear her car pull up right on the dot. But then again, Shayna hadn’t been her usual self lately.
Then he heard tires screeching in front of the house. He walked over to the window in time to see a very rumpled Shayna stumble out of a Toyota Camry. By the time he’d climbed the basement stairs and pulled open the front door, she was raising her hand to knock.
She hurried inside then spun on her heel to face him. “I’m so sorry I’m late. I forgot my car was at the service station, and my neighbor Kitty had to—”
He held up his hand to stop her. “It’s okay. By my standards, this is right…on time.” He couldn’t keep his eyes from straying to her hair. Looking away, he tried to repress the grin he felt coming to his lips, but it was already too late.
Following his gaze, Shayna reached up to pat her head. Her ponytail slumped to one side like a fallen tree, and spiky strands were sprouting out all around it. “Oh my goodness. Where’s your bathroom?”
He pointed to the top of the stairs, chuckling as she took them two at a time.
As he waited for her to return, Max realized this was yet another side of Shayna he hadn’t seen before. Rumpled and mussed, dressed in a faded red sweatshirt, stretch pants and running shoes, she looked comfortable and…cute.
Max grinned. Like she’d just rolled out of bed.
Maybe he’d misjudged Shayna and her rigidity. Sure she was always talking about organization at the meetings, but maybe she was more relaxed in her personal life. Perhaps they had more in common than he’d thought.
She came downstairs, looking more like the Shayna he was used to. She’d straightened her ponytail and secured it with one of those bunchies, crunchies or whatever women wore in their hair these days.
He smiled at her. “You didn’t have to fix it on my account.”
She gave him a sheepish grin that made him want to hug her. “You seem to be catching all my bad hair days.”
He reached out to tug on her ponytail. “You always look great to me.” As he pulled his hand back, his fingers grazed her neck, and her eyes widened before she dropped her gaze to the floor.
So she felt it, too. Good, Max thought. Now all he had to do was get her to admit it.
Shayna stepped away, nodding as she glanced around. “You have a nice house.” Her tone sounded almost surprised.
“Thanks,” he said, feeling an uneasy twinge as he realized she probably was.
He knew she didn’t have much regard for the fact that he made a living playing video games. She’d probably expected to find him
