Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“Man, this is such a mess,” Chris mumbled as we waited for the pedestrian lights to change.
Chapter 45
Lillian
Iwoke up at dawn to Max nuzzling the back of my neck. I’d shown him where I kept my spare key and he must have come directly from the bachelor party. Before I knew it, we were moving together in perfect rhythm.
I came first, crying out his name and holding his body tightly to mine. He came a few seconds later, growling as if words could not fully express the intensity of what he was experiencing.
He took two painkillers for his hangover and left soon after.
I stood at the window and watched him leave. Sometimes I was sure we were one being cut into two halves, and at other times he seemed to be a stranger. Sometimes, he looked at me as if he wanted to devour me whole, and other times he looked at me as if he hated me.
As he reached his car he turned and looked up at my window. I didn’t wave and neither did he. For a while he simply stood there staring at me, then he turned and slid into the backseat of the car. He did not look up again as his chauffeur drove away.
I went back to bed and lay on the pillow he had rested his head on. His scent was faint, but if I closed my eyes, I could see it all again. How he had come last night. Drunk, angry, and sad at the same time. I could feel his blood pounding in his wrist when I caught it.
“Have you missed me?” he asked.
“Yes,” I admitted.
“Show me how much.”
I got naked and rode him. The whole time I was grinding my sex on top of him he watched me avidly, ravenously. When he touched my skin it was as if he couldn’t believe I was real.
I got to work early. I had a couple of hours before he was due back from a meeting on the other side of town, so I was going through some emails and anticipating another quiet hour or so when I heard the elevator doors swish open. I looked up and was surprised to see the familiar super-thin woman strolling into my office.
Paige.
She narrowed her eyes as she tried to place me. Incredulous recognition came quickly. “You were with Max at Peter’s engagement party, weren’t you?”
“Hello, Paige,” I said calmly while internally, a dead weight sat on my chest. What was she doing here? She belonged in Connecticut.
“Your Max’s secretary?” she asked, looking pleased about that.
“Yes, I’m his personal assistant,” I replied.
“How convenient,” she said.
I refused to rise to the bait. I just looked at her blankly.
She frowned. “Well, can I go in?”
“He’s not in and I’m not sure what time he’ll be back,” I said, glad that Max was out of the office.
“He didn’t mention that he would be out when we met for lunch yesterday.”
My surprise must have shown on my face because she looked like a cat that had got the cream.
“You didn’t know about that, did you?” She gave a delighted little laugh. “I guess he doesn’t tell you everything about his whereabouts.”
Pain rumbled through me, even though I kept my face impassive. “Do you have a message for him?”
“Nope. I’ll call him directly.”
Her job was done so she turned around and sashayed out of the office.
Max had told me he was going to lunch with his mother. Instead, he had gone for lunch with Paige… and not mentioned it. How had that happened? Images of Paige and Max having a good time over lunch filled my mind. Stop that, I told myself, shaking the images away. There had to be a perfectly good reason why he had lunch with Paige.
Max Frost didn’t play games.
He said so himself.
And I believed him.
If he’d had enough of us, he would have told me, not gone behind my back. But a voice in my head planted small seeds of doubt inside me. Do you really know Max? You have no friends in common apart from Maggie who was only an acquaintance.
And she didn’t have good things to say about him.
“Paige came by,” I said casually when Max returned from his meeting.
He scowled. “Oh! Why didn’t she call before coming?”
I stared at him. “I don’t know. She said you hadn’t mentioned you wouldn’t be in when you had lunch together yesterday.”
Max put his phone away slowly and met my gaze. I hadn’t planned on asking him, but I really needed to know why he hadn’t mentioned it. We may not have been dating seriously, but Max had assured me that while we were together that meant no other women.
He moved closer to my desk, a vicious look in his eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention it to you, but a quick question. Are you still going to meet Dan?”