Chapter Ten
CHAPTER TEN
Miko
Sure, I wanted to get a move on figuring out who stole my damn diamonds. But there had to be some priorities. And the woman who seemed dead on her feet just twenty-four hours after she was brutally attacked in her own home getting some much-needed rest was more important than going over the images on my laptop.
Once she had finally passed out on her side, I pulled the blanket more fully over her, thinking of how her brown sugar scent was going to be all over the material for days. And liking that idea way the fuck more than I should have.
I took her half-drunk coffee back to the kitchen, made a hot one for myself, then checked my texts for a while.
When it was clear Max was out for the long haul, I went into my spare room that served as my office, finding and then loading all the images I had into one file for her to easily scroll through when she woke up.
Though, the more that I looked at them myself, the less sure that any of them were the right guy. Yeah, there were blue-eyed guys. But their hair seemed too dark to be described as blond. There were also blond guys who were too yellow to be called “dishwater” or “dirty.”
I wouldn’t know until I let her look at them, of course, but I was starting to think that maybe it was an accomplice of one of the guys from the company. A friend, brother, or even just someone who overheard him saying shit he shouldn’t have when he was drunk.
All I did know was that with every hour that passed by, the chance of finding the diamonds disappeared. With it, the chance to get back what I’d already shelled out.
I wouldn’t be poor. But I would be busting my ass working other jobs for months, maybe even a year, to recover that buffer I liked to have around.
Still, I couldn’t bring myself to go and wake up Max.
I checked on her twice, finding her still in the exact position she’d been in when she’d first passed out, then went back into my room, peeling off my clothes, and making my way toward the bathroom to take a shower. I needed to clear my head, to let some new thoughts come to me. I’d been rolling the same ones over and over ever since I found out Max had the diamonds lifted from her.
And for me, the best place to think was the shower. It was probably a layover from my childhood, from a house full of so many younger siblings that it was hard to find any time to myself. The splashing of the water onto the floor always managed to just about drown out the squeals, laughs, and cries going on in the rest of the house as I would just stand there and think.
It was still the first thing I did when life got too heavy or too confusing, when my mind was reeling and nothing was getting figured out. Take a shower. Let all the other shit wash away.
Almost without fail, by the time I climbed out, I had a new perspective, if not an outright solution, to whatever I was dealing with.
The longer I stood there under the hot water, the bathroom steaming up despite the exhaust fan going at full tilt, the more my thoughts simply drifted in one direction.
The woman sleeping her bone-deep exhaustion off on my couch.
I couldn’t pretend to relate to her early life, to the things that likely motivated her later on. I had both parents. A relatively comfortable life. Happy memories with loved ones. But I could relate to her hunger, that drive to push yourself harder and harder. Right up and through the point of complete exhaustion.
I knew too well the way your body would finally just throw up its hands and say ‘fuck this’ when you’d been going too hard for too long, leaving you damn near catatonic for days on end until it got a chance to recover.
Sure, she seemed motivated by the hardships of her youth, and mine was hunger for a better future. But burnout was burnout, regardless of what led you to drive yourself there.
I was more intrigued by her ambition than I should have been.
While I’d always had an appreciation for strong women, for the kind of balls it took for women like Max and Lil to not only survive but thrive in a male-dominated criminal underground, I always thought my type was softer women. Sweeter women. The ones without the sharp edges to get caught on.
So the way just the thought of Max putting her sights on me, then walking confidently toward me to take my wallet, had my cock stirring to life in the shower was unexpected.
One thing I did know, though, was that if I didn’t deal with it, there was going to be no thinking straight around her.
So my hand slid down, grabbing my cock and stroking to the thoughts of how such a hard, strong woman could be made real fucking soft with the right words, with the right kiss, with the right touch.
The images conjured up had me coming so hard that I fell back against the shower wall, my fucking legs feeling weak.
“Great,” I grumbled to myself.
Really, the last thing I needed was to know that just the idea of being with someone like Max could have that kind of impact on me while I very much needed to work alongside her until this shit was solved.
Or at least, that was what I thought as I draped a towel around my hips and made my way into my bedroom.
And there was Max.
Looking for me.
But likely not expecting to find me practically fucking naked.
Even from across the room, I could hear the way her breath hitched, how her lips fell open, how her eyes went heavy-lidded as her gaze slid over me.
Yeah, correction.
The last thing I needed wasn’t to find out that I was attracted to Max. But that she was also very clearly attracted to me as well.
“Feel better?” I asked, watching as her gaze flew back up to my face, the desire on plain display for just a moment before she tamped it down, hid it back behind a mask of indifference, if not outright disgust. “After the nap,” I clarified.
“I, uh, yeah,” she said, keeping her gaze stubbornly on my face even as I moved closer. “I never knock off like that. I usually really struggle to sleep, actually. Apparently, all I need is a—what—five-thousand-dollar couch to sleep properly.”
“It was forty-five hundred, but I got a feeling it had nothing to do with the couch. Think you might have passed out like that on the damn subway; you were so dead on your feet.”
I made my way over toward the closet as I said this, leaving the door open as I grabbed a pair of boxer briefs, turned, and dropped the towel to pull them on.
I turned just quickly enough to catch her forcing her gaze back down to the floor. It took actual work not to smile as I slipped into socks, slacks, a shirt, tie, and jacket.
“Good God, do you ever just wear jeans? Sweats?”
“Not really, no,” I admitted. Appearances were important to me. A nice suit told the world that you were someone. It demanded notice and respect. And, in the Family, it said you belonged. “Gym, maybe. And sleep. Those are about the only times I’m not dressed,” I admitted, fetching a different pair of cufflinks, then slipping my cross necklace and watch back on.
The last things were my shoes and a spritz of cologne that I could swear made Max let out a little whimpering sound.
It was a sound I absolutely did not need to know.
But now I was stuck with it.
“How long was I out?” Max asked as we both moved back into the hallway.
I checked my watch.
“Four hours,” I told her.
“Shit,” she hissed, rushing back toward the couch where she fished out her phone from between the couch cushions, likely afraid Megs had called or texted.
“She’s probably drained and taking a nap by now,” I reminded her.
“Right,” she said, tucking her phone back into her pocket. “So, about the pictures.”
“I’ll bring ‘em up for you. After we order something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“By my estimate, you’ve already missed two meals today,” I said, reaching for the drawer I kept stocked full of menus.
“Why do you care?” she shot back, crossing her arms and shooting me a suspicious glance.
“Sugar, if I had ulterior motives, don’t you think I’d have taken advantage of them when you were passed out? I just want some food. You need food. That’s all there is to it. You want Italian or Chinese?”
For just a moment, I saw a flash of the real Max underneath all the guards she put up. Someone so used to taking care of everyone else that she had no idea what it was like to be taken care of.
And, fuck, if that didn’t just make me want to care for her some more.