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Before she was ready, he was slipping out of bed and heading to the bathroom to start the bath. She settled against the pillows as the sound of water running reached her.
She’d never done anything like that with anyone. She’d given him complete control in bed, over her, over their lovemaking. If she analyzed what that meant, what Max had been trying to accomplish, she’d probably drive herself crazy in the process.
“Stop worrying, Anna.”
She found him standing at the bathroom door frowning at her. Ignoring his expression, she allowed her gaze to roam over him. He was still nude, of course, the light of the bathroom spilling around him, and her heart turned over. There was no way she would ever get used to having him look at her like that. She had a feeling she’d lost more than the game tonight, but she didn’t want to think about it. She smiled at him, which he returned in kind.
She rose out of bed, ignoring the ache in her arms, and padded across her wooden floor to him. Sliding her arms around him, she said, “Not worrying one bit.”
Moments later, she was leaning against him, enjoying the warmth of the bath, and decided that for one night, worries about Max could wait. She just wanted to enjoy.
eleven
One of thethings Anna loved about owning her restaurant was early mornings. There was something about the bustle of business, the chatty customers, and the smell of good beans to get her blood pumping. It is what got her out of bed each morning ready to face the day.
In the midmorning lull, though, she was forced to do the one thing she hated more than going to the dentist. Paperwork and computer work. These days it was worse than putting up with the tedious job. It gave her too much time to think about the one person who inhabited her thoughts more than anything else these days.
She knew she was overreacting, but she still had qualms about the knowing looks they’d gotten from the others at dinner on Saturday night. And if one more person came up to her and said how right they were for each other, she would scream. They weren’t. They were polar opposites in all the ways that mattered. Max was a control freak and had been for years.
She couldn’t deny her enjoyment of the other night in bed. There were two levels to that, though. Max proved Saturday night he could control her in bed, and in her mind that wasn’t a good thing. It damn near scared her to death to know exactly what he could do to her. It wasn’t just his lovemaking, but her reaction to it. She knew each time they went to bed together, he gained a little more of her soul. Soon, she would do anything to please him, and that was a position she’d promised herself she would never be in again. Max probably knew that and had plans to use it to gain what he wanted. She would not allow that. It was about time he realized it before it went too far. Which, if she were honest, it already had.
Anna sighed in aggravation and scrubbed her hands over her face. Jesus, he was driving her crazy. She was sure Max had some ultimate plan in motion. It would be just like him to plan a freaking courtship because they’d been sleeping together. His outdated sense of duty would require that of him. Anna knew he hadn’t been a virgin before Cynthia, but Anna also knew she was in a different category in his mind than many other women. With their families so close, he would worry how it looked if he fooled around with her, and then didn’t maneuver a wedding.
She had to do something to stop the train wreck they were headed for. Hell, he almost married Cynthia out of obligation, and they hadn’t even had good sex.
Her office phone rang, dragging her out of her morbid thoughts.
“Anna,” her mother said.
“Mama. What’s up?”
“I talked to Charise, and she told me that Max and Cynthia broke off the engagement.”
Amazing. Max’s parents were still in Greece, but his mother made sure to call Louise Dewinter to gossip.
“Yeah, she dumped him.”
Her mother chuckled. “Of course. Max wouldn’t drop the engagement. It would go against some kind of code. You know how he is.”
“Yeah.” Sometimes her mother was a bit too perceptive. “Was there anything else?”
“No. I guess Charise is a bit worried that Max will brood over it. Not that she thinks he’s brokenhearted or anything. She was convinced that he just saw that Cynthia needed fixing and stepped in.”
“Hmmm.” Since Anna had thought the same thing, she had nothing to say to that. “Well, if you talk to Charise, tell her not to worry. Max and I were out Saturday night, and he was just fine.”
There was a brief pause, then her mother said, “Oh, good. Because Charise has been trying to get hold of him and he seems to be out of the office a lot lately. And when she tried to call him Sunday morning, he didn’t answer.”
For the first time in years, Anna blushed. She remembered exactly what Max had been doing on Sunday morning. It had involved whipped cream and chocolate syrup and licking it off her body. She cleared her throat.
“Was there anything else?”
“No. Charise just wanted me to check. She didn’t want to bug you at work, so I did it for her. She worries about him and his work schedule.”
“Oh, Hank kept the same kind of schedule while he was running the business.”
“Yes, and he had a heart attack because of it.”
That made Anna pause. “Hank had a heart attack?”
