I snapped my jaw shut. “Don’t you tell me no, Maxim Dolov. I’m my own person and get to decide for myself.”
“You’remine, Ida Jane. You feel the connection, too. That kiss downstairs proved it.”
I stiffened my spine and glared as best I was able, so I didn’t melt into a puddle. A man growling that I was his shouldnotturn me on. I hated the way Dillon said that word—like I was a possession he could pick up and toss away. “I most assuredly am not.” I was no man’s possession. I was a person, dammit!
“You’remine,” he said, even lower…and sexier. My lady bits throbbed with longing. Damn him. Just…damn this man.
I did not like his alpha-ness. I didn’t.
Gah! I did!
No, no,no!
Maxim liked that word a little too much, and I wasn’t having it. Not now, not after Dillon assumed he could beckon, and I’d fall at his feet.
“I’mmine, muscle-head. No one else’s.” I slammed the door and locked it, nodding at it for good measure.
“Ida Jane…”
“Go away!” I yelled.
“I will. I’ll leave you alone to sleep. As long as you stay here, in my house. Where I’d really like for you to stay from now on. I know you’re looking for a place.”
“How—Millie.” I gritted my teeth. That brat had teamed up with Maxim. I knew she disliked Dillon, but…really? She was my bestie. She should showmeloyalty, not blather all my life problems to Maxim.
“It’s not a problem, and I have the space.”
Sure, I’d mentioned it to my mama, but I hadn’t really planned to stay with Maxim. Had I? I needed to make my own good decisions. I couldn’t rely on others, even my best friend, to do that for me. I’d get dressed and explain the situation to Maxim like an adult, so we no longer had to yell through the door.
My bag wasstillin the hall. Leaning my head back so I could stare up at the ceiling, I groaned.
“Ida Jane?” He shuffled closer and something thumped against the door. I jumped.
“You remind me of her. Nadia. I’m pretty sure you’ve realized this.” His voice was low. “I loved her, but not in a weird way…I’m totally messing this up!” The door thumped again, then again. He must have been banging the back of his head against it.
“Yoursituationreminds me of my sister,” he clarified. “It’s different. I know you don’t think I understand that, but I do. Nadia was a victim of circumstance, and you are but you aren’t because you have many more resources, including family, that Nadia didn’t have. I just mean your situations are different.”
Well, score a big point for Maxim. He was right. I had family to fall back on. They just weren’t living in the same city as me. And my dearest friend was thousands of miles away. Keelie and I might become close—we were well on our way—but that relationship needed time to blossom.
And Maxim—he was both my savior and the biggest irritant I’d ever met. Somehow, he kept getting under my skin, burrowing deeper, like a damn army of chiggers.
“You are the most stunning woman I’ve ever met. You do more than simply sparkle. You reflect joy and beauty.” He must have slid down the door because I heard a faint thunk. “You scare the absolute piss out of me, and I keep screwing up because I hate that feeling. God, Ihateit.”
A long pause. When he spoke again, his voice was so deep, I smashed my ear against the door to ensure I heard all the words.
“You could matter to me even more than my sister ever did, and Ihatethat I’m becoming okay with that.”
I pressed my shaking hand to my chest. But that wasn’t enough. I needed to touch Maxim, comfort him. I fumbled with the lock and handle, tumbling out and into his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. “How am I supposed to stay angry with you?”
His arms tightened around me when I shivered, thanks to my damp towel, the cold air blowing on my exposed skin, and his nearness. Instead of kissing me senseless like I kinda—totally—wanted him to do, he buried his nose in the curve between my shoulder and neck and held me. As his body heat permeated my chilled flesh, I relaxed against him. He lifted his head, and I laid my hand against his cheek.
Initially, I’d thought Maxim’s eyes were icy—piercing and sharp, seeing everything. They were pale, sure, but they were beautiful—clear and crisp like a thin cloud breaking apart on the horizon. Yearning and other deep, churning emotions he strove to bury flitted through them as we studied each other. Perhaps because of his childhood trauma he’d mentioned, which, in my mind, led to him becoming a private, solitary man who’d clearly built protections around his heart. That didn’t mean he didn’t value relationships, just that he struggled to trust enough to let people close enough to develop those connections with him.
And did he struggle. The snatches of what I was beginning to call the Real Maxim showed a warm, caring, if overbearing man.
“I’ll think about your proposal.” Would I? Well, I hadn’t stopped, so yeah, I would. I just wasn’t sure I couldacceptit. Even though I’d heard him say I was the only one he wanted, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Maxim considered me interchangeable with any other woman.
And there were my past experiences with Dillon rising up, trying to ruin a potential new relationship. I couldn’t allow my thinking about Dillon to become a pattern with Maxim.
