“Why would your dad have sent me?” Maxton asks cocking his head at my question.
“About the job.” I’m speaking way too quick, feeling like I’m in class and I’ve been called on to give an answer I’m not quite sure of. “He’s mentioned it a few times. Me coming to work for your company. But I told him I didn’t want any free passes.”
“Hmm.” Maxton nods. “And why’s that?”
“Why don’t I want any free passes?”
He nods again. A blush coloring my cheeks. “Because I want to earn what I have. I know how crazy that sounds, and I’ll never stop being grateful for all dad’s given me. But I only want that to go to a certain point. I can’t stand the idea of being given everything in my life.”
The corners of his lips twitch into a smirk. Is he proud of me?
No, that’s a silly thought, the exact kind I need to stow away.
Realizing how rude I’m being, I step aside and wave him into my apartment. “Do you, uh, want to come in?”
“Sure.”
He strides past me, almost close enough to touch. I resist the urge to close my eyes and breathe in deeply, savoring his manly scent.
Closing the door, I follow him into my living room.
The apartment is a simple one bedroom, close to the college campus. This was another thing I asked for when dad offered to pay for my lodging. I didn’t want any fancy rich-girl apartment.
“So is this about the job?” I ask.
He turns in the center of my living room, making me feel like this is some crazy dream. Maxton in his custom suit, his indomitable gaze eating me up, causing shivers to cascade over every inch of my skin.
“Could I get a glass of water, Madelyn?” he asks.
“Oh, sure. Where are my manners?”
I walk through to the adjoined kitchen, sneaking looks at him over the kitchen partition as I fill a glass. His features are tight, his jaw ticking.
Maybe dad told him not to leave without getting me to agree to an internship or something.
I know I’m inventing that out of nothing, but I can’t think of another reason why Maxton Miller would be here.
It’s not like we have a connection, no matter how many times I might’ve wished for it.
Chapter Eight
Maxton
I sit on the armchair and my woman sits on the couch opposite me.
I’ve got to stop thinking of her as my woman, but it’s an impossible challenge as my gaze glides over her thick juicy thighs. When she opened the door in the tank top and pajama shorts, I almost snapped right there, leaping on her and dragging her into the bedroom…
Fuck, I’d bend her over and slowly peel her shorts down, revealing that plump mouth watering ass.
My cock gives a pulse and my balls fill with my seed as I think about all those times she didn’t want me to see her.
Genevieve often said I’d be disappointed, but the notion is absurd.
Her hair is wild and sexy, wayward strands begging for me to smooth them back into place. Her cheeks are flushed, as though she’s shy, or horny, or excited.
I need to know which. I need to learn every single thing about her.
I should remember Steve, all we’ve shared, all we’ve been through together.
But I can’t, not when Madelyn slides her hand up and down her leg, like a nervous tic she’s not even aware of. I should be the one grabbing those thighs, hungrily guiding my touch closer and closer to her hot needy slit.
Fuck.
After taking a sip of water, I place my glass down, stunned to realize my hand is shaking slightly. Even during the most intense business meetings, I never feel like this, the uncertainty is making it difficult to think clearly.
“So…”
She raises her eyebrows in the most adorable way, a soft smile toying at her lips. “You still haven’t told me why you’re here.”
I can still get out of this. All I have to do is tell her it really is about a job, which she’s assumed anyway. I could pretend to try and persuade her and then when she tells me no, I’ll go on my way.
I asked her why she didn’t want a handout, but she’s already told me. Well, told Smol.
My woman wants to forge her own way in the world. She was always cagey about what her dad’s business was, perhaps not wanting to admit she is related to the man who owned Star Search’s parent company. Maybe she thought Smolder would’ve looked at her differently… the same way I was sure she was going to look at me.
“Maxton?” she asks.
I run a hand through my hair, letting out a dry laugh. “I’ve never believed in fate or destiny or any of that stuff.”
She narrows her eyes. “Okay…”
“When your dad and I started the company, it was nothing to do with fate. We fought tooth and nail in the early days. We still have to fight today, when some business catastrophe threatens to topple us. The bigger they are, the harder they fall…”