CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Tired but happy to be back in London after the whirlwind that was Los Angeles, Carrie dumped her luggage at Paige and Nate’s home and headed straight for Max’s place. It was only midday and he should be up but not yet at the theatre. She couldn’t wait to share with him all the exciting news about the Flynn movie. Contracts had been signed, I’s dotted and T’s crossed. The budget and schedule she’d put together had been approved and it was official now. She was one of the producers on the film along with Paige and Nate. Now she could shout it from the rooftops.
Or at least call her family in Florida and tell them the good news. This was a challenge she was going to relish.
First she wanted to tell Max. He of all people knew what a big deal this was, expanding her resume and becoming a continuing part of the business that she and Paige had built over the years.
She knocked on the door and heard some shuffling behind it before it swung open. Max stood in the doorway wearing jeans and a white button down shirt. He hadn’t shaved yet this morning and his chin was covered in stubble that her fingers itched to caress. He looked better than any man had a right to and her heart lurched in her chest. She was in love with this man. So much.
His blue eyes were watching her intently, his focus laser-like. She’d texted him right before she’d boarded the plane but he was acting as if he hadn’t quite believed she was coming back. On the long flight back to London she’d given herself quite the pep talk about showing Max her feelings. She couldn’t expect him to show his love for her if she wasn’t willing to walk out onto a limb and show him the depth of her regard.
Jumping into his arms, she looped her hands around his neck and pressed her lips to his, putting as much adoration into it as she possible could. She pulled back and cupped his cheeks, grinning like an idiot. She was simply so happy to see him.
“I missed you,” she said huskily. “Are you going to let me inside or do you want to make love right here where the paps can see us?”
He stood there, his body stiff and unyielding. He hadn’t kissed her back and his expression had barely changed. He was like a robot, no emotions or tenderness whatsoever. Stepping back, he moved out of her embrace, his own arms still at his side.
“Yes, of course, come in.”
Cold. His house was chilly and not just because of the temperature. Goosebumps rose on her arms and she rubbed at them to ward away the shivers that threatened to derail any sensible thought. He was totally different than when she’d left. It was as if he’d flipped a switch and the pompous, stiff prick she’d first met had taken over and the loving, gentle man she’d known had disappeared.
“Is everything okay?” she asked in a shaky voice. This simply couldn’t be happening. Not after all they’d shared together. “Has something happened?”
Max had circled around the couch and was standing by the credenza in the corner.
“Not that I know of. Is there anything I should be concerned about?”
“Not that I know of…” Maybe she could loosen him up with her news. “Listen, I have kind of a big announcement and I want you to be the first to know. I’m so excited I can barely stand it.”
His smile was ice cold, not reaching his eyes that were currently grayish-silver. “Actually I know your news. I suppose congratulations are in order.”
He supposed? Was there some question there?
Had he talked to Nate and Paige already? She hadn’t asked them to let her tell him but they were so busy in LA she thought they wouldn’t bother and let her.
“You’ve already heard? Wow, news travels fast in Hollywood. So…what do you think, Hamlet? Do you think I can do it?”
It was silly to want his approval this badly. She was a professional woman who had taken on big challenges but this one was something very different.
He seemed to consider her question. “Well…I don’t actually know.”
She recoiled from his terse, bald answer. Where was the show of support when she needed it? He was back to that rude asshole and had deliberately said that to hurt her.
“I know you can’t be sure,” Carrie said, wanting to give him a second chance. “But you know my skill set. I have to admit I’m so damn nervous I’m almost shaking. If I fail this will be so incredibly public.”
His expression appeared to like that idea. “I suppose it would be quite humiliating.”
Her eyes went wide at his callous statement. The bastard could be so nasty when he wanted to be.
So they were back to this. She hadn’t even been gone a full week.
He held a stack of papers in his hand as he sat down on the sofa. “I’ve given this a great deal of thought since I heard about your…new career opportunity…and I’ve decided that I’m going to hold you to the contract. Every day of it. I’m sure you’d like to be free to begin your adventures early but I’m afraid that won’t suit my plans at all. In case you’ve lost your copy, I’ve taken the liberty of printing you a new one along with a list of social engagements that I expect you to attend at my side.” He looked up from the contracts and straight into her eyes. At one time they’d looked at her with such tenderness but now he had almost…loathing? “This is business, after all, and I expect people to live up to their commitments.”
Business. Yes, it was business. Carrie never should have forgotten that fact.
His hateful demeanor almost took her breath away as her guts churned in her abdomen. She had to swallow down the bile that had risen in her throat, not wanting him to see the wounds he had inflicted on her person. They might not have been real and physical but it didn’t make them any less painful. Even now she could feel the tears burn in the back of her eyes and she had to steel herself against letting them slide down her cheeks.
She wouldn’t give the asshole the satisfaction. He was enjoying this.
“Just business,” she murmured, carefully not saying much. If she did she might later regret it. Anger and fury weren’t going to change anything. Not with Max. He was impervious to her emotions.
He’d proved it time and again.
“I guess you aren’t a big fan of my new job,” she finally said, meeting his gaze with her own. She wouldn’t be cowed by him. Not now and not ever. “I suppose you think this is a mistake and that I’m out of my league.”
There was a part of her that certainly thought that way. She was no Hollywood heavyweight who knew how the games were played. She was a rookie and as such had been hoping for his support and perhaps some advice.
She would get neither.
Max held out the stack of papers. “The biggest mistake I’ve ever made.”
He wasn’t talking about her new job. He was talking about her.
Accepting the contracts, she perused the schedule on top. There was nothing there that she didn’t already know about. There was nothing left to say.
Lifting her chin, she pretended that he hadn’t just shattered her heart into a million little pieces. That she didn’t want to crawl away in agony, screaming his name at the top of her lungs. She was no actress but she didn’t think she was doing too badly.
“Do you mind if I go upstairs and get the few things that I have? Some toiletries and a few clothing items?”
Max stepped back out of her path to the stairs but didn’t say yes or no. Fine. The asshole was done talking and frankly she was finished listening. He wasn’t going to say anything she wanted to hear.
With as much dignity as she could muster under the circumstances she marched upstairs and gathered her things into a plastic bag and returned to the living room, her items in hand. Shoving them into her oversized purse, she glanced at the crutches leaning on the wall by the door. The tender caring man that had carried her around rather than let her use them was nowhere in sight. Long gone and never to be seen again.
“I guess I’ll see you on the…” She checked the paper again. “The twenty-fifth. Text me if you need anything before that.”
She turned but not fast enough because his answer smacked her right on the ass he wanted out of his house.
“I won’t need anything from you.”
As she walked out of the house and down the walk, the tears she’d been trying to quell wouldn’t be denied any longer. They ran down her cheeks and blurred her vision.
He never had needed anything from her. She’d only fooled herself into thinking he did.