But lately my radar had been malfunctioning. I’d been completely surprised by Lawrence’s behavior; I was shocked to discover Nick was harboring some sort of unrequited love. And so I didn’t trust my gut when it came to Max. My instinct was to believe that someone who looked at me as tenderly as he did couldn’t be anything other than genuine, but then I remembered those creepy surveillance photos of me on his computer and I wasn’t sure of anything.

I was about to push myself back from the table a fifth time when I looked up to see Max loping into the coffee shop, looking more rumpled than usual. My heart twisted, and I had to fight my natural inclination to greet him with a kiss.

“Hey,” he said uncertainly, lowering himself into a seat across from me. He flashed me a quick smile that didn’t reach his red-rimmed eyes. “Thanks for meeting me.”

My fingers longed to reach out and touch the soft edges of his vintage Ramones T-shirt, the one I had worn to sleep so many times I could practically feel it now on my body, but I held myself back. I lifted my chin and looked at him squarely, keeping my voice steady as I said, “You should be thanking Cat. She’s the one who convinced me I should hear your side of things.”

He nodded mutely.

“I trusted you, Max,” I said quietly, my voice betraying me and breaking. “I don’t know what to think.”

“Help me out, Audrey,” he said, his eyes searching mine. “I don’t know what we’re talking about. What happened? When I left, you were naked in my bed, and when I came back, you were gone and no longer taking my calls. What changed?”

“I found the pictures.”

“What pictures?” he asked, his expression so bewildered that for a split second I wondered if I had imagined the whole thing. But then I recalled the shock of opening that folder and seeing rows upon rows of digital images of myself, and anger flared inside me.

“Come on, Max,” I snapped. “You know what pictures I mean. The ones on your computer. The ones of me.”

“Oh,” he said, casting his eyes down to the scratched table. “Those.”

“Those.”

He nodded dumbly. “Yeah. Jeez, Audrey, I can understand why those might have freaked you out. But they’re not what you think.”

“Then tell me what they are,” I said, allowing myself a flicker of hope that there might be an innocent explanation, that I hadn’t been so wrong, so completely and utterly wrong, about this man.

“Don’t freak out, okay? But I found those online.”

“What? Online where?”

“When we first started dating, I … well, I googled you. I really liked you, and I wanted to know what I was getting myself into.” He smiled weakly. “I didn’t want to fall in love with you only to find out you had a secret husband or were wanted in six states.”