“I’ll never leave again without goodbye.”
“Good girl.” He pecks my forehead and
turns us back to the audience of two staring with parted mouths.
“So what did I miss this morning?”
“Just catching up and making sure we had everything ready for today.” I smile up at him.
“And making plans for a GNO tomorrow night. It’s going to be classic.” Laci tells him.
“GNO?”
“Yes, Max, Girls’ Night Out. The three of us have plans at one of the hottest new bars in town.” She motions her hand between, Landon, herself and me.
Max goes still beside me and starts to speak but Landon stops him.
“Before you even think about saying something about me being a guy. We’re going to a gay bar.”
Max face starts to turn red and he grips my hip tighter. “Can I talk to Stella alone?” His tone is harsh but doesn’t faze my two assistants. When they finally leave, he turns to me with fire in his eyes.
“You are not going to a gay bar with those two tomorrow night.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. No way. I can’t go with you and I don’t trust any men when it comes to you—gay or not.”
“Max, I don’t need to ask your permission to go anywhere. And even if you don’t trust them, which is ridiculous, you should trust me,” I hiss at him.
Taking me by complete surprise, he bends down and lifts me, setting my ass on the edge of my desk. Inching his body between my legs, he softly grips the back of my neck and forces me to look at him. “Bella, I do trust you. But you’re precious to me. It drives me crazy inside thinking about other men looking at you, lusting over you, wanting you. I watch how men look at you when we’re out together. I can’t handle what could happen if I’m not there.”
His fingertips rub lightly underneath the sensitive skin of my earlobes and my annoyance dissolves. I use my knees to pull him closer and lock my ankles around his thighs.
“How can you make a possessive demand turn into something oddly sweet?”
“Talent?”
“No, probably because I have a soft spot for you. But that being said, I’m going out with my friends tomorrow night. I’ve never given you a reason to be jealous. But yet you’re over the top. Think you can tone it down?”
He stares at me for a minute, his face unreadable. Then relaxes and presses his forehead against mine. “You’re using my driver. He’ll wait on you until you’re ready to go home. You call me if there are any problems at all.”
I start to argue, but snap my mouth shut. He sees the aggravation on my face but raises his eyebrows waiting for me to agree.
“Fine! But only because we were going to get a driver anyway. And you’ll learn real quick, if you try to boss me around or tell me what I can do, there will be no more we. It will be a you and a me. No more us.”
His face softens and his lips turn in a grin. “Want me to let you in on a little secret, babe. Your little attitude is a total turn on. It makes me think of ways to punish you. I’m not relenting when it comes to you. You’ve got to trust me.”
A surge of moisture pools between my legs, which causes me to rub against his waist. I unhook my ankles for him to back up, but he stays put and I feel his erection growing against me.
“Max, you can’t talk to me like that before we have to leave.”
“Why not?”
“Because you haven’t wanted to touch me for a while. We got back from your mom’s on Sunday, it’s now Thursday. You haven’t tried to touch me at all.”
His face drops and heat fills his eyes.
“You think I don’t want to touch you? You think if I thought it was right I wouldn’t fuck you on every surface in your house and claim your body as mine? You haven’t been paying very good attention, beautiful.”