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He didn‘t answer.

―Max?‖

He took a deep breath and nodded. Maybe it was about

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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