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CHAPTER 17
Michaela shifted and winced as the boning in the corset top of her gown took another dig at her side. The air was hot… Goodness gracious, it was so hot! And humid. And sticky… And annoying…
Stray wisps of her hair hung down out of her glamorous updo in thin strands. The air seemed thick, and breathing it in only seemed to increase the nausea that was her constant, loathed companion.
The maid that had helped her get dressed had insisted that this was a formal announcement and would require a formal dress. So here she was, made up, sucked in, pushed up, and buffed to a highly glossed sheen, waiting behind a heavy red curtain for her time to step out onto the balcony with Maxim so they could make a horribly clichéd announcement to the television cameras and the citizens who had gathered below.
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“This is wonderful!” Sandra hadn’t stopped chattering since she and Michaela had gotten into the limo. “My mamma never allows me to go shopping.” “Your mother never lets you go shopping?” Michaela couldn’t imagine being controlled to such a degree. The very thought of it made her feel claustrophobic. “And are we supposed to be doing this now?” Princess Alessandra Catarina Lucrezia, for her brother and friends simply Sandra, had been very excited about taking a trip to help furnish a new, princess-worthy wardrobe for Michaela, but Michaela had assumed it had been Maxim’s idea. And she certainly hadn’t imagined that her future sister-in-law might be forbidden from going. A slight blush stained Sandra’s high cheekb
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The flight to Amaris Island was short. The small plane touched down in a field of green grass only ten minutes after takeoff. The island itself was less mountainous than Carpathia, with white sand beaches that bled into expansive fields and thick olive groves. There was no car waiting for them when they disembarked from the plane. Maxim had spent most of the half-hour flight on his phone making arrangements for any work he needed to do to be finished remotely from the island. She’d spent the whole flight feeling shaky and… strangely, very excited? No. Just shaky about the prospect of being almost alone with Maxim in such a beautiful, isolated, romantic place. “You were joking about the honeymoon thing, right?” Michaela asked, surveying the vast expanse of green around them.
MY SWEETEST MISTAKE CHAPTER 20
After sighing, Maxim opened the door to Michaela’s bedroom without knocking. She was asleep and her beauty stole his breath, made him feel weak with desire, like a starving man in desperate need of nourishment. Even with all of the turmoil inside of him, Maxim still wanted her like crazy. “Misha… Tesoro mio, (Ita for ‘my darling’) wake up…” Maxim whispered trying to control the emotion in his voice. His pregnant fiancée was so damn beautiful… He sat down on the bed and took her hand in his. Her skin was so soft and delicate. Maxim wondered if it was like this all over her slender body. “Michaela…” He moved his other hand over her face, brushed her hair back. She stirred beneath his touch, her body arching, a soft sigh escaping her lips. His body hardened instantly, his st
MY SWEETEST MISTAKE CHAPTER 21
At that moment, when he’d told her that the test was negative, Michaela had just wanted to cling to him, and it had been so easy to imagine that their relationship was real and that they were a real couple, drawing support and strength from each other. But this wasn’t the case, will never be. Not now, not ever. They were just two strangers thrown together, making the most out of a crazy situation. He had his life, she had hers, and together they had the baby. But that was all that linked them. Maxim had said he wouldn’t divorce her, and maybe he wouldn’t. No matter what he would never abandon their baby. He had been faithful to Antonia, but he had loved Antonia. She frowned… Without love what was going to keep Maxim interested in her? When she gained baby weight
MY SWEETEST MISTAKE CHAPTER 22
He lowered his dark eyebrows and rubbed a hand over his jaw, his skin rasping against the black stubble that was starting to grow. “Oh… Your father didn’t pay child support?” “We didn’t even know where he was. He walked out the door one day and never came back. I haven’t heard from him in fifteen years.” “That must have been hard.” “Yes, it was. But it was harder for my mother. She just kind of self-destructed after he left. Anne Marie was already… gone, and then my father was, too… Well, she just didn’t seem to have it in her to keep going. So, she somehow chose to sink instead. She… nearly took me with her.” Maxim sat in the chair next to hers and leaned close, the musky scent of him teasing her senses. “Now I see… I mean, why you are so independent.” “I had to be. No one isn’t going to take care of you… People are go
MY SWEETEST MISTAKE CHAPTER 23
Maxim got off the phone with the casino manager and cursed. Not because the problem at the casino hadn’t been easy to solve - that issue had been handled in only a few minutes - but because of the unsatisfied desire that was still raging through him. He couldn’t believe he’d almost had sex with Michaela outside by his pool, with all of the speed and finesse of a very horny schoolboy. Maxim had never, EVER lost control with a woman like that before. He had always taken the time when romancing a woman. Antonia had never wanted it any other way. She had always needed candles, a dimly lit room. He had always spent at least an hour arousing her body before he’d even considered taking things to their natural conclusion. But with Michaela, there had
MY SWEETEST MISTAKE CHAPTER 24
For a second, his dark eyes focused on the blank space in front of him, trying to remember his life before Michaela, before this whole baby situation, before the unhappiness of the last years. He was trying to remember Antonia… not because he was so attached to her memory, but because nothing about it had been worth the pain he’d endured. Maxim had lost Antonia several times over. In the end, an impenetrable wall had gone up between them, and he hadn’t been able to reach her anymore. He hadn’t been able to protect her, from her grief, from death. At this point, all Maxim knew was that he had no desire to ever go through that kind of hell again. “So, you’re absolutely sure you’re going to meet someone else?” Michaela asked, her copper eyes deadly serious. “I’m marrying you, Michaela… You’re the only
MY SWEETEST MISTAKE CHAPTER 25
Michaela fought to regain some control, some kind of command over her senses. Impossible when she felt as if all of the feelings inside her were too big to be contained by her skin. So difficult when she was certain she might shatter into a million pieces. A needy moan escaped her lips and her body trembled as he moved closer to the place where she was wet and aching for him. She didn’t have control anymore… she felt as if she might fall from the earth and float away as if there was nothing holding her to the bed. She gripped the sheets, tried to focus, tried to find some shred of sanity, because this, what he was doing to her, making her feel, was terrifying. Michaela couldn’t temper it, couldn’t lead it, or plan it. But she felt her hold slipping, felt herself ready to plunge over the edge, and if that
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