Page 1 of Max Bannon
1
Tessa
“This can’t be right,” I muttered, squinting at the crumpled directions in my lap. “Was I supposed to turn at the giant pine tree orafterthe giant pine tree?”
The trees all looked the same. Towering. Judgy. Slightly menacing, like they knew I was the kind of person who left coffee mugs in the microwave and couldn’t keep track of her keys for more than five minutes.
Frasier Mountain was stunning—rolling green hills, wildflowers, and the kind of silence that felt sacred—but it was also a maze. I hadn’t had cell service for twenty minutes, and my GPS had given up halfway through a sentence.
I rounded a curve, drove another quarter mile, and then… dead end.
“Awesome,” I groaned, putting the Jeep in park.
I stepped out, boots crunching gravel, and turned in a slow circle. All I saw were trees, foggy hills, and—was that a squirrel giving me side-eye?
“Hey there,” I mumbled. “You wouldn’t happen to know where the Bed and Breakfast is?”
The squirrel ran.
Which was when I heard a truck.
And then I saw him.
He stepped out like something from a daydream I didn’t know I’d ordered. Tall, blonde, broad-shouldered, wearing jeans, boots, and a black Henley that hugged arms sculpted by either hard training or divine intervention. Maybe both.
His eyes met mine, and the world stilled.
Holy crap. For no reason my breathing hitched, and speeded up.
Max
I’d just dropped off a box of school supplies at the old cabin, when I spotted the unfamiliar Jeep parked on the ridge. Tourists didn’t usually come this far up the mountain. Not unless they were lost.
I pulled up beside her and stepped out, expecting someone panicked, irritated, or at least annoyed.
What I got was a woman who looked like she’d just walked out of a sunshine commercial—windblown hair, flushed cheeks, a smile that struck me straight in the chest. She looked like she belonged here. Even if she didn’t know where “here” was.
“You alright?” I asked, voice calm.
“I think so,” she said, tucking a map behind her back like she didn’t want me to see how useless it had been. “I was looking for the old bed and breakfast. I’m staying there—well, temporarily. Until my cabin is ready, it comes with my new job.”
I blinked. “You’re Tessa?” So much for the old teacher I pictured in my mind.
“Max?” she asked, eyes widening.
I nodded once.
Her mouth parted slightly. Her eyes softened. And something shifted in the air between us.
Recognition. Attraction. Something that felt dangerously close to fate.
“Hi,” she said, a little breathless.
“Hi,” I echoed, slower. “You're late.”
She winced. “I got lost. I’m a chronic misplacer. Directions. Coffee cups. My sanity—usually in that order.”
I smiled before I could stop myself.
