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“We’renothaving sex!”sheyelled intothephone,butitwastoolate. Jen had alreadyhung up.
“Who’snothaving sex?”
Gigi spun around and facedMaxwhowasstanding in thedoorway. Hercheeksinstantlystained with color.Crap.“Sorry. Nobody. ThatwasjustJen being Jen.”Shecringedand closedthedrawer at her back.“Sorryif I woke you.”
“You didn’t,” hereplied. “Mystomach did. I wasgoing tomakesomelunch.Youinterested?”
“Lunchwould be good,”shereplied,following him out ofher room. Shelooked athisnowjean- clad assashewalked and letouta breathysigh.
In the kitchen,shewasinstructed tositatthebenchwhileMaxthrewtogethera Spanish omeletteforthemtoshare. Shewatched him chopthepotatoand onion,andwasnotafraid tosay shewasimpressed. Asheworked,shethoughtitwould bea good chancetotalkabout her pay.
“Max,weneed todiscuss something.”Herstatementdrewhisattention immediately. Helooked ather fromunder hislashes,theknifein hishand stilling. Sheexhaled and said,“Weneed totalk abouthowmuchyou’regoing topayme.”
“I thoughtwe’d alreadydecided on afigure.”
“We did,I guess,but…”
“But?”heprompted,hisattentionreturning tothepeppershewasnowcutting up.
“Twothousand aweekseemsliketoomuch.”
“I don’tshare your pointofview,” hereplied,notbothering to meet hereyes.
“Max,”shesaid,reaching outtotouch hishand that held thepepperfirmlyon theboard. His brown eyesflipped tohers,and shefeltajoltofelectricityflow betweenthem. Heputdown the knife,wiped hishandson atowel and planted hispalmson thestonebench. Not oncedid hiseyes movefromhers.
“Yes,Gigi?”hereplied,hisvoicelowand gravellyandoh,sotempting.
Shesucked ina breathtosettlethebutterfliesin her stomach. Hereyesdipped tohismouth, which had partedslightly,and shewanted tojust getup and pressherlipsagainst his. Shewanted to knowwhether hetasted asgoodashesmelled and looked.
“I—”shestarted,butstopped whenMax moved around thebench and stood soclose to her thatshecould practicallyfeel his heartbeat. “What—”
Her wordswerecutoffwhen heleaned down and kissed her. Fora second,shewastoostunnedtodoanything. It didn’ttake her bodylongtofigureit outthough. Hermouthmoved againsthis,her lipsfinding a rhythmshewasn’tawaresheknew. Shefelthistonguedart out,and she opened her mouth,letting himin,letting himtakeher.Shewasgetting lostinthesensations,happilydrowning in them,whenMax pulled away. Hehad afrownon hisfacethatGigi couldn’tdecipher,butshe had a feeling itwasn’ta good thing.
“Max…”
“I’msorry,”hesaid,cutting her off. “Thatwasinappropriate.”
Inappropriate? It had beenelectricand spontaneousand completely unexpected,butithadnotbeen inappropriate,atleastnotasfarasshewas concerned. He moved backaround totheother side ofthebench and pickedup theknifeagain,cuttingthepepper carefullyand precisely.
Hecleared his throat.“Youweresaying?”
Shewasspeechless. Shewanted totell himthatkisshad been everything she had hoped and dreamed itwould be,butheclearlywantedtoforgetthatithad everhappened. Wasither fault?Had he notenjoyed it?Shecould countthenumberof boysshehadkissedbeforeonone hand,and noneof them had complained.
“Twothousand istoomuch,”shewhispered,her fingersfinding theirwayto herlips. Hewatched her touch hermouth and hisknucklesturnedwhiteasheclutched theknifeharder.
“I’m making someprettyhard demandsonyou,Gianna. Twothousand a weekseemsmorethan fair fortheinconvenience.” His wordswereclipped,and theydeflatedGigi in awayshehadn’t thoughtpossible.
“Can youeven afford it?”
Hepinned herwith a hardglare,themusclein hisjawtwitching. “Don’tworryaboutthat. Two thousand iswhatweagreed on. I planon honoring thatwhetheryou likeitor not.”Hecontinued cutting. “Now,Idon’twanttotalkaboutthisanymore. Okay?”
“Okay,”sherepliedweakly,her complianceplunging themintosilence.
When she couldn’tstand the quietanylonger, she slid fromthestool togoand getoneof her textbooks. Shecurled upon thecouch,Maxstill in her line ofsightasshepretended toread. What they’d shared waslike nothing shehad everfeltbefore. Shewanted tokisshimagain. Hell,she wanted todoalot morewith him,but heclearly didn’thavethesamedesireas shedid. He’d withdrawn fromhercompletely,his frostydemeanour hurting her a lot morethan shethoughtit would.
Heglanced up at herafewtimeswhen hethoughthereyeswereonthebook,and thelook of disdain on hisfacewasunmistakeable.Thesilencewascutwhen hebegan throwing thevegetables intothefrying pan.Thescent ofonionsand peppersfilled theair,making Gigi’sstomach sit up and payattention. Outof thecornerof her eye,shewatched himasheattendedtheskillet,occasionally turning things over in thepan. Hisbroad backwasbeing hugged bya whitet-shirt,and shesuddenly wished shewasthatstretch of cotton. Wasthatweird? Argh,whoknew? All sheand her libidoknewwasthattheywantedmoreofMax. Sighing,sheforced her eyestoreadand her brain tostoretheinformation sheneededfromhertextbook.
“It’sready,”heannouncedsuddenly,cuttingthrough thetension. Gigi looked up from her book. Hewassetting twoplateson tothecounter,alongwith somecutleryand papernapkins. Sliding the bookfrom herknee,shestood up andwalked towards Max,whowaswatching her everystep.
“Thankyou,”shesaid asshesatdown.Leaning down,sheinhaled the deliciousscent. Hegrunted a replyandsatbesideher,their thighsbrushing briefly. Hestiffened fromthecontact,and sheheld herbreath. Shecould practicallytasteherpulseinthe back ofherthroat.Shehated howtensely he held himself,like hedidn’twanttoaccidentlytouch her again. “Can wetalkaboutwhatjust happened?”shefound herself asking.
Maxwentstill, hisknifeand forkpoisedover hisomelette.“I’d rather not,”hereplied.
“Please?I justwanttoclear the air.”
Placing down hiscutlery,helooked ather. Hewasrunning histonguealong thefrontof histeeth, and shecouldn’ttellwhether itwasbecauseof angeror something else.“What happened wasa mistake—a lapsein judgementand sanity.I apologize. We needtokeep ourrelationship professional, especiallysinceyou’ll beliving here.”
TheywerenotthewordsGigi had wantedtohear,butwhatcould she do?Shehad toplayby Max’srules. Thiswashis place,hischild,his jobtogive. Even though ithurt toagreetohisterms, shenodded.“Ofcourse.”Shekept hervoicecarefully devoid ofanyemotions,notwanting himto knowjusthowmuch hehad wounded her.Itnever would haveworked outanyway. Hewasstill grieving forthelossofhiswife. Hewasalsofouryears olderthan her—notthatthatbothered her— butperhapsitbothered him.
Theyfinishedlunch in silence. Whentheyweredone, hestood up andtook her plate,placing itin thesink,and began washing up. Shewatched himfora momentbeforesliding fromthestooland returning to her room.
