To the Max (30 page)

“What was that about?” Christy asked Rachel.

“God only knows. He’s always riding my ass.”

Annie looked at the others. All of them had their brows up.

“I wouldn’t mind that hunk in uniform riding my ass,” Holly whispered.

“I mean metaphorically speaking, you crazy women. Not literally,” Rachel said.

* * * *

Max had always enjoyed himself immensely while shooting in different locations. The thrill of the adventure, of a crazy stunt, of a new woman. Not anymore.

He couldn’t wait to get back to Annie.

“Thanks, but no, thanks,” he said, standing up. They had finished dinner, and some of the guys were going out.

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.”

He went straight to his room. He missed Annie so fucking bad he didn’t know what to do with himself. Hell, he even missed Higgins and his stupid socks and had started falling asleep with old reruns.

He tapped on his cell and brought her number up. He called her every night. Every fucking night without exception. And talked to her until she all but fell asleep.

It rang twice before she answered. “Yo, Boob Enhancer.”

“Yo, Pregnant Lady. What are you doing?”

“The puzzle.”

He tensed. He knew her very well by now. Doing puzzles was a stress-relieving technique for her. “Are you sleeping okay?”

“Not really. I got myself a body pillow to hug. It isn’t the same, but I make do.”

He chuckled softly. “Glad to hear I’m so easily replaceable. How’s work?”

It took a long second before she answered. So that was the problem. “I’m finding a lot of irregularities in the Franke accounts.”

“What do you mean?”

“Franke Enterprises is a very intricate conglomerate, and I still have to dig more, but basically, there is tons of money from the nonprofit organizations being moved around.”

“By whom?”

“Not sure yet. Such big companies have to be audited by impartial parties—no inside auditing allowed—and that’s why Sebastian Franke brought it to us. He’s taken over from his dad recently, so I don’t know what his involvement in the fraudulent dealings is, if any. I traced the money laundering back several years.”

“Who’s audited them these last years?”

Her tone became even more serious. “We did. Not me, but the company where I work. My boss supervised their auditing.”

“How come no one spotted anything until now?” Unless, of course, Annie’s boss had noticed but looked the other way. Then again, she was extremely good at what she did, probably even better than her boss, although less interested in kissing ass. That was why she wasn’t the one in charge.

“I don’t know yet, but I’ve brought it to his attention. I asked for more documentation, and he basically told me to let it go and only audit the companies I was hired to audit, not the nonprofit organizations, and that he would pass my findings to the client.”

“You going to drop it?” Max asked, already knowing the answer.

“Nope. I’ll contact Sebastian and ask for the papers I need. In the meantime, Benny, my boss, has been drowning me in work, probably so that I will forget the whole thing. But enough about me,” she continued in a far too cheerful tone, “how are things in Canada?”

He knew the situation was stressing her out more than she wanted to show, but instead of confronting her, he decided to play along.

“Motherfucking cold.” And very lonely without her, which was much worse.

“It’s cold here too.”

“Canada is colder, I can assure you. Especially when you’re running around half-naked, swinging an ax.”

She was silent for a second. “What about your stalkers? Are the international ones less abrasive?”

He hated the insecurity in her voice. “I don’t have international stalkers. I’m no movie star, Ace.”

“Thank God. You already raise too much attention wherever you go.”

“It’s the braids.”

“Ha! You could shave your head and it wouldn’t change a damn thing.”

“You know what’s not going to change? Me in my room, talking to you every night. Missing the shit out of you. Wishing I had you in my arms.” Next trip, he was going to take her along. She needed a break, and he just couldn’t be without her.

“I miss you, too,” she finally conceded, her voice just a frail thread.

Max’s stomach knotted. Fuck that he’d needed to hear that. “Good to know, baby. You have the ultrasound tomorrow, right?”

“How did you know?”

“Because you have it marked on the calendar you put on the fridge.”

And because he loved her and anything that had to do with her was important to him.

“You checked my calendar?”

“Compulsive reader here, remember?” He was fucking pissed it had to overlap with the trip to Canada. They were on a tight schedule, having lost two months while the producers attempted damage control and whatnot. Now they couldn’t even spare a day. “I would have loved to be there with you.”

“I know. Don’t worry. I’ll manage.”

“I could call you while you have the ultrasound. What do you think?”

“Deal.” He could hear the smile in her voice.

“Now let’s move to extremely important matters. What the hell is the puzzle about?”

She giggled. “You haven’t figured it out yet?”

“Four thousand pieces? All stuck in different boxes, sorted by a weird system not even Einstein could decipher? Of course I haven’t.”

* * * *

Annie sat in the full waiting room. If there was a place where total strangers had no qualms talking about extremely private things, like incontinence, hemorrhoids, or hurting nipples, that was the gynecologist’s waiting room, so when her cell rang, she felt a huge relief. Not only did she not want to talk with these women, but she was also sure hearing their conversations would give her nightmares. Her belly had more than caught up with her five months’ pregnancy, and the reality of having a baby, along with the difficulty of seeing if her socks matched, was hitting home. The last thing she needed was to listen to gruesome war stories, thank you very much. There was a man accompanying one very pregnant woman, and he was turning green. Literally. Who could blame him? Annie had caught the words
perineum tear
,
traffic jam
, and
fifteen pounds
. Those couldn’t lead to anything good.

She unlocked the cell and smiled. “Yo, Boob Enhancer.”

“Yo, Pregnant Lady, what are you doing?”

Just hearing his voice made her feel more reassured. “Nothing much. Waiting for the ultrasound.”

“I know. That’s why I called. As promised.” Yep. He’d said he would. “So, we’re rooting for a girl, right?”

“I just want the baby to be fine.”

“The baby will be perfect. Like her mom. You nervous?”

She was but didn’t want to worry him. “Nah.”

“So why are you tapping your fingers on your bag?”

“I’m not tapp—” She stopped in midsentence. “Wait. How do you know?”

Suddenly she realized the waiting room was very quiet. She turned her head and saw Max standing by the door, his cell at his ear, a big smile on his face. He had his Viking beard back, the sides of his head shaved and tattooed, and his dark-blond hair partly braided and in a low ponytail. Dressed in black leather pants and an aviator jacket.

Annie shot to her feet and threw herself in his arms. “Max!”

He hugged her, lifting her from the floor. “Hello, Ace. I see you’re happy to see me.”

“You kidding me?” she said, kissing him again and again on his lips while he chuckled. Happy? She was ecstatic and a bit teary. She hadn’t realized how much she was going to miss him. Every single day he’d been away. But especially today. There was no one in this world she wanted to share this moment with more than him. “What about the movie?”

He shrugged. “They can do without me for twenty-four hours. No way I was going to miss it. I’ll take a red-eye back. No biggie.”

So he’d been traveling all day and he was going to catch a midnight flight to Canada and then go straight to work, all just to be with her during her ultrasound. Her lower lip started trembling.

“Annie Griffin?” the nurse called out from the door.

“Here,” Max answered and then whispered against her mouth. “Ready?”

She nodded.

It took a while for the nurse to gather her bearings and rip her eyes away from Max. She cleared her throat. “This way, please.”

Her gynecologist didn’t blink, but that probably had more to do with the fact that he was a male in his early sixties.

The last ultrasound she’d had, she’d been alone, first in the lobby full to the brim with couples and later on in the examination room, where they checked the baby’s heartbeat and she saw that small spot on the screen. Now Max was sitting next to her, holding her hand and smiling, solid as a rock, after dropping everything and flying several thousand miles to get to her, and she had the uncontrollable wish to hug and smooch him. And cry. Not because she wasn’t alone anymore, but because she had the most amazing man she could have dreamed of by her side, and she was crazy about him.

All those emotions were swirling inside her, out of control. When she saw her baby on the screen, face and arms and all of it, she burst into sobs.

“Ace, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she managed to get out, wiping her tears. And that was the absolute truth. There was nothing wrong. Her baby was healthy, and Max was with her.

“No tears, then,” he ordered, squeezing her hand and offering her the most gorgeous, reassuring smile in the world.

“Do you guys want to know the gender?”

“She doesn’t need any confirmation,” he said to the doctor while Annie nodded. “She’s convinced it’s a girl.”

“Well, she would be right, then. You’re expecting a girl.”

She didn’t hear much after finding out the baby was a girl and that she was well. When they were done with the ultrasound, they left hand in hand. Again everyone felt silent as they walked through the waiting room. There were a couple of “oh my God,” several coughs, and many sharp intakes of breath.

“You just gave a collective orgasm to a waiting room full of pregnant women. Haven’t checked the floor, but I fear several had their water break,” she whispered into the crook of his neck.

He chucked softly, shaking his head. “I’m taken.”

Taken. She loved the sound of that.

“I like Lizzie. You?” she asked Max on their way out of the building.

“I like Lizzie, but I loooove Patricia.”

Annie stilled. “You’re kidding, right?”

He barked out a laugh and kissed the top of her head. “You should have seen your face. Come on, let’s go. Where you want to go celebrate?”

That was a no-brainer. She only had Max to herself for a couple of hours.

“Home.”

* * * *

Max made it back to Alden at three o’clock in the morning. They had finished the last scenes in the early afternoon. He’d been supposed to take a morning flight from Canada, but it had been a full week since he’d seen Annie and he hadn’t been able to wait.

Several stuntmen were going farther north for some extreme skiing, and he’d been invited to join them. The answer came automatically: no way. He hadn’t even had to think about it.

He opened the front door and moved without making a sound. As he left his keys and duffel bag on the sofa, he realized the door was not on the dining table anymore. He climbed the stairs, and something caught his eye in the man cave. On the wall that had been empty before, now hung an impressive picture framed in old wood. When he got closer, he realized it was the puzzle. Wow. It was a fourteenth-century world map by a famous cartographer. His chest clenched.

He found Annie on his bed, wearing one of his shirts. She was sleeping quite restlessly, hugging a big, long-assed pillow, like she was trying but failing miserably to find a comfy position. He wanted to always come home to this sight. This woman in his bed.

Silently, he undressed and joined her. The second he put his arm around her, she turned, nuzzling his chest and lifting one leg over his thigh, as she always did.

“Ace?” he whispered.

She mumbled something, called his name, and then totally relaxed.

He smiled. She’d found the position, and she wouldn’t move the whole night. He lay there, hugging her and listening to her light breathing.

He kept one hand around Annie and the other on her stomach.

He held the two most precious things in this world to him. For the first time in ten days, he fell asleep in peace, feeling complete and at home.

* * * *

Annie didn’t want to wake up. She was having the nicest of dreams: Max was with her, petting her head and back, murmuring sweet things, his warm chest against her face.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.”

A bit groggy, she looked up. It wasn’t a dream. She had a Viking on her bed. “Max! When did you come in?” she asked, hugging him.

“I missed you too much. Didn’t want to wait until the morning to see you.”

And she’d been sleeping while he’d been there? She slapped him. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

He chuckled, trapping her hand. “You were dead tired. And you need your rest. How are my girls?”

“They’re fine. Still hyperactive and very much confused about their rodent condition.”

He cupped her face, his eyes soft. “Not talking about Tango and Cash, baby.”

“We’re fine,” she whispered, her throat tightening.

“I saw the puzzle last night.”

Damn. She would have wanted to watch his face when that happened. “Do you like it? It’s for you.”

“I love it, Ace. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. I would have finished it earlier if you hadn’t been distracting me these past months. If you want it somewhere else, we can—”

“It’s perfect where it is. Missed you.”

“Missed you too. A lot.” Then she felt the baby, kicking like there was no tomorrow. She brought his hand to her stomach. “She heard you. She missed you too.” Which scared her, because it proved her unborn five-month-old daughter already recognized him.

He tipped her face up. “You are not going to go off the deep end on me about our relationship and the age difference and whatnot? Now that we’ve been apart a week and you had time to think?”