Beyond the Breaking Point (56 page)
Read Beyond the Breaking Point Online
Authors: Zena Wynn
He wished to hell he could.
How did he forget the woman who, for a time, made him feel more of a man than he’d ever felt in his life? Who’d completed and complemented him the way no other had or ever would? The answer was he couldn’t.
He’d tried to in the bottom of liquor bottles and between the thighs of sexy, beautiful women. With his financial status, he had unlimited access to both. Women lined up to spread their legs in exchange for his money, his temporary favor. Cassidy was the only one who could have cared less he was rich.
Scowling at his inability to keep her out of his head, Max took a big gulp of his drink and swung around suddenly with the intent to go get another double. He crashed into someone and the minute contents of his glass sloshed over the side and onto the woman’s chest.
She gasped as the cold liquid and ice hit her.
“Shit! I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there,” Max apologized, grabbing the woman’s arm to keep her from falling.
“It’s okay. I didn’t see you standing there in the cor—” She looked up from swiping at her neckline and her words trailed off. “
Max
?”
“Cassidy?” Automatically his grip tightened as he stared.
For a brief second, the shock in her expression transformed into one of pleasure. Then as though a switch were thrown, blanked to nothingness. The long hair he’d loved to wrap around his wrist as he made love to her was gone. She’d cut it so that it barely brushed her shoulders. The arm he held felt fragile, as though she’d lost too much weight.
“I thought you’d left the country?” Cassidy said, now looking like she wanted to be anywhere but with him.
“I’m back,” he said flatly, wondering how she’d known. Had she checked up on him?
Before he could ask, a server stooped down and lifted something. “Ma’am, is this your cane?”
Cassidy reached out and grasped the fancy walking stick. “Yes, thank you for getting it for me.” To Max she said, “Welcome home. I’m sure your family is happy to have you back. I need to—”
“Max, there you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Why are you hiding over here in the corner?” Gianna, his date for the night, came up and clutched him by the arm, leaning her voluptuous body against his.
If he hadn’t been watching her so intently, he’d have missed the flash of pain that crossed Cassidy’s features before she looked away. Tugging at her arm, she said, “Excuse me. I need to take care of this before it stains.”
Now that she was here, he didn’t want to let her go. To remind himself Cassidy was off limits, Max asked brusquely, “Where’s your husband?”
Some indefinable emotion flashed in her expressive eyes. “He’s dead.”
Astonished, he loosened his hold and she pulled free. Leaning heavily on the cane, she limped away without a backwards glance.
Coming Spring 2014
Table of Contents
Table of Contents