“What happens when you get tired of me?”
“Why do you think I’ll get tired of you?”
“Because everyone else has,” she admitted.“It must be me.The common denominator.Right?I’m not good enough.Not skinny enough.Or beautiful enough.Even you-know-who got tired of dating me because I wasn’t fun anymore.”
“Quinn—”
“I guess you’re right.Love doesn’t exist.Or it doesn’t last.So, I need to know what happens when you grow bored.Are you going to fire me?”
“I swear to you, right here and now, you’ll always have a job.No matter what happens in the future.”
She searched his eyes for any sign of deception but found none.This was Max, after all.She’d never met a more direct, honest person in her life.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“I have to go out.”
“Business this late?Are you even safe to drive?You drank, too.”
“Not that much and I did just work up a sweat to burn it off.”
He winked and heat engulfed her face.She had been granted a temporary reprieve on how to deal with the new situation between them.“Okay.”
He straightened.“Good night, Quinn.”
“Good night.”
Max closed the door, plunging her into darkness.She wondered why he was leaving so late.Seemed unlikely he was meeting with a client, so what the hell?Maybe hewasmeeting up with another woman.So much for being truthful.
****
Max tried to push asidethe thoughts about what happened between him and Quinn, but the entire time he drove to his factory, he couldn’t shake them.Sex with her had been ...phenomenal.He couldn’t think of a single woman who compared to her.When he was interviewing her for the position, there had existed an almost magnetic pull towards her, but he’d ignored it.First, because hewasthe boss.Second, she knew nothing about the world he came from.
His previous assistant, who had been a man, had discovered Max’s ties to theLa Famille Lemaireand had tried to extort him.That assistant had an unfortunate car “accident” that ended his life, and left Max with a position to fill.He wanted someone without any ties to any mafia family in order to be a legitimate face for the gallery.Quinn had all the credentials for the job, but she drew him like a moth to a flame, and he’d gone with his instinct to hire her.She handled all the paperwork side of the honest business while he discovered the “art.”
For the past year, he hid his attraction to her.Or, at least tried to.But seeing her with a black eye had pushed him over the top.Now, there was no going back, except she had no idea her life had just changed.His loyalty was to hisCaïd, his boss.Gaston Lemaire was fair but ruthless.Max had grown up a skinny kid on the Paris streets, pickpocketing the tourists, and one day he’d tried to lift Gaston’s wallet only to come face to face with a nine mil.Instead of killing him, however, Gaston had offered him a chance.Pick a thousand dollars in twenty-four hours and he’d allow Max to be ajeune soldat, one of his young soldiers.It was a proposition he couldn’t refuse.
Shaking off the memories of his youth, he parked near the door of the manufacturing plant he owned.He made sure all his men were in their places before buttoning up his suit coat to enter.A man sat tied up in a chair, with a defiant jut to his chin.Another Voclain shitbag.
“Sinclair found this guy and decided to send him as a token of his appreciation,” one of his men reported.
Max nodded that he understood.This was a thank you for discovering the blow in the Trojan horse.He walked over to the bound man and extracted his butterfly knife, opening the blade to cut the man’s shirt over his heart.No mistaking the V inked on his skin.“Where’s Savage?”
The guy smirked.“Don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“I’m not sure you should be a smart ass at this time.”
In response, the man spat at him, and the spit landed harmlessly on the ground.Max buried the knife in the man’s shoulder, causing him to scream in pain.
“I’ll ask again,” Max said.“Where is Savage?”
Breathing heavily, his captor sneered.“Fuck off.”
Max retracted his knife, only to sink it between his ribs.Not puncturing the heart, but into his lung, causing him to scream again.
“Where is Savage?”Max asked again.
The man wheezed.“Fuck ...you.”
