Guys leave her alone.
Mary
Thank you, Sean
Sean
she has a baby to make!
Mary
I hate you so, so much.
“Good morning,” Maxim says from the door of the room, and I jump, dropping my phone in the process, it falls to the ground with a loud thunk.
“Hi,” I say. “Morning.”
“Something wrong?” he asks, nodding once in the direction of the dropped phone. I play dumb, looking around like I’m not sure what he means. “You got a lot of texts, is all.”
I blink. “Right, yeah. It was just my family being. . .well, yeah there was a problem,” I lie. “But they took care of it. And I told them never to text me again and I put in my two weeks notice.”
Maxim’s lips quirk in a smile at my story, and I look down at the metal tray he holds. I sit up in the bed and push my hair behind my ears. I just know it’s a damn mess and I would be more self-conscious of it, but he’s stuck with me now so he might as well get used to it.
“Is that for me?”
“It is,” he says, and crosses the room to the bed, setting the tray down next to me. He’s already dressed, and not just sort of dressed—he’s wearing his usual expensive slacks and a button-up shirt. No tie, though.
I am woefully underdressed, but it’s like nine-thirty and we are technically on our honeymoon, so I think he’s the one at fault here.
Maxim takes a metal lid off of a couple of plates and my eyes go wide as I see the offerings. “I tried to order like I thought you would, by which I mean, every appetizer and a dessert.”
“You learn quick,” I say, then gasp, reaching for a tiny bowl. “Cream puffs? Everyone should put them on their breakfast menus.”
Maxim hums but looks pleased as I stuff a whole cream puff in my mouth.
“Is there coffee?” I ask around my bite, but it’s clear enough that he knows what I’m asking for and exits the room before returning a few moments later with two to-go cups.
I take a big sip then wince at the temperature. “How long have you been awake?”
“Not long,” he says. “A couple hours.”
“Do you always wake up so early?” I pick up a plate of what looks like an omelette covered in mushrooms and cheese.
“Usually. I don’t always sleep well.”
I nod, too familiar with that struggle, but not willing to go into it. Maxim certainly doesn’t want to hear about my nightmares, nor the waking thoughts that haunt me as I try to sleep.
“Well thank you for breakfast. And coffee.”
We lapse into silence, Maxim standing casually, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his coffee while he watches me devour two plates of food. I wonder if he’s thinking about last night. Even wondering about it brings to mind the torrid details of our consummation, making my cheeks hot.
What even was that?
Best sex of my life? I would say probably, yes. Utterly confusing? That too. Neither of us were supposed to like itthatmuch. I wasn’t supposed to see a bottomless well of want in his eyes, nor feel it reflected all the way through myself.
There are worse things in life than enjoying sex with your husband. It’s not such a horrible affliction, is it? So long as he doesn’t start getting any funny ideas. I can have feelings-free sex with Maxim Orlov while we try to make a tiny Orlov.
I’ll deal with the stress of actuallyhavingsaid tiny Orlov when the time comes.
