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“What? How? Oh-em-gee is my skirt split too? That would just be the topper of my craptacular day…”
“No, your skirt isn’t split, Kitten – but a real man looks for that sweet soft bulge above those thigh highs… and I certainly was looking.”
Elana blinked at him as her brain short-circuited. Was he really watching her so closely… and that was when it hit her.
The first laugh bubbled forward as a choked snort, followed by a full-on belly laugh that had her in tears.
“You don’t even recognize me, do you?” she laughed – and Max looked at her curiously. “You’d have to have two brain cells to rub together, but then I’d probably smell smoke.”
He continued to look at her, his face ruddy in spots from her laughing and then hesitated. Angling his head to the side, she knew the second it hit him.
“Max Carpenter, right?”
“Nooooo…” he whispered in shock, looking her up and down. “Elana… Pole?”
“Cole! Elana Cole! No, ‘Pole’ is what you called me in high school because I was flat-chested.”
“You sure aren’t now!”
“No, but you are the same creep as before,” she snapped because this was not the reaction she expected. The infuriating man had always been smooth with the girls in school, always dating, and always had a girl on his arm… but never her.
And she once had the biggest crush on him. Which means there is no accounting for taste, she thought ruefully.
“My ice cream is melting. I need that beer more than ever before, and you need to get out of my face,” she said bluntly, digging in her purse. “Stupid hormonal man… like I would bait someone at the grocery store into hitting on me? I don’t need a guy in my life and…”
“You’re… Elana ’the Pole’ C-Cole?” he stammered, dumbstruck.
“We’ve established that. Now, where is the key to these handcuffs?”
“Why do you have handcuffs?” he whispered, obviously still struggling mentally that she was here, now, in front of him.
Elana was positive her appearance was shocking to him, she had been a beanpole in high school, playing volleyball on the girl’s team. In college, her ‘Freshman Fifteen’ went straight to her chest and her butt, combining that with being behind a desk for all hours of the night, sedentary, and having a diet full of junk food… she’d gained more than just those fifteen. She had actually put on nearly sixty pounds over the years – but no one ever had the nerve to call her ‘thick.’
No one except Max Carpenter.
This utterly sucked too.
Not only was she mocked and embarrassed in court today, but now she was standing here, handcuffed to her high school crush… who just called her fat… and she couldn’t find the key.
“I mean, that is super-hot, and I am definitely game if you want to try handcuffs, but…”
Elana looked up at him in shock and met his eyes. He always had the most beautiful brown eyes, and that hadn’t changed. No, Max was taller, more muscular, and a whole lot tanner with an air of confidence that took her breath away.
“Handcuffs? You and… me?” she whispered, entranced, and then shook her head. “What am I saying?! These were for a hearing and…”
“A hearing? Are you in trouble?”
“No. I’m the defending attorney.”
“Shuddup… no, you’re not,” he drawled before bursting out laughing. “Attorneys aren’t hot.”
She gave him a flat look – and he instantly sobered.
“Oh my gosh… you’re an attorney?” he whispered. “For real?”
“Yes, ‘for real’,” she muttered and finally found the handcuff keys, quickly unlocking them and freeing herself. “Keep them,” she quipped and stalked off, leaving him there in the aisle.
“Wait!” Max called out, following her. “Let’s get dinner…”
