time she knew. ―It wasn‘t just my idea. Luke and I worried—―
―My God! Do you mean you two have been spying on me
since I went to college?‖
―We couldn‘t take any chances button—―
―Don‘t call me that! Don‘t ever call me that again!‖ she
seethed feeling her temper overflowing, ―I can‘t believe you two!‖
Everything she knew was a lie. No wonder he knew all about
David. How many other of her boyfriends had they checked out
without her knowledge and—what did they do about it? So many
of them had left her alone without explanation after the first few
dates.
Max could see the emotions play over her face as she was
figuring things out. He somehow expected that she‘d discover
this sooner or later, but he wanted to be the one to tell her, not
have her find out while he was in the midst of a jealous rage.
―What were you doing with Nikos?‖
Her mouth fell open, ―Don‘t you dare put this back on
me.‖
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―Lily, Luke and I are worth a lot of money. How the hell
to you think we would feel if you ended up abducted?‖
―It‘s my life!‖
―No, its not. Losing you was never an option. We are
responsible for you—‗
―Luke is! You gave up that right when you shunned me
Max.‖
―I tried telling you about that night we shared but you
wouldn‘t hear it.‖
‗No, because I don‘t want to come in second best!‖ she
said pointing a finger at her chest, ―I can‘t bear being compared
to all of your other women. Do you have any idea how that
makes someone like me feel? Of course not, because you are so
self absorbed in your own world that you chose to act like
nothing happened, but something did happen.‖ Tears started to
fall from her eyes just as the car pulled to a halt outside her dorm
room. She made a move to get out of the car, but Max grabbed
her arm.
―Lily.‖ He said softly, ―you keep running when I want to
tell you—explain to you about that night.‖
―Let me go Max.‖ she said, ―Just leave me alone—please.‖
The look of pain that crossed her face made him let her go
and she got out of the car. He told Oscar to wait until she was
safe inside before driving away. Then he rolled up the divider
and spent the drive back to his penthouse seething. He was
angry at her, at Nikos, but most of all himself. He should have
never taken her to bed in Greece. It left her openly vulnerable
towards him. He didn‘t like the way their relationship changed
dramatically after that. Part of him felt as though he‘d lost her
because of it, and another made him feel selfish like she said
because he should have reassured her immediately after that, not
leaving her to wake up alone. Then again he‘d never been with
someone so innocent so it escaped him to do such a thing.
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He realized now that he made a huge sacrifice just to have
a taste of her. A taste that he would never forget.
CHAPTER SIX
Lily went right to her room, thankful that she didn‘t have
a roommate this semester. Her eyes were already red and puffy.
Was it possible for her heart to hurt so much? She sobbed out
loud and made her way to the bathroom to wash her face. Never
had she let her emotions get so out of control, but that man drove
her crazy! His confession of having her watched near pushed her
over the edge with everything else that had been going on in her
life. Nikos was only being a friend and Max had—had what? She
paused looking at her reflection in the mirror as something
dawned on her.
Max acted jealous.
After a moment she shook her head even considering
what Nikos had said. Max never got jealous. He had his choice
of the cream of the crop and for him to settle for her was
impossible. Yet she couldn‘t help wonder if he had made sure
that she had no suitors. He and Luke were in on this. When her
brother got back in town she was going to confront him about
this whole thing. She was so mixed up she didn‘t know which
way was up at the moment. Not only that, she still couldn‘t beat
this flu bug. If it was a bug. Luke already suspected she wasn‘t
well, but she‘d passed it off when he‘d asked her about it.
What was she going to tell him? That she had a broken
heart?
That weekend Luke had just come back from New York
and picked his sister up from school to bring her home for the
weekend and she went straight to bed claiming she wasn‘t feeling
well. This seemed to be a regular occurrence with her, but he‘d
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been away quite a bit in the last month and really didn‘t take
notice of it. However, he was sure she was ill when he brought