Page 7

D amn, she looked sexy as hell. Although, in his opinion, the white suit did not do her curves justice.

After her bold statement, Max had smirked and settled onto the sofa that sat against the wall near the door.

“I’ll finish out the day.”

Lily had made an annoyed sound in her throat and marched over to her desk.

From where Max sat on the couch, he could watch Lily without her knowing.

A copy of last month’s Times sat on the glass table in front of him and he flipped through the pages, not seeing them. He was more focused on her.

Sitting behind her desk, Lily was now on the phone. Her lilting voice floated through the room and its sexy cadence shot straight to his dick.

She was as beautiful as ever. No, scratch that. Lily was even more stunning at twenty-eight than she had been at twenty-three.

Her lips pursed as she spoke and Max shifted on the cushion. When they first met, her mouth was the first thing that had caught his attention.

Wait…no, it had been her eyes—as bright as a summer sky. Perhaps it was both her lips and eyes. Although, he mused, it could be other attributes. She was slender with all the right curves, and her thick blonde hair made him itch to touch. And yes, even now, he wanted to yank the tie holding her hair back and watch it spill down. He recalled the feel of its silkiness, the scent—a combination of shampoo and some kind of mixture of honey and spices.

A noise from the door interrupted the quiet. And a man wearing a lightweight suit in heather blue barged into the room at full speed.

The door flew open wider with the slap of his hand and the glass smacked the arm of the sofa.

“I don’t know why you had to call Thomas! I had it handled—” the man yelled.

Max lunged up and in seconds, he’d crossed the span that separated him and the guy. Without even stopping to think, he lifted the fucker by the throat and drove him into the carpet.

The loud thud and crash were satisfying as fuck.

“Aaak!” the man squawked.

“Max!” Lily slammed down the phone and rushed around the desk, crossing to him.

“Help!” The guy struggled, and Max tightened his grip. He knew the carpet was going to leave a mark, but he didn’t care.

The guy was lucky he hadn’t snapped his fucking neck. Neutralizing the threat against Lily was his only thought.

Protect her at all costs.

“Max,” Lily said, reaching him. Her voice was soft and the hand she placed on his arm was gentle. “Let Phillip go.”

Max blinked down at the fucker beneath his hand and let go. He protectively moved to shield Lily with his bigger body, but she stepped around him.

“Oh my god, Lily!” Phillip scrambled away from him on his hands and knees and then climbed to his feet, visibly shaken.

The fear the guy felt couldn’t be helped. Max knew his size was intimidating and the asshole barely topped six feet.

“Phillip works for me,” Lily snapped, glaring up at him.

She could glare all she wanted; Max didn’t give a shit. The guy had barged in here yelling at her, and Max couldn’t allow that.

He locked his eyes on the guy’s face and the fucker paled.

Good .

The panic was plain to see and Max knew that all the guy wanted to do was run, he could see it in the darting eyes and shaking hands.

“Phillip, Max is…a bodyguard.”

“He attacked me.” Phillip pointed a shaking finger at him.

Max curled his lip with a sneer and Phillip hastily lowered his hand.

“In his defense, you did slam through my door yelling,” Lily pointed out.

Max felt his heart stutter.

Had Lily just defended him?

“Did you just—” he murmured.

“Don’t let it go to your head,” she snapped angrily, glaring at him before turning back to Phillip. “I went to Thomas because the report you filed was incorrect.”

“You could have come to me,” Phillip began hotly.

Max took a sudden and aggressive step forward and Lily wrapped both hands around his arm as if that would stop him. Max stopped and only because she had touched him. She could have placed a finger on his arm and done the same thing.

Max figured he’d do anything right now to keep her hands on his skin.

Phillip backpedaled, stuttering slightly. “I, I mean I would have fixed the report.” This time the words were said far more gently.

“I asked you three times and you ignored me. I needed that report this morning,” Lily said, shaking her head.

Realizing she was clinging to him, she quickly dropped her hands.

Phillip glared at them and the asshat went straight to the top of Max’s list of suspects. Good ol’ Phillip seemed just the type to send threatening notes.

“I should press charges!” Phillip hissed at him.

“Go for it.” Max’s smile was evil and Phillip visibly swallowed.

“Stop it,” Lily scolded him.

“What?” Max quirked one eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes. A smirk twitched his lips.

Fuck he’d missed her.

“You’re dismissed,” Lily told Phillip.

Oh, the man didn’t like that, but after one glance in his direction, Phillip beat it.

“He’s an ass,” Max grumbled.

“An ass he may be, but he still works here, so kindly remember we are in a place of business, not on your Army range.” Her hand waved about and her chin tipped up.

He wanted nothing more than to kiss her pink puckered lips. His eyes fell to their lushness, then swept over her perfectly sculpted face before locking his own gaze to hers. When her pupils expanded, leaving only a tiny ring of blue around them, he was compelled to step forward.

Getting in her space was all he’d dreamed about through the years and now that he was, he wanted to stake his claim.

He was fucking lonely as hell.

But she was married, one side of him argued…the other side said, so the fuck what?

Lily’s lips parted, she sucked in a quick breath and slapped a hand to the top of her blouse where the V parted the silky fabric. He was all at once minutely aware of the soft material accentuating her breasts.

His eyes dropped to the lush mounds.

The moment she realized where his look had landed, Lily took several quick steps away from him and bolted around behind her desk. As if taking shelter would deter him.

No chance in hell, baby, he thought. That flimsy span of glass and steel would do nothing to keep him away.

It was amusing that she thought it would.

She lifted and tapped stacks of a strewed file, putting everything in order—Acting like nothing had happened between them just now.

Pretend all you want, princess, he thought.

Max wasn’t stupid and he knew full well that Lily had also felt the flare of attraction between them.

That pull had been there from the first moment they’d met. So, he recognized her need to put distance between them—she did that to make herself feel safe.

Max, however, was not going to make it easy on her.

He must be out of his goddamned mind.

But that was what Lily did to him. Being away from her had only increased his hunger.

“You’re still fired,” Lily said, her blue eyes mad as hell.

Max smiled. Lily’s jaw clenched.

God damned she was such a beautiful spitfire.

Then his smile died when the wedding ring on her finger glinted in the light.

It was a stark reminder.