Bedding the Bachelors Box Set (Books 1-3) (27 page)

“No,” Grace said, her voice trembling slightly. “I want a loving and stable father for my baby. I just don’t want a boyfriend, lover or husband.”

“So no sperm bank but no personal connection between you and the father either. You just want a baby daddy?” Melina clarified.

“Exactly. He lives in his house, I live in mine. Shared custody. I still have time to do the things I enjoy. Dance. Even date. And my baby gets the benefit of an involved, loving father.”

Well, that sounded stupid as hell, Max thought. If she was going to bother having a baby with a man, why not try for the whole package? A woman like her deserved that. Plus, did she really think she could trust her child and her own happiness to a total stranger? Whether they lived in separate houses or not, her father’s baby would be in her life and would have an impact on almost everything she did. Just who was she planning on…

A crazy idea made him suddenly lightheaded.

She’d asked him for an orgasm. Was it possible she’d been going to ask him to father her child, too?

Granted, he didn’t have the kind of reputation or lifestyle that would make most women want babies with him, but maybe, despite what had happened with Elizabeth last night, Grace had seen beyond all that. Maybe there was finally a woman who saw more to him than others did.

“When did you decide this?” Melina asked.

“To have the baby? I’ve been thinking about it for a while. But I made the final decision to forgo Operation Orgasm for Operation Baby around one a.m. ”

About an hour after she’d seen him with Elizabeth.

“Grace,” Melina said quietly. “I know you went to see Max last night. He talked to Rhys this morning and told him. Were you thinking of asking him to be the father—”

“What?” Grace’s high-pitched laugh was incredulous. “Are you crazy? Of course not. I was going to ask him to have sex with me, but that was before he kissed Hollywood bombshell Elizabeth Parker and they wound up with their picture splashed all over the papers.”

“Grace,” Melina said, probably intending to tell Grace about Max and Elizabeth’s arrangement. Max had explained things to Rhys, and he had no doubt Rhys had shared the details with his wife. But Grace kept talking.

“I had a weak moment. But not
that
weak. Max is the last guy I’d want to have a baby with. No, I’ve done a bunch of research on co-parenting options and—”

The rest of Grace’s words were drowned out by bitterness. The
last
guy she’d have a baby with. That hurt. But fuck, why was he surprised? The whole reason he and Elizabeth had gotten together last night was to reinforce his reputation as a playboy. And apparently, that was the only reason Grace had come to him as well.

With an abrupt move, he switched off the monitor. Pressing his palms in his eye sockets, he took a deep breath. Then grabbed his beer again.

Fine. Grace didn’t want him to father a child. He should be relieved. And it wasn’t exactly small potatoes that she
had
come to him thinking he could get her off. So why did it leave a bad taste in his mouth to have confirmation, once again, that a woman saw him only as sex on a stick? At least before, he’d thought she wanted sex with
him
. He’d thought she found
him
attractive. But no, she’d spoken the truth last night. She hadn’t wanted
him
. She’d only wanted the orgasm she believed he could give her.

“Max,” Rhys yelled from the front door. “You here?”

Max glanced at the now-silent monitor before calling back. “In the kitchen.”

“Hey,” Rhys said as he appeared in the doorway. “Elizabeth on her way back home?”

It took a minute for Rhys’s words to penetrate and for Max to switch gears and take his mind off Grace and everything he’d heard. Finally, he put down his beer, rubbed the back of his neck the way Rhys often did and shrugged. “Yeah.”

“Has she heard from her douchebag of a husband?”

“He tried calling her last night. She didn’t answer.” Even though she’d wanted to. She still loved the guy and was doing her best to get over him, starting with convincing him and the rest of the world that she
was
over him.

Rhys grinned and shook his head in amazement. “So your plan worked like gold. For her and you. I checked online and the next ten performances are sold out.”

Max smiled tightly. “That’s great.”

“What’s wrong?” Rhys asked, and Max silently cursed. His brother didn’t miss much, and now that he’d shown a chink in his armor, Rhys would probably be all over it. “Nothing. Just a late night. You know how it is.” He grinned and punched his brother in the arm. “At least Jeremy will stay off our backs for a while. The key is to make sure we can keep ticket sales up until we sign the new lease. Then we’ll have time to strategize our next move.”

“And in the meantime?”

“I’ll keep doing what I do best—”

“Hi, you two,” Melina called just before she stepped into the room.

Rhys’s expression immediately softened.

“We finished shopping early for once. Can you believe it?”

At the obviously forced cheer in her voice, Rhys’s eyes promptly narrowed. His brother and Melina had fought a long, difficult battle to be together and Rhys would do anything to ensure his wife’s happiness. Add the fact she was now pregnant with his children? Protective didn’t come close to describing his brother.

Sometimes it still shamed Max when he thought about the part he’d played in keeping Rhys and Melina apart for so long. It had taken almost ten years to make things right between them again.

Watching Rhys kiss Melina and cup his palm around her rounded belly, Max ruthlessly pushed away a small pang of jealousy. They were happy here in Vegas. It was up to Max to make sure they
stayed
happy. Plus they had a responsibility to the show’s crew and their families, and that was something neither he nor Rhys took lightly.

“Hey, Max,” a feminine voice called. Max turned to see Lucy, her deep red hair longer than he’d ever seen it, standing just behind Melina. Next to her stood Grace. As Melina pulled away from Rhys’s kiss, she glanced back and forth between him and Grace. Grace’s gaze flitted to the baby monitor and her shoulders relaxed slightly.

“Hi, Lucy. Grace,” he said, his gaze locking with hers.

Maybe it was because he’d dreamed of her all night. Maybe it was because of the conversation he’d just heard over the baby monitor. Whatever the cause, he instantly envisioned the two of them together.

Naked. In his big bed. Both of them on their knees, arms wrapped around each other, his head pressed against her breasts as her hands caressed his hair and she sprinkled kisses on his face.

He felt her. In his hands. His chest. His head. His dick. Her soft skin enclosed him. Her sweet smell surrounded him. His mouth watered, certain she’d be the sweetest thing he ever tasted.

Her screams of pleasure as he got her off would make his ears ring.

The sting of her nails digging into his back as she shook with the force of her orgasm would set him off, making his lunging hips pick up speed and his balls tingle as he prepared to—

“Max? Were you talking about Jeremy and the lease?
Max
.”

He jerked at Melina’s voice, feeling shell-shocked and struggling to keep his breaths even. What the hell? He’d always been attracted to Grace, but never, not even last night, had he so vividly pictured them together. He’d never pictured claiming her, shooting his load inside her, covering her with his cum until having a child was not just a possibility but an inevitability.

Apparently her confession that she’d wanted an orgasm from him but not a child had changed things in a big way. He wanted to do her. He wanted to accept the gauntlet she’d thrown down, too.

And she seemed to be right there with him, her composure smashed to smithereens, her face cherry red and her hand covering her throat as if to protect herself from…
him
he supposed. He’d probably looked like he wanted to drag her down and drill her into the ground, not caring who was watching them.

With great effort, he ripped his gaze away from hers and turned to answer Melina. But as he spoke, he spoke mostly to Grace. “Being seen with Elizabeth has paid off, just like we planned. Her dick of an ex is sweating bullets and the next ten magic shows are sold out. How about that?”

Melina picked up one of the newspapers on the table. She glanced at Grace, who was staring intensely at something on the floor.

“Grace,” Max said softly.

Startled, she glanced up.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to explain last night. I was playing a part and with the reporters there—”

Grace airily waved her hand. “No need to apologize, Sugar. It wasn’t exactly a surprise seeing you with one of your women. It didn’t bother me a bit.”

She was lying, Max thought, just like she’d been lying, if only to herself, about no longer wanting to find release with a man. The fact she’d come to see him last night proved it, but so did the way she’d looked at him then and just now. With passion. Desire. Yearning. What he’d seen in her, what he’d felt when he’d touched her last night, all pointed to the fact she wasn’t a woman who was okay with trading in good sex for a baby, but one who’d resigned herself to a life without good sex and was settling for something else because she was desperate. It didn’t matter that a baby could ultimately be a blessing. Settling was still settling, and a woman like Grace shouldn’t have to settle for anything.

“Elizabeth’s such a sweetie,” Lucy said brightly. “It sucks what happened to her, but it was so nice of her to fly down here to help. You sure you have no interest in getting back together?”

Max and Grace still stared at one another, and Grace didn’t flinch at Lucy’s question. Playing the game right along with her, he said, “You know me, Lucy. Why settle for one woman when there are so many who need what I can give them?”

Grace stiffened. Good, he thought. Why should he be the only one feeling uncomfortable here? She obviously needed to be shaken out of her comfort zone—
hard
.

“Now what?” Melina asked, her voice strained, indicating she felt the tension zipping between Max and Grace.

Rhys rubbed her back. “Max will keep up his presence in the press. Maybe make a few more public appearances with Elizabeth. Once we sign the new lease, we’ll have the time we need to get the show back on its feet.”

Even though it made perfect sense, Max wanted to snap at his brother that he wasn’t a damn performing monkey.

But that’s exactly what he was. What he’d always been.

It was what Grace thought of him, too. Just like every woman out there, with perhaps the exception of Melina. Max was all flash and no substance.

But he was smart enough to know what Grace needed. And honest enough to know he needed it, too.

So she didn’t see him in baby daddy terms. Big deal.

She needed to come. He needed to be the man that gave that to her. He also needed to stop her from making a colossal mistake by trying to have a baby before she was really ready for one. After all, she was Melina’s best friend. Melina was family, and he didn’t want her expending precious energy worrying about what trouble Grace was getting into.

Grace had made it clear when she was talking to Lucy and Melina that she wasn’t looking for any kind of long-term romantic relationship. Rhys and Melina wouldn’t have to know about their arrangement. Even if they found out, there would be no reason to think Max was hurting their friend.

Resolved, he gave his brother a fist bump.

“Elizabeth is filming this week, but we’re supposed to touch base when she returns. Until then, I’ll hit the clubs like normal. Make sure I’m seen and keep the buzz we’ve started going. I’ll start right after tonight’s show. Speaking of which, I’ve gotta head out. I’ll catch you all later.” He hesitated a moment, then turned to Melina’s friends. “See you next time you’re in town.”

Lucy waved.

“Bye now,” Grace said before quickly shifting her attention to Melina, looking like she’d already put him out of her mind.

Of course, he had no intention of letting that happen. She didn’t know it yet, but she wasn’t flying back to California anytime soon.

Not until he gave her the orgasm of a lifetime
and
convinced her that having a baby with a stranger wasn’t good planning on her part, but a cop out.

Max’s Magic Rule #4:

If all else fails, distract the audience with sex.

“Max heard,” Lucy said after Max left and Rhys excused himself to work in his office.

Grace was feeling a little weak at the knees.
Had
he heard their conversation? He’d hinted as much. But
how much
had he actually heard? The baby-making part, the I-was-on-the-hunt-for-an-orgasm part, or both?

“Maybe he didn’t,” Melina said.

Lucy pinned Melina with an incredulous stare and she winced.

“Okay, you’re right,” Melina said. “I left the baby monitor on in the kitchen. He heard everything.”

“Yah think? He practically stripped her naked and climbed her with all of us watching, then bragged he was good at giving a woman what she
needs
. Clearly, Grace, he’s into you. I’ve always suspected as much but—”

Grace shook her head. “Even if you’re right, he’s not into me. He’s into the challenge I represent. He overhears me saying no man has ever given me
le petite mort
, and of course he’s going to imagine himself doing the deed.” It was the same reason—the
only
reason—he’d come after her last night—male instinct. She’d been dressed up and fleeing. He’d been on the chase. As soon as Elizabeth Parker had shown up, she’d been easy enough to dismiss. She didn’t care what scheme they’d planned beforehand. Being dismissed by Max
hurt
and she wasn’t setting herself up for it again no matter how much heat she thought she’d seen in his eyes. “It’s reflex, is all. Exactly what you’d expect from a man like Max.”

“What’s that mean, a man like Max?” Melina asked, clearly protective of the man she’d loved like a brother long before he’d actually become one.