look, ― You think I‘m handsome?‖
Trying to recover she began to babble just making things
15
Lietha Wards
worse, ―You think your handsome enough for the both of us with
all that arrogant charm and sex appeal.‖ God shut up, she
thought to herself. It was his fault! If he hadn‘t had her all
senseless with the ‗sweet‘ comments, she might be able to control
her big mouth.
He threw back his head and laughed, ―Now I‘m
handsome, charming, and I have sex appeal. Honey, you do
wonders for my ego.‖
―That came out wrong.‖ She groaned and put her face in
her hands knowing he didn‘t need any help in that aspect. His
poise alone wrote the book on ego.
―I would love to hear more on the subject of my sex
appeal, but we‘re at your brother‘s building.‖ He said with clear
amusement.
She could still hear the laughter in his tone and wanted to
crawl into a hole. Feeling a tug on a lock of her hair she faced
him still thoroughly embarrassed. He actually was playing with
the strand between his fingers that had escaped her French twist,
and his expression was no longer amused. It was something
different that she hadn‘t seen before.
‗How long is your hair?‖ he said guiding his eyes to hers.
Tilting her head in question, she said, ―To my waist.
You‘ve seen it down. Why?‖
―Actually it seems like years that you wore it down around
me, so I wasn‘t sure if you cut it.‖ He frowned, ―Don‘t ever cut it.
I‘ve never seen this shade before…It looks like copper.‖
Bewildered she just stared at him.
―And wear it up like this at work. I don‘t want you to
attract attention.‖ He added in a terse tone.
―Max…?‖ what on earth did that mean?
Seeing her confusion, he explained, ―Women have a hard
time in my business being taken seriously. I promised Luke I‘d
protect you. There are a lot of men in my main office building
16
The Billionaire‘s Secret Desire
and you are a beautiful young woman. Most of these men aren‘t
married because they have careers that don‘t allow that. I don‘t
want to start firing them because they start pawing you.‖ What
he didn‘t‘ tell her is that he didn‘t want anyone else touching her
besides him from now on.
Her jaw dropped. Max had never mentioned anything
remotely related to her looks before in her life. She knew she
wasn‘t ugly but Cybil Dawn was stunning, all blond and leggy,
and she couldn‘t hold a candle to her. Perhaps he was being
sexist? The men could be devils and the women must remain
conservative. ―So when your girlfriend shows up, does she have
to wear a potato sack?‖
―that‘s different,‖ He shook a finger in her direction,
―she‘s not the little sister of my best friend and in no way is she
naïve in the what men want from her . ‖ And I couldn’t care less if
another man touched Cybil.
I‘ll bet. ―For heaven‘s sake Max, I‘m twenty years old.‖
―With the body of a supermodel, the face of an angel and
the mind of Einstein.‖ He cut in, ―And naïve as the day is light.‖
Now she turned completely scarlet.
―My point exactly.‖ He said studying her flushed cheeks,
―You have no idea how appealing you are to my sex. Many men
that I employ work hard, but they also play hard. I don‘t want
you falling for the antics of a playboy and you‘ll be around them
as much as I am. Why do you think I‘m keep you close as my PA,
not shipping you off to some other department? Even if I warn
everyone off you, there‘s a chance that someone will take a
chance at losing their job just to get you in bed…‖
―God….Max…‖ she gasped. It was as if he just breached
that barrier of comfort between them. Not that she was always
comfortable around him, but now his dictation of her feminine
attributes and what he thought of them, floored her. He just
admitted that she was appealing to his sex. Did that mean him
17
Lietha Wards
too? His next words crushed her hopes.
―Luke would kill me if anything happened to his baby
sister.‖ He held his hand up when she tried to interrupt him. ―So,
take what I say as advice, not an insult. I‘m speaking from
experience.‖
Because you’re a playboy, she thought.
―Now for tomorrow…
―Tomorrow is Saturday.‖
He smiled, ―Yes, but I don‘t take the day off, and you need
to come to the office and speak with Nancy, my secretary. She‘ll
set you up like I mentioned before, so you‘ll be ready on Monday
for work. There is only skeleton staff there on Saturday so she
can take some time and show you the ropes and my expectations.