Emerald Fire (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) by Hallee Bridgeman Page B

trip. In a fit of nervous energy, she’d left work last night and gone straight to her favorite mall. New boots, new pants, new sweaters – Christmas and plain – new pajamas … they all lay on the bright spread while she put together outfits and tried to think of what else she’d need. Maxine knew they would be with friends, so she assumed there would be dinners out and such. That in mind, she tried to add some dressy and some casual until she just wanted to call him and cancel the whole thing.
    Yet she knew, deep down, that clothes weren’t the problem. The problem lay in the fact that she preferred to never be alone with a man, and somehow she’d managed to allow herself to agree to be alone with a man for several days, thousands of miles from home, and completely out of her element.
    Maxine had always liked Barry. For some reason his immense size had never intimidated her. Now she realized that not only was he big, he was incredibly strong, and had spent a good portion of his life knocking down men at least as big and strong as him. If he wanted to …
    The butterflies flew together and formed a ball of nausea. Maxine fisted her hand and pressed it against her stomach, pushing back old memories. Memories that had sent her racing to her studio to mindlessly paint for the last six hours. He wouldn’t want to. He wouldn’t force. He wouldn’t do anything. Maxine could trust Barry. She had to make herself trust him.
    Because if she couldn’t trust him that would mean that she didn’t win this hand she was dealt, no matter what.
    The ringing of her phone brought her out of her little panicked moment. She snatched up the extension next to her bed. “Hello?”
    Robin’s voice answered. “Hi.”
    “Hey, sis. How’s my niece?”
    “Your nephew’s still there. I think he’s going to take up permanent residence.”
    Maxine chuckled as she opened her nightstand and pulled out a small pair of scissors. “You’re not due for another two weeks.”
    “I know. I just kept hoping that maybe he or she would get tired of hanging out in my stomach and get ready to meet the world.”
    Maxine picked up a sweater and carefully cut off the tags. “As long as we aren’t a Christmas baby, all will be good.”
    “I know. I’ve been dreading this week coming up.” As Maxine folded the sweater and laid it in her suitcase, Robin continued. “I hear you’re taking a couple of days off.”
    Maxine’s busy hands stilled and she closed her eyes. “You heard about that, did you?”
    “Can I ask you something?”
    “Of course.” Opening her eyes, she picked up the scissors again and methodically removed the tags. “As long as it’s a question and not a lecture.”
    “No lecture. Question: Is there an end game in sight here?”
    “How so?”
    “Are you just going with the flow, or do you have an objective in mind?”
    For the first time in her life, Maxine started to feel anger toward Robin. Robin, her sister, the one who saved her from unspeakable horror, the one who worked two jobs to put her through college – made her angry with this line of questioning. “I don’t know what you think my objective might be.”
    She heard her sister sigh. “Listen. I just feel like you’re getting involved in a situation that is going to get out of control.”
    “Oh, really? How?”
    “Barry is really hurting right now. You are beautiful and wonderful and outgoing and nice. Most of all, you’re nice. Kind of the antithesis of his late wife. I’m worried that he’s going to rebound and end up getting hurt even more.”
    Anger spread across her shoulder blades and down her hands, where her palms started sweating. “I’m just a rebound, huh? Maxine, who bounces from man to man like a flighty little hummingbird. You think I’m not worthy of a real relationship because I don’t ever have them? Is that it?”
    Robin’s response came very quickly, very hurriedly. “No. No, Maxi.”
    “So you’re just saying that I am bound