“He’s always been a good stick to measure my own success by,” Viktor said.
And Maxwell felt the first blush in memory heat his face with uncomfortable prickles. “It has been mutual.”
And that was enough admissions for the night. Week. Month. Year. Lifetime maybe. “You wish to host the reception?” he asked Madison.
“Definitely. Have you two chosen accent colors?”
“Blue,” he said without hesitation.
“And I bet I know just the shade,” Natalya said indulgently as she looked at Romi.
“We could do a metallic pewter with the blue,” Madison offered and Romi nodded, looking unaccountably emotional.
Pewter was close enough to black that Maxwell approved the choice. They discussed wedding and reception plans late into the evening.
Maxwell found the domestic scene unexpectedly enjoyable.
Romi couldn’t believe how quickly the time leading up to her wedding flew. She, Maddie and the often acerbic Natalya Black went wedding-dress shopping, met with the caterers and tasted more cakes than Romi knew had flavors.
Max was often too busy with work to involve himself in the day-to-day preparations for the wedding. However, he had surprisingly strong opinions on things like whether she wore a veil—he wanted her to wear one—or if there was a ring bearer: Max insisted on one as well as a flower girl.
Romi’s oldest cousin’s children were going to fulfill the duties. Her grandparents and all her aunts and uncles and their children were coming to the wedding despite the short notice.
Romi was delighted, but sick with nerves at the thought of promising love and fidelity to a man who wasn’t making the same lifetime commitment.
She clung to the memory of that one night when he’d said there was no expiration date.
It was easy when he held her at night, or made love to her. During the day while she and Maddie worked on bringing their dreams of a charter school to fruition or the wedding plans, and he was too busy to meet them for lunch or attend yet another cake testing—she hadn’t found the right flavor yet—it wasn’t so simple.
Her dad was doing well. They’d spoken on the phone again and he sounded so much like the dad of her childhood, she’d cried for an hour after hanging up.
Max had found her and seduced her tears into passion.
She still hadn’t brought the blue silk scarves out, but he never mentioned them. There was a little part of her brain that said she’d let him use them after he told her he loved her.
Then she could trust him completely, right?
And she just wasn’t sure those blue silk scarves were ever going to see the light of day.
Their sex life was plenty exciting without them anyway. Max wasn’t complaining and neither was she.
She had asked him about the fact that Maddie’s shares would only revert to her father if Grayson Enterprises was under threat from AIH.
“Jeremy Archer had already begun the initial steps of the takeover. It would have taken some effort on my part, but it could have been manipulated to look like he was the one threatening Grayson Enterprises.”
“You’re so Machiavellian, it’s scary,” she said, not sure if she was impressed, or horrified.
Maybe a little bit of both.
“It is a gift.” His expression dared her to deny it.
“Some gift,” was all she said.
“Grayson Enterprises is already improving.”
“With you at the helm, I have no doubt.”
“I am not exactly at the helm. I kept on the main management as I agreed to do for your father.”
“But you’ve given them both direction and limits, right?”
“Naturally.”
“Being your normal tsar-like self.”
“If you say so.”
“Oh, I do.” She leaned up and kissed him. “I have a strange desire to make love to a tsar. Do you know anyone who might fit the bill?”
He had and the time that followed had left them both replete and winded.
But memory of those blue scarves niggled at the back of her mind, reminding her that he wasn’t the only one holding something back in the emotions department.
Maxwell’s wedding day dawned bright, the sunshine burning through San Francisco’s morning fog.
Romi had spent the night before at her childhood home with Madison Beck.
Viktor had called to complain. “I don’t know why I have to spend the night before your wedding alone.”
“Because we will always give those two whatever they ask.” Which did not mean Maxwell loved Romi.
Just that he recognized how necessary her happiness was to his contentment.
Viktor didn’t bother denying the truth. “I have to admit I’m surprised you’re getting married, Maxwell.”