Chapter 23
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
Sia
I woke up, and it was light outside.
And I was sore.
It’d been a while since I had sex, and I pressed my legs together.
I wonder if he knew.
Maxim might have. Everything about me probably came off as young to him and inexperienced. I turned over, expecting to find him, but his large bed was empty.
And cold.
His spot was almost frigid, and I sat up. There was no fire in the fireplace. It’d been on as we’d gone to sleep.
I waited a moment, thinking maybe he just went to use the bathroom or something, but that couldn’t have been the case. His spot was cold.
Anxiety hit me a little bit, and I waited, just lying there for a moment. Eventually, I chewed my lip and got out of his bed. I ended up sneaking my way back into my own bedroom.
I didn’t want to run into Lettie.
I realized how wrong all this was, sneaking around behind my friend’s back. The worst part was that hadn’t even been my main concern when I’d gotten up. It’d actually bothered me more that I woke up in a man’s bed, and he’d been gone. I looked like some young pathetic girl in his sheets, and that bothered me a whole lot more than Lettie’s thoughts about me sleeping with her dad.
I didn’t know what that made me. At worst a terrible friend, and at best, well, a terrible friend. Even still, I couldn’t avoid the sick feeling that overcame me that Maxim left me in his room. He left me alone in a cold bed, and my mind couldn’t pull away from that.
I have to get Polly.
She was my priority, my job. She hadn’t gone out since last night and needed to be fed and watered.
My nightgown was crispy under my robe. It’d dried weird and had been laid out with a robe on a chair. I noticed it when I’d initially gotten out of bed, and I was in such a hurry to get out of Maxim’s room I hadn’t realized it’d been laid out for me to find. This was most certainly Maxim’s doing before he left the bedroom that morning.
Is he at work?
It’d drive the dagger deeper if that was true. Like I really was just some young fuck to him who he probably only screwed to get out of his system.
You threw yourself at him.
I did because it felt like we had a connection. Hell, last night had felt like a connection. I couldn’t get out of my head how caring he was, how gentle, when he was normally so prickly.
That circulated my brain the most after I’d gotten dressed and came downstairs. I managed not to run into anyone along the way, but it was still early. Lettie might still be sleeping since she went out last night.
You’re a terrible person.
Again, this I knew, and it was even worse that what I’d done behind her back hadn’t even been worth it. Maxim hadn’t been there when I woke up, and I was so in my head that I was startled when I came across Sophia. She was cleaning the downstairs banisters, and I nearly clipped her.
“Good morning, Sia,” she said, not paying me too much mind, and I was glad. I was starting to feel so ill.
I greeted her but for some reason I didn’t keep moving. I stopped. “Did Mr. Petrov already leave for work this morning?”
I really was an idiot and almost didn’t stay for her answer.
She glanced up. “I think he’s out with Polly,” she said, and my mouth parted.
Polly…
Not believing it, I thanked her, then headed outside. The day hit my eyes, and I shielded them, unprepared for it. What I really wasn’t prepared for was Polly with Maxim who were both sprinting on their way back to the house.
Maxim was covered in sweat.
Naked from the waist up, he jogged with Polly beside him. He had a set of earbuds in, his tatted torso glistening as he pumped his arms. He noticed me because Polly did. She immediately tugged at her lead to head toward me, and when Maxim spotted me, he pulled an earbud out. Something warm hit his gray eyes when he did, and whatever that something was sent me in just as much of a tailspin as it had last night.
Fuck.
This guy… This man really had me gone. My face immediately flushed, and I distracted myself with Polly when Maxim unclipped her. She came right to me of course, and I buried my face in her fur.
“It’s an early start for you today, huh, girl?” I normally didn’t have her up this early but was going to get her up today.
“She was trying to get ahead of me this morning during our run, and I was the one who woke her up,” Maxim said, light laughter in his voice. His attention drifted to me. “Did you sleep well?”
Beautifully until I realized he was gone.
I didn’t admit that of course. I stood. “Pretty good, yeah.”
Rocking on my heels, I suddenly found myself awkward in front of him. This was ironic considering what happened last night and how I’d come onto him.
Maxim approached me in the next moment, and I rubbed my arm. Needless to say, I was completely aware of him as he got closer. His masculine scent quickly engulfed me, and he got as close as he could without drawing too much attention to us. There were several people out tending to the Petrov property, and normally, I wasn’t so aware of them.
I was now since Maxim kept his distance. I was sure he was aware of his staff too.
“I hoped so,” he said, again only looking at me. “I wanted you to sleep so I took Polly out for you. She’s fed and watered. Tired.”
Suddenly, I felt really silly for thinking he’d just left. Especially since he’d done something so sweet.
Really awkward now, I chewed my lip. “Thanks.”
“Of course.”
I had no idea where we’d go from here. I mean, it wasn’t like we could deny what happened between us last night.
I didn’t want to deny it, anyway.
I wasn’t sure how he felt, and there was still that considerable distance between us. There was also the fact that I was his daughter’s friend.
“I’d like it if we could spend the morning together,” he said. I blinked, and he smiled. “I texted Lettie this morning. She stayed the night with her reject of a boyfriend.”
I’d laugh at what he said, but then I mulled over what he was asking me.
He doesn’t want this to end.
I didn’t either, and though I didn’t like doing this without Lettie knowing, I wasn’t personally ready to go there just yet. I wasn’t sure how to address that obvious elephant in the room.
I guessed that was what made me a terrible person again because the butterflies hit me before my next statement. “What did you want to do?”
My thoughts immediately went to more sex. Especially because last night didn’t appear to be what he normally did. He also mentioned the vineyard to me. That he’d run me down, punish me. He’d been jealous of the guy I’d danced with last night. Actually, that dance was what sent me running. I hadn’t wanted to be with that guy, and he’d come onto me after the dance.
I’d obviously backed away from that situation, and my stomach flipped when Maxim drew in even closer. He was still at what was considered a normal distance between two people talking. He clearly wanted to keep things discreet, just like me with the Lettie situation for the time being.
“I’d like to bathe you,” he said, his voice low and almost timid, shy. The notion was crazy since he was so dominating. His head tilted. “I didn’t get to do that last night since we fell asleep, and I’m sorry about that. Aftercare is very important to me, and I’m not happy I wasn’t able to give that to you.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, but my body certainly wanted that. I burned at the thought of having his hands on my flesh again.
I nodded, forcing anything else out of my mind. I didn’t want to think right now.
I just wanted to give in again.