To the Max (25 page)

“Annie?”

No answer. He opened the door and found her sitting on top of the toilet lid, the mask in her hands.

She didn’t even look at him.

He took the mask from her hands, dropped it on the floor, and knelt in front of her. “I’m sorry, Ace. I told them not to come again.”

Her voice was tired. “Go away, Max.”

“Fuck, no.”

She stared down. “This is not going to work.”

“Look at me, baby.” She didn’t comply, so he placed a finger under her chin and tipped her face up. “I said look at me.”

She did, and he didn’t like the defeat lurking in her eyes. “I can’t and I won’t compete with every woman for your attention.”

“This won’t happen again. I promise.” He’d been very clear with the girls. He was taken. They weren’t welcome anymore.

“Of course it will.”

“You already hold my total, undivided attention. There’s no competition. You beat all of them to hell and back.” Annie snorted, and he brushed his lips with hers. “Listen to me, baby. You spent the whole afternoon and evening working your ass off to make the kids in Alden happy. And the adults too. Those girls used that time prepping themselves and making their tits as visible as possible without getting arrested. You don’t need to go half-naked to hold my attention. As a matter of fact, I’d rather you didn’t. I don’t want to end up in jail for beating all the assholes salivating after you.”

“Max, I’m finding out I’m a rather jealous person. I don’t share well. You have stalkers.”

“
Stalkers
is too strong a word.”

“Really? And what would you call them?”

“Strongly interested yet very much misguided parties?” He got a faint smile out of Annie. Good. He’ll take it. “I would never make you share, baby. You can trust me. I dated a lot, but I’ve never cheated on anyone and I never will. My mother did that to my dad. I would never, ever do that. I want to be with you and only you. I don’t give a fuck about other women. They don’t interest me.”

She lifted her arms. “I will never be Racy Red Riding Hood for Halloween. This is me. Sweaty, hair a snarl, no makeup. Unfashionably dressed. Next year I may be a witch with horrible moles. Or a bloody zombie.”

He caressed her cheeks. “And I wouldn’t have you any other way. Oh, and if you get to be a zombie, I’m in. I have several cool ideas. I’ve always known watching
The Walking Dead
would come in handy someday.”

Annie chuckled, finally, and he felt ten fucking feet tall for it.

He undressed her, all the while gently kissing her, losing himself in her taste. In her sweetness. She got rid of his clothes too, moving her hands over him, giving him goose bumps. His whole body humming at her touch.

“Shower. Now.” He took from the drawer a foil package, ripped it open, and suited up.

“Max, what are you doing?”

“Proving to you I have no trouble lifting my dates.”

Chapter Fifteen

Max headed for the library, which on Monday evenings, due to the popularity of the romance book club and the book-swapping-day program, was the busiest place in town. When he entered, the women from Annie’s CC meetings were just finishing. Story time was in full swing. Parents were scattered around, and the tables holding books to trade were brimming with people.

Mrs. Wilkinson was in hell.

The second Annie saw him, he recognized the distress in her eyes. She took a step back. Nope. That wasn’t going to fly with him anymore. On Halloween, she hadn’t removed the mask once during the time he’d been at her place, not even when she was taking a breather. All to keep people from finding out it was her whom he’d been kissing. That was probably why she’d also refused to go out these past few days, always coming up with an excuse for them to stay home—which he didn’t mind. Hell, he loved being alone with her. But her reasons bugged the shit out of him.

At least in the library, she couldn’t yell at him, right?

He marched to her, brought her into his arms, and kissed her. Not a short kiss this time, but a long, possessive, and very public one. He felt her reticence for a second; then she softened.

“Hello, Ace,” he whispered against her lips. “Ladies,” he greeted the group.

Lucy was fanning herself. Several women at the back were looking at them and whispering. This was going to spread through town like wildfire. Good.

“Hi, Max,” Holly said, a knowing grin on her face. “What brings you here?”

He put his arm over the shoulders of a very red, anxious-looking Annie. “Picking up my woman to take her to the movies. Then we’ll go eat out.”

Christy smiled. “Have fun.”

“We will,” he assured his future sister-in-law. “Let’s go, baby. Or we won’t make it to the theater in time.”

He took her hand. When she tried to withdraw it, he tightened his hold.

“Max, let go,” she whispered, fretting. “People are watching. What will they say? I’m starting to show.”

He snorted, kissing the top of her clueless head. “What will they say? That you’re the most gorgeous pregnant woman in the world and that I’m a lucky bastard for being allowed to walk beside you.”

She seemed as much in panic as at the beginning, but she followed him to the car. “Max?”

“Yes, Ace?”

“I don’t go to the movies without checking the IMDb reviews, ranking, and awards. Opening weekend box office.”

That was his Annie, lover of reruns. “Well, now you do. We’re living dangerously, remember? And after that, we’re eating out.”

“We going for some lobster?”

“Why? You have pent-up frustration to take care of? Because sex works wonders for that. I’ll show you tonight.”

She laughed softly, shaking her head. “You’ve shown me plenty. I’ve had more sex in the last days than in the last decade.”

“You complaining?”

She blushed. “No.”

“Good. We can go to the Crabby Lobster another day. Today we’ll eat somewhere in Alden. In a restaurant,” he specified as she was already opening her mouth, no doubt to suggest they’d stay home.

She narrowed her gorgeous, forensic-accounting eyes at him. “I know what you’re doing.”

He bet she did, not that he was going to stop doing it. “You said you’d give me a chance, Ace. And I don’t hide too well. I love spending time with you alone at home but not because you don’t want people to see us together.”

“I was protecting you. The whole town will be talking about us and my baby bump.”

“I don’t need protecting, much less from you or your baby. Now let’s go. Oh, and hand over your cell.”

She frowned, taken aback. “Why?”

“I don’t want you checking for movie reviews.”

“Damn,” he heard her mutter.

* * * *

“Come on, Ace. You’ve been at our barbecues and family dinners before,” Max said, holding her hand tight and walking to his aunt’s. “There’s nothing to be nervous about.”

Annie disagreed. “I’ve never been there as your…” She wasn’t sure what she was to him. “What exactly am I? Your girlfriend?” Because that word sounded childish to her.

“If you don’t feel comfortable saying you’re my woman, you can just tell them you’re fucking my brains silly.”

“Sure. Because saying I’m your booty call is better.”

“Booty call, my ass. Annie, my aunt and my brothers knew about my feelings for you before I even kissed you.”

“They did?”

He nodded. “I didn’t have to say a word to my aunt because she figured it on her own. My brothers stopped me from beating the shit out of that asshole who came on to you after exotic aerobics, so I had to come clean. They know we’re together. What you call it won’t change it.”

True. She was being silly. Besides, news of that kiss in the library had everybody talking about them. Well, talking about Max. Criticizing her for being a cougar, for statutory rape, and God only knew what else.

He turned to her. “What are you thinking?”

“How young you look,” she blurted out.

He stopped and brought her flush against him. “Were you thinking that yesterday while I was between your legs, eating your pussy after I’d fucked you hard against the wall?” he whispered in her ear, his husky voice abrading her senses.

She blushed, rubbing her thighs. Man, she could still feel his mouth there, driving her mad.

Just the recollection made her pussy flood.

“I wasn’t thinking.” Like always when Max touched her.

“Good. That’s how we’ll keep it, then,” he said with a wink.

He rang the doorbell, and Aunt Maggie answered. She hugged Annie. “So glad to have you here.”

Max and Annie entered the house hand in hand. Everybody was there. No one made a comment. They were too busy smiling.

Christy was ecstatic about Annie’s relationship with Max. Tate too. She’d made it clear at Rosita’s, where Max had taken Annie two days ago in his campaign to let the whole world know they were an item. Annie and Tate had been friends before, mainly through Holly, but now, with their due dates just three weeks apart, they were bonding over the pregnancies. There were some glaring differences, like the facts that Tate was married and eight years younger than Annie—that is, exactly Max’s age—but Annie tried not to think about those.

Cole and James greeted her and then drafted Max to help with some project they had going on in the garage. Before following, Max kissed her. “Take care of my girl,” he said to his sisters-in-law. “Make sure she doesn’t run away.”

“You trying to run away?” Christy asked with a chuckle.

Like there was a way to run away from Max. He had some freaky gravitational field surrounding him, sucking everyone in. Males and females. Especially females.

Aunt Maggie had everything under control with the food, and the table was already set, so Annie and Christy sat on the sofa with Tate. They were comparing stomachs when Aunt Maggie came in from the kitchen.

“By the way, this is yours,” she said, handing Annie a package. “I got it from the post office. Lucy gave it to me because of the address.”

One look at the wrapping, and Annie knew what it was and from whom. Only preppers packed stuff like their lives depended on it.

“This is the new pandemic-preparedness kit my mom sent me.”

“Pandemic-preparedness kit?” Aunt Maggie asked.

Annie face was flaming. Doomsday preppers were weird enough when you saw them on TV. Living with them was much more complicated.

“She’s heard I travel a lot and is worried about Annie catching some nasty bug from me,” Max interrupted, saving her. He sat by her side and encircled her shoulders with his arm.

Annie had an almost unstoppable urge to kiss him, but she reined it in. Max didn’t. He offered her one of his heart-stopping, panty-dropping smiles and, lifting her head, took her lips.

Cole and James also came from the garage, cleaning their hands, which were stained with what looked like oil.

“Come on. Let’s eat,” Aunt Maggie called.

The food was great, but even if it’d been terrible, Annie would have stayed glued to the dining room chair and eaten everything they put on her plate, just for a chance to spend more time with these people.

Max didn’t waste a chance to touch or kiss her, and although at the beginning it felt weird, soon she settled. Mainly because Cole and James did the same with Christy and Tate. Showing affection wasn’t an issue in the Bowen household.

After food, Aunt Maggie disappeared for a moment and came back with a rather worn-looking box. “Trivial Pursuit time!”

All the Bowen men groaned.

* * * *

“I’m going to start taking trivia cards around with me to practice in my spare time. You annihilated us,” Annie complained as Max and her climbed the stairs.

“We warned the three of you that men against women was a bad idea. My bros and I have been playing Trivial Pursuit every week for the last twenty years. We know the answers by heart.” Heck, they knew the questions by heart too. Aunt Maggie had played for all those years too, but she had the uncanny ability to forget everything the second she put away the table game, which hadn’t helped her team that much.

“I’m going to get a novelty edition. We’ll see then. Or an updated standard edition. Half the countries mentioned in this version don’t exist anymore.”

“That’s the fun part, Ace. Trying to remember which year the game came out and what was the world situation back then.”

She snickered. “That’s easy. The Flintstones ruled the earth.”

Such a wiseass. He loved having her around his family. She fit in effortlessly. His sisters-in-law loved her. His brothers and his aunt too. As did Max. Not that he was going to say a word. It was too early and Annie was reticent, still unsure of their relationship.

“What’s it going to be tonight? Old reruns or our Sopranos-Walking Dead combo?”

She took his hand and headed for the man cave. “Combo. Or maybe we could give some other show a chance.”

She’d gotten better at going with the flow. The last time they’d gone to the movies, he hadn’t even had to confiscate her cell to prevent her from checking the references.

The truth was, he’d watched any-frigging-thing she wanted him to. Black-and-white silent movies? Bring them on. As long as she was happy, he was in. This, of course, he was cleverly keeping to himself. It was one thing to be whipped, to admit it was a different matter altogether.

They snuggled on the couch until suddenly, the “Imperial March” from
Star Wars
started playing. Annie hurried to the billiard table, where she’d left her bag, and rummaged through it. “I have to take this,” she muttered, sliding open the cell. “Hello, Grandma.”

Grandma? “Imperial March”?

Annie glared at the ceiling, her body rigid, her features severe. “Yes… Of course… On time, like always… Etiquette dress code.”

Max strode to her and lifted her to sit on the billiard table. He pushed his way between her legs. When she closed the phone, he bracketed her body with his arms. He didn’t like seeing her tense. “One question, Ace. Do you have a pic of Darth Vader attached to your grandma, or is it her real pic?”

She let out a laugh, softening. “A real picture. She’s scarier than Darth Vader.”

“Do you have different ringtones for different people?” When she nodded, he asked, “Me included?”