She’d been nurturing self-imposed guilt for all these years. The reasons that he’d hurt her had nothing to do with compromises they made in their relationship. She could no more take responsibility for causing his actions than she could for Treat wanting to change the way he ran his business in order to make their relationship work.
She’d messed up big-time, and now she was dead set on making things right.
“Be there in fifteen,” Kaylie said.
“Meet me at Victoria’s Secret.”
“WHO ARE YOU and what have you done with Max?” Kaylie looked around Max’s right side; then she peered around her left side. She spun in a circle with her hand shading her eyes; then she lifted up Max’s arms and looked beneath them. “Max? Where are you?” she teased.
“Shut up before I change my mind.” Max had purposely never stepped foot in a Victoria’s Secret store before. She’d stayed away from places that encouraged the idea of women being seen as playthings. But now, as she walked through the brightly lit, far-too-pink shop, with half-naked mannequins donning barely there, sexy lingerie, she saw it all much clearer. The lingerie wasn’t about being a plaything; it was about owning—and enjoying—her sexuality, not exploiting it.
Max was bound and determined to own Treat-worthy, seductive, take-me-all-the-way attire.
“Max, I’m scared,” Kaylie teased.
“I’m getting Treat back, and I want a wardrobe that will turn him on. All of it, from my head to my toes.” She looked at Kaylie with a serious face and said, “Kaylie, make me hot.”
“Girlfriend, just saying that makes you hot.” Kaylie dragged her to the rear of the store, where she fingered through racks of lacy lingerie, holding up corsets and camisoles, lace bras and barely visible thongs. “What are we talking here, a few nights, a weekend? Seasonal?”
Max held up her credit card. “Whatever it takes. Whatever you would wear, I want to wear. Then we’re going to buy clothes to go on top of the naughty bits.”
“Max, you’re talking about a lot of cash. Are you sure?”
Max rolled her eyes. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in all my life. Besides, I’ve had the same jeans and shirts for years. I have a five-digit savings account that I’ll never spend. For Treat? Definitely worth it.”
“But you can buy a few nights’ worth and just use those over and over.”
“Kaylie, I want to be sexy all the time. I don’t mean that I’ll stop wearing jeans and T-shirts, but I want to know that what I have on underneath my jeans, seven days a week, is appropriate for making him lose his mind. I want to walk into my closet and find something that begs me to pull myself out of efficient Max and morph into seductress Max. I wanna have options. The guy has a social calendar. I want to make him proud.”
That’s all Kaylie needed to hear to let loose. Max tried on so many outfits that her head was spinning. She stood in front of the mirror in a pink, lacy baby-doll nighty. “Wow,” she said. She turned to the side. “Look at my butt. And look at these.” She grabbed her breasts and lifted them up. “They’re kinda hot, huh.”
“Steaming.” Kaylie took the elastic from Max’s hair, and Max watched as her hair billowed around her shoulders. “Now you’re steaming hot and entirely too fuckable for him to turn away.”
“Oh, turning away hasn’t been an issue,” she said with a coy smile.
They left Victoria’s Secret with several large bags and sexy lingerie for every occasion. Kaylie took her hand and dragged her into Hot Allure, a trendy clothing store known for upscale and sexy clothing.
Kaylie and Max picked through the racks, plucking outfits off the racks and carrying enormous piles of clothes into the dressing room.
“You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to do this,” Kaylie said. “This is like every girl’s makeover dream come true.”
“Now I feel like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. I really appreciate your help. I would never pick out half these things. I’m still not sure they’ll fit.” She held up a red formfitting dress that looked too thin to fit over one leg much less her whole body.
“It stretches. Trust me,” Kaylie said. “I have an eye for fashion and figures and, girlfriend, we’re going to feature your figure in fabulous fashions.”
“What are you, on a fashion high or something?” Max laughed.
An hour and a half later, they collapsed onto a bench in the center of the mall, surrounded by bags of dresses, slacks, sexy skinny jeans, heels, lingerie, even accessories.
“Your man is going to be so excited. Every night of the week!” Kaylie squealed.
“Uh-oh. Kaylie.”
“What? Oh no. You look like something awful happened. Did you spend more money than you meant to? I’ve done that. Should we return it all? Well, except the baby-doll nighty. Every girl needs a baby-doll nighty.”
Max shook her head. “I have no idea where Treat is. I left him in Wellfleet, and my phone won’t get here until tomorrow. His number is on my phone.”
“How did you get his number last time?” she asked.
“I got it from Scarlet, but I don’t want to bother her again.”
Kaylie and Max both wrinkled their brows.
Kaylie took out her cell phone and started texting.
“What are you doing?” Max asked.
“I have an idea. He’s Blake’s cousin, so I’ll text Danica. She’ll ask him, and he’ll know how to find out where he is.” Kaylie looked up at Max while she waited for a return text.
“Thank God for the sister network,” Max joked.
“Max, what was your plan? Once you got the clothes, what were you going to do?”
“I hadn’t thought it out that far. I forgot I didn’t have my phone. I was sort of thinking about calling him.”
Kaylie’s phone vibrated. “She said hold on a sec.”
Max sighed and threw her head back. “How can I be so together at work and so disorganized with my personal life?”
Her phone buzzed again. “It’s part of being a woman. We can’t be perfect all the time.” She read the text. “Girlfriend, fate is on your side. He’s at his father’s ranch.”
“In Weston?” Max jumped to her feet. “It really is fate.” Her eyes grew wide.
“Settle down, doe eyes. Now what?”
Max gathered as many bags as she could carry and started for the exit. Kaylie scrambled to pick up the remaining bags and hurried behind her.
“Max!”
Max held up her bags and made a beeline for the exit. Every determined step brought her closer to Treat. “Home. Shower. Sex it up. Ranch,” she called over her shoulder to Kaylie.
Chapter Thirty-Six
SURROUNDED BY HIS FAMILY, Treat was beginning to see his life a little more clearly. Yes, he was successful—more than successful. He’d started with one resort and now owned twenty-seven, each one more successful than the last. Of course his father was proud. But there was also no doubt in his mind that he’d done it to escape his guilt. If it were not for Max, he might never have dealt with what had been hanging over his head for too many years.
Max hadn’t returned his calls. Each hour that passed was like a slow, torturous draw of his fingernails from his nail beds.
“Dude, you gotta stop moping,” Dane said as he patted Treat on the back.
“Moping? Pfft. I’m fine. Just worried about Dad,” he lied. They’d had to wrestle their father back into submission more than a few times. The man was an ox and would probably outlive them all.
“Right. Like I can’t smell woman troubles a mile away.”
Treat shook his head, but he knew Dane could see right through his veil of denial. Hell, everyone probably could. You don’t find a woman like Max very often; she was smart, competent, loving, and sexier than she could ever know. There was something else that he couldn’t put his finger on, but he was pretty sure that it had to do with the fact that Max loved him—and yes, he was sure that beneath that feisty, stubborn exterior and her fears about relationships, she loved him—for him. Not for his money, or for what he stood for, or any of the other ridiculous reasons that beautiful women had clung to him over the years.
He carried apple cider out to the table, stopping when he caught sight of his father and Rex walking down by the barn. Rex had a pinched look on his face, and his father suddenly stopped walking and put his hand on Rex’s shoulder. Treat could practically feel that secure weight on his own flesh. He knew the look his father was giving Rex, and he would bet the discussion had something to do with him.
He’d better go face it head-on.
Savannah touched his arm before he could take two steps. “Leave them,” she said.
“I’m sure it’s about what I said last night.”
“No, it’s not. Let them be.”
Treat narrowed his eyes at his sister. “What don’t I know?”
Savannah took the apple cider from his hands and set it on the table, ignoring his question.
“Savannah?” He stared her down. He’d be damned if his little sister would tell him what to do.
“Leave it alone, Treat,” Hugh said as he approached from behind. He set plates and silverware on the table, then turned to Treat. “Rex seems tough, but he’s not as tough as you might think. He’s having a hard time with Dad’s health issues.”