To the Max (14 page)

Suddenly, he felt an unstoppable need to kiss that cute smirk. He all but choked on the chip he was eating. What the fuck? She was dressed to go to bed, her hair all over the place. No makeup. Dark blue under her eyes from whatever wasn’t letting her rest. And yet, here he was. Fantasizing about tasting her lips. Getting hard at the thought.

“I’ll get a beer,” he said, hastily going to the bar. He’d been sitting face to face with a dressed-to-kill redhead flaunting her assets to him for several hours and not the slightest show of interest from down under. Annie smirked at him and there he went. Standing at full salute. Fuck.

They got through two episodes of B5 and one of
The Walking Dead
when he noticed she was asleep, her head bent in a very uncomfortable position.

“Ace,” he whispered, nudging at her. “We need to get you to bed.”

She didn’t stir. A strand of hair was covering her face, so he brushed it away. God, her skin was so soft and warm, and she smelled so good. The desire to kiss her was back with a vengeance. Along with his hard-on.

Careful not to wake her up, he lifted her in his arms and took her to her bed. Then he went back to the sofa. Maybe now, with half the house between them, he could regain some common sense and keep his hands off her.

* * * *

Annie picked up her cell the second it beeped. Normally, nothing distracted her from work, much less when she was in the office, but her back had been killing her lately and she was feeling very scattered.

I’m scarred for life. Thank you very much.

Max. She smiled and typed a question mark in response.

At first she’d thought that having him in the house would feel weird, but it really hadn’t. Although he very often had dates or things going on with his brothers, especially that first week, they’d spent several evenings together, mainly in his man cave, watching TV shows. She’d tried to convince him about the meditative virtues of puzzle solving, but he wasn’t buying it. That he still was willing to spend time with her, after she’d puked on him for a whole night, was a miracle. But he was easygoing that way.

Max must have been writing already, because she got the answer right away.

I was minding my own business when I picked up one of those books you have all over my house. I opened it, randomly. Toward the end, I might add. SCARRED. FOR. FUCKING. LIFE.

Annie laughed. The end in any of those
What to Expect When You’re Expecting
books was the same. Childbirth.

Ha! That will teach you not to read other people’s books.

Compulsive reader here
was his answer.
Can’t have stuff lying around without at least browsing it. And now that I’ve seen those pictures, I can’t go without checking the other books. Need to see if they’re that scary.

Annie was about to type her comment when she heard someone clearing his throat. She lifted her gaze and her face froze.

Luigi was by the door in all his dark, sexy, assholeish glory.

She jumped to her feet.

It had been just two weeks since she’d seen Luigi last, but Annie had put him out of her mind totally. She’d confessed to the girls about Luigi telling her off the day after it happened. As Max had predicted, her arm had been sore, but her thoughts had been very clear. Fuck Luigi. His loss. And that had been the girls’ opinions too.

“Hello,” he greeted her with a polite smile.

Damn. She was going to start keeping her door closed.

“Who let you in?” she demanded. And where the hell was her assistant? No one ever sneaked past Amelie.

Luigi gave her a rakish look. “I convinced the receptionists and your assistant to let me in unannounced.”

It figured. That he had to go through two receptionists before getting to Amelie was not lost on her. She should have gone for the male assistant.

“How did you find me?”

“You left your business card when you came to the agency.”

Of course.
Bravo, Annie
. Because she needed people at her workplace knowing what she did in her spare time. Jeez.

She considered closing the door—after all, this was going to call for some privacy—but discarded the idea and sat back behind her desk. She felt better with that big, sturdy piece of furniture between them. “What are you doing here? I haven’t asked a judge for a paternity test, and I won’t. You made your position very clear a couple of weeks ago. Nothing has changed from my side. What do you want?”

“To apologize for being so rude the other day. May I?” he asked, gesturing toward the empty chair in front of him.

“No.”

“I see. Could we go for a cup of coffee and talk?”

“You want coffee? There’s a coffee machine in the hall. Knock yourself out. I’m busy. Close the door on your way out. Bye. Have a nice life.”

Luigi didn’t move. “I don’t recall you being so confrontational when we first met.”

Her smile was all teeth. “Oh, well, I hadn’t been accused of all sorts of nasty things back then. Besides, now that I’m pregnant, I can chalk it all up to hormones and be as confrontational as I damn want.”

“I guess I deserve that.”

“You deserve worse.”

“Listen, Annie. I really want to talk with you. I didn’t like the way we left things. I was rude and out of line. And I’m truly sorry. I’ve been thinking about contacting you for a while now.”

“There’s no need. What are we, your monthly good deed? Your New Year’s resolution? Because if so, you’re three months ahead and one very unpleasant conversation in a coffee shop late.”

“I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions,” he said with a soft smile. “I should explain myself. If it were up to me, this pregnancy would be terminated. You didn’t go that way, and I respect your decision. Bottom line is, I don’t want children.”

“I do. And I don’t need your help. I don’t want your help.”

“I know. I respect that too. Still, there’s a baby coming. You’re bright and beautiful and funny. I don’t get swept off my feet usually, but you did it during the gala. I would love to get to know you.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “So I’m not a gold digger anymore? You don’t think I’m trying to saddle you with someone else’s baby?”

“You don’t strike me like the sort of person who would lie about something this important. I was caught off guard. I wasn’t expecting to find out about a pregnancy, and I didn’t handle it well at all. I was way out of line. Please forgive me.”

She would have loved to flip him the bird, but unfortunately, Annie couldn’t hold a grudge to save her life. “I meant what I said. I can take care of everything by myself. I told you because I believed a father has the right to know, but I can manage on my own.”

Luigi looked around, probably assessing her office. “I’m sure you can. We started on the wrong foot, huh?”

“We did?” Because the gala had been fun.

Luigi chuckled. “Actually, no, we didn’t, but it went south pretty fast from there.”

“Yes, it did.”

He took a couple of steps forward. “The coffee shop wasn’t one of my best moments. Can we start anew?”

“What do you propose? Because I’m not sure I like you anymore right now.”

“Go out on a date with me. I want to get to know you better. You seeing anyone?”

“No.”

“Me neither. We could give this a chance. What do you have to lose?” She was going to say a robust no, until he uttered the magic words. “Everyone deserves a second chance, right?”

Yes, everyone deserved a second chance, and there was a baby involved. She sighed, lowering her gaze to the table.

“No pressure. No promises,” he continued. “No expectations.”

“No sex,” she insisted right away.

Luigi assented, a smile tugging at his lips. “No sex. Just an old-fashioned date to get to know each other. We’ll go from there. Dinner tomorrow?”

Annie shook her head. “Girls’ night in.”

“Lunch the day after?”

Chapter Eight

Holly poured herself a drink. “Tequila, chocolate, and crispy bacon. This has got to be the best girls’ night in ever.”

“I agree,” Tate said while munching on a chocolate-covered bacon strip. She and Annie, Team Knocked Up, were feasting on chocolate and bacon, Christy on bacon and tequila, and Holly on everything.

“So nice of Max to let us use his place,” Holly said after downing a tequila shot and then taking a bite of bacon. They were in the backyard, sprawled on sun loungers, enjoying the unusually warm weather.

Annie nodded. “He did threaten us with bodily harm if we gave mani-pedis to Tango and Cash.”

Holly reached for her bag right away. “I have an electric-blue nail polish that would go terrific with the red carpet you got them.” Everyone looked at her. “What? Angus the Highlander spanking me for being bad? Hell, yes, I’m in.”

Tate laughed. “That book club of yours seems interesting. I’m going to have to join.”

“You getting hot flashes already?” Annie asked.

Tate flushed. “Umm, yes. All the time.”

“Then you better pass on the club. It makes them much, much worse. Trust me.” Smutty books and pregnancy hormones were a dangerous combination. Add to that the fact that she was living with Max and, well,
ka-boom
. The other day she’d been reading on the sofa while Max was in the backyard. He’d been the one working out, but between the peeks she was sneaking and the steamy scenes going on in the book, she’d been sweating more than him. To make matters worse, when he came in, he’d mentioned to her that she was flushed and asked if she felt all right.

She’d gone to wash her face in the bathroom, and after she made it back, Max was reading from her e-reader.
“Man, no wonder you’re flushed,”
he’d said, flicking the button to move to the next page.
“Wow. That I can do. That too. I’m not sure about this,”
he’d added, pointing at the screen,
“but I’m always willing to try.”

She’d been so embarrassed.

“But she has James to remedy the hot flashes,” Christy pointed out with a wink.

“Then I’d say go for it.” That or stock up on batteries. She hadn’t packed her vibrator when she’d moved, and it was just as well, because she would have been too ashamed to use it in Max’s house. Some nights, though, with her fingers between her legs, coming as quietly as possible, she would have given anything for it. No woman should have to suffer pregnancy without orgasms. Too damn cruel.

“By the way, where are Alden’s golden boys?” Holly asked.

“They went to the Red Chicken to play some pool. Although I don’t know how much pool they’ll be able to play with Max around.” Probably they were under siege there.

Holly turned to Annie with curiosity. “How’s it been, living with Alden’s number one?”

“I’ve learned one key thing. You need to check through the peephole before opening the door. Last time I didn’t, I found a naked woman on the doorstep.”

“A what?” Holly asked, the shot of tequila that she was about to drink now in midair. “When?”

“Several days ago. Technically she wasn’t naked,” Annie explained. “She had fuck-me high heels, crotchless undies, and a bra with a zipper on each cup. The zippers were down; her nipples poking out.” As soon as Annie had opened the door, the flasher had squeaked and covered herself with the coat she had in her hand, but the damage was already done.

Tate almost choked. “Oh my God. What did you do?”

“What could I do? Call Max to the door and make chitchat about the weather meanwhile.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

“You are making this up,” Christy let out.

“Nope. Tamara. Stewardess. In town for the night. Apparently Max is her hookup whenever she’s in Boston.”

She’d turned out to be quite a nice girl—once she covered herself. Annie had offered to make herself scarce, but Max had said it wasn’t necessary, that he had work, and with an apologetic smile he’d sent Tamara away.

“Never a dull moment with Max,” she finished with a sigh. “Now if I could sleep through the night, I would be happy as hell.”

“What’s wrong?” Christy asked. “You do look a bit tired lately.”

Now that she was three months pregnant and the barfing and the aversion to sweets were totally gone, it was just her luck that something had come up to replace them.

“I’ve been sleeping like shit. Boobs don’t let me.”

Everyone turned to her.

“What do you mean?”

“Have you guys seen these two boobies?” she asked, pointing at her chest. “They are huge. I’m suddenly a D-cup. They haven’t realized I’m carrying just one baby, not a dozen.” She was running out of blouses to wear, as most were too tight. She’d read in one of her books that breast growth could start quite early in pregnancy, but this was ridiculous. And other people were noticing. Lucy had stopped her after their last romance book club meeting.
“I’ve been reading too, but mine,”
she’d said, looking at her chest with a knowing smirk on her face,
“haven’t grown. What do you think is the problem?”

“They look great,” Tate stated. “My breasts haven’t caught up yet.”

“You are a lucky girl,” Annie answered. “If mine are planning to grow one and a half cup sizes per trimester, I’m going to need two volunteers to hold them while I walk.”

Holly, Christy, and Tate glanced at each other and dissolved into laughter again. In spite of everything, Annie laughed too. She loved girls’ nights in. Only Sophie’s absence kept it from being perfect, but she was trying to repair her marriage and had been quite scarce lately.

“One thing I don’t get: why don’t the boobs let you sleep? They are not talking to you, are they?” Christy asked in between giggles. “Because if so, then we have bigger issues. Pun intended.”

Actually, Annie was the one talking to them. Cursing them more often than not. Ordering them to stop growing. No dice. “I like sleeping on my stomach, but that’s impossible now. I hate sleeping on my side or my back, which is busted from carrying all the extra weight. Not to mention I’m enough of a klutz when I can see where I’m stepping. Soon I’m going to have to lift my feet up to even see the shoes I’m wearing, let alone the floor. So far this pregnancy stuff sucks. Big-time.”