“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Everything is as fine as we can make it, given the circumstances.” She had to put his offenses out of her thoughts for now. She was here for Paige’s sake. That’s what she needed to focus on. She opened the math book to a random page. She tried to focus on the equations. Instead her gaze lifted, and, against her better judgment, she looked at Max.
He responded with another smile.
Her pulse leaped. What was it about him that made her unable to look without wanting to taste?
Olivia drew a long, deep breath, hoping the action would help her get herself under control. “How can I help?”
He narrowed his eyes on her. “I’m having her take a standardized test to find out what she knows, beyond what I’ve taught, and where she needs help.”
With an effort, Olivia pulled her gaze away from his, looking out the window instead. “That makes sense.”
“Are you certain everything is okay? Because you seem different today.”
Paige looked up from her papers with a frown, her gaze flitting between the two of them.
Olivia wished she and Max could talk about what she’d seen on the Internet or in the newspaper this afternoon. She shrugged as she moved to sit at a desk near Paige.
“Let’s just say I woke up from the dream this morning.”
Confusion that couldn’t have been fake darkened his eyes. “You’re not making any sense.” A fierce frown creased his brow.
“How’s the test going?” Olivia asked.
“Fine.” Paige drew out the word as her eyes narrowed. She knew something wasn’t right between Olivia and Max.
“You’d better get back to your test,” Olivia said, forcing a smile she didn’t feel. She’d have to explain things to Paige when she herself understood why Max had lied to her.
Olivia stood and headed for the door, signaling with her finger for Max to follow. She wouldn’t talk about his deception in front of Paige. The girl had had enough disappointments in her life. She didn’t need to know that Max was no different from all the other men who’d deceived her.
Such dark thoughts, however, didn’t stop her heart from leaping just a little when he looked at her the way he did now. They stood outside the door, almost toe-to-toe, so close she could reach out and touch him if she wanted to. He waited for her to speak, his expression one of hopeful understanding.
“I don’t want anything to do with you anymore. Other than tutoring Paige, we have no reason to see each other.”
“Olivia! You can’t mean that. The test was wrong. The program’s corrupted.”
“It’s not because of the test.”
His jaw tight with frustration, he asked, “Then what changed since Friday night?”
“Maybe you should ask your fiancée . . .”
“Fiancée?” His croak echoed in the silence of the hallway. “You know about that?” In the depths of his eyes she saw pain and something else, something she couldn’t name. With gentleness he reached out, touched her.
She didn’t pull away, but she didn’t encourage him either. “Why?” Her voice trembled. “Why would you make love to me when you were engaged to her?”
“It’s not what it looks like.”
Olivia sputtered. It was the oldest line in the Cheater’s Handbook. She dug deep for control and poise, wanting to know the truth. “Are you engaged, or are you not?”
A ragged sigh slipped from his lips. “Technically, yes.”
She pulled her fingers from his as a shimmer of tears glazed her eyes.
“Let me explain.”
Another line from the Handbook? “Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.” Tears fell to her cheeks. “I don’t know what else there is to say.”
“There’s a lot to say, but there are also things I can’t tell you. Not yet.”
His expression grew tortured. Despite her crushed heart, something in her ached to touch him. She barely held herself in check.
“I wasn’t expecting you to come into my life. You must know from the short time we’ve spent together I would never do anything to willingly hurt you. There is a lot more to the story.”
She offered him a skeptical look. “What? Is this some sort of arranged marriage?”
He shook his head. “It’s an arrangement of sorts.”
“Did you ask her to marry you?”
“No.”
She wasn’t sure why, but that simple answer made her feel infinitely better. Batting the tears away from her cheeks with the back of her hand she asked, “Did she ask you to marry her?”
“In a sense. There was a situation, and it seemed like the right thing to do. And please don’t ask me about the situation. I can’t tell you that right now.” He said the words as though he might tell her in the future.
“Did she take your Matchmaker test?”
He laughed at that. “Yes, she took the test. We aren’t a match.”
“Well, at least we have that in common.”
His gaze narrowed on her again. “The program is corrupted. I’m trying to fix it, and when I do, watch out.”
She shook her head, amazed at his self-confidence. “It doesn’t matter whether we match or not, Max. You’re engaged to another woman.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but she stilled his words with a wave of her hand. “Until your availability changes, we have nothing to talk about—except Paige.” At her statement, a staggering sense of loss moved through her. It was too much to hold in. She fled.
Olivia looked up at Max from under her long, wet eyelashes. She’d returned to his classroom after thirty minutes in the girls’ restroom. His heart hammered at the vulnerability he saw there—at the vulnerability he’d put there. Her disappointment touched him on a level he wasn’t prepared for. He hadn’t felt this way about a woman in a long time. He should have told her the moment he realized . . . he knew what he was feeling wasn’t simply lust. There was a bond between them, as if they were somehow two parts of a whole. And he couldn’t do a damn thing about it because of his promise to Annalise.
At least they had Paige to force them to interact, or Max was certain Olivia would have left for good. The look in her eyes told him more than she probably wanted him to know. She was angry, but she was also conflicted. She’d felt the connection between them every bit as much as he had—an undeniable pull that neither of them could put out of their minds. But the one bright spot was that that connection would serve him well until he figured out this whole mess.
“Olivia, will you come with me to the math lab to grade Paige’s test? I’d like to talk to you.”
She frowned. “You can’t grade it here?”
“It’s a standardized test. We run them through the Scantron machine.”
With a reluctant nod, she followed him out the door and down the hallway. He slid the dot sheet into the machine and turned to Olivia while the program produced the results. “If we can’t talk about us, can we talk about Paige?”
“There is no us.” She straightened but kept her gaze trained on her black leather boots. “But yes, we can talk about Paige. Is something wrong?”
“I’m actually quite impressed with her determination lately in the classroom. She’s pushing herself pretty hard. A little too hard, which worries me.”
“How can determination and working hard be a bad thing?” Olivia asked. “If Paige doesn’t push herself, how will she ever pass her classes or make anything of herself?”
“It’s not the pushing that’s a problem. It’s the highs and lows she’s been exhibiting when she does push herself that worry me. One minute she’s on the top of the world—the next she’s depressed, angry, and defiant.”
Olivia frowned. “That sounds like normal teenager behavior. I’ve seen the same kind of thing when the two of us have done activities together as part of the Gals and Pals program.”
“Not like this,” Max said. He’d been teaching for only five years, but already he could see patterns in his st
udents’ behavior. Paige’s behavior warned him that something else was wrong beyond her struggles with school. “Is she getting pressure outside of school about anything?”
“Not that I know of.”
He pressed his lips into a thin line. “Why don’t you check at home, and I’ll ask some of the other kids if they know anything or anyone who might be putting pressure on Paige.”
Olivia nodded. “I’ll talk with her foster mother today. She’s usually pretty tapped into how her foster kids are doing.”
Max felt a tic in his jaw as he asked the question he knew she wouldn’t like to hear. “Could there be a problem with her foster parents?”
“The Millers?” Olivia seemed startled. “Not a chance. They’re a model foster family.” Color brightened her cheeks. “Whatever is wrong with Paige, it has nothing to do with them.” Her voice hardened with the weight of her conviction.
He held up his hands in supplication. “I meant no offense. Just exploring all the angles.” Despite the seriousness of their discussion, Max couldn’t help but think Olivia looked spectacular when riled. The fire in her golden-brown eyes gave her face an animation that made him want to keep her in her current state of breathlessness. He wanted to close the distance between them and touch her lips to his, to taste her passion fully.
Max fisted his hands at his sides, fighting the urge. He could feel his blood pounding through his veins as he stared at her rich, full lips. The woman was temptation itself, but he had no right to touch her. None at all.
The grading machine spit out Paige’s test with a low-level hum.
“How’d she do?” Olivia asked. “Any surprises there?”
Max studied the results, then returned his gaze to hers. “The assessment only confirms what I’ve come to suspect this last week. She’s working at an eighth-grade level. We have lots of catching up to do to get her up with her classmates.”
Olivia broke eye contact with him. “We should get back to Paige.”
He watched, his heart heavy, as Olivia walked back into his classroom. The truth hovered on his lips, but he bit it back. He had to talk to Annalise first, before he told Olivia anything. He owed his high school sweetheart at least that much.
Closing his eyes against the bitter sting of having done things all wrong, he wondered why Annalise had gone against their plan and released their engagement photos on the web. There had to be a reason; there always was with Annalise.
CHAPTER TEN
Max had to wait until Friday night to see Annalise. It had taken that long to find a space in her busy social calendar. He’d told her it was urgent, that they had to meet in person, and still it had taken four days for him to see his own fiancée. If he hadn’t already started thinking what he and Annalise were doing was wrong, her delay was a big indicator that something wasn’t right.
In so many ways, they were no ordinary couple. Her living arrangements were proof of that. But it wasn’t Annalise who filled Max’s thoughts as he parked his car in the garage of the Four Seasons Hotel. His thoughts were of Olivia. This was where they’d met, where they’d shared that one passionate night together. At the memory of her in his arms, his body burned. A smile played over his lips as he hopped out of his car and headed toward the elevator.
Standing near the elevator bay was Annalise’s Rolls-Royce. Her driver leaned against the car, waiting as he always did for his employer to need him at a moment’s notice. Usually the man gave Max a friendly hello and a nod as he passed by the car.
“Hey, Jimmy,” Max greeted.
The chauffeur said nothing as he stared off into the distance.
Max walked past and pressed the elevator button, assuming the man was distracted by something. He slipped inside and headed for the lobby above. The minute the elevator opened to the lobby, Max saw the reporters. Ducking his head, he moved toward the next bay of elevators that would take him to Annalise’s penthouse, but one of the reporters recognized him before he pushed the “Demand” button.
“Mr. Right, can we talk to you about your upcoming wedding?” a young man asked as he came toward Max, camera clicking.
Grateful the doors of the elevator opened, Max got in. “Maybe later,” he said with a wave and a smile. Inside the elevator, he hit the “Close Door” button. When the metal doors sealed, he released a long sigh. Annalise loved all the attention the reporters gave her. He hated it. What wouldn’t the reporters do to create a gossip storm if they learned his and Annalise’s engagement was fake? That kind of news would fuel the society section of their papers for weeks.
As soon as the doors opened on the twelfth floor, Max stepped out and headed for room 1201. Taking a deep breath, he knocked.
“Max?” A young, willowy blonde opened the door. Annalise stepped forward and kissed Max on both cheeks. “I’m so glad it’s you. Those pesky reporters have been snapping pictures right and left since our engagement was announced.”
Max came in and closed the door. “About that—”
“Isn’t it great?” Annalise interrupted. “The press love me, especially the Intruder. I help them sell lots of copies. My mysterious wedding is front-page news.”
Max gave her a hard look. “Why did you release the pictures of us early?”
Annalise’s perfect mouth pulled down in a pout. How had he ever thought that look was attractive? With a sigh, Max answered his own question. When you’re sixteen, any female who pays attention to you is exciting. But they weren’t sixteen any longer.
“You know better than anyone how powerful and bossy my father is. He started questioning the money I’m spending on a venue and my gown. So I needed him to see the kind of results he appreciates. Media results.”
Max looked around the expensive suite at the buttery sofa, dark woods, and creamy marble. Everything around Annalise was the finest money could buy. “This isn’t a real wedding, Annalise. You don’t need any of those things.”
“I know this isn’t a real wedding, Max.” Annalise’s blue eyes narrowed. “But we need to make it look like it is. Daddy is starting to suspect something is different.” She brought her hand to her abdomen. “I’m starting to show.”
Max frowned. Her abdomen was as flat as ever. No one would ever suspect the socialite was pregnant. He stared at the woman before him and couldn’t help but contrast her with Olivia. Annalise worried what the world thought of her, but Olivia thought only about what she could do for the world.
“I’m not sure I can go through with this charade,” Max said. “Why not tell your father the truth? Making him think I am the father of your baby, then having me dump you is only going to make everyone more upset.”
Annalise paused for a second as if gathering her thoughts; then she moved slowly to her mahogany desk, opened the drawer, and withdrew a thick packet of legal-size paper. Max didn’t need to see the words on the documents to know that it was their contract. She’d hired a lawyer in Venezuela to draw it up. Wanting confidentiality, and a lawyer who knew nothing of her father, she’d gone out of the country for her legal needs. “You remember this?”
“Yes. It’s hard to forget signing a document twenty-six times,” he said with a hint of a growl.
“A deal’s a deal.”
She looked so much like her father just then—a businessman who never took no for an answer. Max cleared the tension from his throat. “I met someone.”
As the words echoed around them, Max watched Annalise’s face. Her determined expression gave way, becoming harder, colder. She strode up to him. “Now isn’t a good time for that. I need you to be the father of my baby.” She took his hands, placing them on the flat of her belly. “We both need you.”
Manipulation was her forte. He’d known that about her since they’d dated in high school. It was also what had driven them apart. “What about the baby’s real father, Annalise? Doesn’t he have a right to know he’s having a child with you?”
“I told you,” she said, the words sharp. “I don’t know who the father is.”
“That’s what paternity tests are for.” Max watched her closely. “You usually know every detail about every person in your life. I hardly think you’d have forgotten the man who fathered your child.”
Annalise scoffed at the suggestion. “You owe me, Max. You wouldn’t be nearly done with the testing of your app if it weren’t for my money. And you know it.”
“Olivia saw the photos of us on the Internet. I want to tell her the truth.”
Annalise sucked in her breath. “She saw the pictures because I wanted her to see them. I knew you took someone out on a date the other night. I wanted to remind you of what you might lose if you follow your heart instead of your pocketbook.”
Her ominous tone sent a chill down his spine. “You posted those photos to Olivia’s newsfeed?”
“It was the kindest thing I could think of to let her down.” Annalise flipped her hair over her shoulder and settled into a pose that took full advantage of her slim silhouette. “Besides, just let her use your Matchmaker app to find someone new, someone better suited than you.”
As she spoke, a horrible thought occurred to him. Annalise portrayed to the world that she was above the mundane skills of the working class, but Max knew the real Annalise. The woman before him was not only smart but also computer savvy. Was she savvy enough to reprogram his algorithm? “Did you do something to my app the other night after we signed the legal papers? I left you alone with my computer for a while when I fixed you dessert.” That had to be why he and Olivia didn’t match. Annalise had done something to his program.
The blonde’s face turned deadly serious. “As stated in this contract, you’re mine until we both agree to terminate our commitment.”
He frowned. “That’s not what I read in the document.”
She straightened and looked away. “That’s what you signed. You also signed a nondisclosure as well. So if you even whisper a hint of this arrangement to your new friend, you’ll be in breach of contract and will owe me a million dollars.”
Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply, trying to stave off his anger. He’d chosen this path; there was no way out. He couldn’t come up with $1 million to buy his way out of the contract.
Along Came Mr. Right Page 7
