To the Max (13 page)

He shook his head, offering her a mischievous smirk. “That next time we are taking a selfie.”

Annie watched as Max walked to his room, his hair in a sexy knot, his broad shoulders naked, his jeans so low she could see his boxers.

“You’re staring at my ass again, right?” he asked without turning around, his voice laced with cockiness, like the whole guy.

Annie chuckled. She stood there until she had the common sense to lock herself in the bathroom. She was going to take a cold shower and stop reading romance novels. At the very least until Max left for LA or she moved back to her own place. Whichever came first.

* * * *

Max was a light sleeper, so the bang of a door and someone running in the hallway woke him up completely. He jumped out of bed, alert, and made it out of the room in time to see a glimpse of Annie’s pink yoga pants disappearing into the bathroom, the sounds of heaving following right after.

When he entered, Annie had her head in the toilet and was retching her guts out. Fuck. He darted to her.

“Annie, you okay?”

What a fuckwad stupid question. She was holding her stomach with one hand, her face was ashen—well, the part he could see—and her T-shirt was wet from sweat.

He took a towel and handed it to her when she stopped vomiting.

“I’ll be fine,” she said, flushing the toilet and slowly trying to gather herself. “It’s just nausea. The baby’s misbehaving.”

He helped her up. She didn’t seem okay to him. Not by a long shot. “Is it something we ate? Are you allergic to shellfish?” They’d eaten the same thing at the Crabby Lobster, and he was feeling okay.

“No, but who know? I’m pregnant. Maybe something didn’t agree with me?”

“You’re shivering.” And she felt very hot to the touch. “I think you have a fever.”

Annie winced and pressed her hand against her stomach.

“What?”

“Cramps. I better lay down.”

She was already walking toward the door when suddenly she turned around and, covering her mouth, rushed to the toilet and vomited again. Max held her hair back until she finished.

This time she didn’t even attempt to stand up.

“Did you eat anything after the restaurant?” he asked, handing her a glass of water to rinse with.

She nodded. “I went rummaging in the fridge after the shower. I wanted bacon, and we were out of Nutella, so I used some mayo.”

“How long have you had it?”

“Honestly? No clue. I didn’t even know we had any. Your aunt probably brought the jar. It can’t be that, though; otherwise everybody in Rosita’s would have gotten sick. It’s just the pregnancy playing havoc with my system. Go back to bed. I got this.”

Max snorted.
Yeah, right
. Like there was a chance in hell he was going to leave her there.

Annie threw up several times until it was humanly impossible she had anything left to retch. Looking exhausted, she leaned her forehead against the ceramic. “Good thing you’re not a sympathetic puker.”

“We really need to stop meeting like this. I’m not used to making girls ill. This is very bad for my self-confidence. They tend to be doing something else when they’re on their knees.”

“I bet they are,” she said, smiling faintly.

Annie tried to stand up, but the vomiting had taken all her strength, so he whisked her into his arms. “Let’s get you to bed.”

The last time she had just dry-heaved, so it looked like she was done. That she didn’t even complain when he lifted her spoke volumes.

He put her in bed, placed an empty trash can by her side on the floor, took a clean towel, and after dampening it, put in on her forehead. “I think we should go to a hospital.”

“I’m too sick for that,” she croaked. Whatever expression he had on his face must have been comical because she chuckled softly. “You know what I mean. Whatever food poisoning I got, I’m better now. It will go away.”

Fuck if it would. He wasn’t happy. She was way too pale, but she was now smiling, so he let it be. “I’ll go to the kitchen. We need to get some fluids in you.”

The fridge was full, like always. He found the jar with the homemade mayo. It smelled good to him, but he threw it away.

Max was giving Annie another half an hour; if she didn’t look better by then, he was taking her to the hospital, and that was that.

When he made it back to her room, she was lying in a fetal crouch. On the plus side, she wasn’t barfing. “Cramps?”

“That’ll teach me to go raiding the fridge after hours.” She took a sip of the water he’d brought. “Thanks. Go to sleep. It’s very late, and I’m better.”

“Okay,” he said and lay beside her.

“I meant in your bed, you dork.”

He went for affronted. “You’re kicking me out? I’ll have you know I’ve never been kicked out of anyone’s bed. This is outrageous. I’m going nowhere. Just on principle.”

While she let out an amused snort, he took his cell from his pocket and accessed the Internet. He knew how to get her mind off the cramps. “Remember how you told me your mom is prepping for a pandemic? Several months ago, I read a very interesting article about popular games. Ever heard of
Pandemic Now
?”

Annie shook her head, peeking at the screen while Max pulled up the game’s home page, a world’s map. “It’s a simulation for wiping out the world’s population with a designed virus. How it would mutate to become as lethal as possible. And how to stop it.”

Even though she was sick, his words caught her attention right away. “Get out of here. My mother is going to love this.”

“You know, this is the first time I’ve had someone in my bed plotting total extermination.”

Annie watched as he played. He asked her questions here and there, keeping her mind occupied, and in half an hour, she was looking better. Not rosy by any stretch of the imagination, but she hadn’t thrown up again and her shivering had stopped.

In two hours, they had wiped out the world’s population three times, and she was peacefully sleeping against his shoulder.

Chapter Seven

The new designer restaurant was stunning. The woman accompanying him too.

The date was shaping up to be an absolute disaster.

Max had nodded and smiled through the first and second courses, totally unable to follow the thread of the conversation. Or monologue, as it was turning out to be. Not Serena’s fault. He should have canceled, but they’d agreed to this two weeks ago.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t concentrate on the beautiful woman in front of him or any of her words. They just didn’t hold his attention. The seconds dragged like hell, which, much to his surprise, had been happening a lot when he went out on dates. He blamed Annie for it.

He’d been spending many evenings home with her, and hours had literally flown by. She was funny. And so witty. If she were here with him now, he would have been laughing his head off and having the time of his life. Then again, he wasn’t sure Annie would have gone for a place like this. She had the manners and the looks to pull it off, of course, but he saw her preferring more comfortable surroundings. Like the Crabby Lobster.

And she didn’t seem to be into parading herself or going to the trendiest places. As a matter of fact, she loved staying home and watching old reruns.

“Max?” Serena said, taking him out of his reverie.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear you. Come again?”

“What do you think if we share the dessert?”

“Sure,” he replied, flagging their waitress. Given the minuscule portion sizes in this place, half a dessert or a whole one wouldn’t make the slightest difference. He’d be left hungry anyway.

“Perfect, because I’m quite full already. I shouldn’t be indulging in dessert, but what the hell. You only live once, right?”

When the cheesecake came, it was a tiny speck in the middle of a fancy decorated plate. How she managed to split that was beyond him, but she did.

Serena started talking again, and soon after that, Max fell off the wagon. Lately, Annie was looking exhausted, and he was worried. She hadn’t been throwing up, and whatever food poisoning she got after the Crabby Lobster was gone by next morning, but he’d heard her moving around the house at night a couple of times already, as if she had trouble sleeping.

“Max, are you listening to me?” Serena was frowning at him. Ticked off.

“Sorry, I’m a bit distracted tonight.”

“You okay? One would think I was boring you.”

“Of course not,” he lied, not wanting to hurt her. She was the same girl he’d gone out with on many occasions. And he’d always enjoyed spending time with her. Not anymore. “I have some things on my mind. I’m afraid I’m not great company today.”

“Dancing will cheer you up.”

No. He wanted to get back home. Like now. “Rain check?”

“We don’t have to go dancing,” she suggested. “We could go to my place for a last drink.”

“I’d like to make it an early night,” Max apologized, taking care of the bill. “Thank you anyway.”

Serena pouted but didn’t insist. “Another time, then.”

They left the restaurant, and Max drove to her place in silence, an uncomfortable one he barely noticed because he was too distracted and preoccupied. In half an hour, they were in Alden. He dropped Serena off with a contrite smile and hurried home. To Annie.

When he got through the door, Annie was climbing the stairs, yoga pants and a T-shirt on, a bowl of popcorn in her hands.

“Yo, Pregnant Lady, what are you up to?”

She smiled, and his breath caught. She was beautiful, but when she smiled, she was just spectacular, those hazel eyes of hers shining even brighter.

“Yo, Boob Enhancer, you came just in time for
Babylon 5
.”

He took his jacket off. Friday was sci-fi night for Annie. “Bring it on. But I checked with Christy; Trekkies do not particularly like B5.”

Annie snorted. “I’m no Trekkie. Hey,” she complained as Max took a kernel of popcorn. “Didn’t you eat dinner?”

“Not really.”

“Another of those feeding-themselves-through-photosynthesis girls?”

“Sort of. Plus a designer restaurant in downtown Boston. Bad combination.”

Annie handed the bowl to him. “I know that kind of restaurant. You need to have dinner first. You don’t go to eat. You go there to see and be seen. Why are you home so early?”

He shrugged. “Got bored. They didn’t have mallets.”

And maybe that was part of the problem too. None of the dates he’d had these past two weeks had come even close to that impromptu dinner with Annie. Hell, not even close to a night playing video games with a sick Annie.

She laughed. “I’m glad. I love to think that’s our thing.”

Their thing. He liked the sound of that. “
Our
thing? You didn’t let me crack a claw. Next time I’m calling dibs.”

“Fair enough. Let me nuke some nachos,” she offered. “We have some jalapeños.”

He was a sucker for spicy nachos; he’d mentioned that once to her. When he made it to the kitchen, she already had layers of chips and cheese on a baking sheet in the oven and was cutting the jalapeños.

“How hungry are you?”

Well, he’d been hungry before. Now he was starving.

Reading his face, she gestured to the fridge. “Will you get the pulled pork and nuke it?”

“What are you going to do with it?” he asked as he complied.

“Easiest, tastiest nachos you’ve ever tried.”

They chatted and laughed and before he realized it, she had the food on a big platter and was sprinkling jalapeños and warm pulled pork on it.

“That looks delicious.” And smelled even better.

She picked up one chip, blew on it, and offered the platter to him. “What do you say? More jalapeños or more pulled pork?”

As she took a bite, some of the melted cheese got stuck on her lip. Without even thinking about it, he swiped it with his thumb and then sucked it. “Just perfect.”

She froze, but he didn’t let the moment turn awkward. “Come on, Ace. Let’s get to your B5. Two episodes. Then we’re moving to
The Walking Dead
.”

That seemed to unfreeze her. “I can’t watch
The Walking Dead
.”

“Why the hell not?” he asked, carrying the platter upstairs. “You have something against zombies?”

“No, but I always wait until a series is finished before giving it a go. Life’s too short to spend it watching something that may have an awful ending or will be canceled. I learned my lesson with
Firefly
.”

“With what?”

“You see?” she said, lifting her hands. “That’s exactly my point.”

“So when half of America is watching the final episode of whatever popular show has gone for several years, you are…”

“In bed covering my ears, of course.”

Max broke into laughter. “You’re so frigging anal.”

“Duh, I’m an accountant.”

“Auditor,” he corrected her as they made their way to the sofa and then sat down.

She rolled her eyes. “Glorified accountant.”

“Sorry, Ace, but we’re going to start living on the edge. For every episode of B5, we see one of
The Walking Dead
. Deal?”

“Do I have a choice?”

He smirked. “My house. My rules.”

“Okay,” she grumbled clicking Play.

They watched B5 while munching on nachos and popcorn. “I don’t understand what you see in this show.”

“Of course not. It’s before your time.”

“Really? And what’s my time?”

She pondered for a second, a teasing smile tugging at her lips. “
Pokémon
?”

Max threw a kernel of popcorn at her. Such a smartass. “Now seriously. What’s so special about B5?”

Annie shrugged. “In
Star Trek
, humans are so goody-goody. Always trying to save everyone pro bono. In B5, humans are as corrupt as the other aliens. I love all the politics in the show. The shadow agendas. The deception.”

“Ah, I get it,” he said, turning to her. “The show brings out the forensic-accountant detective in you.”

“Maybe. You wouldn’t believe how many times things are not at all what they look like. We’ve had some pillars-of-the-community clients who turned out to be…well, assholes. Big frauds. But numbers don’t lie. You just have to follow the money,” she finished with a smirk.