Once they were a good distance away from the crowd, Nina was the first to let go of Max's hand. His fingers clenched instinctively in the air as though something was missing. He pushed the feeling aside. He gazed at Nina with gratitude. In a low voice, he said, "I really appreciate what you did for me back there."

She smiled and shrugged as though it had been nothing. "Like you said—what are friends for, right? Besides, I didn't like the way they tried to set you up back there. It felt so shady!"

The fact that Nina had come to his rescue didn't feel like nothing, though. It meant everything to Max. He murmured, "You're really something special, Nina. I mean it. Whatever guy ends up with you is gonna be one lucky bastard."

Nina glanced at him. He gazed back at her. Max felt like he could look at her forever. Her eyes shone like honeyed amber in the late afternoon sun.

Then, the magic of the moment faded when Nina smiled. Politely. "Thanks. It's nice of you to say something like that."

Max sighed. The girl still wasn't biting. His Upper Brain knew that he was supposed to categorize Nina as a regular friend, but every other part of him, including his Lower Brain, was starting to develop a full-blown crush on her.

Max forced himself to bite the bullet and move on. "Man, you totally saved me from making a fool of myself on camera today. I'm pretty sure Axel and Avon wouldn't have hesitated to post that shit on their channel. I can't believe they're siding with Lexi over me."

Nina grimaced sympathetically. "Sometimes you don't get to see a person's true colors until shit hits the fan. At least, now, you know where you stand with them."

Nina's words weren't very comforting. A horrible thought suddenly crossed Max's mind. His blue-green eyes widened with alarm. "Oh, shit! What if they re-edit the footage from today and make us look like assholes?"

"Can they do that?"

"Axel and Avon can do anything. Their video editor, Raj, used to work for a slew of reality shows. He knows how to create drama out of nothing."

Nina frowned. "But doesn't California have a two-party consent law where it's a crime to record someone without their consent?"

"You're right about the law, but I signed a waiver of consent when I RSVP'd for this fucking barbecue."

"I see. Maybe you signed one." Nina arched an eyebrow at him. "But... I didn't. Why don't you let Axel and Avon know I'll take them to court if they post that footage from today?"

Max stared at her in surprise. "Damn... really?"

Her expression darkened. "I wouldn't joke about this shit. If they wanna come for me, then I'll gladly take them on."

Max grumbled, "Remind me never to piss you off."

Nina assured him, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to start a pissing contest with two stupid pricks. I just don't want my face on the internet. I closed all of my social media accounts before coming out to California for a reason."

Max gasped. "Wait, what? You don't have Instagram?"

"Nope."

"Discord? Snapchat? TikTok?"

She shook her head to all three platforms.

Max demanded, "Not even Facebook?"

"Not even Facebook," Nina confirmed. "I mean, I used to have an account, but I've been trying to lay low for a few months."

Social media was Max's whole life. He didn't understand her reasoning at all. "But... why?"

She laughed uneasily. "I, um, didn't want to see what my ex was up to. And I didn't want him to see what I was doing, either. I was afraid I wouldn't have the self-discipline to stop myself if I kept my accounts open. If someone like Axel or Avon posts a video about me, then it kinda defeats everything I've been trying to avoid. My ex will try to contact me, for sure. He might even fly out to Cali."

Max's heart sank. So, they had circled back to this motherfucker again, and the guy sounded like a stalker.

Max questioned, "Your ex doesn't know where you're living right now?"

Nina grew quiet. "Yeah, he thinks I'm out of the country."

Max could sense that she was about to get lost in her thoughts again, so he grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the food. He grinned winningly. "Come on, let's grab a few more of those sliders you were raving about, and then we can get the fuck outta here!"

Nina glanced up with a surprised look. She smiled. "You know what, Max? Sometimes you have the best fucking ideas."

Max and Nina grabbed their food and left the house without saying a word to anyone. As they walked side by side to his truck, Max flashed Nina a mischievous look. She didn't know it yet, but he had every intention of replacing her thoughts about her ex with thoughts about him instead.

He halted mid-step. "You know what else would be a great idea?"

She stopped as well to eye him with amused trepidation. "What's that?"

"We should conduct an experiment."

Skepticism flashed across her lovely face. "This already sounds like a bad idea."

Max took a step closer to Nina. Their bodies were almost touching now. The sweet, sexy bow on her dress brushed teasingly against his shirt as the enticing dip between her boobs called out to him. He tried not to get distracted by the view. With some effort, Max managed to stay focused on the delivery of his next comment, "Just moments ago, I'm pretty sure I heard somebody claim that she's been hard at work. Throwing herself at me. Over and over again."

Her face tilted up to him. She laughed. "Don't take that shit to heart. I was doing you a favor, buddy. It's what friends do for each other."

Max narrowed his eyes shrewdly. "Exactly! So... it wouldn't hurt for you to show me what you got, right? Right here. Right now. Let's see if you have what it takes to get my attention. Let's see if I actually have what it takes to reject your advances."

At first, Nina's eyebrows shot up in surprise. A second later, her expression turned playful. Without any hesitation. she leaned in and placed her hands gently on his chest. Then, she rose on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "If I ever came at you full force, Max, you wouldn't even know what hit you."

Max drew in a sharp breath. In that very moment, he didn't doubt a single word that came out of her mouth. He wanted Nina. Plain and simple. He had to fight every urge in his body to resist wrapping his arms around this beautiful, sweet, smart girl's waist and pull her closer. He stepped back to preserve his dignity. To respect the boundaries she had set in place for them. Nina's palms slipped from his chest as he moved away.

Max forced himself to laugh. It was a nonchalant sound that didn't, at all, reflect what he was feeling inside. "Damn. Is that all the game you've got, Miss Bai? So weak!"

Nina chuckled as well, but she seemed less affected by what had transpired between them. "Sorry to disappoint. I tried, though."

"Well, it was a subpar effort," Max fibbed. "You're gonna have to try way harder to get me in bed."

She rolled her eyes as she climbed into his truck. "You're such a brat."

"Only around you."

Max and Nina bantered like this all the way home. Like kids fighting over their favorite comic book superheroes. After they got back to the apartment complex, Max convinced Nina to drop by his place for a drink. They ate their takeaway burgers on his couch and chatted some more about stupid, silly shit.

If Max was being honest with himself, he simply didn't want Nina to leave. Not yet, anyway. Maybe in five minutes. Or ten. Or an hour. He couldn't seem to get enough of her company. It was kind of confusing. Nina had become someone who he trusted and genuinely enjoyed spending time with as a friend. But, also, he really, really wanted to touch her, like, every moment of every day. It was becoming a real fucking problem for his Lower Brain.

Much later that night, after they parted ways, Max laid wide awake in bed, unable to sleep. His plan from earlier had backfired—

Let's see if you have what it takes to get my attention. Let's see if I actually have what it takes to reject your advances.

Nina clearly possessed "what it took" to get his attention, but he barely had "what it took" to reject her. Max felt like a chump. He doubted that Nina was thinking about him much at all. Yet, his mind was, again, filled with thoughts of her, and it absolutely fucking sucked to know that the girl of his dreams was currently so far out of his reach. Max sensed that Nina was locking him in the friend zone because she was still hung up on her ex. Max had never met the guy in the flesh, but, quite suddenly, he found himself resenting a complete stranger even more so than the people in his life who had actually wronged him.

Max resented Nina's ex because the asshole still had a hold on something that he desperately wanted for himself: Nina's heart.