Page 4 of Dangerous Obsession

MAXIM

The sound of the island breeze through the olive grove was only a whisper at the edge of Maxim Hawthorne’s consciousness. Time had no meaning during meditation. But then, time had far less weight here on his little island, in a house overlooking the sea.

These days, Max’s life was one long day interspersed with the necessary tasks that made living possible.

Nutrition. Bathing. Sleep. Business when needed.

Diving on occasion. And of course, keeping himself in top physical and mental condition.

Once the basics of life were accounted for, it was possible to strive for a true understanding of the existential meaning of life.

At least that was the wordy theory.

The reality was quite different. It was surprisingly difficult to relax, to focus, when you had a stunning woman for a bodyguard.

A woman who had the sweetest lips you’d ever tasted.

A woman with a smile that could melt your heart and stir your cock, both at the same damned time. A unique, beautiful, fearless woman.

A woman you couldn’t have…

The scuff of a shoe interrupted Max’s silent torment.

He opened his eyes. He was on the terrace overlooking the ocean.

The waves were the easiest thing to focus on if one wanted to enter a good state of meditation.

And of course, people were the easiest way to be dragged out of a state of deep contemplation and kicked back into the mundane world.

“Mr. Maxim?” the housekeeper, Dimi, said hesitantly. She didn’t like to bother him at the best of times, but even more so when he was meditating.

“What is it, Dimi?” Max barely moved his lips when he spoke. He was still hoping he could slide back into his meditative state and continue once he’d helped her.

Her full name was Dimitra Spiros. “Dimi” was something Jade had affectionately started calling the older woman. Sometimes Max suspected Dimi and Jade were related in the convoluted fashion that seemed to happen in Greek families. The Greeks were very warm people. He loved living here.

“Jade has returned from her exercises with a large man,” Dimi announced.

What ? A dozen questions shot into his mind and shattered any hope of returning to a meditative state.

Balancing himself, Max rose without shifting his legs. One moment he had his legs bent before him with the soles of his feet pressed together. The next, he was rising and lifting his arms to the sky in order to stretch his spine as he lifted his body to a standing position.

Then he turned to Dimitra. “What happened?”

Dimi was looking more than a little concerned. “The large man was injured. Jade intends to send for a doctor or drive the large man to the village, but I thought you should know.”

“Is the man all right?”

“Maybe. You should see him. Hurry, hurry.” She turned and hustled away through the leafy bushes surrounding the terrace.

Dimi was a grandmotherly sort of woman who belonged to a very large extended family.

Many of them worked at the health spa on the other side of the island and lived in the village.

The rest lived a short boat ride away on the mainland.

She often joked that she enjoyed working for Max’s personal household because she got to be away from her loud, rambunctious family.

She always looked a bit on the flyaway side, but the woman was an incredible cook and never had trouble keeping up with the villa.

Since Max didn’t care for the distraction of a full staff, Dimi was the perfect answer.

He hurried along in Dimi’s wake toward the front of the villa.

He hoped this man wasn’t seriously hurt.

He hadn’t heard any screams or gunshots, so Jade hadn’t killed him.

Or so he prayed. But if there was an injured guest at his villa, then it was Max’s responsibility to care for this individual as best he could.

He came to the villa’s wide, open-air foyer and found Jade and their unexpected guest. Jade was leaning over one of the padded lounge chairs that occupied this oasis of fountains and leafy tropical plants. True to the rumor, there appeared to be a large man on the lounge chair.

Jade glanced at Maxim and frowned. “I told her not to interrupt you.” But she sounded as if she were pissed at him and not Dimi.

So fiery. It was one of the things he loved about her. “She did the right thing. Now, who is our friend, and is he alive?”

“Alive but unconscious,” Jade answered. Her expression was concerned. “But it’s weird. People don’t usually stay out for long. He has to have some underlying health condition.”

“How did he get like this in the first place?”

She looked him right in the eyes. “He came up behind me. I kicked him in the chest.”

Maxim let out a low whistle. The guy would feel that for a little while. Jade was strong and tough. He moved closer to get a better look at their guest.

The guy certainly didn’t look to be in poor health. He was damn handsome, tanned, his chest and shoulders broad, good muscles, although there was something wrong with his hair…

He pushed that thought aside. Maybe the guy had a toupee.

Regardless, their guest was attractive. In fact, he was exactly the kind of man that Maxim would’ve favored in his wild youth.

Maxim didn’t really see gender. Not in the way most people did.

To him, each gender was equally sexually attractive in bold and unique ways that he loved.

Why would he ever want to choose between them?

Max suddenly became aware of Jade’s stare.

He met her gaze, and it struck him for the millionth time how beautiful she was.

She had large, almost doe-ish eyes. Innocent and wide.

Her dark hair might be a little disheveled and pulling out of her ponytail, but he knew from experience how soft and silken it was to touch.

Her pretty, heart-shaped face made a man believe she was nothing more than an athletic, beautiful woman with a tight ass, high breasts the perfect size to fit a man’s hands, and full, pouting lips begging to be kissed.

Of course, that would be right before she slipped a knife blade between your ribs or shot you for underestimating her. But Max had always found that one of the most attractive things about her. Beauty and strength combined.

Even so, Jade had ended things between them.

The physical side, anyway. It had cut his heart out back then.

Living with her so close, so beautiful, so untouchable, only made the torment worse.

But that was why he had turned to meditation with such gusto.

He would conquer the pain. He would find balance without her.

He had too. Because someday she would discover that she deserved better than him and she would leave him for good.

Max forced himself to stop looking at her or thinking about what they’d once shared together. Instead, he approached the stranger on the lounge chair. “He got lost and wandered here from the health spa?”

“He said something like that before he passed out.” Jade folded her arms over her chest and chewed at her lower lip while she frowned.

It was a posture and expression that Max knew intimately.

Her thoughtful face. “I checked his pulse. It’s strong.

” She shook her head. “He just doesn’t look like the sort of man to pass out for no reason. ”

“Agreed.” Again, the guy’s hair didn’t seem to fit his head exactly right. He reached out and touched it. The stranger’s hair came off in his hand, and Max found himself staring at a brown wig in surprise. Beneath the wig, the man’s head was shaved to golden stubble.

“Cancer patient?” Jade mused. “That was my other guess.”

As if the loss of his wig had roused him, the stranger opened his dark eyes. Those eyes widened when they focused on Maxim holding his wig out to him.

The man reached clumsily for his wig. “You had no right to pull that off.”

The vehemence in the man’s tone surprised him. He watched as the man snatched the wig and put it back on his head. It was a little askew, but Max would never point that out. He didn’t want to humiliate his guest. The man was in his care, after all.

“I’m very sorry,” Maxim told him gravely. “I was concerned that you were hurt. Please, let me show you the hospitality of my home. It’s the least I can do to make up for this terrible misunderstanding.”

COLE

His improvised plan had worked…even though it had hurt like hell. The girl could kick. His respect for her had only grown.

Cole had been playing possum, pretending to pass out. He figured it would be dramatic enough to get him into the house. He hadn’t expected her to drag his ass over to a golf cart by herself.

Again, he was coming to respect the hell out of her, even if she had let him sneak up close behind her. Close enough to kick. Of course, he hadn’t minded when she’d pressed that sexy body against him. She wasn’t wearing all that much either. Unfortunately, his eyes had been shut at the time…

But now he was staring right into the eyes of Maxim Hawthorne.

He recognized the man immediately, of course. Maxim was striking. Not just handsome, but he put off an aura of command and power that meshed well with his polite words. Maxim talked like a rich, educated guy. That was no surprise.

But for a tech geek, this guy deserved to star on the shirtless tech nerd calendar. Maybe even the cover. And every single month.