Chapter Eight #2
“Would it not be easier to take that off?” Maximus asked.
“Hell no! Have you seen this dress? There are bits of me displayed that should be covered.”
“Yeah, I saw it.” His voice sounded husky, and I glanced up to find him watching me with an expression I had never saw on his face before, which left me breathless.
“Then you’ll know it is highly inappropriate for anything but lingerie,” I retorted, confused by his reaction. “Preferably with a woolly jumper and jeans over it.”
His chuckle made the hairs on my arms rise. “I would suggest that there were a lot of men there tonight, who were happily bidding that would disagree with you.”
I shot him a disgusted look. “Perverts. Who would bid on a person as if they were a vase?”
“You’d be surprised,” Maximus drawled, loosening his tie to pull it off and unbutton the top buttons of his shirt, revealing some dark hair and tanned flesh. He was normally formally dressed in a suit and tie, with no exposed and tempting skin.
I shoved the sleeves up again and began to sort through the items, catching the movement of Maximus leaving the room with the corner of my eye.
“What have you done?” I muttered to myself as I chopped some onions and mushrooms.
He reappeared a few minutes later holding a T-shirt in his hand. “That is one of my favourite suits. I’d prefer if it wasn’t covered in egg.”
I wrinkled my nose and stepped back, hesitant about removing the safety of the coat covering all the areas that were exposed.
“I need a photo as well,” he said when I had one arm out.
“I’m sorry?”
“Poppy’s personal dresser needs to know your size to select a wardrobe for you,” he replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world for a stranger to select what I should wear. “Stand over there so I don’t get the reflection of the window.”
I moved to where he pointed, my hands on my hips and my eyes focused behind him. “Can I dress now?” I asked, relieved when he tossed the T-shirt to me and continued to type on his phone.
It was long enough to come halfway down my thighs to cover my modesty, and allow me to walk around without wondering if anyone could see my ass cheeks.
I kicked my ridiculous heels to the side of the room, and padded around in my bare feet, returning to happy memories when I helped to cook in my grandmother’s home in England.
Maximus sat on the stool I had vacated, watching me while typing on his phone intermittently.
“Roberto seems to be pissed,” he said, setting his phone down. “He’s trying to find you.”
My eyebrows flew up. “He wanted me married to a suitable family. Is the Rossi family not in the higher echelons of power?”
“We’re right at the top of the food chain, but he lost a lot of money tonight.”
“At least he didn’t lose an eye,” I replied, shivering at the memory of nearly being married off to Sam.
“He should learn to not look at what doesn’t belong to him,” Maximus said, typing on his phone again.
“In fairness, he thought he had just bought me.”
He raised his gaze, and I found myself paralysed and drowning in his deep blue eyes. There had always been something about Maximus Rossi from the moment I first met him. He made me feel safe but unstable at the same time.
“What’s your favourite colour?” he asked randomly, making me blink.
“Purple. I always loved the images of the lavender fields,” I replied. “Why?”
“Poppy is contacting her personal shopper and wanted to know where to start. My sister tends to go a little overboard when it comes to clothes, but I’m sure you’ll find something to suit you until I organise your own shopper.”
“What about my own clothes?”
“Roberto can keep them. He’s your brother, but I don’t trust him.”
That made two of us. My hand went to my throat and I noticed Maximus watching me intently. He had never missed anything in the past, and his power and reputation had only grown over the years.
“We need cutlery and drinks,” I said, turning away from his mesmerising stare.
Being married to Maximus Rossi had been my teenage fantasy. I had been bridesmaid at my sister’s wedding and imagined myself saying I do in the chapel to the man I now found myself engaged to.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” I asked.
He stopped and glanced over his shoulder at me. “You’re a bit late asking that question,” he replied.
“I panicked earlier,” I confessed. “Sam had been one of Roberto’s gentlemen callers to the house. He told me he would lock me up until I learnt manners. He made it very clear what my life would be like with his ring on my finger.”
Shame flooded me that I had trapped this powerful man into a marriage with me. I knew he agreed because of our history, but it didn’t make me feel any better.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean to destroy your life along with my own.”
His heat appeared behind me suddenly, startling me as I hadn’t heard any movements. My head spun when he turned me to face him, his body too close to mine to allow me to think.
“You know what my life is like, Olivia. We discussed it often enough in the past.” He tucked my hair over my shoulder in a gesture that left me bare to him.
My tongue darted out to moisten my lips. “You also said you would never marry,” I pointed out.
“True, but I never expected anyone to propose to me in a crowded room.”
My mouth fell open in shock. “I didn’t—”
“Oh, but you did. We had a silent conversation in which you proposed to me, and then you went and told Roberto you couldn’t marry Sam as you were already engaged.”
“What?”
His grin transformed his features, changing him from dangerous and handsome to devastatingly gorgeous. “It was very romantic.” He pressed a kiss to the tip of my nose, and released me so suddenly that I staggered back a pace.
Maximus lifted his omelette and wandered over toward the table beside the window. I had been desperate, seeking comfort from the only friend in the room, and now I had trapped him into a marriage he didn’t need or want.
I retrieved my own plate and slowly followed him. There was something beyond intimate about sitting here in the semi-darkness eating with Maximus. Almost as if we were already married, and he had just arrived in from work.
“Roberto will punish me for tonight,” I said in a low voice, picking at my food.
“He touches you, and I’ll cut his hand off,” Maximus replied in a deadly tone.
“Are you going to put it in a box like the head?” I queried.
He pointed his fork at me. “That was your fault, including the red bow.”
His reply forced a laugh from me, his lips twitching in a half smile.
“Does that make me your accomplice?”
“Partners in crime? I like the sound of that.” He popped another bite into his mouth and chewed.
This morning my heart had been full of dread, and my life shattered. Tonight, I was safe and with the only man who had ever made butterflies erupt into flight in my chest.
What a difference a day made.