you were worried, I mean.”
He stared at her. Protection had been about the furthest thing from his mind last night. Score another point for Team Stupid.
“Same goes,” he said, his voice coming out a little gruff. “I’m always careful.”
She nodded, twisting the sugar bowl around a few more times. “Good. That’s that settled. Now we never have to talk about it again.” She smiled to show she was joking, then stood. “I’d better get dressed, I guess.”
He watched her walk away, noting the straight column of her spine, the elegant arch of her neck, the grace of her movements.
The bathroom door closed between them and he let out the breath he’d been holding. Then he put down his coffee cup, braced his hands on the table in front of him and let his head drop.
He swore under his breath in French and English. For good measure, he threw in a couple of Spanish curses he’d picked up over the years.
He was an idiot, ten times over. All the bullshit he’d fed himself about only being physically attracted to Maddy. All the justifications for his need for her, his desire to protect her and make her happy and ease her pain.
He loved her. Had probably never stopped loving her.
And she only saw him as a friend. Same old, same old.
Shit.
IT’S GOING TO BE ALL RIGHT.
Her eyes felt gritty, and her head ached, but it was going to be all right. Max had let her off the hook. Or maybe he’d let them both off the hook. Whatever. They’d survived the morning after, their friendship intact.
She wasn’t stupid—she knew it would be weird between them for a day or two. But they’d get over it. If it killed her, they’d get over it. She’d made a stupid, impulsive, indulgent mistake, and she was determined to put things back the way they should be.
She brushed her hair and dressed in the slim-fit jeans and grass-green turtleneck sweater she’d bought the previous day. She brushed her teeth, took one last look at her pale reflection, then reached for the door.
“Max, you’ve officially ruined me. I can’t stop thinking about bread,” she said.
She stopped in her tracks. Max had a visitor. She was tall and slim with wavy shoulder-length auburn hair and very fair skin, and she was standing in the kitchen having coffee with Max. Maddy guessed she was about twenty-two, maybe a little younger. Her gaze dropped to the other woman’s feet, noting the distinctive, giveaway turnout of her toes.
A dancer. Maddy’s stomach dipped. She could think of only one reason why another dancer would be standing in Max’s kitchen.
“Maddy, come and meet Yvette. She’s a friend of Gabriella’s. She’s agreed to model for me,” Max said.
For a moment she couldn’t breathe. Max had replaced her. And not in the last ten minutes, either—he wouldn’t have been able to conjure another dancer out of thin air just like that. While she’d been fretting and agonizing over what last night meant to their friendship, Max had been quietly, coolly working to replace her.
The other woman was wide-eyed as she stared at Maddy.
“Ms. Green, I am very excited to be meeting you. I could not believe it when Max said you were staying with him. I saw you dance in Berlin two years ago. Your Juliet was so wonderful…I’m sorry, I do not have the words,” Yvette said in heavily accented English.
“Thank you. That’s very kind,” Maddy said. She even managed a smile.
“Not kind at all. Simply the truth,” Yvette said.
Maddy could feel Max watching her.
“This way you’ll have more time to do your strength training and work on your recovery,” he said.
Yvette looked concerned, her gaze darting between the two of them.
“You have an injury, Ms. Green? Not a serious one, I am hoping?” she asked.
“Nothing to worry about,” Maddy said. She wasn’t about to discuss her knee with the other woman. She already felt exposed enough as it was.
“That is a relief. The world of ballet cannot afford to lose you yet,” Yvette said earnestly.
Maddy smiled again, even though her face felt tense.
Max turned to Yvette. “The only thing we have left to discuss is your start date,” he said.
Maddy crossed to her bed, sitting on the edge to pull on her socks and boots. Her hands were shaking. She took a deep breath to steady herself.
“I am not working, so it is up to you,” Yvette said.
“Well, the sooner the better for me.”
Maddy grit her teeth. She wanted to pick up her boot and throw it across the room at him.
“I could come tomorrow. Or I have my dance bag in the car right now if you want to start this morning…?” Yvette offered.
“Yeah? That’d be great. Means I won’t be off my schedule,” Max said.
Maddy allowed herself one glance toward the kitchen. Yvette was leaning against the table, hands braced behind her, long legs stretched out in front of her. Unable to help herself, Maddy eyed the other woman’s chest. She was a good cup size larger than Maddy. A lot younger, too. And she had the kind of legs men dreamed of getting tangled in.
Because she was a glutton for punishment, Maddy switched her attention to Max.
He had his hip cocked against the kitchen counter, one hand tucked into the front pocket of his jeans. His jaw was shadowed with stubble and his shoulders looked ridiculously wide in a black fine-knit sweater. There were no prizes for guessing why Yvette was so keen to be accommodating. Max was sex personified standing there in his bare feet and faded jeans.
“I shall go get my things from my car,” Yvette said brightly.
She headed for the door. She was very tall, Maddy decided as she watched the other woman walk away. Too tall for classical ballet. Maddy felt a small dart of satisfaction. On one front, at least, she had the other woman beat.
Can you hear yourself? Yvette is not your competition. She will never be the competition because Max is your friend—and that’s all he is.
Still, jealousy burned in her belly, hot and fierce. She was supposed to be the one modeling for Max, not some redheaded goddess. Even though continuing to do so would have been strange and awkward and probably very, very unwise after what had happened last night, Maddy hated the thought that he would now be spending hours staring at Yvette’s no doubt nubile body.
She stared blindly at her feet, her whole body knotted with tension.
She was officially nuts. One minute she was almost crying with relief that she and Max had managed to recover from last night’s transgression, the next she was seething with resentment over another woman.
