the Billionaire’s Secret Desire(7)

added without thinking. She held her breath hoping he didn‘t

hear her, but he caught it.

―Handsome?‖ his eyes glittered when he tossed her a

look, ― You think I‘m handsome?‖

Trying to recover she began to babble just making things

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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

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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

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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