Chapter Eight
Maddie yawned. It was getting late, and she’d been noticing in the last few weeks that the hours she used to keep were no longer possible. She needed rest, and that meant Alex needed to decide what he was doing.
It was odd. She wanted him to stay, which wasn’t like her at all.
In any case, it was time to make her stand and see what happened. If she was going to try and have any kind of relationship with this man, she was going to have to get comfortable with pushing him for answers, because it was obvious that he wasn’t going to be forthcoming with them on his own.
“All right.” Maddie rolled off of Alex’s chest and stood up. “You need to decide if you’re staying here with me or going back to your hotel.”
“Staying here?” His flat tone suggested he was completely out of his element at this moment. “As in spend the night with you?”
“I do have a queen and not a king, so the bed space won’t be what you’re used to, I imagine.” She winked at him. “But since I never—repeat—never invite the few men I spend time with to sleep in my bed, this will be a first for both of us, I expect.”
He seemed to respond reflexively. “How do you know I don’t spend nights with women?”
Maddie didn’t even bother to answer that. She just looked at him and raised an eyebrow. It took all of two seconds for him to give a half nod of his head.
Then she lifted her dress up and over her head. “Just so you know. I sleep naked.”
“As if a man is going to walk away from that,” he muttered.
She heard him pull out his phone, still cursing in what was most likely Russian. Of course, she hadn’t a clue if he was cursing or not. She didn’t understand Russian and wasn’t even entirely sure she wanted to learn. She knew the basics about his country and even less information about him personally. And yet she was inviting him to spend the night.
Because his child is inside my womb.
The thought was absolutely mind boggling.
Leaving Alex in the living room to make his decision, she headed for her bathroom to finish preparing for bed. She took comfort in the familiar ritual of washing her face. She hung up the dress she had already removed, and put her shoes on the rack. Then she finally headed back into her bedroom to go to bed.
***
ALEX COULD TELL by the expression on Maddie’s face that she hadn’t really expected him to stay the night with her. Truthfully he wasn’t even certain he should have been doing it. Yet he undressed, carefully laid his clothing over the chair in the corner, and then turned the covers back and crawled in. It was more than just intimate to be in her bed with the scent of her surrounding him. This was the first step toward sharing a life together.
Her hands twitched at her sides as though her reflex was to cover her body. Yet she didn’t give in. She stood for a full minute, staring straight at him, before turning out the light and coming to bed. He felt the silkiness of her legs as she climbed in beside him. It awakened something primal within him that had nothing to do with lust. He lay on his back, his hands stacked behind his head. In seconds she was curled up beside him with her cheek on his chest.
After a few moments of not uncomfortable silence, he felt her take a breath to speak. “This is kind of nice.”
“It is.” He didn’t even have to pretend that was true.
His eyelids grew heavy. He had just started to doze off when he heard his phone begin to vibrate. It was in the pants that were draped over the arm of her chair. He willed the noise to go away. He had already texted the driver and his cousin. No doubt Yuri was pissed off that Alex wasn’t going back to the hotel. It would be just like his nosy cousin to start demanding to know the reason why.
Maddie’s breath grew deep and steady. Her weight seemed to increase as she relaxed against him. He liked the feeling of her draped across his midsection with her leg thrown over his. There was an element of possessiveness and even comfort in sharing a bed with this woman. She was going to be the mother of his child.
As if that thought alone had been enough to call out the devil, his phone began to vibrate again. This time it didn’t stop. Alex could tell the call went to voicemail, but the caller just tried again. He was either going to have to wait out the caller, or he was going to have to get up and answer it.
Maddie started to stir beside him.
He didn’t want the stupid phone to interrupt her much needed sleep. With a sigh, he realized that he was going to have to answer.
***
THERE WAS SOMETHING going on with Alex’s phone. The thing would not shut up. Maddie heard the vibration over and over again as the thing buzzed in his pocket. He’d left his clothes on her chair, which was fine. But now the stupid phone was bumping against the wood and making a horrendous noise that was bound to drive her insane.
“Sorry,” he grunted. “I’ll take care of that.”
She felt strangely bereft as he set her aside and rolled out of bed. Snuggling up to him had been oddly comfortable. He was the most scrumptious body pillow ever, that was for certain. Now she was lying on the mattress by herself and not really all that happy about it.
In the dim light that filtered through the blinds in her bedroom, she could just make out Alex’s shadow as he dug through his pants pocket to find the offending electronic. When he pulled it out, he appeared to glance at the display.
Maddie rolled to her belly and propped her chin on her hand. She watched him actually glare at the phone before taking it out into the other room. Of course there was no way she could possibly understand any of the conversation that followed. He was speaking in rapid, pissed off sounding Russian. It was sort of disconcerting to think that this was what her life was going to be like from now on. There would be people talking all around her in a language she could not comprehend. She would never know if they were talking about her or not. She wouldn’t understand their culture.
Alex suddenly reappeared in the bedroom doorway. Something about the outline of his broad shoulders made her think he was not at all a happy camper. “I’m going to have to return to the hotel.”
“What? No!” The words popped out before Maddie had a chance to realize what she was sounding like. There was nothing worse than a whiney, clingy girlfriend. She wasn’t even Alex’s girlfriend to begin with, which certainly meant she had no whine or cling rights.
She took a deep breath. “If you have to go, I suppose that’s just the way it is.”
He started to get dressed. She watched the methodical way he moved and wondered what had caused him to retreat all the way back to this stiff demeanor. He had actually started to relax. He’d touched her. He had brought her wonderful pleasure, and he had let her curl up beside him in bed.
The guy getting dressed in her bedroom wasn’t a toucher, a snuggler, or anything remotely close to approachable.
“What’s wrong?” She hazarded the question, already knowing she wasn’t likely to get a satisfactory answer.
He paused a moment before sitting down to put on his shoes. “What makes you think there’s anything wrong?”
“Because you’re back to being all stiff and formal.”
“I have to return to my hotel because my mother has decided to make an appearance in town and her plane has apparently just arrived.” He did not sound thrilled. Actually, he sounded sort of pissed.
***
THERE WAS NO reason to take out his bad mood on Maddie. It was not her fault that his mother had decided a trip to New York was necessary to preserve her shot at the imperial succession. Alex was already contemplating the possibility of strangling his cousin Yuri. Obviously the little rat had been busy while Alex was occupied with business matters.
“I take it this is not a good development.” Maddie sounded hesitant. “Will your mother be angry?”
“About what?” Alex wanted her to clarify. Especially since his mother was likely to be angry about pretty much anything and everything.
“Well, I suppose your mother might be angry that I’m pregnant with your baby,” Maddie suggested. “But she could also be angry that you were spending the night here with me instead of staying in the hotel where there is more adequate security.”
“Security,” he scoffed. “I could do more damage to a potential threat with my fists than most of those ham handed guards could do with several guns.”
“All right then,” she agreed. “My original question still stands.”
“I told you that my mother wants very badly to be in line for the throne.”
“Okay,” she began slowly. “So this has more to do with the baby than your spending the night.” Maddie sounded matter-of-fact instead of angry. That threw him off a bit. Then she really caught him off guard. “What if I sign something saying that my child will have no claim to her precious throne?”
He raised his eyebrows in shock. “I’m not entirely certain that’s legal, since the choice would technically belong to our son. But would you actually do that?”
“If it made things easier for you, yes,” she immediately answered. Then he could see her cock her head. He couldn’t make out her expression in the darkness, but her outline looked soft and inviting. “You referred to this as our son.”
“Of course.” Why wouldn’t he have done so?
“That’s really sweet. We haven’t really referred to him as anything yet,” she pointed out. “Do you think you’ll be able to get away tomorrow?”
“I believe so. Why?” He wondered where she was going with this.
Then she completely threw him. “I have to go to this party for work. A record producer is giving it in honor of one of my clients. I wanted you to go with me.”
He could not have been more surprised had she spontaneously begged him not to leave right now. Yet the words he needed came surprisingly easy to his lips. “Of course I’ll go with you. I would be honored.”
“Awesome.” She bobbed her head as though she were smiling. “Just pick me up here at eight.”