To the Max (18 page)

He was having the biggest morning wood ever. His only saving grace up until now had been that he’d roll off the bed before she woke up, and take a cold shower. Not happening today.

He was going to hear about skipping today’s run, but he couldn’t care less. He’d been watching her since dawn, caressing her back. She always slept in long sweats, but she had on a camisole, and it had rolled a bit up. From his vantage point, he could see the sexy curve of her back dipping to her ass, and he could feel her skin against him. Not to mention her hot pussy against his thigh.

And the small bump in her belly.

He should probably be more horrified about how much he wanted her, but he wasn’t. Her pregnancy books were all over the place. He’d tried to ignore them at first, but soon he’d found himself devouring them. He knew all there was to know, down to the nitty-gritty details. Still, when he looked at her, he didn’t see a pregnant lady. He saw a smoking-hot woman he was dying to make love to.

He had no clue what she’d been dreaming about, but she’d been a bit restless, her mouth brushing his pierced nipple several times while he did his damnedest not to come. Hell, not to move. There was nothing more he wanted than to touch and kiss her.

Hopefully she wouldn’t roll on her back before waking up. He was going to love seeing her face when she realized she was wrapped around him.

And he got his wish.

As she slowly woke up, she lifted her gaze to him.

He smiled. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

She screamed and rolled away, pushing her camisole down.

Yep, he’d been right.

“Don’t worry,” he assured her, lifting his arms. “I’ve been a total gentleman. I haven’t moved an inch. Not even when you started moaning and rubbing against me.”

“Oh my God!” she cried, covering her face with her hands. “Did I do something to you?”

Max barked out a laugh. “I can tell you with one-hundred percent certainty this is the first time a woman has asked me that.”

She peeked between her fingers. She was red. So fucking cute. “Did I?”

“Just kidding, Ace. You haven’t abused me.” Not that he would have objected in the slightest.

That seemed to calm her. “Lost the bet, I see,” she mumbled, looking around.

“Yes. Not complaining, though.”

Annie shook her head. “Max, this—” She froze. “Oh God.”

“What?” Max asked, stilling himself.

She took his hand and put it on her stomach under her camisole. “Feel that?” she whispered.

Damn if he didn’t. There, against his palm, a slight kick. Several, actually.

Their gazes locked, both holding their breath until the movement stopped. “That was amazing.”

“Sure it was.”

Her expression was giddy. Bewildered. Her smile so wide it was going to split her face. “I haven’t felt her before. She’s quite a kicker.”

“She?”

Annie lifted her hand from on top of his, but he didn’t move. “She’s a girl.”

“How do you figure?” She was almost four months pregnant, but it was too early to know the gender without genetic testing.

She shrugged. “I just know. You’ll see.”

They stayed like that for a long second, static energy swirling around them. He knew he should pull his hand away from her stomach, but he couldn’t. Hell, he couldn’t stop looking at her.

“Max?” she whispered.

“You’re beautiful. You know that, don’t you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Were you drinking yesterday?”

“Totally sober, Ace.” She opened her mouth to probably dismiss his statement, but he lunged forward. “And you know this Luigi is a total moron if he decides to pass on you and her, right?”

Annie was staring at him, her gaze soft, a shaky smile on her lips. The desire to kiss her was so damn strong, he was not going to be able to stop himself. He was going to take her mouth and ravage her, the way he’d been dreaming about for quite a while already, and to hell with the consequences.

Suddenly an ominous ringtone broke the spell. That was…the soundtrack for
Terminator?

Annie turned to the nightstand. “
Judgment Day
. My mom’s calling.”

In spite of his unfulfilled lust, his blue balls, and his general frustration and itchiness, Max chuckled.

Annie propped herself on the headboard, tucked her hair behind her ears, and answered the cell. “Hi, Mom.”

He watched her talking to her mother, bunching the sheet on his crotch so that his hard-on wouldn’t be so evident. Man, she was gorgeous.

“Okay, wait a second and I’ll get a pencil for the tracking number,” she said as she walked to the table to retrieve a notepad. “Yes, I’ll pick it up. Don’t worry. How are things going?” Then she was talking with her mother’s husband. “Hi, Larry. No, renovations aren’t ready. I’m staying with a friend… Sure, see you soon.”

Staying with a friend. For some reason, that rubbed him the wrong way.

After some time, Annie clicked the cell off. “She has sent a new, improved pandemic-preparedness kit. For two people, in case the bugs attack and we both need to suit up and sterilize the place.”

“Man, that’s so nuts.”

“Tell me about it.”

Then something caught his attention. “Ace, you haven’t told her you’re pregnant, have you?” There had been no talk of the baby, and after feeling her first kick, the most logical thing would have been to blab about it.

Annie gave him a
duh
look. “Max, my mom is ready for the end of the world, not for me to have a baby by a gigolo.”

“When are you going to tell her? You’re going to run out of time.”

“Oh, I’ll go to visit her during her next drill,” she answered, her expression full of mischief. “You don’t know all that you can hide under a hazmat suit.”

Max barked out a laugh. Yep, definitely nuts.

Chapter Ten

“You’ll love it. You’ll see,” Christy said as she pushed the library cart to the next section and placed several books on the shelves. “It’s very light exercise, and now that you’re sleeping and not puking, you can handle exotic aerobics. I’ll bring an extra chair for you.”

Annie wasn’t that convinced. She’d enjoyed the abs and butts class, but this was different. This needed coordination. “Have any of you fallen off the chair so far?” she asked, picking up one book from the cart and trying to figure out where it belonged. Christy had often complained about Mrs. Wilkinson’s weird tagging methods, but it seemed she was already quite at home with them.

“No.”

“Prepare to be amazed and embarrassed, then,” she said, finally giving up and handing the book to Christy for her to put in the right place. “I’ll be the first.”

Christy snorted. “That’s nothing. Cole threw me over his shoulder and carried me out of there last time. Talk about embarrassing.”

“And you’re back because…?”

“I’m standing my ground just on principle,” Christy stated. Then she whispered, “Besides, makeup sex with Cole is amazing.”

Annie laughed. “You’re so naughty.”

The ringing of Annie’s cell sounded incredibly loud in the empty library.

“You’re lucky it’s closing time and Mrs. Wilkinson isn’t here. She would have had your hide for this.”

Yep. No two ways about it. Annie would have been paying fines until hell froze over.

She checked the screen. “Damn.”

“What?”

“It’s that time of the year again,” she muttered, answering the call. “Hello, Charlene. Yes, I know. No, I haven’t been checking my mail. Sorry. Of course. Yes. You can confirm it.”

Annie looked at her friend, who had obviously recognized Charlene’s name, because she was cringing.

“Invitations by snail mail have been sent already?” Christy asked after Annie closed the phone.

“Probably today it hit the mailbox.” Charlene was nothing if not anal. After all, it was a trait that ran in the family. One couldn’t work for the Vaughans without being like them.

“Are you going to go?”

“What else can I do? Ever since I can remember, I’ve tried to get out of it. Nothing has ever worked.” Hell, Annie recalled having a fever of 102 and still attending her father’s birthday.

“And that?” Christy asked, pointing at her belly.

“I’m turning thirty-six. I can damn well have a baby on my frigging own. Lizzie and I will be fine.”

“Lizzie?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “Not Patricia. Lizzie.”

“Good for you. Stick to your guns.”

She had to. Her grandma would swallow her otherwise. She might anyway.

“Let’s sign me up for this exotic aerobics class before I change my mind,” Annie said, shaking off her thoughts. “In exchange, you have to be one of my minions for Halloween.”

“Deal. You won’t regret taking exotic aerobics. It’s fun.”

“Ha! I listened to you when you told me to join the romance e-club, and look where that took me. I’m having wetter dreams than a frigging teenager and one-clicking smutty e-books like an OCD person out of Prozac.”

“And isn’t that fun?” Christy asked with a grin.

Maybe for Christy, because she was having crazy monkey sex with her fiancé. Annie was harassing a twenty-seven-year-old in her sleep.

And she knew she’d been harassing him because, before waking up, she’d been having one of those wet dreams her pregnancy hormones liked so much. It wasn’t clear if it was because of the hormones or because of Max. Probably both.

“I felt her first kick yesterday. Max was with me. We felt it together.”

It had been so right to experience that with Max by her side. Scary too, especially when she was still going out with Luigi. The truth of the matter was, she hadn’t even wanted to mention the baby’s first kick to him, let alone have him present. It seemed too intimate to share with him. And she doubted he would appreciate it either.

“You’re still sleeping with Max.”

Annie nodded.

Christy thought the world of Max, but Annie could tell she was worried for her. “Why? Amazing back rubs, great mattress, I get it, but that doesn’t explain sleeping with him every night.”

“I’m not sure,” Annie answered, not really wanting to delve into the whys. She liked his hands on her. His gentle touch. His smell around her. In spite of all the horny dreams, she was very comfortable with him.

Be that as it may, she knew this sleeping arrangement had to go, because the lines were getting blurred. Max was like a piece of extremely rich, triple-chocolate fudge cake with all the trimmings. You could resist it for a while, but if you had it around for too long, you were bound to find yourself taking a bite of it. And falling in love with it. And crying desperately when you ran out of it and discovered the rest of the cake was not for you. That, she couldn’t afford. Being heartbroken was something she couldn’t risk, not with a baby on the way on top of everything else.

“Are you still seeing Luigi?” Christy asked, taking her out of her reverie.

“He’s coming to pick me up tomorrow.” Which was a first. They’d gone out several times already, but she’d always driven herself there and back.

“Going out with Luigi and sleeping with Max will—”

“Explode in my face,” Annie finished. “I know.” She couldn’t have anything with Max, and she wasn’t sure she wanted anything with Luigi.

* * * *

The doorbell rang, and Max’s chest tightened. He’d known this was a bad idea. He should have left the house. Gone to the Red Chicken. The gym. Hell, to the Crabby Lobster for a couple of smashers. But, glutton for punishment that he was, he’d been unable to leave. He was home, with Annie at that very moment upstairs, getting ready to go out with someone else. Someone who was ringing the doorbell.

Fuck if he knew what he’d expected, but the person he saw when he opened the door was a well-dressed, nice-looking, perfumed man. Max hated him on the spot.

“Hello, I’m Luigi. You must be Annie’s roommate,” he said, offering him his hand.

Max felt like chopping it off. Nevertheless he suppressed a scowl and shook it. “Max.”

“I’m here for Annie,” he said, a big white-toothed smile on his perfectly shaven face.

Like Max didn’t fucking know.

Annie was coming down the stairs and Max’s stomach knotted at the sight. This time she did look like she was going out on a date. She was dressed up, her hair loose. Elegant and classy. She was fucking stunning.

Luigi must have thought the same, because he was eating her with his gaze.

Max crossed his arms over his chest, gripping his biceps so hard he was losing the feeling in his fingers. The vein at his temple throbbed.

Luigi reached for Annie, kissing her on the cheek. She went instantly red, but she didn’t reject him.

Max lowered his gaze, clenching his teeth. He’d known this was going to be hard, but he’d had no clue how fucking hard. This was unbearable, everything inside him screaming for him to put a stop to it.

Max stood on the porch, watching Luigi lead Annie to his car with his hand on the small of her back. He wanted nothing more in this world than to dart toward them, beat the shit out of that smiling son of a bitch, and take her into the house, into his bed, but he fought against the fury and impotence racing through his blood and remained still.

* * * *

“Thank you for a great date,” Annie said while Luigi accompanied her to the front door after taking her to the theater and then to dinner.

“My pleasure.” He reached for her as if to kiss her good night on the lips, and she hastily backed away. Luigi was handsome and fantastic company, but she wasn’t comfortable with him touching her, much less kissing her.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, realizing what she’d done.

His smile was resigned. “It’s okay. Good night, sweetheart.”

Annie made her way upstairs. The whole place was in shadows, except for the flickering TV light coming from Max’s room.

She headed to her room, put on her pajamas, and then went to the bathroom. On her way out, she faltered for a second. A turn to the left would take her to her bed. To the right, to his. She knew very well what would be the reasonable thing to do. The correct thing. But she couldn’t do it. Before she realized it, she was in front of Max’s half-open door.

She pushed it slowly, trying to convince herself that if he was asleep, she would turn the TV off and leave.