#BlogTour Together We Heal (Fall and Rise #4) by Chelsea M. Cameron

Trish Grant is not a romantic. Okay, so she may read her share of romance novels, but that doesn’t mean she thinks that some fellow with a six pack is going to ride up on a horse and sweep her (literally) off her feet. Romance like that just isn’t for her. It belongs on the page.

Max Jackson noticed Trish at his cousin’s funeral, of all places. She was hard to miss with her citrus-colored hair, violet contacts and fiery attitude.

Trish was just as captivated by Max. He makes her laugh, which is rare, and it doesn’t hurt that he rocks blue hair and the most killer smirk that drives her crazy. Max is there for her during a rough time and even if she wanted to, she can’t shake him.

There are things about Trish that Max doesn’t know, and she’s not going to tell him. She hasn’t told anyone and doesn’t plan on it, thank you very much. But when Trish’s life is ripped apart by a dark piece of her past, will she let Max in? Or will she give up her potential fairytale to protect her already-scarred heart from further damage?

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Top Ten Reasons Trish and Max are Totally Rad

1.    They bring out the sweetness in each other. “I’m not going to hurt you, Trish. I just want you to let me love you,” I whispered into her shoulder. She sighed and wiggled a little bit back and toward me. Taking a risk, I snaked my arm around her waist. She froze for a minute, but then relaxed again. Looked like she was going to let me leave it there. I closed my eyes and let my head sink into her pillow.
2.    Max absolutely adores Trish.

“Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes. This wasn’t the first time I’d encountered Trish’s poor opinion of herself. I just wanted to shake her sometimes. She was an incredible person and she just couldn’t see it.

“I’m no underwear model wearing wings,” she said.

“No, you’re not. You’re better.”“I don’t even know,” she said and I could tell she was smoking and pacing.

“Do you need me to come over?”

3.    She let’s herself be vulnerable with him.

“Why do you bother with me, Max?” she said in a low voice.

“Because you’re one of a kind, Trishella Grant,” I said. Using her full name earned me a pinch on my side.

“Don’t make me regret that I told you my real name,” she said, looking up at me. Her eyes were wide and vulnerable. It was rare to see her like this and I wanted to hold onto this moment. I stroked her cheek with my other hand and placed a kiss on her forehead.

“Your secret is safe with me, sweets.”

4.    They like the same music.

“You made me a mix tape?” I asked.

“The modern version of it, yeah. I thought about doing a cassette tape, but that would have taken a lot more time to do than just to make a playlist.”

I pretended to be mad at him.

“So you’re saying that I’m not worth making a mix tape for?”

“Baby, you are worth making a thousand mix tapes for.” I made a face.

“What?”

“Don’t call me baby. Ever again.”

“Noted,” he said as the first song started to play. “Anything Could Happen” by Ellie Goulding.

“Is this a hint?” I asked over the music.

“Maybe. Maybe not. You’ll just have to wait and see.” I sighed and pushed my seat back so I was more comfortable, kicked my shoes off and put my feet on the dash.

5.    They have the most epic dates.

“I’ve never been to Atlantic City,” I said as we walked through the nearly empty parking lot and toward the boardwalk.

“Me neither. But I always wanted to, so here we are,” he said. We made it down to the sand and then we found a flat-ish spot. Max spread a blanket out and pulled out some Pop Tarts and orange juice.

“You thought of everything,” I said as I sat down and he handed me one of the foil-covered Pop Tarts.

“I tried to. I wanted to make this first date epic. You know, raise your expectations so high at the beginning and then just disappoint you for every other date,” he said and I lost it laughing.

6.    Their chemistry is like WHOA.

I pretty much attacked her, but she didn’t stop me. Oh no. She made these little whimpering noises that I’d only heard a few times before and they were like spurts of gasoline on my already-stoked fire. It almost scared me. How much I wanted her. How she made me feel like I was on fire, flames licking me inside and out.

I pushed and pushed, but she pushed back and asked for more. We hadn’t kissed like this in so long and what a fucking shame that was. She bit down lightly on my tongue and I did the same to her and the kiss became vicious. Deliciously vicious. I was afraid one of us was going to draw blood.

7.    Even though she’s been through a lot, Trish still wants to try.

I let my eyes wander from the top of her head to the tips of her black-painted toes and it was good. It was all good. Her body should be studied by science because it was definitely something special.

“Max?” she said, shifting from foot to foot, uncomfortable with my staring.

“Yeah?” I said, not taking my eyes off her body, but slowly moving up to her face.

Her face was almost always set in some sort of hard expression. But right now she looked vulnerable. Sweet. Like the girl I rarely got to see.

8.    Max doesn’t ask her to open up to him without doing the same.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, startling me. I’d been too locked in my own head.

“What?”

He cleared his throat and sat up straight.

“I’m not going anywhere. I think you’re trying to push me away, trying to sabotage this and that’s not going to work on me. I’m not going anywhere.” His eyes narrowed and I saw steely determination in them. I knew he was strong. He had to be to leave his parents and go out on his own at only eighteen years old. Max had left complete security for the unknown. I couldn’t imagine that.

“What if I want you to go away?” I said. I was going to test how far he’d push this.

9.    Moments like this:

“You okay there?” Trish said, waving her hand in front of my face and snapping me out of it.

“You…” Words weren’t enough.

“I’m guessing that’s good?” she said, adjusting her dress a little. It was green with off-white lace and hugged her in all the right places and made her hair so bright. Her makeup included black-lined lids and red lipstick. Her hair was curled and pulled back from her face on either side. Loose and sexy.

She was a walking sex bomb. Not that she wasn’t always, but this was a side of her I hadn’t seen yet.

“Okay, okay, enough staring. Can we go now?”

10.  They’re imperfectly perfect for one another.

“Golly gee, you’re sure looking keen tonight,” I said with a wink.

“Oh, why Max, you sure are sweet. You know just what to say to a girl. Maybe later we can drive out to the sock hop.” She fluttered her eyelashes and we both burst out laughing.

“You’re such a dork,” she said.

“Dork is the new black, sweets,” I said, straightening my bow tie.

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