to his ear and nibbled at all parts in between. She could still feel the faint rasp of his beard on her tongue, for God’s sake.
She’d also witnessed what happened when Max got pissed off.
“Don’t make me call my brother, Max. You can’t think it’s worth spending the night in jail.”
His nostrils flared for a moment as his gaze bore into her. He ought to know that she didn’t make empty threats. She could be just as stubborn as he was. Lord knew they’d butted heads often enough, and she’d never backed down. Except in the bedroom. Always in the bedroom.
Heat flushed through her body, and she hoped to hell the neon lighting around the bar disguised her blush. The last thing she wanted to do was show any sign that he’d flustered her with his sudden appearance.
“This isn’t finished,” he bit out.
“The hell it’s not. I have nothing to say to you, Max.”
For a minute she actually thought there was genuine pain in his eyes that had nothing to do with the fact she’d hit him in the face. Which was absurd given that he’d fucked her over, not the other way around.
She flexed her fingers and rubbed at her hand as Carl escorted Max out the front door.
“I’m beginning to think you have anger management issues, Callie,” Paul Woodrow drawled as he leaned against the bar next to her.
Callie scowled at the part-time bartender. Nice of him to show up now. If he’d been to work on time, she wouldn’t have been here when Max came in.
“I didn’t throw him through the window.”
Paul chuckled. “Good thing. Dillon wouldn’t be happy if he had to replace more glass.”
She shook her aching hand and turned to the side to collect herself. She was more shaken by Max’s appearance than she’d like to admit. Seeing him again after so long had been a complete shock. Why would he turn up now? He didn’t even grovel. He’d practically ordered her to talk to him. As if.
Max didn’t yell orders. He never raised his voice. He didn’t have to. She’d been more than happy to do anything he wanted. She cringed and squeezed her eyes shut. Yeah, she’d been more than happy to accommodate him, and all it had gotten her was a healthy dose of stupid.
She opened her eyes to see Paul eyeing her curiously as he made drinks. She frowned and turned away. A few months before, right after she’d slunk home to crawl under a rock, she’d thrown a smart-ass college kid through the front window of the bar.
The upside was that people were reluctant to start shit when she was tending bar. The downside was that now her family watched her even closer for signs she was going to start barking at the moon or frothing at the mouth.
“You okay, Callie?” Carl asked sharply.
She glanced up. “Yeah. No big deal. I took care of it.”
“Want me to call Dillon?”
She shook her head and frowned. “I took care of it. No reason to bug Dillon. I’m perfectly capable of running the bar. The last thing I need is him or Seth hovering over me when I’m trying to work.”
Carl grunted. “Having the sheriff around isn’t a bad thing.”
“Oh come on.” She snorted. “Nothing happens around here. Ever since Seth took over as sheriff, it’s been boring as hell. Tonight was as much excitement as Clyde’s seen since I threw the dude through the window. Everyone will thank me for breaking up the monotony.”
“So who was he?”
Callie’s lips tightened. “No one important.”
For several long minutes, she stared at the door where Max had departed. Why had he come? Why now? She’d wasted far too much time moping over him. Chalk it up to age and lack of experience on her part, but it wasn’t a mistake she planned to make again.
Max Wilder could drag himself back off to Italy or Greece or wherever the hell it was he ditched her. She was embarrassed to remember just how long she waited for him to come back before she got a clue and realized he’d dumped her.
“You heading out now, Callie? I can take it from here,” Paul said.
“Yeah, I know you can,” she muttered. “It’s busy, though. I’ll hang around in case there are any more problems.”
She didn’t particularly want to be here, but she didn’t want to walk out that door and chance Max being there, waiting for her. It was one thing to take him on inside a crowded bar.