Mistress of the Game

Lexi felt a tap on her shoulder and spun around. The smile of contentment dissolved on her face.

"What are you doing here? Where's August?"

"In Taiwan, I believe. Something came up. Have you ordered yet? I'm famished."

Max sat down and snapped his fingers imperiously for the waiter. Without looking at the menu, he rattled off his order in flawless Italian. He was speaking too fast for Lexi to make out much of what he said. But she did notice he'd asked for a two-hundred-dollar bottle of Antinori red wine, and that he'd taken it upon himself to choose food for her, too.

Her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here, Max?"

"We're thinking of buying an online recruitment company." His tone was casual. "Starfish. It's like a European version of Monster.com. They're based out of Florence, believe it or not."

Lexi didn't believe it. He's up to something.

Although they lived in the same city and even worked in the same building, it had actually been months since Lexi had seen Max. She traveled constantly. On the rare occasions when she was at Kruger-Brent, she didn't exactly seek out his company. Tonight he was wearing a blue open-necked shirt and black Armani suit pants. He smelled very faintly of an old-fashioned, lemon-ish cologne, and his naturally olive skin was more deeply tanned than usual. She'd forgotten how attractive he was and found herself irritated by it.

"How did it go in Rome? I gather Valaperti is a tough cantuccini."

Part of Lexi would have liked to ignore him. But the urge to boast was too strong.

"It went great. Valaperti was putty in my hands."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. I sold him that land for over a hundred million dollars."

Leaning in closer, Max signed: "Did he try to sleep with you?"

Lexi looked amazed.

"When did you learn to sign?"

Max shrugged. "I only know a few phrases, but I'm working on it. I figured, you know, we're going to be working together for a while, so I should probably make the effort."

He seems genuine. But why is he being so nice and reasonable all of a sudden?

"So did he?"

"What?"

"Try to sleep with you?"

"No! Well, kind of. Maybe a little bit." Lexi found she was smiling despite herself. "Our friend Antonio evidently thinks of himself as quite the catch."

"How old is he?"

"Sixty-five? Seventy maybe?"

"Dirty old goat."

Lexi was surprised to find she was enjoying herself. Sitting in this divine, romantic spot with her lifelong enemy, the evening seemed to be flying by.

The wine arrived, along with two Tuscan bread salads. Before long, Lexi was happily tipsy. Max kept her amused with stories of doom and gloom in the Internet division.

"The only person who's gonna get a bonus this year is whoever wins the Jim Bruton Divorce Case Sweepstakes. His wife's finally leaving him, and the whole division's put money on how much she'll get."

"That's terrible! Poor man." Lexi giggled.

"Poor man, my ass. He had two kids with another woman and never paid a cent for either of them. When you're chairman, you should fire him."

Lexi sobered up immediately. Had she read his lips correctly?

"What did you say?"

"I said when you're chairman, you should can Jim Bruton. Come on." Max stood up, gallantly offering her his hand. "Let's go inside and talk. It's getting cold out here."

The hotel lounge and bar were both full, so they went back to Lexi's junior suite. Opening onto the gardens, it had its own private terrace as well as a study and separate living room, complete with antique Italian furniture and roaring log fire. Max fixed them both a whiskey from the minibar and sat down on the couch next to Lexi.

"Look. Starfish wasn't the real reason I came here. At least, it wasn't the only reason."

Watching his lips move, Lexi felt a powerful urge to lean forward and kiss them.

I must be drunker than I thought. She put down her whiskey.

"Go on."

"I want to call a truce."

For almost a minute, Lexi was silent. The entire evening had been surreal. August's no-show, Max turning up out of thin air, his uncharacteristic charm offensive. Now he was talking about truces? Finally, she said: "Why?"

Max smiled. "I'm not going to lie to you, Lexi. I want the chairmanship as badly as you do. I always have. But I recognize that's now unlikely to happen." When Lexi didn't respond, he went on. "Kate Blackwell hated my mother. I don't know why, but she did. And I hated her for that, even though she died before I was born."

"Max."

"Let me finish. Because Kate's will tried to lock me out of Kruger-Brent, I felt I had something to prove. I didn't see why I should roll over and let them hand the company to you on a plate."

"Kate's intention was to hand it to Robbie on a plate," Lexi reminded him. "I've had to fight for a seat at the table, too, you know."

"I know. That's why I'm here." Max took her hand in his. His palm was warm and dry. Lexi felt a pulse begin to throb between her legs. It was making it hard to concentrate. She swallowed hard.

Max said: "We're not kids anymore, Lexi. It's time we both stopped acting like kids. Kruger-Brent means everything to me. Everything." There were tears in his eyes. "If...when you take control at the company, you're going to have some tough challenges ahead. You're going to need people around you that you can trust."

Trust and Max were two words that, until this moment, Lexi had never had cause to put together in a sentence. Was it possible that he really had grown up? She wanted to believe it. And yet...

"I don't know what to say. That's - that's very generous of you."

"You know our market cap dropped almost twenty percent last year." There was a flash of something that looked like anger in Max's black eyes. "Tristram Harwood's a dinosaur. He has no idea what he's doing, no vision, no game plan."

Lexi nodded quietly. "I know."

"So what do you think? Do you want to try playing on the same team for a change?"

Max's leg was touching hers. Lexi could see the outline of his thigh muscle beneath the thin cotton of his pants, lean and strong.

I think I want to see you naked.

I think I want you in my bed tonight.

I think I definitely had too much wine at dinner.

"Sure." She smiled back at him. "Why not?"

That night in bed, Lexi lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Was Max for real? If anyone had asked her that question twenty-four hours ago, she'd probably have laughed in his face. Her and Max Webster, a team? And yet he did seem sincere. She cast her mind back over the last few months at Kruger-Brent. Max had supported her in that crucial board vote over the new share issue. And he hadn't said a word about her new, larger office space. Was it possible she'd misjudged him? Or was sexual frustration clouding her judgment now?

She'd thought that the roar of her libido would fade once the effects of the alcohol wore off. But now, hours later, her leg still burned from where Max's thigh had brushed against it, and the lemon scent of his cologne lingered deliciously on her skin. Goddamn him. Why did he have to come here?

Lexi had had scores of lovers in her life. Perhaps even hundreds. But she realized tonight that none of them meant anything to her. I never wanted any of them. Not really. Deep down, it's always been Max.

Closing her eyes, she slowly moved her hands down her warm, naked body. She cupped her breasts, then let her fingertips graze the soft, flat expanse of her belly. Finally, tentatively, she began to stroke the hot, silky wetness between her legs.

She pictured Max's lips moving:

Kruger-Brent means everything to me...I want the chairmanship...but it's not going to happen.

Her fingers worked faster, more rhythmically.

I've beaten him.

I've won.

She imagined Max on top of her, inside her. She imagined them as one.

Kruger-Brent is mine.

She gasped, her body racked by a series of shudders as the orgasm ripped through her.

Oh God, Max. I want you.

From a pay phone at Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan, August Sandford bellowed at his secretary.

"It's not good enough, Karen! I flew halfway across the world for this damn meeting, only to have Mr. Li tell me that the stupid hotel is no longer for sale."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Sandford. I don't understand how the wires could have gotten crossed. His secretary confirmed the meeting to me only yesterday. She said they had another bidder and it was vital that you fly out right away."

August slammed down the receiver, too angry to speak. Thanks to this wild-goose chase, he'd had to cancel two important client meetings in Europe, not to mention his rendezvous with Lexi.

Then a strange thought struck him.

His secretary confirmed the meeting...she said they had another bidder.

August met with Mr. Li's secretary less than an hour ago.

Mr. Li's secretary was a man.

Eve called Max while he was driving.

"Did you see her?"

"Yes, Mother. I saw her."

"You played it the way we discussed?"

"Yes."

"And? Do you think she trusts you?"

Max thought about this for a moment. He remembered the way that Lexi's pupils had dilated when he took her hand; the heat when their legs had touched. There was something new between them, all right. But he wouldn't necessarily call it trust.

"I think she's starting to."

Eve sensed the hesitation in his voice. She asked him sharply: "You didn't sleep with her, did you?"

"No, Mother. Of course not."

"Good." Eve sounded mollified. "You'll have to eventually, of course. But not yet. It's too soon."

Max hung up feeling uneasy. He pictured his mother pacing their New York apartment in her silk robe, a caged tigress waiting for him to return from the hunt. Things had gone better than he'd expected with Lexi this evening. But still. His discussion with Eve last week was vividly branded in his memory. The tension in her voice, the pent-up rage coiled inside her body, ready to burst through the skin.

It's your last chance, Max. Our last chance! That bitch is going to take Kruger-Brent from us. You have to do something!

I will Mother. Don't worry. I will.

But would he? Could he?

What if he failed?

Swerving to the side of the road, he stopped the car and fumbled in the glove box. Pulling out a clear plastic pillbox and a bottle of Jack Daniel's, he swallowed four Xanax, washing them down with the raw, scorching liquor.

I won't fail you, Mother.

I promise.