Once she’d cleaned up and dressed again, choosing jeans and thicker socks and boots, they went to a local diner and had New England clam chowder, as well as coconut shrimp and scallops for lunch. At her door again, Ev kissed Max deeply, and she felt the shudder that went through him when she sucked on his tongue before letting him go.
“I’ll call you tomorrow about the weekend, okay?” he whispered against her lips. She nodded and he continued. “Thanks for giving me another chance, Minx.”
“Thanks for making me,” she whispered back with a smile.
“I think I could fall in love with you,” he told her, cupping her face between his palms. “You okay with that?”
He kissed her, stopping her from speaking, and Max wondered if he was worried about her answer. When he let her up for air, she nodded, and said, “Yes. As long as you understand you’re not alone in that.”
One more deep, slow kiss and then Ev pushed her inside. “Go, before I come in with you.”
He called her after he had read to Danny and the little boy was asleep. He told her how much he’d enjoyed being with her, and how much he was looking forward to the next time. He asked her if she’d like to visit her dad before they went up. She told him she’d think about it. He told her how much he wanted to kiss her, and where, and asked her how that made her feel. She told him he was making her wet, and he groaned and told her he’d like to feel that on him. She moaned at the thought, and he said,
“I’ve never had phone sex before. Maybe next time we can do it on camera. Then you can touch yourself so I can see, and I can show you what you do to me.”
“Ev, stop!” she hissed.
“Why? Wouldn’t you rather touch yourself for me now, while I’m on the phone, so I can hear you come for me?” When she didn’t answer, he asked, “Are you touching yourself for me, baby?”
Max swallowed. She had never done anything like this in her whole life, and she felt really self-conscious at the thought that just talking to Ev was making her so wanton.
“Would you feel any better if I told you I’m stroking myself, and there’s precum already leaking for you?”
“Ev!”
“Touch yourself for me, baby, and let me hear you.”
Her first orgasm by phone sex was sharper than any she’d ever given herself on her own, and she assumed it was because she had let Ev tell her what to do to herself, mimicking what he would do if he were there. And when she had told him how to touch himself, how to fuck his hands, what to imagine as he was stroking himself, they had both cried softly into each other’s ears as they’d come.
“That was so hot, Minx,” he said, his voice a sexy purr in her ear. “I can’t wait to do it again.”
Max’s face burned with heat, and she couldn’t answer him, though she had to admit she wanted it too.
“Get some sleep, baby. Work again tomorrow. I’ll call you at lunch time, if that’s okay.”
“I can’t wait,” she said honestly. “Sweet dreams, Ev.”
Chapter 15: Christmas Confessions
Tuesday morning did not start off well. He should have known it would be a bad day when he burned the coffee, and cut his finger slicing cheese for a sandwich.
“Did you sleep with her, Ev?” Del shook the newspaper in her hand.
Her tone was neutral, and even though Ev knew he didn’t owe her any explanations, he also knew his friend deserved his honesty. He’d have to come clean to Maxine as well, and he was far more worried about that then he was about Del. He had learned to ignore the pain of Del’s disappointment, but he didn’t know how he would handle Maxine’s. He nodded, sighing heavily, and told Del the whole sordid story.
“So she could really be pregnant with your child?” Now she sounded scandalized.
“Unless the condom broke — and I can guarantee you it didn’t — absolutely not!”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Nothing public. I’m sure she knows all I have to do is demand a paternity test and she’ll be running scared. Maybe she’s pregnant, maybe not. If she’s pregnant, then she was using me to find herself a baby daddy, because the real one is a loser. Maybe that’s why she came on to me. I don’t know. I can’t pretend to understand her motives. It’s my fault she even managed to get this story in the paper. I was a whore, as usual, and got myself into this mess. Believe me when I say, I’ll sort her out.”
The item in the papers, in the Lifestyles section again, was about working women who had been sexually harassed or molested by their male bosses. How Cindy had managed to get herself into that article Ev didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. This was big news, especially these days when so many women were coming forward to out the men who had taken sexual advantage of them over the years. His name had just been added to the list, and he was determined to clear it. He may not have behaved responsibly in choosing to sleep with Cindy, but he hadn’t forced or coerced her, and if she were pregnant, the child was not his. He’d be damned if he let some little opportunist set him up. Especially now, when the woman he had finally gotten through to was letting him woo her.
Del walked out of his office, and at the thought of Maxine, his heart plummeted. He had slept with Cindy only a couple of weeks before he met her, but he hadn’t slept with anyone since. And he needed her to know that he was serious about her, that he was not the person she had been so afraid of letting herself go with, that she could trust him. His phone rang and he picked it up absently.
“Morgan,” he said.
“Your attorney is here to see you, Ev,” Del said. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah. Send him in, and thanks, Del.”
Ev spent the next hour talking with Tom Daley about how they were going to manage this public relations crisis. The paper hadn’t seemed to have done too much homework on the subject, merely reporting the allegations of the various women. Tom, his friend and his lawyer, had already sent out a memo to everyone in the company and to all the women he had consorted with in the past year regarding any advances that he had made to them. He had also sent a response to the man Cindy had said was her attorney, demanding that a paternity test be done to see if Ev was the father of her child.
They both knew that it was highly likely she wasn’t pregnant, but it wouldn’t hurt to give her the benefit of the doubt. Ev knew that at best, the child would be found not to be his, and at worst, she would be outed as a liar. Which might work in his favor in the long run. He didn’t let himself think about either possibility. Whatever happened, his focus had to be on Maxine and what they were building. Christmas was next Sunday…four more days, and they would be together in his cabin for the long holiday weekend. He had to find a way to come clean before then, to clear the air, so he’d know if he’d be spending Christmas alone with Danny and Jeff.
After Tom left, he tried to focus on his work but found his mind wandering to Maxine. Had she seen the paper? What would he find when he went by her condo later? Should he call first?
“Boss, you need to go home.”
Del’s voice brought his attention back to his office. His secretary was standing by his desk with a look of concern on her face.
“I’ve never known you to be so distracted before, Ev,” she said when he blinked and turned to her. “I can’t say I fully understand what you’re going through, but I can imagine that it’s not a great feeling. I get it. But you’ve not managed to finish any of the reports you’re supposed to be reviewing, and a couple of them are due by morning.”
“I know…” he began, but she cut him off.
“And Dan Fotheringay is on his way for a late afternoon meeting to discuss Dracul’s contract. You remember him, right? The new act you’re managing? His agent is coming to talk terms. Have you even read the notes I’ve prepared?”
Del sounded almost panicked, and Ev felt guilt swamp him. Because he’d been an ass, he was causing the people around him to be stressed. He swallowed and said,
“Don’t worry, I’ll get everything d
one. I’ll work on the notes now, and be ready for the agent. It would help if you’d sit in with me, though, just in case I miss something?”
“Not a problem. I’ll set up refreshments. You just focus on getting ready for this. We’ll figure out the reports afterwards.”
Steeling himself to focus on his work, Ev read the notes Del had prepared, and was as ready as he could be for the meeting which began an hour later. He managed to make it through without mishap, thanks to Del’s being there to answer questions he blanked on. His new clients didn’t seem to notice his lapses, for which he was grateful, and they made a date to meet again after the New Year to sign the new contract.
“I’ll take the reports home with me and work on them tonight,” he told Del. “They’ll be ready by morning.”
“I thought you had a date tonight?”
“Somehow I don’t think Maxine will want to go dancing if she’s read or even heard about that article. I’ll have to deal with it. But for now, business comes first.”
After Del left, he made sure the two reports were in Google Docs and then he called Maxine. She’d likely be on her way home but he needed to get it off his chest so he could try to concentrate on the reports.
She picked up on the second ring. “Ev! Good afternoon. I’m on my way home.”
“I thought as much. Good afternoon to you, too. I need to talk to you.” He didn’t have it in him to lay a better foundation for the things he had to tell her.
There was a slight pause, and then she said, “This sounds serious. Can you wait fifteen minutes? I’ll be home then.” He had known from the first that she was an intelligent woman, so he wasn’t surprised that she had picked up the tension in him.
He agreed and rang off, choosing to start reviewing the first report. He forced himself to concentrate on what he was reading, and by the time Maxine called back, he had managed to finish the first few pages.
“Okay, what’s wrong?” No beating around the bush, Maxine got right to the point as soon as he answered.
“Did you read the paper today?”
“Not yet, no. Why?”
“Go to the Lifestyles section. There’s an article about in it about women sexually harassed or molested in the workplace. Read it.”
“Ev, what’s in it? Just tell me, okay? I'd rather hear it from you.”
Ev heard the trepidation in her voice, and he wished he didn’t have to bare himself like this to the woman he loved. The thought slammed into him as he opened his mouth to tell her. It was impossible. They’d hadn’t known each other two full months. He couldn’t be in love with her. Falling, yes. Already there…that was impossible. Wasn’t it?
“Ev? You’re scaring me.”
The sound of Maxine’s voice brought him back from the edge of panic. He was sure he wasn’t ready to love anyone else yet. He thought he needed more time to prepare himself. But there was no more time to confess.
“Two weeks before I met you, I slept with Danny’s nanny.”
There, he’d said it. His dirty little secret was out in the open at last. Maxine didn’t respond. She seemed to be waiting for him to continue. So he did.
“I fired her when she tried to get me back into her bed the next week, a couple of days before I bumped into you in the store. She was angry, and I admit it was my fault. The first time, she came to my office after Danny was asleep and I let her seduce me because I was horny. The second time, I was angry because she had deliberately worn him out so he couldn’t even stay up for his bedtime story before he fell asleep. I got back downstairs to find her waiting for me with wine and glasses ready. And it hit me what an asshole I’d been to do that with my son’s nanny. I hadn’t hired her to be my fuck buddy, but I had let her think that the first time I gave in.”
He sighed and pressed on. “She’s one of the women mentioned in the article. She claims she’s pregnant with my child.”
He heard Maxine’s gasp and a pain like nothing he had ever felt, aside from the hurt of Dani’s death, ripped through him. He set his shoulders and tightened his jaw, preparing himself for her rejection. It would be no more than he deserved.
“Is she?”
He was confused. “Is she what?”
“Is she pregnant with your child?” She spoke as though he were a halfwit and she needed to enunciate clearly so he couldn’t misunderstand her.
“I don’t see how she could be since I used a condom, and I only slept with her that one time.”
He felt the shame of his confession engulfing him in flames so hot he wondered how his chair wasn’t on fire. He couldn’t wait for her reaction. He had to end the call.
“Look, I’m sorry, Maxine. I never meant to hurt you. I’m dealing with this, but I understand that it isn’t what you signed up for.” The hurt welled up inside him, threatening to overflow into his voice. He wouldn’t humiliate himself any further. “Take care of yourself, Maxine, and be happy. I’ll make sure that your name is kept out of any fallout from this.”
He hung up before she could reply, and shoved his tablet into his briefcase. He had to get out of there. Although he knew the story, if proved false, would become a mere ripple on the surface of society’s attention, it was a major blow to his plan to win Maxine, because she would see it as one more bit of evidence of his inability to control himself. If he couldn’t keep it in his pants with someone who lived in his house, how could she trust him with anyone else? Even though there had never been a whiff of scandal regarding his treatment of his female workers until now. He wouldn’t blame her if she thought the worst of him. After all, he did have a reputation as a playboy, and he could have bought off all the women so no one would out him.
He went down to his car and drove out of the lot, heading towards home, but at the last moment, he turned off to the highway and just drove for a while, trying to soothe the hurt and still the panic he was feeling. He needed to be calm by the time he got home to Danny. He couldn’t let the stupidity of his behavior affect his child. He had finally made a right choice, and he would have to live with the repercussions of his actions. He couldn’t let it affect his son.
By the time he drove onto his driveway, he was numb. He drove the car into the garage, and waited until he felt steady enough to meet Danny before opening the door to the house. It was unusually quiet. No sounds of a toddler giggling, no television…nothing.
“I’m home!” he called out, hoping his son would hear him and run out to him. Nothing stirred.
“Jeff! Danny!”
“They’re downstairs, in the media room, Ev.”
Ev whirled at the sound of Maxine’s voice. She was standing by the door that led into the living room, looking at him with a carefully blank expression on her face.
“What are you doing here, Maxine?” he asked quietly, slamming down the hope that was fighting to rise up inside him.
“I told Jeff you’d invited me over for dinner, and that I’d call them when you got home.” She stepped away from the doorway and walked towards him, almost like a predator stalking her prey. “I wanted to talk to you before you saw them.”
“Why?” His question was sharp.
His heart hammered in his chest. He couldn’t handle a face-to-face rejection. He couldn’t handle a tirade. Even though he thought he knew that Maxine would never be rude enough to come to his home to tell him off, he was afraid of why she’d come. It would have been easier for everyone if she hadn’t.
“I wanted to look into your eyes when I asked you the questions I have for you.”
She walked right up to him, into his personal space, and waited until he looked her in the eye. He nodded and said,
“Okay. Shoot.”
“Have you been with anyone since you and I first met?”
Ev’s eyes widened. That had definitely not been a question he had been expecting, and he was so glad that he could answer truthfully.
“No!” His denial was immediate and decisive. “It’s only been you, Maxine.” He held her gaze as he s
poke, hoping like hell that she would see the truth in his eyes.
“Why haven’t you?”
The moment of truth. “Because I don’t want anyone else. Just you.”
She held his gaze for a long moment, and then she stepped away from him. “Thank you for that. And thank you for telling me the truth.”
“Maxine…”
She turned back when he called her name. “That’s Minx to you,” she said, a tiny smile on her face.
He moved at last, walking over to where she had stopped by the kitchen table. Relief made his limbs heavy and weak. “I’m so sorry, Minx. Please forgive me?”
She reached up and touched a hand to his chest. “If I hadn’t forgiven you, I wouldn’t be here now.” She smiled quietly up at him and then said. “I think you should go get your son. We can talk about this after dinner.”
The next couple of hours passed in a kind of haze for Ev. He went to get Danny, they had dinner, and he helped Jeff to clean up the after dinner mess. Then he excused himself to shower and change into comfortable clothes and went back down to find the others watching a Superman movie. Then Jeff took Danny for his bath, and once he was ready for bed, Ev went up and read to him. The little boy’s goodnight hugs warmed Ev’s heart and steadied him enough that he could head back down to Maxine, who had remained in the living room with Jeff.
“I’d better get to bed myself,” Jeff said, standing up and grabbing his cane. “My therapist changed my appointment time to an earlier one tomorrow because she had a doctor’s appointment herself.”
“Have you told Ann to get here earlier?” Ev asked, even though he already knew the answer.
“Yes, boss. She’ll most likely get here even before you leave.”
He chuckled and Ev joined him. His substitute nanny was a wonderful woman, and he wished he could give her more hours.
Jeff turned to Maxine. “It’s nice to see you again, Dr. Cousins. Goodnight.”
Part of the Family Page 17
