Chapter 25
PAIGE
Max
Good morning, Bunny.
Me
Stop texting me.
Max
The Blue Bay Hotel, today, 1 p.m.
Me
I’m not coming.
Max
See you then.
Me
I’ve told you; I won’t be there.
Max
Room 309. Pick the keycard up from reception.
Me
Have fun with your hand.
Chewing my fingernail, I pace the floor behind my desk and stare at my phone as the hustle, bustle and low hum of chatter of the office continues outside my office door. Luckily for me my colleagues are blissfully unaware that I’m currently having an existential crisis.
It’s been hours since Max sent me his text demanding I meet him for lunch today, and he still hasn’t responded to my reply where I declined his invitation.
Who the hell does he think he is telling me what to do?
I won’t jump when he says how high. I won’t bend and stretch for him, not for anyone, although… I love the chase, want him to keep pushing because it shows me he wants me, makes me feel alive, and I love it.
When he grabbed my hair and pulled my neck back then told me to come for him yesterday as he fucked me from behind, I did. Willingly, I cried out his name as I came all over his cock.
That familiar cocktail of emotions spirals once more. A mix of excitement combined with the happy buzz of adrenaline fizzes through my veins like a shot of pure electric energy from the rush of our illicit encounter. It’s forbidden. Barred. But it was so good. Great fucking sex.
I stop pacing and throw my phone onto the pile of papers covering my desk, and place my hands on my hips as I eye the ceiling, considering my next move.
I made it very clear yesterday that our time in the presidential suite was a one-time deal and that it would never happen again. What part of just this once did he not understand about yesterday?
Oh, I know what it was… it was probably something to do with me telling him never to stop chasing me. What the hell was I thinking?
It was a slip-up at my end, a miscalculation in my judgment. I had way too much coffee at the lawyers’ lunch. That’s all it was. And the guilt, holy shit, the guilt I felt as soon as I left the hotel consumed me to the point that I was unable to eat any dinner last night.
Angrily, I swipe my phone off my desk and re-read his text messages again.
“Arrogant fuckwit,” I grumble under my breath.
I send another text, ensuring he gets the message this time.
Me
Acknowledge my text. I can’t make it.
You are so annoying.
The read receipt glares back at me. It’s time stamped and everything. It took him milliseconds to read it, meaning he has our conversation open.
Me
I can see you’ve read my text, answer me.
I check the time for the tenth time: 12.30 p.m.
Oh, screw it. I lift my workbag off the floor and slide my phone inside then check my reflection in the glass walls of my office.
What the hell am I doing? I don’t need to look good for him.
I already know I look great today in my black leather pencil skirt and white blouse.
“Spicy” is how Emma put it this morning.
“I’ll be back by two.” I storm past Edward, my new legal secretary, flicking my long hair over my shoulder. Yeah, I’m wearing it down, and not because Max said he liked my hair down; no, it was because I didn’t have time to pin it up.
That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.
“Have a great lunch,” Edward calls out to me as I walk toward the elevator.
“Oh, it won’t be.” It will be frustrating, and Max will be hideously maddening.
This is the only way he’ll listen to me. An in-person explanation is best.
And if he doesn’t get the message this time, then maybe I’ll have to file a restraining order against him.
Why didn’t I think about that before?
I chuckle deviously to myself.
I would never do that but maybe it’s the only way to keep me away from him.
But that’s not what I want either.
This morning I even made a visit to the doctors to have the contraceptive pill prescribed.
It was a moment of madness, clearly. I even popped the first one in the car, because the doctor said this type of pill only needs two days to kick in. Two days, and suddenly there are no excuses. No safety nets. Just me and this hunger I can’t seem to tame.
What have I become?
A dirty little slut who craves Max Hart’s dick, that’s who.
And God help me, I want more.
My head might be saying stop, but my body and heart crave his touch—the heat of his hands on my skin, the weight of his lips crushing mine, and the way he says my name like it belongs to him. It makes me feel things I never thought were possible.
I have no control over my emotions anymore when it comes to him, and no matter how hard I try to fight it, every breath, every beat of my heart drags me closer. Closer to the edge. Closer to him.
And the truth? I don’t even want to resist.