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Boldness surged through me. It mixed with the cocktail of need that was already taking over my body as I found my voice.

“What game are we playing now, Max?” I taunted.

The next second, his mouth crushed mine.

Every thought ran out of me until I was empty, like the open can of Riley’s energy drink I’d spilled earlier. I couldn’t think. Only feel Max’s mouth, firm and a little desperate as it moved over mine. 

I was overloaded by sensation. Max’s tongue pressed against the seam of my lips until I opened on a shallow breath.

He tasted like mint and something darker as his hands gripped my hips, pulling me to him so his thick erection pressed against my thigh. That I’d somehow unwittingly turned him on this much already only made it better.

I reached a shaky hand up to touch the side of his face, to push him away or pull him closer.

The stubble forming along his jaw prickled my skin. When my thumb brushed the metal in his brow, his low growl shocked me. A lightning bolt of desire went straight between my thighs.

This was wrong.

So wrong.

But it was seriously, indescribably
hot
.

Max Donovan was the guy who made me tear my hair out, and work my ass off, and put new batteries in my vibe. He also kissed me like he had a right to do it, his arms hard and unyielding around me.

I did the only thing I could.

I stroked his tongue with mine, pressing my body into his as I moaned against his mouth.

Max’s hand traveled under my blouse, squeezing my breast through my bra. The way his thumb rubbed my nipple into a tight peak through the lace had me whining low in my throat.

Electricity jolted from my breasts down to my clit. I bit his lip, fierce enough to make him hiss out a breath of his own.

Max shoved me back and I stumbled, off balance until I slammed against the pool table. Then I was trapped between the edge and him, his cock dizzyingly hard against my thigh.

Most first kisses are either tentative or sloppy. This was hot and raw, and even with my heart hammering against my ribs, I didn’t have the first clue where it was going. All I knew was that I needed something, and Max was the only one who could give it to me.

Cool air hit my thighs and I vaguely realized my skirt was up around my waist. Impatient fingers dug into my ass as Max hitched me up onto the side of the pool table. Cool wood stuck to my cheeks, my thong the only thing between it and my skin.

But there was no slowing down. Max spread my knees further apart, wedging his body between them so he could rub the hard zipper of his jeans against my almost-bare skin.

His mouth tore from mine to scorch a path down my jaw. I arched against him, reaching one arm behind me to brace myself. My fingers slipped on a billiard ball and I ignored the clacking as it skittered into another.

Max traveled over my collarbone and down, until he was sucking on the skin just above the top of my lace demi-cup bra.

Holy wow.

Max muttered something that sounded like my name. Or maybe it was ‘bacon’. It didn’t matter, because one of his hands gripped my thigh while the other traced a slow path up the inside of my leg, sending the most incredible heat racing between my thighs.

I’d been sure the game was me against Max, but I’d been wrong. It was both of us against
this
. While I was holding out against him, the tension threatening to overtake us caught me off guard like a riptide.

When Max’s hand slipped beneath my panties, I realized just how fast this was escalating. But I couldn’t make sense of it. All I could do was press against him, begging for more of the delicious friction of his skin on mine.

For once I got what I wanted. I gasped when his finger slid into me, grabbing at his shoulder with one hand to keep from falling back on the table.

He made a noise of satisfaction as he worked me. The sound of his finger moving in and out meant I was probably soaking the edge of the pool table.

If Max cared, he didn’t show it. But his rough voice was suddenly at my ear.

“When you look at me with those big eyes, is this what you’re thinking about? Me getting you off?”

“No,” I panted. “Right now I’m thinking about getting
you
off.”

My fingers reached mindlessly for the snap on his jeans, but Max pulled back. His features widened in surprise just as a noise interrupted us.

It took half a minute before we recognized it as a ringtone.

“Don’t,” I protested as Max retrieved the phone from his pocket. We glanced down at the same time, our chests still heaving.

Christina.

His eyes were on mine as he answered. “Yeah.” His steady voice didn’t match the rapid rise and fall of his chest as he listened to whoever was on the other end. I hated the feminine tones more with every second. “Give me a sec.”

My chest still rising and falling with my rapid breath, I waited for Max to pocket the phone after he hung up.

Instead, he held it carefully at his side.

“I’m sorry, Payton. I have to return this call.”

I blinked up at him with dawning horror. “You have to…”

The fire in his eyes was dying, but his fingers were still damp from being inside me. His lip was swollen from my teeth.

I tried to make sense of it all, but couldn’t.

“Wow. You’re unbelievable, Max Donovan.”

I straightened my clothes and hopped off the table. As I stumbled blindly through the apartment, he didn’t try to stop me.

I held it in until the elevator came. The doors closed in front of me and I couldn’t stay quiet any longer.

“What the
fuck
just happened?”

Chapter 14

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“Why are guys such incomprehensible dicks?”

“You figure it out, you let me know.” I took a sip of my drink and met Charlie’s look. “Todd was a bust?”

“The biggest,” she confirmed, turning to look over the railing into the water.

I’d managed to go most of my life without being on a boat, then in the space of the last two weeks I’d been on two. Today was our annual team-building day at Alliance. After hours with overpaid facilitators who had us doing everything but trust falls, the entire staff finished the day with a river cruise.

The consolation was free booze. Senior management was busy talking to each other inside the sheltered part of the boat, meaning staying sober was not only foolish, but pointless.

We’d started drinking a couple of hours ago, and now Charlie and I were having the happiest of happy hours.

I pushed my hair behind my ear, feeling the wind whip it across my face. Unlike last time, my stomach was fine, and I’d been drawn toward the railing, wanting to see the waves as we cut through them.

“So what went wrong?” I asked Charlie, leaning my elbows on the guardrail. “Wait—Todd was the one your cousin introduced you to, right?”

“Nope.” She folded her arms, posture mirroring mine. “I met him at Tilt last week. We hooked up in the bathroom—” I shot her a look and she raised a hand, “—just second base and a little feinting for third. He took me out last night and…”

“He stole third?”

“Are you kidding? I stole third, and kept running. The man had more abs than a
Men’s Fitness
cover and a Thunder from Down Under show put together.” She sighed. “Afterward we were lying there and that’s when I realized: there was nothing going on above the neck except an eighty dollar haircut.”

“No substance?” I sympathized.

“Exactly.”

A burst of high-pitched laughter from behind us made us turn. Further down the boat, Avery was standing between two girls who seemed thoroughly charmed by his banter. Or maybe just his existence. “Speaking of which, there’s a guy with as much substance as a s’more,” Charlie uttered under her breath.

I cocked my head. “I hate the guy but I’d have put him at least at Snickers territory.”

“A Snickers has more substance than a s’more?”

“It’s way more complex. The nuts, the caramel, the chocolate…”

“But s’mores have graham crackers and marshmallow and chocolate.”

“But you have to assemble them. With the Snickers, it’s integrated.”

“I need another drink.” Charlie led the way past Avery and his love-fest to the bar and we ordered G&T’s. “How come you never have boy problems like this, Payton?” I sighed and Charlie’s eyes sparkled. “Wait a second. Red cheeks, glazed eyes…have you been getting laid and not telling me?”

A group of employees brushed passed us and I lowered my voice. “Max Donovan kissed me last night.”

Charlie grabbed my arm, her fingernails digging into my skin. “Kissed you where?”

“On his pool table.”

“Not what I meant. But also, hot.”

Yeah, it was.

“It was getting serious. At least, until we were interrupted by his ex-wife calling.”

Her eyes were the size of saucers. “Tell me he didn’t answer.”

I shook my head slowly.

“That asshole,” she declared. “Fuck him. I may not know this guy, but you can’t take bullshit from anyone right now. Avery—” she lowered her voice, though there was virtually no chance of him overhearing as he was thirty feet away and focused on the girl pawing him, “is tracking double last year’s clients. He’s catching up, Payton. And he might be a dick but he’s not stupid,” she admitted. “He’s put in systems so he can handle more clients. I’m trying to slow him down but…he’s been showing me some of his new approaches.”

“You mean passing his work off on you?”

“Not really. Just showing me how he works so I can use the tools he does.” She shifted. “It’s actually kind of fun.”

“Really? You never told me that.”

“Yeah.” She shook her head like she was trying to clear it. “But the point is, you don’t need Donovan. You can line up clients here. Even if you don’t get the dev award, you’ll triple last year’s bonus.”

I didn’t want to hear what Charlie was saying, but she wasn’t wrong. I thought about Max’s latest feedback on my presentation. Nothing I did was ever enough. Nothing was ever right.

I was doing this for my mom. So she could keep the condo she’d always called home and deserved to keep calling home. If Max Donovan wasn’t going to get me where I needed to be…

“You’re right, Charlie,” I decided. “I don’t need his head games, and I don’t need to waste my time with Titan when I could be building up other business. I’ll tell him tomorrow.” The docks were coming back into view. I wanted nothing more than to take my tipsy ass home, curl up in my bed, and sleep.

“Tomorrow? That’s hours away!”

“Huh?”

“It’s only—” she fished around for her phone, “—nine. Don’t you want to go over there right now and tell Max Donovan the only part of you he’ll be kissing is your ass?”

“What? I’m drunk.” Though the picture she painted was appealing. I could see Max’s sexy face twisted into a bemused frown when I told him he would be playing his games solo from now on.

Charlie reached into her clutch and produced a folded sheet of paper. “Free taxi chits, courtesy of corporate.” I hesitated. “Remember, you are the Dick Whisperer.”

“And you are an enabler,” I tossed back. But her insane logic was working its way into my drunk brain.

We lined up to take cabs home. It was warmer off the boat, and I tugged off my jacket, leaving my taupe silk shorts and cornflower blue shell. I fired off a text while I shifted back and forth on my sandals.

I’m coming over
.

I insisted Charlie get in the first car. I didn’t need her standing in the night while I waited for a car to take me on my crazy mission.

On the ride over I thought of all the things I’d say to Max. There’d been no response to my text. In a way, I was glad I didn’t get one.

The ride passed in a blur and Ronnie greeted me in the foyer.

“Will Ferrell girl. What’re you doing here dressed like that? You should be out on the town.”

“I’m making a statement,” I said solemnly. “Beam me up, Ronnie.”

I strode into Max’s suite without knocking, ready to haul him out from behind his desk and give him a piece of my mind for jerking me around.

But two steps inside the open door, I stopped. “What the hell are you doing?”

Max glanced up from his spot in the kitchen. He was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt and nothing on his feet, chopping vegetables like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” he asked, popping something into his mouth before turning his attention back to chopping.

He also had on black-framed glasses I’d never seen. Those, coupled with the barbell and messy hair, were doing seriously strange things to my insides that were already unsteady from the drinks.

I dropped my purse on the hall floor and crossed to the kitchen. “I didn’t know you knew how to open the fridge.”

“No way. I have mad skills.” He turned back to what looked like a bamboo placemat with seaweed and rice on it. He layered some kind of fish, then vegetables, then sauce, carefully before tucking the end of the seaweed in on itself, then used the placemat to roll it up. He sliced the first roll into eight pieces and set them on a plate.

“Don’t you usually get sushi at a restaurant?”

“Mine’s better.” He raised an eyebrow. “Want some?”

My mouth watered. I hadn’t really eaten tonight; had gone straight for the hard stuff thanks to my frustration. “OK.”

He made a second roll, then cut it like the first. “So how drunk are you?” he asked, reaching up to a cupboard to grab plates.

“I am not drunk.”

After setting the plates on the breakfast bar and pulling out two stools, he produced his phone from his pocket. I glared at it, still remembering its interruption yesterday.
Stupid phone.

He popped open a window that said
Coyote
at the top.

Not cute
.

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I frowned. “I’m a little drunk,” I admitted.

Max had the decency not to crow as he plated the food. He retrieved chopsticks from a drawer—reusable-looking ones—and soy sauce from the fridge. He took a seat and offered me the other stool. I hitched myself onto it, wavering only slightly.

“I came because I need to tell you something,” I said archly as he handed me the chopsticks.

“I figured. I have something to say too, but you first.” He took a piece of the roll and dipped it in soy sauce before popping the whole thing in his mouth. My stomach grumbled and I realized it’d been a really long time since I’d eaten anything. A really long time and about five G&Ts that were still co-opting my brain.

“OK. Max. Here’s the thing. You can’t go around kissing people. You can’t give a girl a massage, and then tell her that her work sucks, and then BOOM! That was the kiss,” I added.

A more accurate description would’ve been
the hottest tease ever
, but I figured the point was moot.

“Right.” Max reached for another piece of sushi.

“And then. And THEN!” I lifted my finger in the air for emphasis. Or maybe it was a chopstick. “And then you definitely can’t shove her up against a pool table until she’s thinking about renaming Jorge after you and then kick her out.”

Max’s handsome face clouded. “Uh-huh. I can…see why that might be upsetting.”

“Can you? Good.” I was glad my message was getting through.

“Wait, who’s Jorge?”

I flushed. “None of your damn business.”

Max set down his chopsticks. “I shouldn’t have kissed you, Payton. It was wrong of me.”

“Mmm.”
Fuck those glasses.
He looked so normal sitting here. Normal, and sexy, and suddenly I wanted him to say anything other than “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

I popped a piece of sushi in my mouth and chewed it absently, stealing a look at Max out of the corner of my eye.  “You mean, because of your ex?”

“No. Because last night I was worked up about some stuff and…it was a moment of weakness.” He paused like he was choosing his words. “I kissed you and you kissed me back and I got carried away. It won’t happen again.”

The stinging was unexpected. I’d wanted Riley to be right. Despite the fact that Max could be a pain in the ass, he was brilliant and successful, both of which were sexy as hell. Maybe I just wanted to think a guy like Max would be interested in me.

“So, are we good?” His voice broke into my thoughts.

“I’m not sure yet.” I ate another piece of sushi, but this bite was tasteless. “What was the thing you were going to say?”

Max looked me in the eye and I could almost feel his shoulders tense. “Chris is trying to take Titan from me. That’s why I took her call.”

“What?” I swallowed and set my chopsticks down, losing interest in the food altogether.

He dropped his chopsticks as if he felt the same. “She got her cut in the divorce. I guess she sees how well it’s doing and doesn’t think that’s enough. We were still married when I put out the game, even if she was living with her professor on my dime.”

“That’s crazy, Max.”

“The law might agree. But the thing is, she’s got info on Phoenix and is claiming she has a copy of Evolve. The whole engine. If she’s not bluffing…” Color drained from his face. “I have no fucking clue how she got it but she’s been blackmailing me. We haven’t technically finished it. Someone else could take it, finish it, claim it as theirs.”

“Someone like Axel?”

He nodded. “We could go after them, but courts are expensive and take fucking forever. The best thing is to get Phoenix out, and now.”

“What does Riley say?”

“I haven’t told him.” Max took another bite and chewed thoughtfully.

I wondered what it meant that he’d told me but hadn’t yet told his lawyer, and friend. My alcohol-soaked brain couldn’t make sense of it, so I gave up and we finished our plates in silence.

I’d come here to tell him to eat dirt, and instead, competing desires warred in me. I understood why he was so closed off, and I felt for him. But the clincher was that I knew how it felt to have people try to take from you what was yours.

“We won’t let her do it,” I decided. “Phoenix will launch ahead of schedule. I’ll redo the presentation, but you have to promise to work
with
me. Deal?”

Something glinted in Max’s eyes. “Deal. I’m not used to saying this, but Payton…I need your help.”