by Lori Foster
Max hadn’t wanted to leave Toni’s side, not for an instant, which he supposed told him something about the strength of his attraction to a woman he barely knew. An attraction he wanted to explore further.
After spending time and discussing everything but business with Max, the older man had grown tired and said he’d see Max at home tomorrow. He just hoped the truce they’d begun to forge today lasted once Max told his father that no offer, no matter how supposedly enticing, could coax him back into the family firm. The most the older Corbin could expect from Max was a loving son who’d always be there for him. Max hoped it would be enough.
But before he had to deal with tomorrow, he had tonight ahead of him and he looked forward to every last minute. He walked down the darkened hallway, lit only by lights from some occupied offices, and stopped by the door his brother had told him belonged to Toni.
Light shone from beneath the partially closed door and the low strains of music sounded from inside. Anticipation and arousal beat heavy inside him as he let himself in. Toni was emptying her office, packing boxes and singing while she worked.
The woman couldn’t carry a tune to save her life. Max folded his arms across his chest and grinned. “You can serenade me anytime.”
She yelped and jumped. “You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that.”
He stepped forward, moving closer. With each step he took toward her, she inched back until she hit the wall, looking up at him with wide eyes. “What are you doing?”
“What you asked. Making my presence known.”
“As if I could miss it,” she said wryly.
“But you’re afraid of me.”
She shook her head in denial but he backed off anyway. He wanted this woman in many and varied ways but frightened wasn’t one of them.
“You don’t scare me … Max.” His name fluttered off her lips. Then as if to prove her point, she held her hand out for him to shake. “And it’s nice to officially meet you.”
“Likewise.” He eased his hand inside hers. Warm and soft, her skin caressed his coarser flesh.
“You just surprised me,” she said in a husky voice.
“A good surprise, I hope.”
“Definitely that. So why are you here?”
“I was hoping to talk you into going for dinner.”
She bit down on her lower lip. “What if I have plans?”
He propped a shoulder against the wall beside her. “Break them,” he said with more confidence than he felt. His biggest fear was that she’d blow him off before they had a chance to explore what was between them.
“Convince me.” Her teasing smile invited him to do just that.
He curled his fingers around her hand and pulled her toward him, wrapping one arm around her waist and holding her other hand out in front of them. “Let’s dance.”
Her eyes opened wide. “You’re kidding?”
“Do you see me laughing?” He pulled her flush against him and swept her around the small office in time to the beat of the music. He had no idea what had come over him except he had no intention of losing her now.
She anchored her hand around his back for support, molded her body to his and let go. He felt it in the sway of her hips and saw it in the sassy tilt of her head. She was enjoying herself and he was glad.
His body couldn’t ignore her lush curves and his groin hardened, unsatisfied with a single dance. But Max wasn’t in this for a one-night stand. He was a man who’d spent his life trusting his own instincts and he wasn’t about to question his gut now. He wanted much more than sex with this woman and for Max that was a first.
She tilted her head back. “You’ve got good moves.”
“I give my partner all the credit.”
Her smile was nothing short of incredible. “Is that what I am?”
“You tell me.” He turned her once and stilled. They were so close, their warm breath mingled. So aware of one another he thought, as he stared into her expectant eyes.
Toni’s legs shook beneath her and she tightened her grip on the only available means of support—Max’s waist and hand. Then she waited as he lowered his mouth to hers, slowly, surely, his blue-eyed stare never wavering until his lips touched hers.
Their first kiss had been spontaneous, unplanned, and yes, she admitted to herself, a bit desperate. But this was so much more. He took his time, his tongue delving and discovering the deep recesses of her mouth, learning her, not once rushing the moment.
Her stomach curled in response to the drugging kiss, much the way her fingers curled into his skin.
His lips slid gently over hers, making the most of the moisture they generated together. Strong yet gentle, he took control, mastering the moves that made her sigh into him and spin dizzily out of control. Toni needed to participate on equal footing and she traced the outline of his strong lips with her tongue and reveled in his uninhibited verbal response. He was a man who not only expressed his physical desire but was bold enough not to hide his emotional reaction. The masculine groan found an answering pull deep inside Toni, in a place she’d kept hidden, uncharted until now.
Without warning, he pulled back, leaning his forehead against hers, his breathing rough in her ear. But the intimacy of continued body contact felt both good and right. Teetering on an emotional precipice, Toni shook deep inside.
“Have I convinced you yet?” he asked.
“Convinced me of what?” She was out of breath, stunned by the intensity of the short but extremely emotional encounter. She couldn’t call it just a kiss, not when he’d engaged her heart and soul in every move he’d made. Did he really expect her to think clearly now?
“I am so glad to see I can make you forget everything but me.” He laughed, a husky, tender sound that sent ribbons of warmth curling through her. “I asked you to break dinner plans to go out with me. You said I should convince you, remember?”
He reached out and traced the outline of her moist lips with his fingertip, reminding her of the kiss and all that had passed between them. “So did I convince you?”
Her tongue darted out, coming into contact with his salty skin.
He sucked in a startled breath and he met her gaze. “I’m going to take that as yes,” he warned.
He could take her anywhere, anytime, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. Instead she cleared her throat and straightened her shoulders. “Dinner sounds great. But I can guarantee you that without a reservation there’s not a place around that doesn’t have at least an hour or more wait.”
Dinner, reservations, Toni hoped everyday conversation would center her somehow, but after this interlude, she doubted her feet would touch the floor again tonight.
“Then it’s a good thing I have an in at someplace special. You ready?”
“Dressed like this?” She glanced down at her green tights and fur-lined skirt and wished she hadn’t come to work dressed as an elf but had changed at the office instead.
He took in her outfit, one she hadn’t thought of as sexy until she saw herself in his glazed eyes. “The place I have in mind doesn’t have a dress code.”
“How about a people code?” She pulled at her hat until the pins gave way and she tossed it aside.
He slid his fingers over a long strand of her hair. “Everyone’s allowed, bar none, including elves.” His eyes twinkled with mischief. “Just leave the reindeer outside.”
“Cute.”
“No, I’m serious. The place is called Bar None and you’re more than welcome. My old college roommate owns the joint. So will you come with me?”
In his eyes, she saw the same hope and anticipation alive inside her and grabbed for her courage. “Okay, Max. Lead the way.”
Max had a hard time concentrating on driving with Toni beside him. She shifted in her seat and he felt the heat of her stare.
“While you were twirling me around my office …” she began.
“And kissing you senseless …” He couldn’t help but remind her of what he’d never f
orget.
Toni shot Max a wry glare. “You didn’t mention this place was in the boonies.”
“That’s because you didn’t ask.”
She held her hands out in front of the heater, but he doubted she needed the warmth. He pulled his truck past the train station, lit by traditional colored Christmas lights that gave the place a festive look, much like the rest of the smaller town. Another half-mile down, Max turned into a private street and pulled the car into a gravel parking lot. The Bar None, an old-fashioned pub and restaurant, was in the same upstate town where he lived and worked, a good forty-minute car ride from New York City.
“Forget me asking. I think you were more afraid I’d say no.”
He grinned. “That, too.” After their second kiss, the one where they’d connected on too many levels to count, Max hadn’t been about to lose her by mentioning a little detail like distance. “I gave you the chance to turn around, didn’t I?”
She laughed. “While you were doing fifty-five, yeah, you did.”
He’d then proceeded to find out as much about his elf as possible, discovering she was at a turning point in her life. Feeling overburdened and overworked, she had the new year pegged as a fresh start. She hadn’t elaborated and he’d given her the freedom to reveal as much or as little as she desired.
Though he didn’t want to spook her by getting too serious too fast, Max knew he had every intention of being part of her new beginning. He shifted to park.
“So your friend owns this place?” she asked, glancing around her.
He nodded.
“Gorgeous decorations.”
Max took in the icicle lights dripping from the shingles and overhang along with the colored lights circling the surrounding shrubbery, seeing the setting he viewed daily from her new, awed perspective. “They are incredible.” And so was she.
“How do you plan on explaining me? My outfit, I mean.” She laughed, a lilting but embarrassed sound that reminded him of her jingling bells. Those she’d removed somewhere during their ride up the West Side Highway and they lay in the center console.
“I’ll just tell him you’re Santa’s helper.” He turned in his seat and reached for her hand.
She tipped her head to one side, a wry smile curving her lips. “And you think he’ll buy that?”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter to me what Jake believes. But it matters to me what you believe.” He’d only known her a few hours but the connection he felt with her was real.
Her lashes fluttered upward as she met his gaze. Deep and compelling, her eyes settled on him. Did she know? Understand? Feel the same overwhelming attraction and need as he felt pulsing through his body at this very moment?
Max wondered. He’d never fallen hard and fast for a woman he barely knew, but he had now. Feeling vulnerable wasn’t something he was used to and he suddenly needed proof she felt the same. “Tell me something. Since you brought it up, what was behind the elf outfit?” He’d heard his brother’s version. He wanted to hear hers.
She glanced away. “I was just spreading some holiday cheer.”
“Maybe that’s part of the reason, but I doubt it covers everything. And before we go into that crowded bar, I want to know more about you.” Something that would show him she trusted him. Something to prove to him that this … thing … between them wasn’t all one-sided.
She bit down on her lower lip. “What did Stephan tell you about me? And don’t tell me you didn’t ask.”
He laughed, admiring both her intuition and nerve. “That you organized the children’s visit to Santa and the gifts. That’s all.”
She inclined her head. “And you want to know why.”
He shook his head. “I want to know you.”
Looking into his eyes, Toni believed him. Though nothing had been said aloud, somewhere between kissing him and … well … kissing him, a sense of caring had developed, too. They didn’t know nearly enough about one another but he was giving her the opportunity to change that.
She’d never admitted her past to a man before, never felt close enough—yet she felt that closeness now. The vulnerability she normally associated with opening up to a man was nowhere to be found. Considering she wasn’t planning anything more than the here and now, the notion rattled her. Badly.
His hand brushed her cheek and remained there. “You can trust me, sweetheart.”
As she turned her head so his palm cupped her face, a renewed sense of rightness swept through her. “I spent my childhood in and out of a women’s shelter,” she admitted. “Whenever my mother got up the courage to leave, we’d find one my father didn’t know about. Then when things got rough, she’d go back to him and it would start all over again.”
He let out a low growl. “That shouldn’t happen to any child.”
“Exactly.” She shrugged self-consciously. “Which explains the Christmas party and my elf outfit.”
“Which explains my attraction to you,” he murmured.
“You have a thing for little women dressed in green?”
“You make yourself sound like a Martian.” He burst out laughing but sobered fast. Nothing about what she’d revealed was funny. “Actually, I have a thing for a certain raven-haired beauty with a big heart.”
She shook her head, flushed. “Don’t give me that much credit. Really. It’s all very self-serving. When I got out of high school, I swore I’d finish my education somehow. No matter how many student loans I had to take, I promised myself I’d find a way to be self-supporting so I’d never run out of options like my mother had.”
“And you’ve accomplished that.”
“With a little unexpected help,” she said, gratitude evident in her tone. “I found out when my mother passed away she’d taken out an insurance policy. Enough money to cover my education—after the fact. So my loans are paid off, but I spent years working like a demon for that sense of security.”
“But you’ve got that now.”
“Most definitely.” She turned away, reaching for the door handle. “I’m starving,” she said, changing the subject.
Obviously she didn’t want to take things too quickly, but Max made a mental note to find out more. “Toni, wait.”
She glanced over her shoulder.
“One more question.”
“Yes?”
“You thought you were kissing my brother.”
Even in the darkened car he could see the heat of a blush rise to her cheeks. “Mistaken impulse,” she said.
“Any feelings behind it?”
“Just one.”
He waited a beat before she finally finished.
“Regret.”
Max felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. Until she turned completely and scooted over in the seat, so close he could smell her perfume. “I regret that you obviously think there was something going on between me and Stephan. Or that I have feelings for your brother other than friendship.”
“Don’t you? You initiated that kiss. I have a hard time believing it was born of feelings of friendship.” Despite the fact that she’d let him into her heart and the painful parts of her past, she’d yet to openly admit her interest in him.
“This is so humiliating and I’m going to sound so desperate.” She laughed and shook her head. “I thought I was interested in your brother and I acted on the opportunity.” She shrugged. “Turns out I was wrong.” Those velvet green eyes met his. “I thought I wanted Stephan—until the second I kissed you.”
Max had his answer and let out a ragged breath of air. She wanted him, too. So, he thought, let the night begin.
CHAPTER THREE
“Hey, Detective, how’s it going?”
“Just fine, Milt.”
Detective? Max had grabbed Toni’s hand and she followed him through the crowd at the bar to the back of the paneled pub, decorated with silver and green tinsel along the top of dark wood. There was no way he could hear her above the din so she waited until they’d reached their destination befor
e yanking on his hand and capturing his attention. “You’re a detective?”
“Private investigator. Why?”
“No special reason. I just had no idea what you did for a living.”
“And now you do.” He turned toward the bar. “Hey, Jake, give me a round of …”
Max turned toward Toni and she shrugged. “Whatever you’re having is fine.”
“Two Coronas.”
The man he’d called Jake, a light-haired man about the same age and height as Max, nodded in return. “Hey, Brownie,” Jake called to someone across the room. “Get your ass up and give the detective his table.”
Max laughed. “I have a standing seat in the corner.” He gestured toward a high table with two barstools where an older man was clearing out.
“He doesn’t have to give up his seat for us,” Toni said.
“He damn well does. If we don’t boot him out of here, he drinks too much. He’s too lazy to stand on his feet all night. This way he’ll go home and sleep it off.” Max caressed her face with his knuckles. “Trust me. I’ve been through this routine before.”
“You’ve booted him out for his own good? Or booted him out to make room for you and another woman?” She bit the inside of her cheek, hating herself for asking but needing the answer just the same.
“There are no other women.”
Toni liked the answer, but couldn’t help wondering if he was telling her what he thought she wanted to hear. Seconds later, he dispelled her concerns by cupping her cheeks in his palms and lowering his lips for a seductive, heated kiss. One that left her gasping for air, unable to think, and the subject of intense speculation, she realized, as he lifted his head.
The stares of onlookers turned into a slow round of applause and more than one whistle of approval. “Way to go, Detective.”
Embarrassed, she lowered herself onto the nearest barstool with shaking knees, just as Jake arrived with their drinks.
“You sure do know how to make an entrance, Corbin. Now are you going to introduce me to your lady?”
“His lady?”