New Beginnings (The Billionaire’s Baby #4)(17)
Author: Helen Cooper

She grinned at him and licked her lips.

“Oh my god, you’re excited to visit the sex club,” Max exclaimed. “Just what do you think is going to happen?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t have on any underwear.” She raised an eyebrow and he fanned his face.

“Sophie, you are trying to make me a bad man, aren’t you?” He grinned and started the car. “Then let’s go.”

“So where are we going?” She looked around her curiously.

“We’re going to Jersey to a secret club called ‘The Games’.”

“The Games?” She laughed. “Original.”

“It’s a starter club,” he explained. “If you like it, we can go to a better one.”

“Seedier one?”

“No.” He grinned. “I can tell you know nothing about the lifestyle, seedy is what you see on TV.”

“So these clubs aren’t seedy?”

“No.” He looked at her with a smile. “The clientele may be seedy but the actual club isn’t. We’re not going to some dive bar in a bad neighborhood.”

“Okay.” Sophie sat back and studied Max as he drove. He seemed very controlled for some reason. She could tell he was tense and she wasn’t sure why. He had seemed excited to find out that she was excited but something in his reaction had made her worry. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Maybe it was because he was excited himself. She wasn’t sure what that meant. Did he miss going to the clubs? Was this something he needed in his life? And just how far did he go? What did he mean about this being a lifestyle? She was worried that she wasn’t enough for him. She loved him more than life itself but if he needed to be with other women, that was not going to be an option for her. She would leave him because staying would mean breaking her heart.

Chapter 10

Max

Max drove steadily. He didn’t want Sophie to notice that his heart was racing. He hadn’t been to ‘The Games’ in a while and he wasn’t sure who would be there that he knew. He hoped that all the usual girls were long gone by now. He should have thought it out a bit better, this was the club he had always brought his new assistants to, to see if they would be comfortable with the role he needed them for. He wasn’t sure if Sophie realized that he had come to these clubs without Alexis. And he wasn’t sure if he wanted her to know that. Something told him that she wouldn’t be as understanding if she knew he had f**ked half the women who worked there.

“So what will we do when we get there?” Sophie turned to him and he smiled at the eagerness in her voice.

“We’ll leave it up to the moment.” He smiled briefly at her and turned back to the road so that he could think.

“Are you okay with us going, Max?” Sophie’s voice was tight and worried.

“Yes, of course.” He smiled at her while warning bells rang out in his chest. If he were a smart man, he would turn the car around and drive them somewhere else, far away from New Jersey and ‘The Games’. But he didn’t listen to his inner voice and kept on driving.

“Have you written any poetry lately, Sophie?” He attempted to change the subject as they drove in silence.

“No, not really.”

“Written in your journal?”

“Yes.” She laughed. “I try to write in it every day.”

“Can you remember anything you’ve written lately?” He looked over at her. “I’d like to hear it.”

“Not by heart,” she lied. She could remember her words of anguish as well as if she had written them moments ago.

“I wrote something recently.” He paused. “I wrote a poem.”

“You did?” She looked at him in surprise. “I didn’t know.”

“It’s something my therapist taught me to do, to express my feelings.” He laughed at her face. “I know, I know. I have a therapist. I’ll tell you more about it later.”

“I never knew you had one.” She looked at him thoughtfully. “How often do you see him or her?”

“As often as I need.” His voice was low. “There are some things I need to tell you but tonight is not the night.”

“Okay.” She reached over and squeezed his hand, her voice soft and sweet. “Whenever you’re ready, Max.”

“Thanks.” He pulled into the parking lot of a fancy restaurant. “I want to recite the poem to you before we go in.”

“Go in?” Sophie looked at the steak restaurant in front of her. “Are we eating first?”

“No.” He grinned at her puzzled face. “You’ll see.”

“I’m so confused right now.” She laughed and Max turned towards her undoing his seatbelt.

“From the first time,” He held her hand. “That’s the name of the poem.” He gazed into her eyes and tried to penetrate her mind. He wanted her to understand how deep his words were and how honest he was being. He cleared his throat and started to recite his poem:

“From the first time I saw you,

I knew that I was yours.

In the infinity of time and space,

That moment was destined.

The way your heart beats in mine,

The way that your eyes make me see,

The way that your smile makes me happy,

The way that your tears make me sad.

I’d give a million lifetimes for one day of your life,

I’d give a billion dollars for one kiss from your lips.

I can not be without you.

I can not see without you.

I can not live without you.

I knew all this from the first time I saw you.”

“Wow.” Sophie looked at him with tears in her eyes. “No one’s ever written something so sweet for me before.”

“I hope it doesn’t sound creepy.” He smiled at her gently. “I’m not some perverted man. I didn’t love you love you from the first time I met you as a kid. But I did feel a connection with you. It wasn’t until later that I knew that I loved you as more than a friend. As more than a sister.”

“I know.”

“I tried to fight it, Sophie. I did everything that I could. You deserve better than me.”

“Max, you are my life. There is no one better for me than you.” She leaned towards him and whispered in his ears. “And I knew the very first time that I saw you that I was going to love you for an eternity.”

“Oh Sophie.” Max’s voice was emotional. “Please let us always remember these words and feelings, no matter what happens.” His words held an ominous tone and Sophie felt scared inside. She had a feeling that she had opened Pandora’s box by insisting on going to the sex club and she wasn’t sure if their relationship would ever be the same again.