She brushed past him.
And just like that well-being disappeared. And he instantly remembered why he'd avoided that particular feeling. It only made the bitterness all the more intense and unbearable in its wake.
Jo rushed into her room, closing the door behind her as if a panel of wood could keep him out. Or protect her from her own thoughts.
God, last night had been wonderful. Truly wonderful.
And that scared her to death. Maybe more than her crazy delusions about her sister. But then, wasn't this just another crazy delusion of a different kind?
She stood in the middle of her bedroom, not really seeing anything, not really sure what she was doing. She just knew when she woke up this morning she'd been ridiculously pleased that Maksim was still there, one arm flung over his head, the other flung possessively over her.
She had stayed beside him, even as she told herself she should get up, she should put space between herself and her feelings for him. But she hadn't left him right away. Instead she'd touched his hair, his arm, the soft skin of his lips. And she'd let herself imagine them having a future.
She drifted in a fantasy of romance and love and a home with this man. A family.
And that was what pushed her out of bed. That she couldn't expect that kind of feeling from Maksim. She'd been with Jackson for months, and she hadn't gotten that response from him. He'd denied her all of that. He'd cheated, he'd lied, and in the end left her to handle all the mess herself. He hadn't wanted her, or what she was offering.
She wrapped her arms around her midriff and fought back tears. He hadn't wanted her and a family, and why would Maksim?
She kept her arms wrapped tightly around her as she wandered to the bed, trying to ignore the memories the rumpled bedding brought back to her.
She couldn't let herself feel anything. She couldn't. And God knew she was good at that particular defense mechanism. Control and denial. That was what kept her going, kept her safe.
So she would tell herself she wasn't feeling anything about Maksim. She'd get dressed for work, she would go to work, and she would emerge back into what made sense to her. And she'd get through this.
She tightened her arms around her stomach.
She would get through it all.
By the time Maksim knocked on her door, Jo was fully dressed in a no-nonsense blue suit, her hair up in a tight, severe bun, her glasses in place. All traces of the shaken, unsure woman were gone.
Of course, once she opened the door, she was confronted again with the fact that he'd been sitting in her kitchen all this time, naked. But she managed to keep her eyes averted as she said, "Sorry. I'll leave you to get dressed."
She slipped past him, making sure not even her sleeve brushed against him. Maksim didn't move into the room, nor did he speak.
As she hurried away, she could feel his eyes burning into the center of her back all the way down the hallway. But she refused to look back, or to let herself be shaken.
Falling for Maksim Kostova was destined to be doomed.
CHAPTER 20
Maksim watched Jo dart down the hallway, and he fought the urge to enter her head to understand what the hell had happened to her in the course of a few hours to make her so wary of him, so on edge, so unwilling to even look at him.
He glanced down at himself, then raised his eyebrow. He was nude, but that certainly hadn't bothered her last night. He turned and entered her bedroom. But he knew he wouldn't jump into her head. He was already afraid that he might have caused her damage.
What if her fear last night had been somehow related to what he'd done to her? He had to consider that. And while he wasn't pleased with her reaction this morning, he wasn't willing to hurt her.
He paused while pulling on his jeans. Why was he doing this again? Why was he putting his concerns for this mortal woman above his own desires? He tugged his jeans up and fastened them.
He needed to think about all of this. And he really needed to get a grip. Tugging on the rest of his clothing in abrupt, irritated movements, he decided he needed a break from this woman. She was making him crazy.
He shoved his feet into his shoes and headed directly back to the kitchen. Jo stood, leaning a hip against the kitchen counter. Her arms were folded around herself in an almost protective way. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Her dark eyes were distant, distracted.
Everything about her stance annoyed him. Where was the warm, open, and uninhibited woman from last night?
After a second, she looked at him. "I think we should talk."
Mmm, he didn't have to be a genius to know that wasn't a good announcement.
"About what?"
"About this situation." She turned so her whole body faced him, although her gaze moved around the room. Everywhere but on him.
"Okay. Go ahead." He didn't want to hear her words, but he didn't think she would be stopped.
"I think this needs to end. It's too complicated."
Maksim tried to remain calm, cool, which was hard given his blood had come to a slow, steady simmer. She was ending things? When they'd barely begun? After how they'd both reacted last night?
Humans were certifiable. No wonder he usually had little use for them. She was lucky to have his attention. His lust. She was lucky, and he should be the one calling the shots, deciding when things would end.
But instead of saying any of that, he asked, "Why is it too complicated?"
Jo didn't answer. She tightened her arms around herself, and stood so straight, she looked as if her spine could snap in two with just a little pressure.
Finally, she said, "I just think it's for the best."
He stared at her. That was it? That was her whole answer?
He gritted his teeth. You know what? He didn't give a shit. He got what he wanted out of her. Twice.
Sure, he'd have liked more. A lot more.
A lot more of what he got last night, he clarified to himself. He didn't want anything else from her. But he was damned if he was going to pick through a woman's mercurial moods just to get a little ass. He knew that already being damned kind of took some of the emphasis out of his declaration, but he really did mean it.
Chasing human tail was beneath him.
Not his style. Period.
"Well, I guess I should head out."
Jo came back from the faraway place where she was, tightening her arms around herself again. "Okay."
Maksim's teeth ached as he gritted harder, furious at her vague response.
What the hell had happened since last night?
No! No. He wasn't going there. It was time to cut out and focus on what mattered to him.
"See ya," he said, his voice sharp, laden with sarcasm.
He shut the door behind him with more force than necessary when no reply came, irritated with her and more so with himself that he cared.
Jo barely recalled walking to work, or answering her e-mails or anything else she'd done when she got to her office. In fact, she'd been sitting with her fingers poised on her keyboard, doing nothing but thinking, for about twenty minutes or so now.
And she likely would have continued to remain lost in her thoughts of Maksim and the disaster her life was for another twenty, if Cherise hadn't appeared in her doorway. The larger woman's telltale eyebrows were furrowed together, concern thinning her lips.
"Have you heard from Maksim?"
Jo shuffled around a few papers on her desk, trying to make it look like she'd been doing something, anything besides fixating on the man in question.
"No, I haven't."
"Well, he isn't here. And that's not normal."
Jo's heart skipped slightly at Cherise's words. What if he didn't come back? What if he was gone for good? The chances of that were almost 100 percent, if she had to guess.