by Neesa Hart
“Absolutely no problem,” Hector assured him. “If Kathleen isn’t available to show you around the facility tomorrow, I’ll do it myself.” His gaze slid to Sidney. “What time would you prefer?”
She started praying that the floor would swallow her whole. How she could have forgotten that her uncle and Hector Jarvis were fast friends, she’d never know, except that Max had turned her brain to mush. “Whatever time you wish,” she managed to say, though her voice sounded slightly breathless.
“Not too early,” Max said abruptly. “Let’s make it ten o’clock.” He looked at her. “Is that all right with you?”
“Fine,” she choked out.
Hector beamed at them. “Excellent. I’ll see you then. Your bags have been taken to your room. Please call me if you need anything else.” He extended his business card to Max. “Here’s my private extension. I’ll be here until seven this evening, then you’ll be able to call on my assistant, Felix, if you need anything after that.”
Max pocketed the card with a short nod. “Thank you, Hector. As usual, you’ve taken care of everything.”
“My pleasure, Mr. Loden.” Hector indicated the elevator with a sweep of his elegant hand. “Billy has the elevator waiting. I trust you’ll enjoy your stay.”
Max began tugging her toward the elevator. “I’m sure we will,” he assured him.
Sidney lost her battle with her blush. She felt the tell-tale heating of her skin as Max guided her into the lift.
As the elevator made its painfully slow ascent, Max kept his firm hold on her hand. Sidney’s nerves started to win their silent war with her confidence. Agreeing to this weekend had been one thing. Actually going through with it, well, she wasn’t sure she had the guts for that.
Anxiety had begun tying her stomach in knots the moment she’d met him that morning. She had thought, hoped even, that she’d be able to overcome the fear this time. Surely it had been long enough—enough time had passed since Carter, she’d told herself. And she trusted Max. He was her friend. But from the instant he’d taken her hand in the hotel lobby, waves of panic began building. She couldn’t stop them.
And she cursed herself a thousand times a fool for not foreseeing it. She had known that having the full force of Max’s indomitable focus directed at her would be an amazing experience, but as the bell rang with the passing of each floor, her stomach did another somersault.
Beside her, Max’s body emanated raw energy. When the elevator doors slid silently open at the third floor luxury suite, Max handed Billy a twenty dollar bill and guided Sidney into the room. His eyes glittering he stared at the elevator until the doors glided shut.
With a low growl, he pulled Sidney into his arms. “Thank you,” he whispered before he covered her lips with his own.
It was every bit as overwhelming as she’d thought. “Max,” she said softly. He hungrily devoured her. His hands molded her closer, his mouth glided over hers with intoxicating thoroughness.
When he finally lifted his head, Sidney’s knees nearly buckled. “Max, I need to talk to you.”
Max’s low chuckle skittered along her nerves, making her shiver. “Say whatever you want, baby. You have my complete attention.”
The panic rose. Sidney drew several deep breaths. Max swept a hand up her spine. “I knew it would be like this for us,” he muttered. “I’ve never wanted a woman like I want you.”
“Oh, my.” A sense of foreboding poured through her. Sidney moved one hand from his shoulder to his chest, where his heart pounded a steady cadence. “Max, I—”
“I might never get enough of you.”
“Wait, I—”
“Sidney.” His heated gaze threatened to scorch her. “I’m on fire.”
If the sheer heat of his body pressed so closely to hers were any indication, he was right about that. She wavered a second longer, studying his expression while she did battle with her insecurities. The intense concentration, the fierce wanting, the banked heat were all there. Everything that threatened to overwhelm her. Everything she feared would steal her identity. But she also saw the hint of vulnerability—that terrible loneliness that lurked just beneath the surface. And it swayed her like nothing else could. Somehow, this was all moving faster than she’d planned. Now that the moment was finally here, with no interruptions in sight, she battled a fit of nerves.
With a soft sigh, she took firm hold of herself. This was Max—one of the most generous, caring men she’d ever known. She could trust him. “Max, before we—before we go too far, here, there’s—there’s something I want to tell you.”
His hands cradled her face. So strong, but so gentle. He would never hurt her, Sidney reminded herself. “Sidney,” he said, his voice a purr, “is something wrong?”
“No.” She firmly shook her head. “No.”
“Are you afraid of me?”
“Lord, no! I couldn’t stand it if you thought that.”
“Am I pushing you too hard?”
“Not really.”
He kissed her again. “I really hadn’t planned on pouncing on you the minute we got behind a locked door.”
That made her smile. “Really?”
He looked slightly sheepish. “Okay, I thought about it, I just didn’t plan it.”
“It’s all right.” She rubbed her palms on the backs of his hands. “I just—I have something I want to tell you first.”
His fingertips caressed the whorls of her ears. “I’m listening.”
She drew a deep breath. “I need to be on top.”
He blinked. He looked like he was having the devil’s own time trying not to laugh. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t laugh.” The heat in her blood was beginning to give way to embarrassment. “Oh, please don’t laugh.” She’d die if he did.
His expression turned somber. “Honey—”
“I couldn’t stand it if you laughed at me. Not about this.”
Max gathered her to him. “I’m not laughing. I promise. Tell me what’s going on.”
She swallowed. “I, it’s just that I have this, this phobia. Oh, cripes! I should have told you before. It’s just that I didn’t think we would—I mean, this is so planned. I thought I’d have more time to—”
“Shh.” His hand began to make a soothing journey from the crown of her head to the small of her back. He repeated the caress in slow, tender strokes. “Shh. Tell me now.”
“I can’t stand to be crowded when I—when I make love. I need to be on top.” Her voice quaked with embarrassment.
Max tipped her away from him to study her face. “Why were you afraid to tell me that?”
“You don’t mind?” she said softly.
“No.” He studied her through narrowed eyes. “Does this have something to do with your ex-husband?”
She didn’t want to talk about that, not now. Maybe not ever. “Does it matter?”
“Maybe.”
“I’d really rather not think about Carter right now.”
He hesitated a second longer, then kissed her again. “Me either,” he said when he raised his head, but he continued to watch her with a speculative gleam in his eye.
Simultaneously relieved and embarrassed, Sidney deliberately pushed aside her anxiety. He said he understood. And she would believe him. Laying her hand against his face, she whispered, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
His eyebrows lifted. “Like what?” His voice had that rumbling quality that turned her bones to butter.
“Like I’m an undercapitalized business with significant resale potential.”
Max chuckled, and the sound warmed her. “I assure you, I haven’t thought about stock acquisitions in the last—” he checked his watch “—five hours.”
“I’m flattered.”
He started unbuttoning her shirt. “You should be.” Max studied her as he worked open the buttons. “My head doesn’t turn easily, you know.” He spread open her blouse and took several seconds to simply stare at her. “Did you know,�
� he said, his voice hoarse, “that you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen?”
Her heartbeat quickened. How had he known that here, in the luxurious suite, paid for by his success, where the thick Oriental carpet and antique furnishings served as the perfect foil for Max’s unique brand of personal charisma, she would struggle with a sense of inadequacy? “This feels a little odd to me,” she admitted softly, reaching to unbutton his shirt as he had hers.
“You didn’t think it was odd this morning.”
Her lips twitched. “Yes, I did. You just made me forget.” He watched her as she finished opening his shirt. She spread it open to reveal his white T-shirt.
“I think it’s my turn to feel flattered,” he said.
Sidney leaned back against the wall. “You do that to me, you know? Even in my wildest imagination, I never pictured this. Being here with you.” She looked around the room. “Being anywhere with you.”
“I imagined it,” Max admitted quietly. “And lately, I’ve done almost nothing but imagine it.”
“You aren’t making me feel better.”
“There are a lot of things I want to make you feel.” He laid one hand on her shoulder. “And there are a lot of things I want to know.” He tilted his head to one side. “Will you let me learn your secrets, Sidney?”
She was lost. With a slight nod, she leaned against him. “I think I’ve waited forever.”
Max swept her into his arms and carried her up to the master suite. With a tenderness she could never have imagined, he undressed her, and himself, and then joined her on the bed where he showed her with his words and his hands and his mouth how much he wanted her. He was exquisitely tender, letting her set the pace, never asking for more than she could give. He eased away from her only once—just long enough to pull a foil packet from his wallet to ensure her protection.
When she was nearly mindless with need, he caressed her shoulders and eased her carefully on top of him. He waited, his wonderful eyes searching hers, his face a mask of desire. Sidney sighed and took the final step to seal their union.
The expression on his face, she thought as she felt the storm overtake her, would be forever seared into her brain.
TWENTY MINUTES later, Max was still trying to catch his breath. Damn, she’d nearly killed him. He couldn’t remember a time when a woman had come to him with such sweet longing, and such unreserved need. His brain tried to focus on a thought—something, anything, that might slow his heart rate to normal and restore some measure of his equilibrium. With Sidney draped across his chest, her fingers idly caressing his shoulder, the only concrete image his mind could raise was the view of her incredible face when she’d traveled with him to paradise. He let out a harsh sigh. “Damn,” he said aloud.
Sidney smiled against his chest. “My thoughts exactly.” He tipped her chin up with his index finger. “You might have warned me that you were going to try and kill me.” The glow in her eyes delighted him. “I had no idea.” He studied her in the fading afternoon light. “You didn’t, did you?” he said soberly.
Her expression turned serious. “Max—”
With a shake of his head, he rolled to his side so he could prop himself up on one elbow. “Honey,” he trailed a finger down the curve of her arm, “I want to know why.”
She didn’t pretend not to know what he was talking about. “Wasn’t it all right like that?”
His lips twitched. “Do you have to ask me that?”
She hesitated, then shook her head. “No. You liked it.”
“You could say that.”
“Then can’t we just leave it at that?”
“I don’t think so.” He smoothed her hair off her face. “I want more from you, Sidney. I want to know everything.” A shiver raced through her. Max felt it and frowned. “Are you nervous?”
“No. Yes. Oh, I don’t know.” Her eyes drifted shut. He could practically hear the gears turning in her mind.
He sensed, somehow, in a remarkable burst of insight that might have shocked him had he taken time to analyze it, that she would find the story easier if she didn’t have to meet his gaze. For a man who was widely accused of being the most single-minded individual on the face of the planet, the ease of caring for her was a novel experience. He let it roll around in his head for a few blissful seconds, then eased her onto her back so he could pillow his head on her breast, careful not to smother her in any way.
Sidney’s fingers glided through his hair. “It was Carter,” she said quietly.
Max concentrated on breathing normally. He supposed he would have to get used to the quick flash of anger that pumped through him whenever she said that slimeball’s name in that half-quaking voice. He wished he’d destroyed the smarmy little toad when he’d had the chance. After several seconds, she continued. “Our sex life wasn’t exactly ideal.”
“The bastard,” he muttered against the smooth skin of her shoulder.
Sidney tweaked his earlobe. “It wasn’t all his fault, you know?”
He raised his head long enough to give her a censorious look. “Honey, from what I just experienced, you’ll understand that I’m having a little trouble believing that.”
Sidney’s face colored a delightful rosy-pink. “Thanks.”
He dropped his head again. “Tell me the rest.”
She traced the curve of his ear with her index finger. “Carter had certain, ah, preferences. I didn’t care for them.”
Max waited. The silence dragged on. He realized that he’d tightened his fingers on her shoulder and willed himself to relax. Sidney drew a shuddering breath that threatened to rip his insides out. “Carter,” she said quietly, “found it difficult to enjoy sex unless he felt—” her voice faded away.
Max pressed a kiss to the curve of her neck. “You don’t have to tell me.”
She shivered. “He liked to feel appreciated.”
He met her gaze again, searched it. “Sidney—”
“Weak women made Carter feel appreciated.”
His mood was rapidly souring from bad to downright foul. “Did he ever force you?”
She shook her head. “Not exactly. I just…I learned to—endure.”
Incredulous, he studied her stoic expression. “You’re serious?”
She glanced away, visibly embarrassed. “Yes.”
Max gently nudged her chin until she faced him. “The man was an ass,” he said softly.
A smile played at the edge of her mouth. “Thanks for taking my side.”
“I meant it.”
“I know you did.”
With the pad of his thumb, he traced the still-swollen curve of her upper lip. “In case you ever had even a second’s doubt about this, let me spell it out for you. You could take any man with a pulse straight to paradise.”
“I liked it, too,” she said quietly.
Max never remembered laughing with any of his lovers. It felt good and natural and incredibly liberating. And, he realized with a deep feeling of contentment, he wanted to keep on doing it—for a very long time. “You don’t say?” he whispered.
“Uh-huh.”
“Want to, uh, try it again?”
Her laugh spiraled all the way through his insides and wrapped around his heart. “Are you going to keep me locked in here all weekend?”
“It’s a thought.”
“Do we get to eat?”
“They have great room service.”
Sidney linked her hands behind his neck and tugged him toward her. “I especially like strawberries.”
With a low growl, he rolled to his back, taking her with him. “I’ll have them flown in from Guatemala.”
Sidney giggled. “Frozen is fine.”
“No way.” He nipped her earlobe. “That jerk you married might be the frozen-strawberry type, but I’ve got a thing for high-class dames who demand the best.”
Chapter Eleven
The rest of the weekend passed in a state of near euphoria. Sidney forcibly put aside her lingering mi
sgivings about the wisdom of falling for Max, and concentrated, for the first time in her life, on the present. Philip was always telling her to enjoy the moment. For years, she’d been so worried about the future, about what would become of her, she’d never given herself permission to simply live. For the two days they spent at the Keswick, she refused to let anything mar her bliss.
But by the time they were headed back into the city, she was having more and more trouble quieting the warning voices in her head. She was fairly certain that Max wasn’t prepared for the realities of their re-entry into the world. When they were alone in the Keswick’s private paradise, it was easy to pretend they were simply a man and woman enjoying their time together. But soon, they’d have to face the fact that Max’s world demanded a companion who could fit into his sophisticated lifestyle. With her hand nestled in his, resting on the corded warmth of his thigh, it was so tempting to slide into the sensual web he’d created. Sidney briefly closed her eyes and drew several calming breaths.
“Tired?” His voice rolled over her nerves.
Sidney shook her head. “Not really.”
“Should I be offended?” The humor in his tone was unmistakable.
Sidney tilted her head to look at him. “I assure you it’s not for lack of effort on your part.”
Max grinned at her. “I thought maybe I was losing my touch.”
“Hardly.”
He shifted her hand in his. “So, you want to tell me what’s wrong then?”
One thing she’d learned that weekend—he had uncanny insight. No doubt, the same instincts that made him successful in business gave him a keen intuition. She thought about denying that anything was bothering her, then thought better of it. He wouldn’t believe her anyway. “Have you thought about what’s going to happen when we get back?” she asked carefully.
“Sure. I’m going to drop you at your place, then head home. I’ve got some business appointments, and I need to check in with Philip. I’ll call you tonight, and we’ll make plans. If you want, I can send Charlie out to get you.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Just like that?”
“Like what?” His voice turned wary.
