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Unfinished Business
Cat Schield
When it comes to Rachel, Max makes an exception to his take-no-prisoners rule.He’ll hold her hostage as his secretary and settle old scores from their brief affair five years ago.Rachel needs Max as a client to keep her employment agency alive. But soon their reignited passion reveals the mystery of her past. Will their intimacy survive this time?
“In my office.”
Pivoting on his heel, Max strode away down the hallway. He didn’t look back to see if she was following. He expected obedience. He’d always been bossy that way. Telling her where to put her hands, how to move her hips, the areas of his body that enjoyed her attention.
Her skin flushed. Desire found a warm and welcoming home inside her. She couldn’t move. What was she doing? Her memories of those four days with Max belonged in the tomb with all her girlish hopes and dreams. Indulging in lusty thoughts of Max was the height of stupidity if she hoped to cultivate a professional relationship with him.
Max disappeared around a corner. This was her chance to run. She’d been a fool to think she could ever put those magical days behind her. She should make some excuse.
No. Rachel squared her shoulders. She could do this. She had to do this. Her future required it.
Dear Reader,
When I found out Mills & Boon wanted to publish Meddling with a Millionaire, I was consumed with the idea of writing books about all three Case brothers. I have always been a fan of connected stories, and from the number of readers asking for Max’s story, I realized I wasn’t alone.
Although Unfinished Business is the third Case brother story, it was actually the second one I wrote. Max was so clear in my mind because he has such a hard time letting go of past wrongs. For me, he was the most frustrating of the three brothers. So naturally he was the most fun to write.
A stubborn man deserves a strong woman, and that’s what Max gets in Rachel Lansing. Misguided decisions in her past have created a woman who refuses to let anyone help her. And with everything going on in her life, Rachel can use some help.
Reunion stories are my favorite. Take two people who are passionate about each other, toss in something that tears them apart, let their anger stew for a few years and then serve up a situation that forces them to work together. Sounds like the perfect recipe for romance to me.
I hope you enjoy Max and Rachel’s story.
Happy reading.
Cat Schield
www.catschield.com
About the Author
CAT SCHIELD has been reading and writing romance since high school. Although she graduated from college with a BA in business, her idea of a perfect career was writing for Mills & Boon. And now, after winning the Romance Writers of America 2010 Golden Heart Award for series contemporary romance, that dream has come true. Cat lives in Minnesota with her daughter, Emily, and their Burmese cat. When she’s not writing sexy, romantic stories for Mills & Boon
Desireв„ў, she can be found sailing with friends on the St Croix River or in more exotic locales like the Caribbean and Europe. She loves to hear from readers. Find her at www.catschield.com. Follow her on Twitter @catschield.
Unfinished Business
Cat Schield
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For my parents.
Your love and support have helped me
follow my dreams.
One
“You.” The word came out as an unfriendly accusation.
“Hello, Max.”
Rachel Lansing had been bracing herself for this meeting all day, and now that it had arrived, it was so much worse than she’d imagined. Her heart stopped as the gunmetal gray of Max Case’s gaze slammed into her with all the delicacy of a sledgehammer.
She dug her fingernails into her palm as his broad shoulders loomed closer, blocking her view of the tastefully decorated lobby with its soothing navy-and-olive walls and stunning original art.
Was it her imagination or did Max seem bigger, more commanding than the creative lover that haunted her memories? Or maybe his presence overwhelmed her because in a charcoal business suit and silver tie, he was less approachable than the naked fantasy man that frequented her dreams.
Only the public nature of this reunion enabled her to subdue the flight impulse in her muscles. She rose from the comfortable couch in the reception area at a deliberate, unhurried pace. Keeping her body relaxed and her expression professional required a Herculean effort while her pulse jittered and her knees shook.
Pull yourself together. He won’t appreciate you melting into a puddle at his feet.
“Thank you for seeing me.” She stuck out her hand in a bid to restore her professional standing and wasn’t disappointed when Max ignored it. Her sweaty palm would betray her nerves to him.
When he remained mute, Rachel plowed into the tense silence. “How great that Andrea had her baby. And two weeks early. Sabrina told me she had a boy. I brought her this.” She raised her left hand to show him the pink and blue bag dangling from her fingers. She’d bought the gift for his assistant weeks ago and was disappointed she wouldn’t get to see Andrea’s expression when she opened it.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was supposed to meet with Andrea.”
“You’re with the employment agency?”
She whipped out a business card and extended it across the three feet that separated them. “I own it.” She made no attempt to disguise her pride at what she’d accomplished.
He rubbed his thumb over the lettering on the business card before glancing down. “Rachel … Lansing?”
“My maiden name.” She wasn’t sure why she felt compelled to share this tidbit with him. It wasn’t going to change how he felt about her now, was it?
“You’re divorced?”
She nodded. “Four years.”
“And now you run an employment agency here in Houston?”
She’d come a long way from the girl who was barely able to support herself and her sister on the tips she made waitressing in a beach restaurant in Gulf Shores, Alabama. And yet, how far had she come when no matter how well her business did, she never felt financially secure?
“I like the freedom of running my own business,” she said, pushing aside the worry that drove her day and night. “It’s small, but growing.”
And it would grow faster once she moved into larger offices and hired more staff. She had the space all picked out. A prime location that wouldn’t have lasted on the market more than a few days. She’d signed the lease yesterday, gambling that the commission she’d get from placing a temporary assistant with Case Consolidated Holdings would give her the final amount she needed to move. Maybe then she could stop living day to day and start planning for the future. However, now that she’d run into Max, that fee seemed in jeopardy, and just to be safe, she’d better back out of the lease.
If only Devon had been able to come here in her stead. A skilled employment specialist, he was her right hand. Unfortunately, his mother had gone to the hospital yesterday with severe abdominal pain and had been rushed into surgery to remove her gall bladder. Rachel had told Devon to stay with his mother as long as she needed him. For Rachel, family always came first.
“How many assistants have you placed here?” Max’s piercing stare didn’t waver from her face as he slid her business card into his breast pocket. The effect of so much icy heat coming to bear on her was starting to unravel her composure.
“Five.” She dropped her hand into her jacket pocket to keep from plucking at her collar, lapel or buttons and betraying her disquiet. “Missy was the first. Sebastian’s assistant.”
“That was your doing?”
Rachel blinked at the soft menace in his voice. Did Max have something against Missy? She’d been with Case Consolidated Holdings for four years and had worked out great. In fact, it was that placement that had jump-started her business.
“I heard she recently got promoted to communications director.” And married Max’s brother, Sebastian. Surely that proved how good Rachel was at her job.
“That means you’ve been in Houston four years?” The question rumbled out of Max like a guard-dog growl.
Anxiety spiked. “About that.”
“Why here?”
When she’d left him in the Alabama beach town, he’d never wanted to see her again. Was he wondering if it was fate or determined stalking on her part that she’d shown up at Case Consolidated Holdings?
“I moved here because of my sister. She went to the University of Houston and has friends here. It made sense for us to settle in Houston after she graduated.”
Inferring that Rachel hadn’t had friends where she’d lived before. Curiosity fired in Max’s eyes. The intensity of it seared her nerve endings. Five years had passed since she’d last seen him and her physical response to his proximity hadn’t dimmed one bit.
“I have three clients in this building,” she told him, her tone firming as she reclaimed her confidence. She’d been dealing with executives for over ten years and knew exactly how to handle them. “The fact that I’ve placed five assistants here and we’ve never run across each other should tell you that my interest in your company is purely professional.”
He surveyed her like a cop in search of the truth. “Let’s talk.”
“I thought that’s what we were doing.” She bit the inside of her lip as the smart-ass remark popped out.
Once upon a time he’d liked her cheeky banter. She doubted he’d say the same thing today. Five years was a long time to stay mad at someone, but if anyone could manage, it would be Max Case.
“In my office.”
Pivoting on his heel, he strode away from her down the hallway that led into the bowels of Case Consolidated Holdings. He didn’t look back to see if she was following. He expected obedience. He’d always been bossy that way. Telling her where to put her hands, how to move her hips, the areas of his body that needed her attention.
Her skin flushed. Desire found a warm and welcoming home inside her. She couldn’t move. What was she doing? Her memories of those four days with Max belonged in the tomb with all her girlish hopes and dreams. Her moratorium on men and sex remained in full force. Indulging in lusty thoughts of Max was the height of stupidity if she hoped to cultivate a professional relationship with him.
Max disappeared around a corner. This was her chance to run. She should make some excuse. Send Devon to do the interview tomorrow.
No. Rachel squared her shoulders. She could do this. She had to do this. Her future required this placement fee.
Five years ago, she’d learned a hard lesson about running from her problems. These days, she faced all difficulties head-on. Lansing Employment Agency needed this commission. She would do a fabulous job for Max, collect her money and treat herself to a bottle of champagne and a long bubble bath the day the agency moved into its bigger, better office. It all started with this meeting.
Rachel forced her feet to move. Step by step she gathered courage. For four years she’d been scraping and clawing her way upward. Convincing Max that Lansing was the agency for him was just one more hurdle, and by the time she reached the enormous office bearing Max’s name, she had her chin set at a determined angle and her eyes focused on the prize.
“Did you get lost?” he asked as she crossed the threshold.
A long time ago.
“I stopped at Sabrina’s desk and asked her to send the baby gift to Andrea.”
Rachel glanced around Max’s office, curious about the businessman. During their four days together, she’d learned about his family and his love of fast cars, but he’d refused to talk about work. In fact, until she’d met Sebastian four years ago, and noticed the family resemblance, she didn’t know he was Max Case of Case Consolidated Holdings.
The walls bore photos of Max leaning against a series of racecars, helmet beneath his arm, a confident grin on his face. Her heart jumped in appreciation of how handsome he looked in his one-piece navy-and-gray racing suit, lean hips and broad shoulders emphasized by the stylish cut. A bookshelf held a few trophies, and books on muscle cars.
“You cut your hair.” Max shut the door, blocking her escape.
She searched his expression, but he’d shut all emotion behind an impassive mask. His eyes were the blank stone walls of a fortress. Nevertheless, his personal comment aroused a tickle of awareness.
“Never liked it long.” Her ex-husband had, however.
A softening of his lips looked suspiciously like the beginnings of a smile. Did he recognize her attempt to camouflage herself? Shapeless gray pantsuit, short hair, no jewelry of any kind, a sensible watch, flat shoes, minimal makeup. Dull as dirt to look at, but confident and authoritative about her business. She’d never been any man’s fantasy. Too tall for most boys. Too flat-chested and skinny for the rest, the best she’d been able to hope for from her male classmates in high school was best friend or buddy. She’d grown up playing soccer, basketball and baseball with the guys.
Which is why it continued to blow her mind that a man like Maxwell Case, who could have any woman he wanted, had wanted her once upon a time.
An enormous cherry desk dominated a position in front of the windows. The piece seemed too clunky for Max. Rachel pictured him behind an aerodynamic glass and chrome desk loaded down with the latest computer gadgets.
Instead of leading the way toward his desk, Max settled on the couch that occupied one wall of his office. With a flick of his hand, he indicated a flanking chair. Disliking the informality of the setting, Rachel perched on the very edge of the seat. Her briefcase on her lap acted as both a shield and a reminder that this was a business meeting.
“I need an executive assistant here first thing tomorrow.”
Rachel hadn’t been prepared for Andrea to have her baby two weeks early. She had no one available that was skilled enough to fill in starting in the morning. “I have the perfect person for you, but she can’t start until Monday.”
“That won’t do.”
With her commission slipping away, panic crept into her voice. “It’s only two days. Surely you can make it without an assistant until Monday.”
“With Andrea gone today, I’m already behind. We’re up to our necks in next year’s budgets. I need someone who can get up to speed swiftly. Someone with world-class organizational skills.” His focus sharpened on her. “Someone like you. You’re exactly what I need.”
Her gut clenched at the flare of something white hot in his eyes.
A matching blaze roared to life inside her. Five years ago, that similar fire had charred her self-protective instincts and reduced her sensible nature to ash. She’d flung herself headlong into his arms without considering the repercussions.
The last time she’d lost herself that way, he’d ended up hating her. Meeting his gaze, she realized that his anger hadn’t been blunted by the passing years. Time hadn’t healed. It had honed his resentment into a razor-sharp tool for revenge.
Rachel braced herself against the earthquake of panic that threatened her peaceful little world and set her jaw. “You can’t have me.”
Her declaration hung in the air.
But he could have her …
As his assistant.
In any of the dozens of ways he’d had her before.
His choice. Not hers.
Energy zipped between them, fascinating and unsettling. The scent of her perfume aroused memories. Reminded him how sharp and sweet the desire was between them.
“Are you really ready to risk disappointing a client?”
“No.” A rosy flush dusted her high cheekbones. Had she picked up on his thoughts? “But I can’t abandon my business to be your assistant.”
“Hire someone to fill in for you.” He bared his teeth in an unfriendly grin. “Even you can see the irony in that.”
For the last few minutes, cracks had been developing in her professionalism. “You’re being unreasonable.”
“Of course I am. I’ll call someone else.” The telltale widening of her eyes was gone so fast he nearly missed it. This is where he challenged her reputation for providing excellent customer service to test how badly she wanted his business. “I’m sure another agency would have what I need.”
“Lansing Employment has what you need,” she countered, the words muddy because she spoke through clenched teeth.
He held silent while she tried to stare him down. Every instinct told him to send her on her way as he would any other supplier who couldn’t provide him with exactly what he wanted.
But they had unfinished business. At some point in the last five minutes he’d decided he needed closure. Four days with her hadn’t been enough time for the passion to burn out. Much to his dismay, he still wanted her. But for how long was anyone’s guess. From past experience he knew his interest rarely lasted more than two months.
And when he grew tired of her, he would end things on his terms. On his schedule.
“Fine.” She glared at him. “I’ll fill in for two days.”
“Wonderful.”
She stood, ready to stalk out of the office, but something held her in place. Her eyes were troubled as they settled on him. “Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Demanding that I act as your assistant until I can find a replacement.”
“You’re here. It’s expedient.”
His current workload was crushing him. His managers had finalized their forecasts and forwarded next year’s budget numbers a week ago. With the economy slow to recover, controlling spending and increasing sales was more important than ever. Case Consolidated Holdings owned over a dozen companies, each one with very different markets and operations. It was an organizational challenge to collect and analyze data from the various sources given that each entity operated in a completely unique environment with it’s own set of parameters and strategic plans.
Andrea knew the businesses as well as he did. Losing her now threw off his entire schedule.
“Are you sure that’s all it is?” Rachel demanded.
Max stopped worrying about deadlines and reminded himself that his desperate staffing situation was only half the reason he’d insisted Rachel fill in for a few days. “What else could it be?”
“Payback for how things ended between us?”
“It’s business.” That she was suspicious of his motives added spice to the game.
“So, you’re not still angry?” she persisted.
Yes. He was still angry.
“After five years?” He shook his head.
“Are you sure?”
“Are you challenging whether or not I know my own mind?”
His irritation had little effect on her. “Five years ago, you made it very clear you never wanted to see me again.”
“That’s because you never told me you were married.” He kept his tone smooth, but it wasn’t enough to mask his dangerous mood. “Despite my telling you how I felt about infidelity. How it nearly destroyed my parents’ marriage. You involved me in an extramarital affair without my knowledge.”
“I’d left my husband.”
He breathed deep to ease the sudden ache in his chest. “Yet when he showed up, you went back to him fast enough.”
“Things were complicated.”
“I didn’t see complications. I saw lies.”
“I was going through some tough times. Meeting you let me forget my troubles for a while.”
“You used me.”
She tipped her head and regarded him through her long lashes. “We used each other.”
Max’s gaze roamed over her. She wasn’t the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. Her nose was too narrow. Her chin a bit too sharp. She hid her broad forehead with bangs. Boyishly slim, her body lacked the feminine curves he usually appreciated in a woman. But there was something lush about the fullness of her lips. And he’d adored nibbling his way down her long, graceful neck.
He wasn’t surprised to be struck by a blast of lust so intense, it hurt. From the first, the chemistry between them had been hot and all consuming. The instant he recognized her in the lobby, he knew that hadn’t changed.
For a second, doubts crept in. Would spending time with her open old wounds? The last time they’d parted, he’d been out of sorts for months. Of course, he’d been in a different place then. Full of optimism about love and marriage despite the painful lessons about infidelity he’d learned from his father’s actions.
Thanks to Rachel, his heart was no longer open for business.
“What time should I be here tomorrow morning?”
“Eight.”
She headed for the door and he let his gaze slide over her utilitarian gray suit. One word kept rolling over and over in his mind. Divorced.
Fair game.
She hesitated in the doorway, her back to him, face in profile. Her quiet, determined voice floated toward him over her shoulder. “Two days. No more.”
Without a backward glance, she vanished from view. Sexy as hell. She’d always had an aura of the untouchable about her. As if no matter how many times he slid inside her, or how tight he wrapped her in his arms, she would never truly be his.
For a man accustomed to having any woman he wanted, that elusive quality intrigued him the way nothing else would have. He couldn’t get enough of her. They’d been together for four days. He’d been insatiable. But no matter how much pleasure he gave her, no matter how many times she came apart in his arms, not once did he come close to capturing her soul.
It wasn’t until she left him and went back to her husband that he’d understood why.
Her soul wasn’t hers to give. It belonged to the man she’d pledged her life and love to.
Rage catapulted Max from his chair. He crossed to his door and slammed it shut, not caring what the office thought of his fit of temper. His hand shook as he braced it against the wall.
Damn her for showing up like this.
And damn the part of him that was delighted she had.
Two
Rachel hurried through the plate glass doors of Lansing Employment Agency and nodded to her receptionist as she passed. She didn’t stop to chat as was her habit, but went straight to her office and collapsed into her chair. It wasn’t until she’d deleted half her inbox that she realized she hadn’t read any of the emails. Sagging forward, she rested her arms on the desk and her forehead on her arms. Reaction was setting in. She was frustratingly close to tears.
“That bad, huh?” a male voice asked from the hallway.
Rachel nodded without looking up. “It’s worse than bad.”
“Oh, you poor thing. Tell Devon all about it.”
With a great effort, Rachel straightened and looked at the man who sat down across from her. In a stylish gray suit with lavender shirt and expensive purple tie, he dressed to be noticed. Only the dark circles beneath his eyes gave any hint of his sleepless night.
“How’s your mother?”
“She’s doing fine. My sister just arrived from Austin and is staying at the hospital with her.” Devon leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other. “How’d it go at Case Consolidated Holdings?”
“Worse than I’d hoped.”
“Damn. They didn’t hire us?”
“They hired us.” Rachel’s eyes burned dry and hot. As she blinked to restore moisture, it occurred to her that she’d cried a river of tears over Max five years ago. Maybe she’d used up her quota.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Max Case needs an assistant immediately.”
“But we don’t have anyone available.”
Rachel grimaced. “That’s why I’m filling in until we do.”
“You?” The gap between Devon’s front teeth flashed as a startled laugh escaped him.
No one knew what had happened between her and Max in Gulf Shores. She figured if she kept it to herself, no one could criticize her for running away from her farce of a marriage and jumping into bed with a virtual stranger, and those amazing four days could remain untarnished in her memory. But she’d been wrong to start something with Max before she’d legally ended her marriage. And she’d paid the price.
“I was the expedient choice.” The word tasted bitter on her tongue. Why had it bothered her that she was merely a convenient business solution to Max? Had she really hoped he might still want her after she’d kept quiet about her marital status, and let him betray his vow never to get caught up in an affair?
Those days in Max’s arms had been magical. She hadn’t felt that safe since her father died. It was as if she and Max existed in a bubble of perfect happiness. Insulated from the world’s harsh reality.
Heaven.
Until Brody showed up with his threats and dragged her back to Mississippi.
“I hope you told him no.”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what exactly?” Her second in command frowned as if just now grasping the situation.
“It’s not like he left me any choice. I signed the lease for the new offices. We need this placement fee to move into them.”
“You agreed?”
“He backed me against a wall.” She leaned back in her chair, remembering too late that the ancient mechanism was broken. She threw her weight forward before the cursed thing tipped her ass over teakettle.
Devon oversaw her antics with troubled eyes. “I still don’t understand why he wants you personally. There are a dozen agencies that he could call.”
She hesitated. As much as she liked Devon, she wasn’t comfortable talking about her past. Five years ago, she’d been a very different person. Explaining how she knew Max meant she had to own up to the mistakes she’d made. Mistakes that haunted her.
“Once upon a time we knew each other,” she said.
“Knew …” Devon’s focus sharpened. “As in business associates? Friends?” His eyes narrowed. “You dated?”
As much as she hated talking about her past screwups, she decided to put her cards on the table. She owed Devon the truth. He’d been with her since the beginning and had labored as hard as she had to grow the agency. In fact, she was planning on making him a partner when they moved into the new offices.
If they moved.
“Not dated, exactly.” She played with her pen, spinning it in circles on her desk.
“You slept with him.”
“Yes.”
Rachel shifted her attention from the silver blur and caught Devon’s stunned expression. He looked so thunderstruck she was torn between laughter and outrage.
“Don’t look so surprised. I wasn’t always the uptight businesswoman I am now. There was a time when I was young and romantic.” And foolish.
“When?”
“A long weekend five years ago.”
Devon’s lips twitched.
“What?” she demanded.
“It’s just that Max is well-known for the volume of women he dates. I’m a little surprised he remembered you.”
“He probably wouldn’t have,” she muttered. The truth hit closer to her insecurities than she wanted to admit. The thought had often crossed her mind that she’d had a pretty brief interlude with Max. Since moving to Houston, she’d learned a lot about the man who’d swept her off her feet in a big way. She’d often wondered how she’d feel if she ran into him and he looked right through her without recognition. “Except he was pretty angry with me at the time.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t tell him I was married.”
Now Devon really goggled at her. “We’ve worked together four years and this is the first I’ve heard about that.”
Rachel rubbed her right thumb across the ring finger of her left hand. Even after four years, she recalled the touch of the gold band against her skin and remembered how wrong she’d been to ignore her instincts. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“It’s part of my past that I’d prefer not to talk about.” And in five more years, she’d be completely free. At least financially. She’d live with the emotional scars for the rest of her life.
“Not even if I tell you I’ll expire from curiosity if you don’t dish?”
“Not even,” Rachel said with a chuckle. She loved Devon’s flare for the dramatic. Having him around was good for her. Kept her from taking herself, or her problems, too seriously. She’d done that all too often in the past and turned molehills into mountains.
“Do you think Max is trying to start up with you again?”
From one unwelcome topic to another. “Hardly.”
“I don’t know.” Devon shot her an odd look, half surprised, half crafty. “Demanding you act as his assistant, even for a couple days, seems a little odd for a businessman with Max’s no-nonsense reputation.”
Rachel exhaled. “Well, there’s not much I can do at the moment. He’s set on having me there.” She grimaced. “Besides, you’ll do great without me. Lansing Employment Agency wouldn’t be anywhere near profitable without all your hard work.”
“Yes, yes, I’m wonderful but the success has been all yours. I’ve just been along for the ride.”
And what a ride it had been. When she’d first started the agency, she’d been waitressing on the weekends to make rent and put food on the table.
Today, providing things went right with Case Consolidated Holdings, they’d be moving into larger downtown Houston offices. That’s why she was willing to do whatever Max wanted of her to stay on his good side.
“I just hope you know what you’re doing,” Devon said, getting to his feet.
“I know exactly what I’m doing.” Her stomach gave a funny little flip as she said the words. Rachel shoved the sensation away. She was a professional. She would not allow her emotions to get all tangled up in Max again. The first time had left her with a battered heart. Letting it happen again might lead to serious breakage.
“You’re a first-rate bastard, you know that?”
Max Case looked away from the photo on his computer screen and smirked at his best friend. “I’ve been called that before.”
It was late Friday morning. He’d spent the last day and a half alternating between admiration for Rachel’s keen business mind and annoyance that he couldn’t stop imagining her writhing beneath him on his couch.
“I’ve been after Sikes to sell me that car for five years,” Jason Sinclair grumbled, his gaze riveted on the image of Max standing beside a yellow convertible. “And you just swoop in and steal it out from under me?”
“I didn’t swoop, and I didn’t steal. I offered the guy a good price. He went for it.”
“How much?”
Max shook his head. He wasn’t about to tell Jason the truth. In fact, he wasn’t exactly sure what had prompted him to offer the sum. He only knew that Bob Sikes had driven the rare muscle car off the lot in 1971 and wasn’t about to let it go without some major convincing. The Cuda 426 Hemi convertible was one of only seven made. At the time, convertibles were too expensive, too heavy and too slow to interest the true racing enthusiasts. Thus, with fewer produced, they’d become extremely rare.
And now, Max owned one of the rarest of the rare.
“Are you ready to get your ass kicked in tomorrow’s race?” He meant for the question to distract his friend.
“You sound awfully confident for a man who lost last weekend.” Jason continued to frown over the loss of the Cuda. “A win that put me ahead of you in points.”
“For now.”
Max and Jason had been racing competitively since they were old enough to drive. They were evenly matched in determination, skill, and financing, so on any given weekend, the win could go either way.
For the last two years, Max had beaten Jason in points over the course of the season. Like the street racers of old, Jason and Max competed for cars. The guy with fewer points at the end of the season forfeited his ride. But Max knew coming in second bothered his best friend more than the forfeit of his racecar two years straight.
Jason adopted a confident pose. “If you think you’re going to have the most points again this year, you’re wrong.”
Before Max could answer, Rachel appeared in his office doorway. Despite her severe navy pantsuit and plain white blouse, his pulse behaved as if she wore a provocative cocktail dress and a come-hither smile.
“Excuse me, Max. I didn’t realize you had company.”
He waved Rachel in. “Did you get those numbers I needed?”
She took one step into the room and stopped. “I updated the report.” She glanced in Jason’s direction. “I also scheduled an interview for you at two this afternoon and emailed you the candidate’s resume. Maureen has a background in finance and business analysis. I think you’ll find she’s a perfect fit.”
“We’ll see.”
Her lips thinned. “Yes, you will.”
Amusement rippled through him as she tossed her head and exited his office. Did she have any idea that annoyance gave her stride a sexy swing?
“Hell.”
Max noticed Jason was also staring after Rachel. “What?”
“That was Rachel Lansing. What is she doing here?”
“Working as my assistant.”
“Have you lost your mind?”
Probably. But Jason didn’t know about his affair with Rachel. No one did. Those four days had been too short and too intense. The end too painful for him to share. And after badmouthing his father’s infidelity for years, how could he admit to family and friends that he’d had an affair with a married woman and not be viewed as a hypocrite?
“What are you talking about?”
“Lansing is a matchmaker.”
“A what?” Max searched his best friend’s serious expression for some sign that Jason was joking around.
“Lansing Employment Agency is a matchmaking service.”
“You’re kidding, right?” He was deeply concerned that his friend might not be.
Jason glared at him. “Don’t look at me like that. You have no idea what you’re dealing with.”
Rubbing his eyes, Max sighed. “Right now I’m dealing with a lunatic.” Confusion and amusement jockeyed for dominance. He’d never seen his best friend exhibit such over-the-top behavior.
“It’s not funny.”
A gust of laughter escaped him. “Sit in my chair for a minute, and I think you’ll see it’s really funny.”
“My dad used Lansing last year.” Jason’s eyebrows arched. “He married his executive assistant six months later.”
“Your dad was a widower for fifteen years. I’m a little surprised he didn’t remarry a lot sooner. Besides, Claire is a knockout.”
“You’re missing the point. They’re all knockouts.”
“So,” Max drawled. “It’s a conspiracy?”
“Yes.” The thirty-two-year-old CFO stopped looking wild-eyed and his attention settled laser-sharp on Max. Jason’s chest lifted as he pulled in an enormous breath. “You think I’m crazy?”
“Certifiable.”
“I know of five other guys that have hired their assistants from Lansing and ended up marrying them. I know two more guys that met their future wives at work. Wives that got their jobs thanks to the Lansing Employment Agency. Including your brother.” Jason’s lips thinned. “Still think I’m nuts?”
“How did you find all this out?”
Jason shrugged. “Do you really need to ask? After Dad started looking all gooey-eyed at Claire, I did a little research on the agency.”
“What did you find?”
“A spotless reputation. And one hell of a track record.”
“For what?”
“For turning executive assistants into wives.”
“Don’t you think that eight marriages out of hundreds of placements is a little insignificant?”
“It’s more worrisome when you take into consideration the ratio of single executives with single assistants to married executives with married assistants.”
“You lost me.”
“The bulk of the executives are already married, so when you look at the numbers in that way …”
“The ratio looks worse.”
Jason flung his hands forward in a that’s-what-I’m-talking-about gesture, before sinking back with a relieved smile. “Exactly.”
Max was still having a hard time swallowing the notion of Rachel as a matchmaker. “Well, you don’t need to worry about me. Where Cupid’s arrows are concerned, I’m wearing Kevlar.”
Jason pointed a finger at him. “You can’t be sure of that.”
“On the contrary, I’m very sure.”
“I’m not really feeling convinced,” the CFO said. “Maybe you’d care to make things more interesting.”
Max buzzed with the same adrenaline that filled him at the start of every race. “What’d you have in mind?”
“Your �71 Cuda.”
“Double my punishment, double your fun?” Max snorted. “I lose my freedom and the rarest car in my collection?” Suddenly, he wasn’t feeling much like laughing. “What sort of best friend are you?”
“The kind that has your best interests at heart. I figure you might not fight to stay single for the sake of your sanity, but you’ll do whatever it takes to keep that car.”
Interesting logic. Max couldn’t fault Jason’s reasoning. “And what are you putting on the table in case you lose?”
Now it was Jason’s turn to frown. “You want my �69 Corvette?” He shook his head. “I just got it.”
And Max was looking forward to taking it away. “What are you worried about?”
“Fine. You’ve got a deal.” Jason got to his feet and extended his hand across Max’s wide cherry desk. When you’ve met the girl of your dreams and gotten married, I’m going to miss you, buddy. But at least I’ll have the �71 Cuda to remember you by.”
Rachel sat at her desk outside Max’s office and tried to concentrate as her nerves sang a chorus of warnings. For the last two days, he’d been professional, making no further references to their past. But his gaze on her at odd moments held a particular intensity that promised he wasn’t done with her. Not by a long shot.
Despite his assurances otherwise, she suspected that his motives for strong-arming her into becoming his temporary assistant were personal. She wouldn’t put it past him to lure her into bed, enjoy his fill, and then walk away in the same fashion he believed she’d walked away from him. And that wasn’t her paranoia talking. Max wasn’t someone who forgave easily or at all in the case of his youngest brother, Nathan, and their father.
From what she’d gathered from her sources inside Case Consolidated Holdings, ever since Nathan had blown into town almost a year earlier, tension amongst the Case brothers had risen. She’d learned from Max five years ago that there was bad blood between the older Case brothers and their illegitimate brother that went way back. According to Andrea, however, things had recently gotten better between Sebastian and Nathan.
If Max couldn’t let go of the past where his family was concerned, he would certainly never forgive a woman he barely knew.
Shoving personal concerns aside, Rachel concentrated on something she could control. Max had a trip scheduled next week. The hotel arrangements and flight had been made some time ago, but she needed to arrange for a rental car, to work on a PowerPoint presentation and fix a hundred problems that hadn’t even come up yet.
The phone rang. Anxiety gripped her at the familiar number lighting up the screen. “Tell me everything’s running smoothly,” she said into the receiver.
“You sound edgy.” Devon’s amusement came through loud and clear. “Is Max on your case?”
While Devon laughed at his joke, Rachel signed on to the computer using Andrea’s ID and password. At the moment, Max was interviewing a candidate for his temporary executive assistant. If all went well, Rachel wouldn’t need to contact the IT department for her own computer access. She scanned the assistant’s contacts, searching for the phone number of the restaurant downstairs. Apparently, Max had his lunches catered in most days. Andrea’s contacts gave Rachel a pretty good sense of Max’s activities.
Restaurants. Florists. Even a couple jewelry stores. He enjoyed entertaining women. Clicking one particular restaurant Rachel had been dying to try except that it was way beyond her means, she saw the manager’s name, the particular table Max preferred, even the wine he enjoyed.
The man was a player. She hadn’t seen that about him during those days on the beach, although she’d figured it out since coming to Houston. Max didn’t know it, but she’d seen him in action during her early days in the big city.
Rachel stretched a barricade of caution tape around her heart. If Max wanted to start something with her with the express purpose of payback, she’d better be wary.
“… doing?”
Devon had been talking the whole time her mind had been wandering. Whoops.
“I’m sorry, Devon. I wasn’t listening. What did you ask?”
“How is it going with Maureen?”
“She just went in ten minutes ago. Max kept her waiting for half an hour.”
“I know that tone. Stop worrying. She’s perfect. Max won’t find anything wrong with her skills or her references.”
“I hope not.”
And she didn’t have long to wait to find out. Five minutes after she’d hung up with Devon, Maureen exited Max’s office. Unsure whether to be delighted or concerned at the shortness of the interview, Rachel stood as the assistant candidate headed her way.
“How’d it go?”
The beautiful redhead’s mouth drooped. “He didn’t seem to like me.”
“Max is very hard to read. I’m sure he found your qualifications and your experience exactly what he requested.” Rachel kept her expression cheery. “I’ll go have a chat with him now and give you a call later.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as Maureen disappeared around the corner, Rachel headed into Max’s office. “Isn’t Maureen great? She has a BA in business and five years of experience in a brokerage house. She’s great with numbers—”
“Not a self-starter.”
How had he come to that conclusion after a fifteen-minute interview? “That’s not what I heard from her references.”
“She’s not going to work out. I need someone who takes initiative. Find me someone else.”
Rachel hid her clenched hands behind her back and concentrated on keeping her shoulders relaxed and tension from her face as her mind worked furiously on an alternative candidate. “I’ll set up someone for you to interview on Monday.”
“Single?”
His question came out of left field and caught her completely off guard. “By law we don’t discuss anyone’s marital status.”
“But they’d be wearing wedding rings. You’d know if they were single or married.”
“I could guess …” She floundered. What did he want? Someone single he could hit on? That didn’t seem right. Max might be a player, but he wouldn’t be unprofessional at work. Seeing he awaited the answer to his earlier question, she heaved a sigh. “She’s single. Does that matter?”
“Your agency has a certain reputation.” He didn’t make that sound like a compliment.
“For providing the best.”
“For matchmaking.”
Rachel wasn’t sure if she’d heard him right. “Matchmaking? Are you out of your mind?” The words erupted before she considered how they might sound. Taking a calming breath, she moderated her tone. “I run an employment agency.”
He nodded. “And how many of your clients have married the assistants you’ve sent them?”
What the hell sort of question was that? “I don’t know.”
“Eight, including Sebastian and Missy.”
Rachel didn’t know what to make of his accusation. Is that why he sounded so annoyed earlier? He thought … She didn’t quite know what he thought. A matchmaking service? Was he insane?
“Don’t look so surprised,” he muttered.
“But I am. How did you know that?”
“A friend of mine has done a fair amount of research on your little enterprise.” He sneered the last word, leaving no doubt about his opinion of her or her company.
Rachel inched forward on the sofa as she wavered between staying and disputing his claims and walking out the door. Fortunately, her business sense kicked in and kept her from acting impulsively.
“I assure you I’m not in the business of matchmaking.” She straightened her spine and leveled a hard look at him. “My agency is strictly professional. If my ability to find the perfect match between executive and assistant means that they’re compatible in other ways, then that’s coincidence.” Serendipity. She grimaced. If word got out that something unprofessional was happening between her clients and her employees, she was finished. “If you’re worried about finding yourself in a similar predicament, I’ll only send you married assistants.”
She recognized her mistake the second the words were out of her mouth. Annoyance tightened his lips and hardened his eyes to tempered steel.
Once upon a time she’d been married, and he’d fallen for her. Well, maybe fallen for her was pushing it a little. They’d enjoyed a spectacular four days together and he’d been interested in pursuing her beyond the weekend.
“Or really old and ugly assistants,” she finished lamely.
One eyebrow twitched upward to meet the lock of wavy brown hair that had fallen onto his forehead.
Rachel’s professionalism came close to crumpling beneath the weight of his enormous sex appeal. Fortunately, the grim set of his mouth reminded her that they hadn’t parted on the best of terms. He wouldn’t appreciate the feminine sigh bottled up in her chest.
“I’ll arrange some candidates for you to interview on Monday,” she said, her heart sinking as she realized she was now stuck acting as Max’s assistant for the indefinite future.
Three
Monday came and went and Max was no closer to liking any of the candidates she’d arranged for him to interview. By the time Rachel pulled into her driveway at six-thirty, she was half-starved and looking forward to her sister’s famous chili. It was Hailey’s night to cook, thank heavens, or they’d be eating around midnight.
She entered the house through the kitchen door and sniffed the air in search of the spicy odors that signaled Rachel was going to need three glasses of milk to get through the meal. No pot bubbled on the stove. No jalapeño cornbread cooled on a rack. Rachel’s stomach growled in disappointment. No pile of dirty dishes awaited her attention in the sink. Why hadn’t Hailey started dinner?
“I’m home,” she called, stripping off her suit coat and setting her briefcase just inside the door. “I’m sorry I’m late. The new boss is a workaholic. Did you …”
Her question trailed away as she entered her small living room and spied her sister’s tense expression. Hailey perched on the edge of their dad’s old recliner, her palms together and tucked between her knees. The chair was the only piece of furniture they’d kept after he died. That and the family’s single photo album were all the Lansing girls had left of their dad.
Hailey’s gaze darted Rachel’s way as she paused just inside the room. Rachel’s stomach gave a sickening wrench at the misery her sister couldn’t hide. Only one person in the world produced the particular combination of alarm and disgust pinching Hailey’s lips together.
Rachel turned her attention from her sister’s stricken gaze to the tall man who dominated her couch. He’d grown fleshy in the four years since she’d last seen him, his boyish good looks warped by overindulgence and the belief that the world owed him something. He still dressed like the son of a wealthy and powerful business owner. Charcoal slacks, a white polo, blue sweater draped over his shoulders. He looked harmless until you got close enough to see the malicious glee in his eye.
“What are you doing here?”
He smiled without warmth. “Is that any way to greet the man you swore to honor and cherish until death you do part?” His gaze slid over her without appreciation. He ran an index finger across his left eyebrow. “You look good enough to eat.”
Devour, more like. And not in a pleasant way. Brody Winslow enjoyed sucking people in with his smooth talk and clever charades, and using them up. Once upon a time, that had been her. She’d been taken in by the expensive car he drove and big house he lived in. Not until it was too late did she realize that some of the best liars came from money.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to collect the money you owe me.”
“You’ve been paid what I owe you this year. Nothing’s due for another nine months.”
“See, that’s where we’ve got a little bit of a problem. I need the fifty grand now.”
“Fifty …” She crossed her arms over her chest so he wouldn’t notice the way her hands shook. “I can’t pay you the full amount now.”
He looked around her house. “Seems like you’re doing pretty well.”
“I bought the house through a special program that allowed me to put zero money down. I’ve barely got five percent equity and no bank is going to give me a second mortgage for that. You’re just going to have to wait. I’ll get the next installment to you in nine months.”
“That’s not working for me.” He pushed himself off the couch and headed toward her.
She flinched as he brushed past her on his way to the window that overlooked her driveway.
“Nice car. It’s got to be worth something.”
“It’s leased.”
He shot her a look over his shoulder. “What about that business of yours?”
She bit her tongue rather than fire off a sharp retort. Making him mad wasn’t going to get him out of her house or her life. The man was a bully, plain and simple. And he’d figured out where she lived and what she was doing for a living.
“The business is barely breaking even.” A deliberate lie, but it wasn’t as if her simple lifestyle betrayed the nest egg she’d been building. For so much of her adult life, she’d been on the edge of financial disaster. Having a bank balance of several thousand dollars gave her peace, and she’d fight hard not to give that up.
“I get it. Times are tough for you. But I need that money. You’re going to have to figure out how to get it for me or times are going to get even tougher for you and your pretty baby sister.” He patted her cheek and she flinched a second time. “You hear what I’m saying?”
“I hear.”
“And?”
“I’ll get you what I can.” As difficult as it would be to give up her financial cushion and postpone moving Lansing Employment Agency into a bigger, fancier office, she’d make the sacrifice if it meant keeping Brody out of her and Hailey’s life. “Now, get out.”
Brody laughed and headed for the front door.
Rachel followed him across the room and slid the deadbolt home before his tasseled loafers reached her front walk. She didn’t realize how loud her heart thundered in her ears until Hailey spoke. She had trouble hearing her sister’s apology.
“He must have followed me home from work,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. We weren’t going to hide from him forever.”
“We’ve managed for four years.”
“Only because he never came looking.” Rachel sat down on the recliner’s arm and hugged her sister. Hailey was shaking. Her confident, bright sister had been alone with Brody and afraid. “Why did you open the door to him?”
“He followed me into the house when I came home from work. I didn’t realize he was there until he shoved me inside.”
Rachel rested her cheek on her sister’s head. “I’m sorry I didn’t get home sooner.”
Hailey shrugged her off. “Why do you owe him fifty thousand dollars?”
“I borrowed some money to start up the employment agency.” It was a lie, but Rachel didn’t want her sister to worry. The burden was hers and hers alone.
“Why would you do that?” Hailey demanded. “You know how he is.”
Rachel shrugged. “No bank is going to lend a high school graduate with big ideas and a sketchy business plan the sort of money I needed. Besides, he owed me something for the five years I put up with him.” She tried to reassure her sister with a smile, but Hailey had regained her spunk now that Brody was gone.
“Those years were worth a lot more than fifty thousand.” Hailey levered herself out of the chair and whirled to confront Rachel. Her brows launched themselves at each other. “What are we going to do? How are we going to come up with the fifty grand?” Hailey’s pitch rose as her anxiety escalated.
Rachel stood and took her sister’s cold hands to rub warmth back into them. “There is no we, Hales. It was my decision to borrow the money and it’s my debt to repay.”
“But—”
“No.” Rachel gave her head an emphatic shake and stood. She could out-stubborn her sister any day. “You are not going to worry about this.”
“You never let me worry about anything,” Hailey complained. “Not how we were going to get by after Aunt Jesse took off, not paying for college, not anything.”
“I’m your big sister. It’s my job to take care of you.”
“I’m twenty-six years old,” Hailey asserted, her tone aggrieved. “I don’t need you to take care of me anymore. Why won’t you let me help?”
“You already helped. You graduated from college with straight As and got a fabulous job at one of Houston’s top CPA firms. You pay for half the groceries, do almost all the cooking and even your own laundry.” Rachel grinned to hide the way her mind was already furiously working on a solution to the Brody problem. “I couldn’t ask for more. Besides, once I pay Brody the money, he’ll be out of our lives once and for all.”
“But how are you going to come up with the money?”
“I’ll try to get a bank loan. They might not have been willing to loan me money four years ago when I was starting up, but Lansing Employment Agency has a profitable track record now.”
Perched on a guest chair in the loan officer’s small cubicle, Rachel knew from the expression on the man’s face what was coming.
“Economic times have hit us hard, Ms. Lansing.” For the last four days she’d been listening to similar rhetoric, a broken record of no’s. “Our small business lending is down to nothing. I wish I had better news for you.”
“Thank you, anyway.” She forced a smile and stood. A quick glance at her watch told her she’d run over her allotted hour lunch break.
This morning she’d wired her twenty-five thousand dollar nest egg to her lawyer with instructions to give the money to Brody. For the last five years, she’d been paying him ten thousand a year, double what she’d agreed to in their divorce settlement. Reimbursement for a debt she didn’t owe. Punishment for divorcing him. No, Rachel amended, punishment for marrying him in the first place.
Returning to the Case Consolidated Holding offices, she slid into her desk and shoved her purse into a bottom drawer a second before Max’s scowl peered at her from his office.
“You’re late.”
Rachel sighed. “Sorry. It won’t happen again. Did you need something?”
“I need you to be at your desk for eight hours.”
She tried again. “Something specific?”
“Get Chuck Weaver on the phone. Tell him I needed his numbers three hours ago.”
“Right away.”
As she was dialing, her cell started to ring. Since Chuck wasn’t answering, she hung up without leaving a voice mail and answered her mobile phone.
Brody’s voice rasped in her ear. “Did you get the money?”
“I wired twenty-five thousand to my lawyer this morning.”
“I said fifty.”
Demanding bastard. “It’s all I could get.” She kept her voice low to keep from being overheard. “You’ll just have to be happy with that.”
“Happy?” He chuckled, the sound low and forced. “You don’t seem to get it. I need the whole fifty thousand now.”
“I get it,” she said. “You’ve been on a losing streak.”
She hadn’t known about his gambling until the second year of their marriage. A shouting match between him and his father clued her in to his destination when he vanished on the weekends. Frankly, she’d been disappointed. She’d thought he was having an affair. Had hoped he’d fallen in love with someone else and would ask for a divorce.
“That’s none of your business.”
“You need to get some help.”
“You need to get me the rest of my money.” He disconnected the call.
Rachel blew out a breath and pushed back from her desk. She had to clear her head. It wasn’t until she stood up that she realized someone watched her. Max wore an inscrutable expression, but his shoulders bunched, tension riding him hard. He had the sexy overworked COO look going today. Coat off, shirt sleeves rolled up and baring muscled forearms. She stared at his gold watch to keep her gaze from wandering to his strong hands, and her mind from venturing into the memory of how gently he’d caressed her skin.
“Chuck Weaver wasn’t in his office,” she said, burying her shaking hands in her pockets. “I’m going to run to the ladies room. I’ll have him paged when I get back.”
Max shut off her torrent of words with a hard look. “Come into my office. We need to talk.”
At his command, Rachel froze like an inexperienced driver facing her first spinout.
“Just give me a second,” she protested, her eyes shifting away from him as if looking for an escape.
“Now.” Max strode into his office and waited until she entered before he shut the door, blocking them from prying eyes. “Who was that on the phone?”
“No one.”
“It sure sounds as if you owe no one a great deal of money.” Her evasion irritated him.
He didn’t want to care if she was in trouble, but couldn’t ignore the alarm bells that sounded while he listened to her side of the phone call. With ruthless determination, he shoved worry aside and focused on his annoyance. The fact that she was in a bad spot wasn’t his concern. Her ongoing distraction from her job was.
“You had no right to eavesdrop on my private conversation,” she returned, belligerent where a moment earlier, she’d been desperate and scared.
He anchored one hand on the wood door to keep from launching across the room and shaking her until her teeth rattled. “You seem to forget whose name is on the door.”
Her stubborn little chin rose, but she wouldn’t make eye contact.
“It’s none of your concern.”
That was the wrong thing for her to say. “When they’re calling here it becomes my concern.”
Her defiance and his determination stood toe to toe, neither giving ground.
She broke first. Her gaze fell to his wingtips. “It won’t happen again.”
“Can you guarantee that?”
With her hands clenched to white-knuckle tightness at her side, she pressed her lips into a thin rosy line. Her nonanswer said more than words.
Frustration locked his vocal cords, making speech impossible. He sucked in a calming breath, keenly aware he was venturing into something that was none of his business. If he had an ounce of sense, he’d back off and let her deal with whatever mess she’d stepped in. Unfortunately for him, below his irritation buzzed a hornet of disquiet. He ducked the pesky emotion the way he’d dodge the stinging insect, but it darted around with relentless persistence.
“Do you need help?” He wrenched the offer free of his better judgment. The ramifications of involving himself in her troubles were bound to bite him in the …
“No.” Her clipped response matched his offer in civility and warmth.
They glared at each other. Two mules with their heels dug in.
He should be glad she’d turned him down. Instead, her refusal made him all the more determined to interfere.
“Stop being so stubborn. Let me help you. How much do you owe?”
Her eyes never wavered from his, but she blinked twice in rapid succession. “I don’t need your help.”
“But I need things to run smoothly. I can’t afford for you to be distracted by money problems. I assume that’s what you’ve been dealing with on your extended lunch breaks.”
“I’ve got everything under control.”
“That’s not the way it sounded just now.” Max shoved away from the door and stalked in her direction. He had no idea what he planned to do when he reached her. Something idiotic, no doubt, like take her in his arms and kiss her senseless.
The scent of her filled his nostrils. Some sort of nonfloral fragrance that made him think of clean sheets bleached by the sun. He was assailed by the image of her remaking the bed in their beach bungalow after their frantic lovemaking had ripped the sheets from the mattress.
His irritation faded. “You sounded upset.”
Her eyes widened at whatever note of concern she heard in his voice. “I’m not going to let you help me.”
Damned stubborn fool.
He caught her arm and pulled her across the gap between them. She came without resistance, her lips softening and parting as a rush of air escaped her. He wanted to sample those lips. Were they as pliant and intoxicating as ever?
“How are you going to stop me?” he demanded, cupping the back of her head to hold her still.
He dropped his head and claimed her mouth, swallowing her tart answer. He expected resistance. They’d been dancing around this moment for almost a week. The shoving match of his will against hers had inflamed his appetite for a similar battle between the sheets.
She moaned.
Her immediate surrender caught him off guard. It took him a second to change tactics, to stop taking and coax her instead to open to his questing kiss. She tasted like fruit punch, but went to his head like a Caribbean rum cocktail.
Long fingers darted into his hair. Her muscles softened. The flow of her lean lines against his frame was like waves on a beach, soothing, endlessly fascinating. With his eyes closed, the surf roaring in his ears, he remembered how it felt to hold her in his arms.
In a flash, all the memories of her that he’d locked away came back. Every instant of their time together played through his mind. His heart soared as he remembered not just the incredible sex, but the soul-baring connection they’d shared.
Then came her leaving. The ache that consumed him. His destructive anger.
Max broke off the kiss. Chest heaving, he surveyed the passion-dazed look in her azure eyes. Her high color. The flare of her nostrils as she scooped air into her lungs. He felt similarly depleted of oxygen. Surely that was the reason for his lightheadedness.
“That was a mistake,” he said, unable to let her go.
Rachel took matters into her own hands. She shifted her spine straight and pushed on his chest. His fingers ached as she slipped free.
“That’s supposed to be my line,” she said, tugging her jacket back into order.
He inclined his head. “Be my guest.”
Max retreated to the couch. Resettling his tie into a precise line down the front of his shirt, he laid his arm over the back of the couch and watched Rachel battle back from desire. She recovered faster than he’d hoped.
“That was a mistake.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she leveled a narrow look his way. “One that won’t be repeated.”
“You misunderstand me,” he said. “The mistake I referred to was letting the kiss happen here.”
“What do you mean here? There’s no place else it’s going to happen.”
He hit her with an are-you-kidding expression. “You’re crazy if you think this thing between us is going to die out on its own.”
“It will if you stop fanning the flames.”
He had to fight from smiling at her exasperated tone. “Impossible. You set me on fire every time I get within twenty feet of you.”
“I’m flattered.”
Was she really? Her tight lips told a different story. “Don’t be. I’m sure I get to you the same way.” He plowed on, not giving her time to voice the protests bubbling in her eyes. “It’s just a chemical reaction between us. Something ageless and undeniable. We can burn it out, but I don’t see it just fizzling out.”
“I really don’t have the energy for this,” she groused.
“Good. Stop fighting me and conserve your energy. I have a much better use for it.”
Her arms fell to her sides. “Max, please be reasonable.”
She’d stooped to pleading. He had her now.
“When have you ever known me to be reasonable?”
That wrung a grimace out of her. “Good point.” She inhaled slow and deep; by the time the breath left her body, she’d changed tactics. “What’d you have in mind?” she questioned, retreating into humor. “A quickie in the copy room?” Pulling out her smart phone, she plied it like a true techno geek. “My schedule clears a bit at three. I can give you twenty minutes.”
Max cursed. He should have anticipated she’d use humor to avoid a serious conversation. “I’ll need more than twenty minutes for what I have in mind.”
“You want more than twenty minutes,” she corrected him, letting her thick southern accent slide all over the words. “You probably don’t need more than …” She paused and peered at him from beneath her lashes. “Ten?”
Max rose from the couch and prowled her way. She turned her back as he stepped into her space. He loomed over her in order to peer at her phone’s screen. So, she wanted to mess with him. Two could play at this game. A minute quiver betrayed her reaction to his proximity. Tension drained from his body. The chemistry between them was textbook and undeniable. His palms itched to measure her waist, reacquaint themselves with her breasts.
“I wasn’t so much thinking of my needs as yours,” he said, his voice low and intimate. “I know how much you like it when I take my time.”
She sized him up with a sideways glance. “I thought this was the sort of thing you were trying to avoid doing with your assistant.”
Max shook his head. “I was trying to avoid losing my freedom in one of your matchmaking schemes.”
“You were trying to avoid marriage?” She slipped the phone back into its cradle at her waist. “Or falling in love?”
“Both.”
“Because they don’t always go hand in hand, you know.”
“I’m all too familiar with that truth.”
As she well knew. The four days they’d spent together hadn’t been limited to learning about each other physically. Max had shared his soul, as well. Whether because they’d been two strangers sharing a moment with no thought of a future, or because being with her had thawed places long numb, he’d told her everything about his childhood and the problems with his family, delving into emotions he had no idea lurked beneath his skin.
She’d been a damn good listener. Made it easy to be vulnerable. He’d felt safe with her. And she’d left him. Gone back to her husband.
What an idiot he’d been.
“I’ll go get Chuck Weaver on the phone,” she said, retreating from his office.
It wasn’t until he sat behind his desk and answered the call she put through that he realized she’d completely distracted him from getting answers about what sort of financial mess she was in.
Four
By six o’clock, the offices and cubicles around Rachel were dead quiet. Executing a slow head roll to loosen her shoulder muscles, she gusted out a sigh and saved the spreadsheet she’d been working on for the last couple of hours. Max had asked her to analyze the operations budget for one of the companies Case Consolidated Holdings owned in Pensacola, Florida. The company had been struggling with profitability for the last five years, and Max wanted her to figure out where they could trim expenses.
Whether Max knew it or not, she was the perfect person to figure out how to cut the fat. Ever since she’d lost her father and taken on the responsibility of her sixteen-year-old sister, money had been tight. She’d learned how not just to pinch a penny, but to turn it inside out and scrape every last bit of value out of the thing.
She cast a glance toward Max’s office. Should she sneak out or say good-night? The kiss earlier had rattled her more than anything else she’d experienced in the last seven days and with Brody’s unexpected reappearance and outrageous demand, it had been a doozy of a week.
As if summoned by her thoughts, Max appeared in the doorway.
“Leaving?” His low question boomed into the silence.
“It’s six o’clock. We’re the only ones here.” She gulped as her words registered.
Pointing out to him that they were completely alone was probably not the brightest move after what happened between them today. The discovery that he intended to rekindle their affair made maintaining her cool a big challenge. If he’d decided this would be the perfect time to assault her willpower, it wouldn’t be much of a skirmish.
That he still wanted her both worried and excited her. The heat between them remained as fierce as ever, and as much as he seemed to despise her for not being truthful five years ago, he was right when he said the passion between them hadn’t been allowed to run its course back then.
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