CHAPTER TWO
Max’s Magic Rule #3:
Cover up mistakes and turn them to your advantage.
The day after seeing Grace at Lodi’s, Max dropped by Rhys and Melina’s house. When he got there, the newspapers on the dining room table jumped out at him. Each one folded to reveal a photo of him and Elizabeth kissing outside Lodi’s. Their plan had worked. He was now being heralded as the actress’s new love, the one destined to heal the wounds recently inflicted by her cheating husband, a famous Hollywood director. Another paper had gone with pictures of Max and Elizabeth walking into his condo later that night.
Soon, the Internet would probably be flooded with pictures of him kissing her goodbye at the airport this morning. Their hope was the photos would go a long way towards giving Max, and thus his show, the increased sales Jeremy wanted, as well as giving Elizabeth’s husband the impression his wife was moving on. In truth, she was still grieving their separation. Temporary solutions, both of them, but enough to buy them more time so that better alternatives could be explored.
Nothing to feel guilty about. He was single. Elizabeth was legally separated. There was no reason kissing Elizabeth in front of Grace should have made him feel like shit.
But that’s exactly how he felt.
Max helped himself to some beer from the fridge. He still couldn’t believe Grace had come to him for sex in the first place, let alone that she’d admitted it to him. But the fact that she had, and the memory of how vulnerable she’d looked when she’d said it, told him he was an asshole for walking away with Elizabeth last night.
His only excuse was he’d been shocked by Grace’s admission and feeling pressured to fulfill the bargain he’d made. How would it have looked to those reporters if he’d pushed Elizabeth aside to continue his conversation with the beautiful Grace Sinclair?
So he’d stuck with Elizabeth, showed her to his guest bedroom later that night then tried calling Grace at her hotel. She hadn’t answered. When he’d gone by the hotel to see her after he’d dropped Elizabeth off at the airport this morning, she hadn’t been there.
Which was part of the reason he was now here.
According to Rhys, who had called him early this morning to grill him about Elizabeth, the women were out shopping. He’d told Max to use his spare key and meet him at the house.
When the girls returned, he was going to explain why he’d walked away last night, apologize and get Grace to talk to him. Then, after making sure he’d actually heard her correctly, he was going to give her what she wanted.
What they both wanted.
Hell, part of him still wondered if he had heard her correctly or if hearing the word orgasm come out of her mouth had been wishful thinking. How many times had he fantasized about making Grace come? Too many to count.
Grace always looked good, but last night she’d looked hot. Not only because her hair had been big and her clothes had hugged her body just right, but because of the look in her eyes. Nervous but aware of him as a man. As if she’d wanted to get down on her knees and pleasure him, right then and there on the street. As if she’d wanted him to do the same to her. Later, even with Elizabeth bunked down in his guest room, Max had gone to bed reminding himself all the reasons he’d fought his attraction to Grace in the first place. Then, after falling asleep, he’d promptly fantasized about his hands on Grace’s body and her mouth around his cock. He’d woken up sweating and on the verge of coming. From that moment on, staying away from Grace made no sense at all.
They were both adults. He’d never tried to convince her he was anyone but who he was. If Grace was into him in spite of his reputation, and if she remained into him despite what had happened the night before, then why shouldn’t they explore what they felt for each other?
“I’m raisin’ the white flag, girls.”
Max choked on his beer when Grace’s voice came out of nowhere. He whirled around, expecting to see her standing next to him, but the kitchen was empty. So was the family room.
What the hell? He sure as shit wasn’t hearing ghosts.
Max scanned the room, finally spotting the baby monitor sitting on the counter by the toaster. Melina must have been testing it and forgotten to turn it off, which meant Grace, and probably Melina and Lucy, were in the upstairs nursery. He stepped up to the monitor, reaching out to turn it off, when he heard Melina speak.
“You can’t, Grace. You swore you’d never give up.”
“I was wrong. I’m a sorry excuse for a woman. I’ve given it my best shot, but my ‘get up and go’ has got up and went. I’m nevah goin’ to have an orgasm with a man,” Grace said.
The air whooshed out of Max’s lungs.
He felt like he’d been sucker punched.
Grace Sinclair—Melina’s smart, gorgeous and amazingly hot friend, the one who had him hard and aching on several occasions, including all of last night—had never had an orgasm with a man?
How the fuck was that possible?
And even worse, she thought that made her less of a woman?
Max dropped his hand. How could he be expected to do the right thing after what he just heard?
He placed his beer bottle next to the monitor then braced both hands on the counter, willing Grace to speak again.
“You know, Melina,” Grace said. “I like both fabric patterns. What do you think, Lucy?”
Fuck the fabric patterns, Lucy. Are you going to just sit there while your friend resigns herself to a life that doesn’t include the ultimate sexual pleasure? You’re a fucking feminist, for God’s sake.
“I think your sexual frustration has reached unprecedented heights,” Lucy said. “Time to come back down to sea level. You’re not giving up, girl. You need head-banging, ear-splitting, crazy-inducing sex. And we’re going to find the guy to give you an orgasm that will send you to the moon.”
Yes, Max thought, mentally giving Lucy a high-five. Though he had to admit, picturing Grace with some faceless jerk as said jerk bent over backwards to pleasure her didn’t sit well with him. In fact, it pissed him the hell off.
But Grace only responded with a small feminine snort. “I’m frigid and I have to accept it but I’m not givin’ up on love. I’m just movin’ forward with my life.”
Max mentally snorted. Grace saying she was frigid was as ridiculous as Melina thinking she needed lessons in sex because her ex-boyfriends were ass-hats. Rhys had disabused her of such silly thoughts, and now it was Melina and Lucy’s job to do the same for Grace.
Only… only…
“You’re not frigid because there’s no such thing. But…” Melina hesitated, then sighed. “You have given plenty of men a fair shot at pleasuring you. Why continue to force things? Until the right man comes along, maybe you should—”
“Jesus,” he muttered in disgust. He wanted to charge into the nursery and say, “What the hell are you thinking? You’re a beautiful, responsive woman. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you, other than needing to be fucked, long and hard, until you’re screaming out in pleasure. If the men you’ve been with have been too incompetent to accomplish it, then I’ll—”
Before he knew what he was doing, he took several steps toward the kitchen doorway, stopping only when Grace spoke again.
“I’ve wasted my adult life tryin’ to find a man who can pleasure me so I could move on to the good stuff—marriage and a family. Well, I don’t need a man to get me off sexually, and I don’t need one to raise a baby, either.”
“A baby?” Lucy gasped. “That’s your new plan? Are you crazy?”
Max winced. He could practically hear her hurt in her silence.
“Oh Grace, I didn’t mean it like that,” Lucy said quickly. “I think you’d be a wonderful mother. But you do need a man to have a baby.”
“Unless you plan on going the turkey baster route?” Melina asked.
“No,” Grace said, her voice trembling slightly. “I want a lovin’ and stable father for my baby. I just don’t want a boyfriend, lovah or husband.”
“So no sperm bank but no personal connection between you and the father either. You just want a baby daddy?” Melina clarified.
“Exactly. He lives in his house, I live in mine. Shared custody. I still have time to do the things I enjoy. Dance. Even date. And my baby gets the benefit of an involved, lovin’ father.”
Well, that sounded stupid as hell, Max thought. If she was going to bother having a baby with a man, why not try for the whole package? A woman like her deserved that. Plus, did she really think she could trust her child and her own happiness to a total stranger? Whether they lived in separate houses or not, her father’s baby would be in her life and would have an impact on almost everything she did. Just who was she planning on…
A crazy idea made him suddenly lightheaded.
She’d asked him for an orgasm. Was it possible she’d been going to ask him to father her child, too?
Granted, he didn’t have the kind of reputation or lifestyle that would make most women want babies with him, but maybe, despite what had happened with Elizabeth last night, Grace had seen beyond all that. Maybe there was finally a woman who saw more to him than others did.
“When did you decide this?” Melina asked.
“To have the baby? I’ve been thinkin’ about it for a while. But I made the final decision to forgo Operation Orgasm for Operation Baby around one a.m. ”
About an hour after she’d seen him with Elizabeth.
“Grace,” Melina said quietly. “I know you went to see Max last night. He talked to Rhys this morning and told him he saw you. Were you thinking of asking him to be the father—”
“What?” Grace’s high-pitched laugh was incredulous. “Are you crazy? Of course not. I was goin’ to ask him to have sex with me, but that was before he kissed Hollywood bombshell Elizabeth Parker and they wound up with their picture splashed all ovah the papers.”
“Grace,” Melina said, probably intending to tell Grace about Max and Elizabeth’s arrangement. Max had explained things to Rhys, and he had no doubt Rhys had shared the details with his wife. But Grace kept talking.
“I had a weak moment. But not that weak. Max is the last guy I’d want to have a baby with. No, I’ve done a bunch of research on co-parentin’ options and—”
The rest of Grace’s words were drowned out by bitterness. The last guy she’d have a baby with. That hurt. But fuck, why was he surprised? The whole reason he and Elizabeth had gotten together last night was to reinforce his reputation as a playboy. And apparently, that was the only reason Grace had come to him as well.
With an abrupt move, he switched off the monitor. Pressing his palms in his eye sockets, he took a deep breath. Then grabbed his beer again.
Fine. Grace didn’t want him to father a child. He should be relieved. And it wasn’t exactly small potatoes that she had come to him thinking he could get her off. So why did it leave a bad taste in his mouth to have confirmation, once again, that a woman saw him only as sex on a stick? At least before, he’d thought she wanted sex with him. He’d thought she found him attractive. But no, she’d spoken the truth last night. She hadn’t wanted him. She’d only wanted the orgasm she believed he could give her.
“Max,” Rhys yelled from the front door. “You here?”
Max glanced at the now-silent monitor before calling back. “In the kitchen.”
“Hey,” Rhys said as he appeared in the doorway. “Elizabeth on her way back home?”
It took a minute for Rhys’s words to penetrate and for Max to switch gears and take his mind off Grace and everything he’d heard. Finally, he put down his beer, rubbed the back of his neck the way Rhys often did and shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Has she heard from her douchebag of a husband?”
“He tried calling her last night. She didn’t answer.” Even though she’d wanted to. She still loved the guy and was doing her best to get over him, starting by convincing him and the rest of the world that she was over him.
Rhys grinned and shook his head in amazement. “So your plan worked like gold. For her and you. I checked online and the next ten performances are sold out.”
Max smiled tightly. “That’s great.”
“What’s wrong?” Rhys asked, and Max silently cursed. His brother didn’t miss much, and now that he’d shown a chink in his armor, Rhys would probably be all over it. “Nothing. Just a late night. You know how it is.” He grinned and punched his brother in the arm. “At least Jeremy will stay off our backs for a while. The key is to make sure we can keep ticket sales up until we sign the new lease. Then we’ll have time to strategize our next move.”
“And in the meantime?”
“I’ll keep doing what I do best—”
“Hi, you two,” Melina called just before she stepped into the room.
Rhys’s expression immediately softened.
“We finished shopping early for once. Can you believe it?”
At the obviously forced cheer in her voice, Rhys’s eyes promptly narrowed. His brother and Melina had fought a long, difficult battle to be together and Rhys would do anything to ensure his wife’s happiness. Add the fact she was now pregnant with his children? Protective didn’t come close to describing his brother.
Sometimes it still shamed Max when he thought about the part he’d played in keeping Rhys and Melina apart for so long. It had taken almost ten years to make things right between them again.
He watched Rhys kiss Melina and cup his palm around her rounded belly, ruthlessly pushing away the small pang of jealousy it caused. They were happy here in Vegas. It was up to Max to make sure they stayed happy. Plus they had a responsibility to the show’s crew and their families, and that was something neither he nor Rhys took lightly.
“Hey, Max,” a feminine voice called. Max turned to see Lucy, her deep red hair longer than he’d ever seen it, standing just behind Melina. Next to her stood Grace. As Melina pulled away from Rhys’s kiss, her gaze glanced back and forth between him and Grace, clearly concerned for her friend. Grace’s gaze flitted to the baby monitor and her shoulders relaxed slightly.
“Hi, Lucy. Grace,” he said, his gaze locking with hers.
Maybe it was because he’d dreamed of her all night. Maybe it was because of the conversation he’d just heard over the baby monitor. Whatever the cause, he instantly envisioned the two of them together.
Naked. In his big bed. Both of them on their knees, arms wrapped around each other, his head pressed against her breasts as her hands caressed his hair and she sprinkled kisses on his face.
He felt her. In his hands. His chest. His head. His dick. Her soft skin enclosed him. Her sweet smell surrounded him. His mouth watered, certain she’d be the sweetest thing he ever tasted.
Her screams of pleasure as he got her off would make his ears ring.
The sting of her nails digging into his back as she shook with the force of her orgasm would set him off, making his lunging hips pick up speed and his balls tingle as he prepared to—
“Max? Were you talking about Jeremy and the lease? Max.”
He jerked at Melina’s voice, feeling shell-shocked and struggling to keep his breaths even. What the hell? He’d always been attracted to Grace, but never, not even last night, had he so vividly pictured them together. He’d never pictured claiming her, shooting his load inside her, covering her with his cum until having a child was not just a possibility but an inevitability.
Apparently her confession that she’d wanted an orgasm from him but not a child had changed things in a big way. He wanted to do her. He wanted to accept the gauntlet she’d thrown down, too.
And she seemed to be right there with him, her composure smashed to smithereens, her face cherry red and her hand covering her throat as if to protect herself from… him he supposed. He’d probably looked like he wanted to drag her down and drill her into the ground, not caring who was watching them.
With great effort, he ripped his gaze away from hers and turned to answer Melina. But as he spoke, he spoke mostly to Grace. “Being seen with Elizabeth has paid off, just like we planned. Her dick of an ex is sweating bullets and the next ten magic shows are sold out. How about that?”
Melina picked up one of the newspapers on the table. She glanced at Grace, who was staring intensely at something on the floor.
“Grace,” Max said softly.
Startled, she glanced up.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to explain last night. I was playing a part and with the reporters there—”
Grace airily waved her hand. “No need to apologize, Shugah. It wasn’t exactly a surprise seein’ you with one of your women. It didn’t bother me a bit.”
She was lying, Max thought, just like she’d been lying, if only to herself, about having finally accepted her so-called frigidity and no longer wanting to find release with a man. The fact she’d come to see him last night proved it, but so did the way she’d looked at him then and just now. With passion. Desire. Yearning. What he’d seen in her, what he’d felt when he’d touched her last night, all pointed to the fact she wasn’t a woman who was okay with trading in good sex for a baby, but one who’d resigned herself to a life without good sex and was settling for something else because she was desperate. It didn’t matter that a baby could ultimately be a blessing. Settling was still settling, and a woman like Grace shouldn’t have to settle for anything.
“Elizabeth’s such a sweetie,” Lucy said brightly. “It sucks what happened to her, but it was so nice of her to fly down here to help. You sure you have no interest in getting back together?”
Max and Grace still stared at one another, and Grace didn’t flinch at Lucy’s question. Playing the game right along with her, he said, “You know me, Lucy. Why settle for one woman when there are so many who need what I can give them?”
Grace stiffened. Good, he thought. Why should he be the only one feeling uncomfortable here? She obviously needed to be shaken out of her comfort zone—hard.
“Now what?” Melina asked, her voice strained, indicating she felt the tension zipping between Max and Grace.
Rhys rubbed her back. “Max will keep up his presence in the press. Maybe make a few more public appearances with Elizabeth. Once we sign the new lease, we’ll have the time we need to get the show back on its feet.”
Even though it made perfect sense, Max wanted to snap at his brother that he wasn’t a damn performing monkey.
But that’s exactly what he was. What he’d always been.
It was what Grace thought of him, too. Just like every woman out there, with perhaps the exception of Melina. Max was all flash and no substance.
But he was smart enough to know what Grace needed. And honest enough to know he needed it, too.
So she didn’t see him in baby daddy terms. Big deal.
She needed to come. He needed to be the man that gave that to her. He also needed to stop her from making a colossal mistake by trying to have a baby before she was really ready for one. After all, she was Melina’s best friend. Melina was family, and he didn’t want her expending precious energy worrying about what trouble Grace was getting into.
Grace had made it clear when she was talking to Lucy and Melina that she wasn’t looking for any kind of long-term romantic relationship. If that was really the case, Rhys and Melina wouldn’t have to know about their arrangement. Even if they found out, there would be no reason to think Max was hurting their friend. That eliminated the possibility that sleeping with Grace would somehow come between Max and his family.
Resolved, he gave his brother a fist bump.
“Elizabeth is filming this week, but we’re supposed to touch base when she returns. Until then, I’ll hit the clubs like normal. Make sure I’m seen and keep the buzz we’ve started going. I’ll start right after tonight’s show. Speaking of which, I’ve gotta head out. I’ll catch you all later.” He hesitated a moment, then turned to Melina’s friends. “See you next time you’re in town.”
Lucy waved.
“Bye now,” Grace said before quickly shifting her attention to Melina, looking like she’d already put him out of her mind.
Of course, he had no intention of letting that happen. She didn’t know it yet, but she wasn’t flying back to California anytime soon.
Not until he gave her the orgasm of a lifetime and convinced her that having a baby with a stranger wasn’t good planning on her part, but a cop out.