“My half-sister, to be more accurate. She’s about to leave town for good. Clearly I’m not doing so good with it.” His eyes showed sincerity and concern. “You should have let me explain before runningaway.”
“Max…” I didn’t know what to say. If I believed him, then I wouldn’t have a reason to not go to his place tonight, and if I chose not to, then I could just push him away and not look back. I knew which one my heartwanted.
“Can we just forget that everhappened?”
“Please.” That was my answer to myself. I wanted to forget that this little mishap had ever happened. I wanted to give Max a chance, I wanted him to prove me wrong and sweep me off my feet. I knew that I was asking for my heart to be broken, but for some reason, I trusted Max with it more than I had Adam. “Kissme.”
He didn’t answer as his lips descended to mine. The heat that radiated off his body entered mine, and I found myself grasping at Max’s clothes. I pushed off his jacket and he pushed up my skirt. His hands skimmed along my thighs. They massaged my skin, making my need grow as they moved closer to my center. He lifted and perched me on the railings, which allowed for him to stop and press his growing bulge against me. My breath caught and his lips captured mineagain.
“Are you okay in there?” A voice filled the car, causing us to separate immediately. I straightened myself, adjusting my skirt and tucking in my shirt as Max answered the phone on the wall. He was straightening his shirt and he held the phone between his ear and hisshoulder.
“We’re fine. We’ll be moving the elevator now. Thank you.” He slammed the phone against its cradle and rested his head against thewall.
“If you still want me to come to dinner tonight, I will.” I tried to get his attention before the door to the elevator opened. He straightened himself up and turned around with a wide grin on hisface.
“Nothing would make me happier, Alexa.” He moved closer to me and leaned down, kissing me quickly before the doors opened to the fifth floor. I stepped out as he called to me. “I’ll meet you out front ateight.”
I walked backwards as I watched him stare at me until the doors closed, and he rode the elevator back down. I practically ran back to my conference room, where luckily Lilly and Erica were already waiting forme.
“What the hell, woman?!” Lilly pulled me in and put the privacy blinders on. “Spill.Now.”
I tried to gain my bearings at the table. I grabbed for my sub, but Erica practically smacked it out of myhands.
“Fine. Here’s the short version. It was his sister, and I’m meeting him for dinner tonight.” Both women looked shocked at my answer, with their mouths hanging out, not believing the words that had just come out of my mouth. Erica spoke up next but let me get in a bitefirst.
“What’s the long version?” Erica sat down in the chair next to me, and Lilly jumped onto the table. Both women were not going to leave until they got the answers theywanted.
“We yelled at each other in the elevator, and he basically accused me of comparing him to Adam, which I have been. He then confessed that it was his half-sister in the diner, and we had a steamy kiss and I told him I would still come over for dinner.” I spewed the words out without stopping, because I knew each girl would have questions of their own. I started in on another bite before either one of them could stopme.
“Finally!” Lilly grabbed me in a side hug. I moved the sandwich away so that the mustard dripping out of it wouldn’t get everywhere. “Do you know how hard it has been keeping this from you?” I looked at her like she was crazy. Erica had a huge grin on her face, too. What the hell were these two getting at? Erica fessed upfirst.
“Max has been coming in to see us every day this week asking about you. We told him some things you liked to eat. Movies you liked to watch. Your favorite books, which was probably why the elevatorhappened.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I looked between Erica and Lilly. My eyebrows pulled together in a questioning look. Lilly answered next, her hands wrapping around each other in a rhythmic motion, her nervoustick.
“Well, we may have told him about your obsession withFifty Shadesand that stupid elevator scene. So he probably took that as perfect timing for a kiss in there with you.” I sat there frozen, my sub in midair, as I thought back to his kiss, him pressing me up against the corner. Who the hell knew what was going on through his mind at that point, and to think he knew what that scene meant to me. Panic struck me. Max knew things about me now. Intimate things that I didn’t want him to know yet, and I still knew nothing about him. That would have to change tonight. These weren’t fair playing grounds anymore, but then again, I tried to think back to a time when it was ever fair to play againstMax.
“I can’t believe you did that.” I tsked at Erica and Lilly before taking another bite of my sandwich. While I was upset with them, I did wonder as how this could be an advantage to me. I wouldn’t have to do too much talking tonight, and there wasn’t any excuse for Max to not already know things about me. Maybe this would make tonight an easiertransition.
“You wouldn’t get your head out of your ass and just cave in to him. Forget about Adam. Max is on a whole other playing field. Max cares about you. More than I think you know.” Lilly’s words weren’t new to me. It was almost like they had been talking to Max more about what was happening than they wereme.
“Don’t talk to me about what I do and don’t know about Max’s feelings for me. Trust me, he has made them very known.” We were all quiet for amoment.
“He never said that.” Erica seemed shy about saying anything now. Of course he would leave out how much he had already professed tome.
“I know how much he likes me, and if I’m telling the truth, I like him, too.” I paused, thinking about it a little more. “Just maybe not as much as he does rightnow.”
Lilly sat down in the seat next to me, and each girl nudged closer. It was an Alexa sandwich. I squinted my eyes at them, getting moresuspicious.
“You don’t have to give him everything tonight if you don’t want to, but I’m glad you’re giving him a chance.” Lilly kissed my forehead and Erica patted my shoulder before leaving me alone in the conference room. The privacy blinders were still on as I sat down and ate while finishing up the manuscript I had been working on. I read the same page twice before I tossed the papers back onto the table. I needed to clear my head of Max so that I could finish this. I would be able to think and talk about everything with himtonight.
When I finally looked up at the clock, it read ten to six. I had already finished the book and everything I needed to do for the presentation, so I cleaned all of it up and locked it in my desk. I took the stairs down to the lobby, where I saw Max talking with Chase again. Max caught my eye first and his smile seemed to light up the whole room. He said his goodbyes to Chase and came directly towardsme.
“Hi, beautiful.” I blushed at his comment. This time as we headed out of the building, I grabbed for his hand. I could see the smile form on his face out of the corner of my eye. Even though I started the hand-holding, Max was the one who led us out onto the street where the nightlife was just getting busy. He tugged on my hand as he started to walk along the sidewalk. “Come on, darling, we’re walkingtonight.”
I knew Max’s apartment wasn’t far, but I thought we would go to his other house. I guess that wasn’t this kind of date, where he swept me off my feet. My heart started to beat fast as I thought about what would happen tonight, what Max was expecting from this date. It was just dinner, something simple. That was it, or so I thought. I looked over to Max and realized that this time when I stepped into the lion’s den, it would be of my own accord. What I almost forgot, though, was that I knew Max would graciously welcome me with open arms, just like he had donebefore.
