Page 6

T he second week of November, Maxwell Deckman rode the elevator up to the twenty-fifth floor, entered the business of White and Noble Insurance, and approached the receptionist.

“How can I help you?” The pert brunette wearing a slim pencil skirt with a white tucked-in blouse smiled brightly.

“Mr. Deckman to see Lily Snow, ah I mean Lily Stevenson,” Max corrected.

Damn it. He would forever think of Lily as a Snow.

It was twenty minutes before Lily made her way down a short set of wide steps that led to offices above. Wearing a white business suit, she was a vision. She was also one of the smartest people he had ever met. Smart, beautiful, and talented.

And once again, Max was filled with regret that he’d reenlisted instead of putting a ring on Lily’s finger.

“Clair?” Lily smiled at the receptionist. “You said the bodyguard Blake hired was here?”

Lily had yet to see him and she was resting her elbows on the high counter. The jacket of the white power suit lifted and showed her tight ass cheeks and he gave his dick a stern talking to.

“I love your suit,” Clair gushed at Lily. “And I’m so glad the bruise on your cheek is finally gone.”

Lily flushed and nodded.

Bruise? Max frowned. What fucking bruise?

Clair pointed toward where he stood and Max wet his suddenly dry lips.

Lily swung around.

He watched every emotion flicker across her expressive face. First surprise, then a spark of pleasure, then came the pain, followed by bitterness that punched him in the gut.

Lastly, she was pissed. He could see it in her now taunt body and clenched fists.

Theirs was a rocky past.

The day he had faced her close enough to gaze into her summer blue eyes came back with a punch.

The day he’d left her.

“Why don’t we get married?” Lily had suggested the day before he was set to leave to South Korea.

“No,” Max shook his head. He was all packed up from her small North Carolina house and his duffle bag sat near the door. No way in hell would he allow her to ride to the airport with him because he couldn’t bear to have her watch him fly away.

“Why?”

“Getting married would never work.”

Max had watched his own parents cheat on each other while his father had been deployed. His parents became bitter empty shells and eventually divorced when he was thirteen.

“So what? You just expect me to wait around here for four more years until you decide you’ve had enough Army and come back home?” Lily’s blue eyes were spitting fire at him.

“No,” he told her softly. “I don’t expect that.”

“But you want me to wait, don’t you?” Lily suddenly pleaded.

Hell yes, he wanted her to wait for him, but he would never ask that of her.

“I want you to live your life.”

“So you’re breaking up with me?” Her pretty mouth turned down with a bitter curve and tears stood in her eyes.

Max clenched his teeth so hard, his jaw ached.

He knew Lily wanted him to propose marriage before he departed, but he just couldn’t do it.

“So,” she continued. “Let me get this straight. You’re leaving and you don’t want me to wait,” she hissed.

“No,” he said simply.

Max could have put a ring on Lily’s finger, but with him being deployed overseas, he refused to even contemplate it.

And so, he left her.

And if their fates were aligned, he knew she would still be single when he got out of the Army.

Only she hadn’t been single at all.

“No way in hell,” Lily hissed between her teeth, bringing his attention back to the lobby of the high-rise office building.

“Tell that to your husband,” Max countered slowly. “I’ve already been paid.”

She marched up to him, tipping her chin. Her hair would have spilled behind her, but it was wrenched back so tightly that it pulled at her face.

Max smirked down into her furious expression.

“Keep the money.”

“That’s unethical,” he murmured.

She gasped, gaping at him, her lips parted. “You’re one to talk about ethics!”

“When have I ever been unethical?” Max countered smoothly, holding his breath, calming his nerves.

He had been out of the Army for well over a year and he’d seen Lily from afar numerous times, but up close? She was fucking gorgeous.

“Did you do this on purpose?” Lily asked in a harsh whisper, keeping her voice low.

“Your husband called me ,” Max responded, folding his arms against his chest.

And it was true.

Max might have sent an email of inquiry at first, but it had been Blake Stevenson who had called his office.

The conversation Max had with Stevenson had taken all of twenty minutes. He’d sat through the guy going over his credentials and doing a quick background check on his bodyguard business. In the end, Blake had gone with Deckman Defense and Security.

And why the hell not?

His company was the best at keeping people safe.

Of course, Max had sweetened the deal by keeping his prices low.

Because it had been…Lily.

“This has you written all over it.” She poked her finger into his chest to emphasize each word.

Lily tipped her head back, glaring up at him. He found her amusing, he could lift her with one arm behind his back. And if she weren’t married, he would have picked her up and squeezed her tight.

She looked amazing.

She smelled like heaven. Ridiculously fantastic, like vanilla and candy.

He had missed being close to her.

“This is a bad idea.” Lily glared.

Her words made him smile.

Hell yes, this was a bad idea, but knowing that Lily was in danger and that the danger might possibly be from her husband, there was no way Max could have stayed away.

Five years, Lily thought.

It had been five years since she’d looked into his face, and she had been a naive twenty-three-year-old at the time.

And so very much in love. It still hurt to think about it.

That Max was here was absolutely unbelievable. And she was unreasonably angry. She spun on her heel and marched across the lobby back toward the staircase, all the while knowing that his eyes were on her ass.

Max followed her, and too damned closely for her liking.

Her heart pounded and she wished—not for the first time since laying eyes on him—that she had an escape route. Something planned to get her the hell out of here and away from—

He caught her wrist, bringing her to a stop. They had reached the upper landing and she spun on him, irritated.

“Who bruised your cheek?” he growled low enough for her ears only.

Lily fought back the wave of heat coursing up her spine. She ignored the butterflies flooding her stomach.

Max’s storm-colored gaze was hooded, yet the man still managed to pin her in place with only a look.

His deep voice rumbled through her, making her shiver.

The rich timbre of Max’s voice had been one of the things she had loved most about him. Well, that and the man’s ability to have a conversation without the whole world knowing.

Blake, on the other hand, didn’t give a shit if anyone overheard him yelling at her, and she had lost count of the times her husband had embarrassed her in public.

Lily pulled her wrist free from his gentle hold.

She was not going to compare her husband to her ex-boyfriend.

Absolutely not!

She kept the mantra on repeat as she broke away from his stare and continued in the direction of her office.

Today, she had been focusing on every single flaw of Blake’s. It had to be the result of the fight last month. Or it could be that she had put up with a lot of his character flaws for a year.

Thinking of her husband brought a sour taste to her mouth. They had spent the past month at odds. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another he was bitching about or trying to control.

And how dare Blake hire a bodyguard without checking with her first! It was just like her husband to do something this controlling. Blake hadn’t given her a choice, even though she would be the one to foot the bill.

Not that she couldn’t afford it, but it was the principle of it all.

“Lily?” Max rasped, cocking one brow, his gaze slid over her.

Sweet mother and holy Jesus the man should have been outlawed. Another shiver swept up her spine and with it a warm glow planted in her stomach and she suddenly felt like bawling like a baby.

What was Max doing home from the Army?

Wait a damned minute.

She spun around, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him after her. Marching into her office, she slammed the door—not caring if her co-workers noticed.

Walking a few paces away from him, she stopped with her back to him, facing the wall of windows overlooking the city.

“Who bruised your cheek?” Max asked again.

The man had always been relentless.

“How long will you be here? When do you deploy?” she whispered woodenly, because that was all she could manage at the moment. Plus, accidental or not, there was no way in hell she was telling Max that the bruise on her face had been from Blake.

“I was offered early retirement, so I left the Army just over a year ago and started up a security business.”

A year ago…

Max had been home for over a year.

Why hadn’t he called her? He’d been home over a year? Had he been home before she met and eloped with Blake?

Well, crap.

The tears fell quickly, but she stayed turned away.

Why didn’t I wait?

Max was here now…

But she hadn’t waited.

If Max had shown up before she married Blake, she still would have made the same choice, Lily silently insisted. She still would have married Blake.

So what if Blake had flaws? Her husband was loyal and dependable—almost to a fault.

And Blake had wanted marriage…

“Lily?”

The way Max said her name opened the dam and she sobbed into her hands.

In seconds, the big soldier came up behind her and wrapped his thick corded arms around her.

She stood there, soaking in his strength.

There wasn’t anything remotely intimate in Max’s hug.

It only offered comfort.

Max didn’t crowd too close.

He didn’t make a pass.

All he did was offer silent comfort.

That didn’t stop Lily from reacting to Max’s hard-muscled frame, but she chalked that up to their shared past.

After all, Max had been the love of her life.

He had also been the one to walk away.

Lily shoved at the man’s arms and stepped away, wiping her cheeks.

“I’m okay, don’t touch me.”

And there was a lie again. Lily clenched her jaw. These kinds of lies were necessary, she reasoned…because these lies were self-preservation for her soul.

She was shaking and butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

Nerves…that was all this was.

She was tired, scared, and still upset with Blake. And still so very angry at Max. That was the reason she felt out of sorts.

Because there was no way in hell she could still be in love with Max.

She was married for Christ’s sake.

And right there and then, Lily took a stand against a past, and a man, she no longer wanted any part of.

“You’re fired,” Lily said firmly, careful to keep her eyes away from Max.