Sienna snuggled next to him. “How does it feel to be unemployed?” she surprised him by asking.
“Huh?”
“The amount of time you’ve spent not being at work, I figured you’ve been fired by now.” She smiled impishly. “You’re hardly ever there, as far as I can see.”
He shrugged with deliberate casualness. “I’ve put in way too many hours in there. I guess I feel like I’m owed some time off.” He dismissed the subject by kissing her again. “I doubt I’ve been fired.”
Her response to his kiss was light, fleeting, almost chaste.
He lifted his head. “Why do I feel like that’s a goodbye kiss?”
“Because it is.” She got up and began to dress, a gesture that Max considered tragic. “I’ve got a kid to care for, remember?”
Maxim could have protested that he was sure the kid was being adequately cared for by the nanny, but he was gracious enough to concede. He helped her into her clothes, and then got dressed himself.
She eyed him. “You’ve already paid for the night, and this is a pretty pricey place. You aren’t staying?”
He shrugged. “I guess I have responsibilities, too.”
∞∞∞
Back home, everything was quiet as he’d expected. Which was a relief. His mom and Éloïse hadn’t let up on their campaign against him, and it was beginning to get exhausting. He’d had a wonderful time with Sienna, but right now, all he wanted was to clamber into bed and get some shut eye.
The problem was that when he climbed into it, he discovered that someone was already there. Startled, he leaped up and flicked on the bedside lamp, only to see that it was Éloïse.
What the hell, he thought silently, peering closer. She was dead asleep, curled on her side and wearing purple lingerie. Incredulously, he took in the sight: a bra and pair of panties, matching stockings, covered by an awful frou-frou negligee that had been tied together at the front with satin ribbons, but which had parted as she slept to reveal the growing bulge of her abdomen.
It was clear that she’d hit upon the bright idea of dressing up and waiting in his bed for him, anticipating that he’d be home hours before. And tired of waiting, she’d fallen asleep.
Max shivered. The very last thing he needed right now was to wake her up.
Backing away, not even bothering to put his clothes back on, he began easing out of his own bedroom. But the ancient natural wood flooring sold him out. There was a creak that shot through the silent air.
He froze and looked towards the bed. To his dismay, Éloïse opened her eyes and sat up, looking around sleepily as if trying to determine where she was. Once it dawned, she looked at him and smiled seductively.
“Max,salut.You’ve been out a long time.”
He stood there like a guilty child, as if he had been caught doing something naughty, but this was his room. His turf. He answered coolly, but firmly. “Why are you in my bed?”
She stretched, arching her back, making her bust protrude through the thin garment she wore. “I wanted to surprise you. The doctors said my sex life doesn’t need to stop because I’m pregnant.”
She succeeded, he reflected,but not in the way she had clearly intended. He said patiently, trying to be gentle but firm. “Éloïse, you know full well that I am not interested in this sort of relationship with you.”
“Awww.” Her purr was simpering, a caricature of an invitation. He watched with trepidation as she slid her legs around, placing her feet on the floor and rising. The bump of her belly was visible through a parting in the negligee.
Éloïse came up to him and placed her hand around the back of his neck, pressing her body against his. “I thought maybe we could spend some time together tonight. Seeing as how you and I are bonded.” She stroked the roundness of her belly with a manicured hand. “By this.”
Even if he wasn’t already fully sated after his evening with Sienna, Max would not have been in the least bit enticed by her invitation. He didn’t want her; wasn’t attracted to her. Why she refused to accept that was beyond him.
He carefully removed her hand from behind his neck. “No. As I have said before; I am not interested.”
A scowl marring her features. “Is it this?” She patted her belly again. “Does my body disgust you? The vessel that bears your child?” Her voice rose slightly, and Max had a fleeing sense of panic that if she started yelling at him, his mother would wake up, and that would take this unpleasant scenario to a whole other level. “Do you think I’m fat?”
He tried to calm her down. “Éloïse, it’s not about your body and it’s not about you—”
“But we’re going to be parents! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“That’s not exactly true and you know that.”