In a heartbeat (Heartbeat #1) Read online

  “Hey,” Max said, as Stella returned outside after bringing the last of the plates into the kitchen. She offered to help Gia wash up, but she shooed her away. “I have to be at work in forty minutes,” he said, and Stella felt her good mood instantly evaporate. Sensing that, he moved closer to her, tilting her chin up with his finger. “You wanna come with me? It’s Sunday night so it’s not going to be too busy, and besides, this time I won’t be alone and I won’t make you work.”

  She didn’t need a second invitation.

  *

  Max didn’t know why he’d invited Stella to come along. It was on a pure impulse. He just wanted to be with her, right until he had to go to bed. If it was up to him, even after that – but it wasn’t. She wasn’t ready for that yet. Sure, if he caught her alone and vulnerable again, and if there was no phone call to interrupt them, she’d spend the night with him. What worried him was that in the morning she’d close off to him. She’d regret what she’d done, because she wasn’t where he was just yet. But she would be. He’d make her see how good they were for each other. He’d make her consciously want to be with him, not just on an impulse.

  *

  The bar wasn’t nearly as full as it had been the other night. There were two guys behind the bar, but when Max came in one of them left. He introduced her to his remaining colleague. His name was Francesco and he was younger than Max, probably Stella’s age. He had this whole rock-star vibe going on – messy dark hair with purple strands sticking out here and there; black-painted finger nails; piercings on his eyebrow and ears. His smile was warm and genuine though, and he was easy to talk to. Max told him that Stella was his guest tonight and they took turns to entertain her.

  Towards the end of the night, when the bar was nearly empty, Max called for last drinks and soon after that everyone left. He let Francesco and the two waitresses go and said he’d finish up and close.

  When they were alone, he switched the music back on, turned the volume down to a normal level and offered her his hand.

  “I’ve wanted to dance with you all night, but didn’t get a chance.” She smiled and put her hand in his.

  Adele’s magical voice filled the bar as she sang ‘Someone like you’. Max hugged Stella close and they swayed to the rhythm. She never wanted that moment to end. It was so perfect – just the two of them, nothing else. She allowed herself to forget about the rest of the world, even if just for the duration of the song.

  Chapter Fourteen

  It was 2 a.m. when Stella finally made it to her bed. Even though she was exhausted, she couldn’t fall asleep straight away. The day’s events flooded her head and seemed to have no intention of ever leaving her to rest.

  She’d danced with Max through half of Adele’s ‘21’ album. They hadn’t talked, he hadn’t flirted. They’d just hugged and moved to the music, completely losing themselves in it. Then she’d helped him to close up the bar and he’d driven her home. In the car he hadn’t made any move towards her – no hand-holding, no attempt to kiss her. Despite that, Stella hadn’t somehow felt that he’d tried to distance himself from her. On the contrary: the vibe he was giving off had been that he’d turned a new page and his innocent flirting was over, with something much more meaningful taking its place.

  Or maybe that’s just my imagination.

  Her phone’s text alert woke her up. It was 7 a.m. She’d slept for four hours at most. Grumbling, she took it from the nightstand and instantly smiled.

  Max: Couldn’t sleep well. Can’t stay in my cold, lonely bed anymore. Fancy a run?

  Her bad morning mood evaporated and she typed:

  Stella: 15 mins. On the beach.

  Max: See ya in 15.

  His reply was instant and, as her smile grew wider, Stella sprang from the bed and headed for the bathroom.

  In five minutes she was ready to go. She’d brushed her teeth, combed and tamed her hair in a ponytail, and put on her shorts and tank top in record time. Deciding against taking her iPod along because she’d have Max to keep her company, Stella opened her door and, as quietly as possible, crept down the stairs. There was no one in the kitchen and she didn’t want to wake Niki and Lisa up, so she didn’t make any coffee. The machine was way too noisy and would alert them to her plans. For some reason, Stella didn’t want Lisa to know she was going to meet Max.

  The conversation they’d had yesterday was a confirmation of how Stella suspected Lisa felt. Even though she was right about everything and Lisa was genuinely concerned about her friends, Stella wasn’t going to follow her advice or her logic. She just couldn’t. Not when Max was right here, opening himself to her, wanting to be with her. She had no intention of shoving him away, because he’d been the best thing to happen in her life for quite a while, and for the first time since she could remember, Stella wanted to be selfish.

  Live for the moment.

  Because life was too damn short.

  The best thing to do was to let go of her reservations and follow his lead.

  It was colder outside than she’d anticipated. Taking a long-sleeved shirt with her, only to take it off when she warmed up, was not something Stella felt like doing. She decided to warm up quickly and ran towards the beach.

  Her foot was like new; she didn’t feel any pain whatsoever. It had been a good idea to give it a rest for a few days. She reached the beach and realised that they hadn’t specified an exact place to meet. ‘The beach’ was a very general term. Stella remembered that both times she’d seen Max running he’d come from her left, so she turned and headed that way.

  Her muscles were warming up from the brisk run to the beach and Stella wanted to stretch for a while to avoid any injury. Reaching the water, she bent down with her legs close together, and touched the sand. Inhale, exhale. Then she slowly stood up, reaching with her arms over her head. Stella repeated the sequence several times, including some side stretches as well. Feeling ready to go, she turned to her left and slowly started jogging.

  She saw Max immediately. He was coming her way, running. He was wearing his usual black shorts, but this time he’d added a sleeveless, grey hoodie, zipped up over his bare chest. The hood was up on his head and, if it was possible, he looked even hotter than usual.

  As they got closer to each other, they both slowed down to a walk.

  “Oh, come on! Seriously?” Max said, as he got right in front of Stella. She looked at him in confusion and he pointed at her outfit. “You’re not making this any easier on me, babe. Shorts and a tank top?”

  Still not getting what he was talking about, Stella looked down at herself and didn’t see anything wrong. Her shorts were quite short, but they were work-out gear. Her tank top was quite fitted, but again, it was what she worked out in.

  “That’s my work-out clothes. Deal with it,” she said, and brushing past him with a smile, jogged off.

  “And now you’re going to run in front of me? Are you trying to seduce me, tesoro?”

  “If you stop moaning and pick up your pace, maybe you’ll be able to run next to me, not behind me,” she said, turning around and running backwards to face Max as she spoke.

  There was a quick flash of pure lust in his eyes, but then his mouth spread into a slow, lazy smile. Accepting the challenge, he ran faster and caught up with Stella easily. He jogged past her, and imitating her backwards running, teased her,

  “Oh, come on, what’s wrong? Can’t keep up?”

  “Your legs are twice as long as mine. There’s no point in racing you. You’re faster.”

  Max cocked an eyebrow, surprised at her easy defeat.

  “I just have to figure out some other way to beat you,” she said, and grinned. “Distraction’s been working pretty good for me lately.”

  “Is that right?” Max was smiling sexily at her, the look in his eyes as close to a panther playing with its food as it got.

  “Mm-hm.”

  Still running backwards in front of her, Max slowly unzipped his hoodie, his eyes never leaving Stella�
�s. She knew what he was doing, but still couldn’t help it; she stared at the zipper as it went down and revealed Max’s chest. Involuntarily, she licked her lower lip as she got a glimpse of the tattoo on his hip.

  “What does it say?” she asked, pointing at the tattoo, trying to clear the fog in her head that Max had just created. His smile had turned into a satisfied smirk, having achieved what he was after.

  “How badly d’you want to find out?” His seducing, predatory look was back, and he slowed his pace, making Stella slow hers down as well unless she wanted to bump into him.

  She reached out and brushed her fingers over the part she could see over his shorts. Max slowed down to a walk as Stella slowly hooked her index finger on the waistband, guiding it down. Max abruptly stopped, making her bump right into his chest, and caught her hand. She looked up at him, the raw desire in his eyes making her belly flutter excitedly.

  “That bad, eh?” His voice was so low, it was almost a whisper. Stella nodded in response, fixing her eyes on his lips. He released her hand and waited. Without looking at the tattoo, but keeping her eyes on his face, Stella caressed the skin right over the waistband of his shorts and saw the muscles of his jaw clench. She slid her other hand on the other side of his waist and noticed Max balling his hands into fists as if to restrain himself from touching her. He then closed his eyes and Stella knew she had him where she wanted him to be.

  With one swift movement, she ran past him, picking up as much speed as she could before he got hold of himself and chased after her. Glancing behind her, she saw him running after her and grinned.

  “So, you want to play dirty?” she heard him growl, and the next thing she knew he had picked her up in the air and thrown her over his shoulder.

  “Put me down, you Neanderthal!” she squealed.

  “When we get to the cave, woman,” he said and smacked her ass.

  Stella wanted to be angry with him for treating her like a rag doll, but she just couldn’t. The situation was so funny that she started giggling uncontrollably.

  He slowed down and headed away from the water, putting her down on some kind of stairs. Stella looked around and saw it was a lifeguard station. Max knelt in front of her, putting both his hands on the step behind her and trapping her in his arms.

  “Do you always play dirty, or am I the lucky exception?” He was so close to her that she could feel his breath on her lips.

  “I warned you I was going to find another way to beat you.”

  His eyes travelled down to her lips.

  Don’t lick them. Don’t lick them. Don’t lick them.

  Stella licked her lips.

  *

  She fucking licked her lips!

  All Max could think about was how they had tasted the other night when he did kiss her. Not today though. He summoned all his restraint, every single drop of it, until he felt he was going to burst trying to contain his desire for her.

  Stella was watching him, analysing his reaction. He’d noticed before how she liked to watch people and take mental notes. She knew he was trying not to kiss her and by the inquisitive look in her eyes, Max suspected she was wondering why.

  That was exactly what he wanted her to do – wonder why he wouldn’t kiss her. Wonder why he would tease her to the brink, but then pull away before they fell off the edge. Wonder why he wanted to spend every waking hour with her, yet not make a move.

  Max wanted thoughts about him to be the only thing occupying Stella’s head. When she was as desperate for him as he was for her, then he’d make his move and make it count.

  *

  “I think we should go back,” Max whispered, so close to Stella that their lips almost touched. Almost. And then he pulled slightly back. The disappointment in her eyes must have been evident because a flicker of hesitation crossed his face, but he quickly recovered and stood up, offering her his hand. “Come on. I’ll walk you home.”

  “You don’t have to,” she said, sounding defensive, but she still took his hand.

  “I want to. I have an hour to kill before I have to go to work.”

  “You’re working on the beach after the late shift last night?”

  “Yeah. And I’m working in the bar tonight; I promised to cover for Francesco.”

  “Tight schedule.”

  “I’m used to it. Besides, my stamina is legendary,” he said and wiggled his eyebrows at her. Stella smacked him on the chest with the back of her hand and laughed.

  The walk back to Lisa’s house was way too short. But then again, every time spent with Max seemed too short lately.

  “Wanna come in? I’m making coffee,” she asked as they reached the front door.

  “Unless you offer a shower with the coffee, I’ll pass. I need to get back and get ready for work,” he said, but still held her hand in his. Max was saying he needed to go, but his body language said something else entirely.

  “OK. I’ll see you later then.” Stella tried to reclaim her hand and go inside, but he held on.

  “Are you coming to the beach today?”

  She wanted to, especially now that she knew he was going to be there. But she didn’t know what Lisa’s plans were and couldn’t commit to anything yet.

  “Don’t know. I have to see what Lisa wants to do. I think she’s not due at work until later in the afternoon.”

  “OK. Ciao, tesoro,” he said and leaned in to kiss her cheek.

  When Stella walked inside the house, her feet were barely touching the floor and she was grinning like an idiot. The whole experience this morning had been quite surreal and a bit confusing. However, she didn’t want to dwell on it too much, because the most important thing was that Max was amazing and he made her feel all warm and giddy inside.

  Lisa was already in the kitchen making coffee. The very smell was a godsend to Stella.

  “Hey, I didn’t know you were up, let alone out,” said Lisa, taking two coffee cups out of the cupboard.

  “I went for a run. Didn’t want to wake you.” She flopped on a chair, accepting the steaming coffee mug and exhaling in pure delight as she took her first sip. For a moment she thought about telling Lisa she was running with Max, but then changed her mind. If her cousin asked, she’d tell her. Otherwise, why spoil a perfectly good morning with another of Lisa’s lectures?

  “So, what do you want to do today?” Stella asked.

  “Well, I have to be in the studio at five. I’m yours until then. What do you fancy?”

  Stella wanted to go to the beach. She wanted to lie on a towel, soak up the sunshine, work on her tan, which was getting pretty good lately, and stare at Max’s half-naked body. But she felt that she needed to resist that temptation. They’d been together for two days straight, and had started their day together today. Maybe it would be a good idea to get some distance. Stella needed to clear her mind of the Max-induced fog.

  “Let’s go around town. Maybe some shopping. Lunch in a nice restaurant. A movie?” she suggested.

  “Sounds good,” said Lisa.

  “Which one?”

  “All of them. Come on. Finish your coffee upstairs while you get ready. If we want to do all that, we need to leave five minutes ago.”

  They had a great day. Lisa was happy and smiling all the time, so much different from the sulking mess she’d been the past few days. There was something affecting her mood, but Stella wasn’t sure what. True, she was an artist and they were famous for their mood swings, but this was something else. Or rather, someone else? Stella could bet her right arm that there was a man affecting her cousin’s mood. But where was he? She’d never mentioned anyone, and certainly hadn’t seen anyone since Stella had arrived. What was more, Lisa had never indicated that there was anything she needed to talk to Stella about. Respecting her cousin’s privacy, Stella hadn’t pried. If and when she was ready to talk, she would.

  There was no time left for a movie, because the shopping part of the day took a bit longer than initially anticipated. On the bright side, they’d
bought a new outfit each, and a couple of pairs of shoes each as well. Stella also got some sexy new lingerie that was on offer and she couldn’t resist. Besides, she really hoped she’d get a chance to show it off before she had to leave.

  When they got home, Stella sprawled on the sofa and refused to move. She was knackered. Four hours of sleep that night, combined with exercise and shopping, all in the same day, proved to be a bit much for her. Before she knew it, her eyes had grown heavy and she was drifting away in peaceful slumber.

  When she woke up, she had a soft blanket covering her and the house was incredibly quiet.

  Lisa must have gone out already, Stella thought.

  She stood up and taking all her shopping bags, headed upstairs. It had been a hot day and she felt sticky from the humidity in the air. A second shower for the day was in order. It would also help her to wake up properly, because right then all she wanted to do was climb back into bed and sleep until morning.

  Her phone blinked when she got out of the shower. She had two missed calls – one from Lisa and one from Max, and a text from him that simply said, Call me.

  So she did.

  “Hey, where have you been all day?” he asked, after answering on the second ring.

  “Shopping with Lisa.”

  “Right. I can imagine how that took all day.” She could feel the smile in his voice.

  “Yeah. I could have gone on, but she had to go to work. Otherwise, my stamina is legendary,” she said, quoting his words from this morning, and Max laughed. A deep, genuine, throaty laugh. Stella wished she was there next to him, seeing him laugh that way.

  “Did you buy something nice?”

  “Yep. A lot of stuff.”

  “Why don’t you put some of that nice stuff on and come to the bar? I’ll be there after seven.”

  Stella wanted to go, badly. She wanted to see him because she already missed him. But if she agreed straight away, would he think she was desperate? A little flirting this morning and she couldn’t bear to be away from him? His ego was already enormous; no need to inflate it even more.