Chapter 13
The fact that Sienna was staying at the château of the count and countess had hit close to home, Max had to admit. All this time they were meeting at a hotel in the town to make love, they’d practically been neighbors! Added to that, he had so many fond memories of being just a kid growing up, looking up to William and Alex, and envying Julien’s easy friendship with them. Julien had always been the cool brother, the savvy one, the one everyone gravitated to.
The new knowledge he’d gleaned about Sienna the day before was raising old ghosts, and it made him uneasy.
But more pressing than that was the knowledge that Sienna’s departure was looming. He’d known from the start that her visit to France was only temporary, and when they’d begun their affair, he’d settled it in his heart.
But things had changed. He dreaded the idea of letting her go, and had begun toying with ideas about how he could convince her to be with him. He knew this woman meant a lot to him, and there was so much more that he wanted to explore.
But how?
When they’d first started, he hadn’t seen any point in telling her any more about himself than he thought was necessary. Now, Sienna was walking around harboring the delusion that he was just a simple bartender, rather than the scion of a wealthy family with massive holdings across the globe.
What would she say if he opened up to her about that? How would she react if she found out not only that his family’s net worth rivaled that of the Dubois’, but that he had been keeping that information from her all this long? Did she already find out? He’d deliberately withheld his last name when he met the countess in hopes that she wouldn’t mention their encounter to William. If she did, then William would connect the dots and tell his wife about Max’s family, and then it wouldn’t be long before Sienna learned about his omissions.
Would she think him a deceiver? That he’d wooed and bedded her under false pretenses?
Max struggled back and forth with the problem for hours, and kept coming back to the same conclusion over and over. It was time to speak to her and spill the truth. Then, he reasoned, he would beg her forgiveness for having withheld so much vital information, and hope she understood.
More importantly, he wanted to let her know how he felt about her, and to ask her to consent to be with him. The fact that she lived in the States didn’t have to be a problem. After all, he was a man of means, and there would be ways to figure it out.
All he needed from her was a yes.
Leaping onto his bike, he rode from his family home over to William’s, using the road rather than the lake route. His family name was enough to allow him access past the security guard, as it often did everywhere.
Once inside, he was led by a butler to a large sitting room, and stood around waiting, surprised at how nervous he felt.
“Max?”
He turned to see her standing in the doorway, a look of puzzlement on her face. His heart warmed to see her, and he turned to her with a smile. “Hey.”
She was still eyeing him warily, glancing quickly around as if she expected the entire Dubois clan to arrive behind her and demand an explanation as to why he was here.
He hastened to reassure her. “It’s fine. I just wanted to see you.”
“Don’t we see each other in our room?”
He shook his head. He wasn’t explaining himself well. “I meant, I wanted to talk to you.”
“And it couldn’t wait until this evening?” Her tone wasn’t hostile, merely perplexed.
He came towards her, close enough that he could inhale the scent of her favorite perfume. Close enough that he could take her into his arms if he wanted to, but he needed to keep his thoughts clear, and whenever he touched her, his thoughts were anything but.
“So,” he began to speak. “I want you to know how much I’ve been thinking of you and the time we spend together. It started off as one thing, and now it’s grown into something else. You feel that too, don’t you? I know you do.”
She nodded hesitantly, almost imperceptibly, and Max took that as a good sign.
He persisted. “I hate the idea that you’re leaving. The closer your departure date comes, the more dread I feel at the possibility that you will get on a plane and fly out of my life. That doesn’t have to happen. Just tell me you want to be with me too, and we can figure out a way to make it happen.”
Her eyes held his, dark and wide, as if she wasn’t just listening to what he had to say, but working her way through it, word by word. He allowed himself time to hope.
And then when she spoke, he felt those hopes being dashed against the rocks. “It won’t work, Max.”
“Why not?” he asked hotly.
“You know it wasn’t what we agreed on.” Her body swayed away and swayed back, as if it was undecided on whether to back off or come closer.
Come closer,he willed her silently, but it was as if she hadn’t heard.