Jules Bennett - Snowbound With A Billionaire

“Max,” she said, looking up at him with beautiful blue eyes. “I’m so glad you’re here. I hate to pull you away from your work, though.”

He was careful how he returned her embrace, knowing the left side of her body was tender from surgery.

“I would drop anything for you, Mom. Besides, I don’t start another movie for a couple of months, so I’m all yours.” He smiled down at her, soaking in the fact that his mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer, but, had not only fought it, she’d beaten the odds and won. “I can’t believe how great you look.”

She laughed, swatting his chest. “What were you expecting? I’m sore, and I definitely have my moments where I’m feeling run-down and tired, but today is a good day. Not only is my son home, he brought a beautiful girl and a baby with him.”

Max turned to see Raine directly behind him, cradling a swaddled, sleeping baby. While his eyes were drawn to Raine, his curiosity made him look down at the child, wondering what life his ex was leading now. Apparently she’d gotten all she’d wanted out of life: husband, baby, probably that farm of her grandmother’s she’d always loved.

“Oh...” Elise moved past Max and sighed. “Look how precious she is. Nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.”

How were babies always instant magnets for women? What exactly was the draw? Baby powder? Slobber? What?

As Max watched the maternal love that settled into Raine’s eyes, the softness of her features, the tender smile, he couldn’t help but be jealous of this baby.

Perhaps that thread of jealousy stemmed from his lack of being that loved at such a young age...but he didn’t think so. Max knew his jealousy had sparked because he once had that same unconditional love from Raine...until she’d broken his heart. So why was he upset? Had he seriously not learned his lesson the first time he got entangled with this woman?

“May I hold her?” his mother asked.

“Are you sure you’re up to it?” Raine replied. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

Elegant as always, his mother waved a hand through the air and smiled. “I’m perfectly fine to hold a little baby. My surgery was two weeks ago. Take your coat off and stay a while, anyway. It’s too cold to be out on a day like this.”

Raine handed over the baby and made work of removing her coat. Max should’ve done the same, but he was too busy watching Raine shed her scarf and gloves. When she pulled the crocheted purple hat off her head, she ran a hand over her auburn curls, as if she could tame them. He missed seeing that hair. He remembered running his fingers through it and feeling its silky softness. Truth was, he didn’t know he’d longed for such minute things about her at all until just now.

“I need to call my friend to come get me,” Raine told his mother. “My car is in a ditch about a mile away.”

Elise gasped. “Oh, honey. Are you all right?”

Raine nodded. “I’m fine. Abby’s fine. Just scared me, but I was getting ready to call someone when Max pulled up.”

His mother turned to him. “Good timing.”

Wasn’t it just? Fate hated him. He was positive of that. Otherwise he wouldn’t be here in his childhood home, with his high school sweetheart and his mother, who had not exactly fought to keep them apart but had expressed her opinion that their teenage relationship wasn’t the best move.

Max didn’t know what had happened between these two women over the years, but apparently his mother and Raine had made some sort of truce. Hell, he really had no clue what was going on. Even in the times he’d visited his parents in Boston, his mother hadn’t mentioned Raine after his first few visits.

Max pulled off his coat, hung it by the door then crossed to Raine. The last thing he wanted to do was get close enough to smell her sweet floral scent or, God forbid, touch her. But, being the gentleman his mother had raised him to be, Max reached for her bag and helped her out of her ratty coat.

“Oh, thanks,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll make that call.”

Raine slipped to the other room, pulling her cell from her pocket. Max turned to his mother who was making some silly faces and equally goofy noises for the baby.

“What on earth is going on?” he asked in a strained whisper.

Elise glanced over and smiled. “I’m holding a baby and visiting with my son.”

“You know what I mean, Mom. Why is Raine so welcomed here now, and why are you holding her baby like she’s your very own grandchild or something?”

Okay, poor, poor choice of words there, but he was damn confused.

“Raine called me and asked if she could drop something off,” his mother explained. “Of course, I knew she had had a baby, and I’ve visited with Raine several times over the years when your father and I would come back to Lenox. Trust me when I say, Raine isn’t the girl she used to be.”

But he liked the girl she used to be. Liked her so much he’d intended on marrying her, making a life with her.

“So you and she are what? Chummy now?”

Raine stepped back into the room and reached for the baby. “Thanks for holding her.”

“Oh, it’s not hardship holding something so precious,” his mother said. “Did you get in touch with your friend, dear?”

“He wasn’t home.”

Max rested his hands on his hips. Fate absolutely hated him. He’d been home ten minutes, and already he felt as if he was being pushed back into his past, forced to face feelings he simply wasn’t ready for.

And before he could think better of it, he opened his mouth. “I can run you home if you want to call a tow truck to pull your car out.”

Raine’s eyes locked onto his. “Oh, that’s okay. I’ll call someone else. First I want to give Elise a gift.”

“A gift?” his mother asked, clasping her hands together. “Oh, if it’s some of that honey lavender lotion, I’m going to just kiss you.”

What the hell was happening here? At one time his mother and Raine were at opposite ends of the spectrum, and he was being pulled in both directions. Now he had just entered a whole new world where the two women were clearly the best of friends.

“I knew that scent was your favorite,” Raine said, holding up the floral gift bag in one hand and securing the baby against her shoulder with the other. “And I thought you deserved to be pampered.”

His mother took the bag, shifted the bright pink tissue paper and peeked inside. “Oh, the big bottles. Thank you so much, Raine. Let me just go get my purse.”

“Oh, no,” Raine said, shaking her head. “These are on me. I had planned on bringing you some food as well, but Abby was up all night fussing, and I didn’t get to make anything today, because we napped.”

Max couldn’t take all this in. The baby, the odd bond his mother and his ex seemed to have, and the fact they were totally comfortable ignoring him. He’d been in Hollywood for years, the industry and media swarming him everywhere he went. Yet, here in his childhood home, he was suddenly an outsider.

“Oh, darling,” Elise said with a smile. “Don’t push yourself. I know you’re busy. And now that Max is here, he’s more than capable in the kitchen. Besides, I believe my home-care nurse prepared some meals for me before she left.”

Max was thankful his mother had hired a nurse and that she’d been able to stay until he could arrive. Apparently his father was once again a no-show in the family when he was needed most.

“Raine,” he chimed in. “I’ll take you home when you’re ready.”

Her eyes drifted back to him, and she sighed. “Fine. I need to get Abby home anyway and feed her. I hadn’t planned on staying gone long, and I walked out the door with the diaper bag but left the bottle on the counter. And the roads are getting worse.”