Tempt Me (Temptation Series Book 1)

by Kally Ash

  “After I clean up after breakfast, I’ll go home, speak to Jen and pack some bags.”

  Max nodded. “Good. I have to work again tonight. I’d like you to be settled in before I have to leave.”

  Chapter 14

  Gigi had had a hard time concentrating on the conversation about her new job with Max while he’d been sitting there shirtless. She could feel the warmth of his body, could smell his skin, and her senses and thoughts had been going wild. He obviously had no idea what kind of effect he had on women…or perhaps he did. He was the perfect specimen of a man, and she really had to try and keep her eyes off his chest and shoulders.

  But all of the ogling was just that—ogling. Someone like Max would never take a second look at someone who looked like her. She was too plain, and perhaps a little too bookish for him. Max was a mysterious, intriguing and aloof man. She was…well, she was just Gigi. She knew her limitations. She knew she would never have a guy like him in her life in a capacity other than employer and employee, or perhaps as a passing acquaintance.

  After Gigi had cleaned up after breakfast, she stood back and watched him play with Erin in the living room. A smile was on her face, and she found that she couldn’t shift it. There was just something so attractive about seeing a man playing with his child—especially his daughter. She had to admit that just about everything about Max was attractive. She could see he was trying to keep up the appearance of being a hard-ass, but when she caught him in this small moment of vulnerability, she saw through the mask he wore so well. It made her wonder what had happened to him to make him so…abrasive.

  He’d said that his wife had died. Perhaps that was the reason he was the way he was. Perhaps he didn’t want to get hurt again, and he prevented that from happening by keeping everyone at arm’s length? Whatever the reason, Gigi’s initial opinion that he was a jerk was quickly changing to growing respect.

  Heading back to her room, she called Jen, but the call went straight to voicemail. Gigi left it short and sweet, telling her that she was moving into Max’s for the next few weeks and that she’d be home soon to get some things. At least that way Jen had some warning. She went back to the living room.

  “I’m going to head back home to collect some things,” she announced, drawing Max’s attention her way.

  He bent down to pick up Erin, settling her on his hip. “I’ll come with you.”

  “No, you don’t have to,” she protested weakly.

  “It’s no problem. Besides,” His eyes slid down her body and her skin heated up under his gaze. “You don’t look like the kind of girl who can carry a lot of weight very far.”

  With the amount of textbooks she was going to bring with her, she had wondered how she was going to carry them all. “Thank you.” Gigi put on her shoes and stood up. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

  “Can you take Erin for a moment, and I’ll…”

  “Put on a shirt?” she offered boldly. Please don’t put on a shirt.

  For a moment, his intense stare bore into her, and her mouth went dry. But then his lips quirked up, quickly becoming a full-blown grin, which she returned.

  “Is that what you really want?”

  For a moment, all she could do was stare. Was he flirting with her? She studied him, her eyes skating over his face, trying to decipher the look he was giving her. It looked…hungry. She could feel her face flame. “I think for the sake of not getting arrested for public lewdness, you should probably cover up.”

  He laughed. “Being shirtless doesn’t exactly equate to public lewdness, but I should get dressed.”

  He handed Erin to her and walked down the short hallway and into his room. She followed his progress, her breath catching in her throat when he failed to kick his door completely shut before he started unbuttoning his jeans. She knew she should have looked away, but seeing that denim slip from his hips, she knew she was screwed.

  Max’s ass looked better out of his jeans than it did in them. It was perfect in every way— muscular yet still soft enough that she could get her hands around each hemisphere. Sooner than she wanted, he was pulling on a pair of sweats and a running shirt before sitting on the end of the bed to put on his shoes. Gigi watched the muscles in his forearms relax and contract with each movement. She looked back at his face only to find him watching her.

  “Oh, crap,” she said under her breath and turned away. She heard him walk back down the hallway, but she couldn’t look at him.

  “Ready?” he asked, his words sounding smug.

  “Ah, sure.” She handed Erin back to him, still without making eye contact, and picked up her bag. Silently they rode the elevator down and exited the building.

  “Lead the way, Gigi.” Max’s deep voice was like a magnet, and she was the opposing pole. She met his eyes and found his held amusement.

  She turned and walked in the direction of her and Jen’s apartment.

  “Did you enjoy the view?” he whispered in her ear.

  She spun around to face him. “I…I…” She wanted the ground to open up beneath her and swallow her whole. “I…”

  His throaty laugh startled her. “So how far away is this apartment of yours?”

  She breathed a sigh of relief, thankful he’d dropped the subject. “I thought you already knew where I lived,” she shot back.

  “I know the address, but I’m new to this city. How many blocks away is it?”

  “You aren’t from here?”

  “You seem surprised.”

  She stepped closer to Max to let a group of school-aged kids walk past. There was a yell as one of the kids farther back in the group surged forward, clearly running from another boy. He pushed past Gigi, knocking her off balance. She lost her footing and tripped. She expected to find herself lying on the filthy sidewalk, but a strong arm around her waist stopped her before her face got the introduction to New York’s dirtiest landmark.

  “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

  Her hands automatically covered his as she sucked in a small breath. Peering over her shoulder at him, she said on a shaky breath, “I’m fine.”

  Max righted her with very little effort, turning her around to face him. His hands lingered at her waist as they stared at each other from only a few inches away. This close, Gigi could see that his eyes weren’t just brown. Around his iris, there was a starburst of green. This close, they were intoxicating. This close she was mesmerized.

  Gigi broke their locked gazes first, looking down at her feet and resettling the strap of her messenger bag. She cleared her throat. “We should get going.”

  She turned on her heel and began walking again. Not another word passed between them on their walk. As they got closer to her apartment, she couldn’t help but notice how women were openly staring at Max. She thought it was mainly because he was the best-looking man around. Then she saw their eyes dart down to Erin in the stroller, and she got it; women liked seeing a man caring for his child.

  She looked at him from the corner of her eye, expecting to see him smiling at all of them, but his brows were drawn down in a scowl and his lips had thinned. Max really was an enigma. He attracted female attention, yet he didn’t seem to revel in it like most men would.

  She shook her head.

  “What are you shaking your head at?” he asked.

  She glanced at him. “Nothing.”

  “It wasn’t nothing. What were you thinking about just now?”

  She huffed. “I was just thinking about how even after thousands of years of evolution, and after hundreds of years fighting for equality, women are still chasing what their ancestors were chasing.”

  His brow rose. “Which is?”

  She met his eye. “A strong man to look after their children.”

  Max frowned, looking down at Erin a moment later. “I don’t follow.”

  She wasn’t sure whether he was deliberately being obtuse, or whether he was actually unaware of the attention he was getting. “You don’t see them, do you?”


  “See who?”

  Gigi looked around at the women staring. Many of them glared at her for a moment before their gaze flickered back to Max. “Never mind,” she said, lifting the flap of her bag and looking for her keys. She walked up the short stairs and opened up the door, propping it open with her bag, then went to grab the end of the stroller.

  “New York certainly isn’t baby-friendly, is it?” he said as he lifted his end of the stroller.

  “Definitely not.”

  Once they were inside, they rode the lift up to the second floor and Gigi opened up the apartment door. It was quiet inside; that either meant Jen was still asleep, or had stepped out.

  “Jen?” she called, closing the door behind Max. She walked farther inside. “Jen?”

  “She’s gone to the gym,” he said. She turned to find him standing by the kitchen bench, a piece of paper in his hand.

  “How do you know?”

  He held up the paper. “She left you a note.”

  “Oh,” Gigi replied. “I guess it’s a good thing she’s not here.”

  Max unclipped the harness on Erin’s stroller, picking up the little girl, whose big blue eyes were looking everywhere, taking everything in. “Why’s that?”

  She pursed her lips, wondering whether she should tell him that if Jen were here, she would be making comments alluding to the fact that Gigi had stayed the night and generally be passive- aggressive towards him. “You won’t have to talk to her.”

  His lips flexed slightly. “I wouldn’t have anyway. She’s my employee.”

  “I’m also your employee, Max,” she stated plainly.

  His eyes fix on her face. “You’re different, Gigi.”

  Her stomach flipped, but before she could read anything into it, she reminded herself that she was different. Max had chosen her to watch his most treasured possession—his daughter. Of course their relationship was more than just employee and employer. “I’ll start packing up my things. Make yourself comfortable.” She waved at the couch. “I won’t be long.”

  “Take your time.”

  Gigi quickly retreated into her bedroom. In her closet, she found a suitcase large enough to fit all her books and the clothes she was going to take with her. She had everything packed in less than twenty minutes, but spent the better part of ten trying to close it. She had sworn at the damn thing more times than she could count.

  “Is everything all right in there?” Max asked through the door.

  Her head jerked in the direction of his voice. She didn’t want him to come in her room. It was embarrassing enough that she was such a nerd, but if he saw her room, he would never see her as anything more. She had post-it notes stuck everywhere with little titbits of information meant to help her to recall the larger piece of text they’d come from. Add to that the myriad of books, notebooks and loose leaves of paper; she was a geek’s wet dream.

  “Don’t come in here!” she yelled.

  There was a pause. “Excuse me?” His tone was hard, like he wasn’t told ‘no’ very often. He probably wasn’t.

  “I mean, I’ll be right out. I’m… I’m naked.”

  “Naked?” he replied, the hardness in his voice replaced with something that made her skin heat.

  “I’m getting changed,” she tacked on weakly. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

  Now that she’d said as much, Gigi found her yoga pants and a t-shirt to change into. She pulled on her runners and tried zipping up the damn suitcase again. This time, the teeth on the zip slid together perfectly. Tugging on the handle, the weight inside caused the case to crash to the floor.

  “Gigi?” he called again. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m coming out now,” she replied, gritting her teeth as she tugged on the handle to get it moving. When she stepped into the living room, Max’s expression stole her breath.

  Chapter 15

  Max’s eyes slid down Gigi’s body, drinking in the way her yoga pants were clinging to her hips. The shirt she was wearing hugged her curves, drawing his attention to how narrow her waist was. She had the perfect hourglass figure, and it was just one more thing that set her apart from Chelsea.

  When he’d heard the crash from behind her bedroom door, he had sat Erin on the floor and knocked, wondering if he could help in some way. But when Gigi had said she was naked, his cock had paid a little too much attention to the words, his brain following up with an image. He had no idea whether it was accurate, but now that he saw her, he knew he hadn’t been too far off.

  The woman was testing his resolve, and she didn’t even know it.

  All his life, women had been throwing themselves at him, beginning when he started playing JV football at school. When he’d secured the star quarterback position, trying to get a girl to suck his cock had been too easy. His friends told him he was the luckiest sonofabitch out, but he had to disagree. Having women come onto him all the time got real boring, real quick.

  Even as they’d walked to Gigi’s apartment, he saw every set of female eyes on him. He’d kept his expression pissed off, deterring any of them from approaching him, although he could tell more than one had wanted to. Of course, Gigi had noticed. She’d questioned him about it. He’d denied it, but he could tell she wanted to call bullshit on him.

  But Gigi was different. Right from the start, she hadn’t tried any lines on him, hadn’t attempted to touch him ‘accidently’, and when he caught her staring at him while he’d been changing that morning, he had enjoyed her attention.

  “—Max?”

  His eyes snapped back to her face. “What?”

  She looked down at what she was wearing for a moment. “Should I change?” she asked, suddenly unsure.

  Fuck, no. He was enjoying her curves too much. “No. You look fine. Let’s go.” He reached for the handle of the suitcase, pulling it free of her grip and stopping any protests with a shake of his head. “Can you get Erin strapped in and push the stroller?”

  She bit her bottom lip, and he turned around so she wouldn’t see the erection tenting his pants. Sweats were a bad choice. He opened the door, but stopped when she said, “Let me leave Jen a note reminding her where I am.”

  Five minutes later they were out on the sidewalk again. Jen and Gigi’s apartment wasn’t in the heart of NYU student housing; it was about five blocks away from what he could tell, reducing the number of students walking around.

  “How’d you get this place?” he asked as they waited to cross the road.

  “Jen’s parents know someone who owns the building.”

  “Rent must be a killer for university students,” he commented absently.

  “It’s heavily subsidized.”

  He studied Gigi’s face as they waited for the lights to change. Her long red hair looked like it was as smooth as silk, falling in a straight sheet down to the middle of her back. The color was nothing that could be replicated from a bottle. Her neck was delicate, leading his eye to her jaw. She had high cheekbones, which made her seem regal, although he was sure she saw herself as anything but. Her lashes were a shade darker than her hair, framing the most striking set of green eyes.

  “Borello,” he murmured. “That’s an Italian name.”

  She turned to him. “It is. My father is Italian. My mother is Irish.”

  “Huh. That explains the red hair then.”

  She pushed some of that hair back behind her ear, but didn’t respond. Max looked away, realizing his mistake. She now knew he’d been looking at her, had been studying her.

  “What about you?” she asked.

  “What about me?”

  Gigi’s green eyes boldly met his. “Your family, your background.” She paused. “You already know a lot about me, Max. I hardly know a thing about you.”

  She was right, of course, but that was the way he wanted to keep it—at least, he thought he had until he started talking. “My family can trace its lineage right back to the Mayflower,” he started. “My great, great, great grandfather started
his own pen company back in eighteen eighty-eight, in Wisconsin. That’s still where all my family is, except for my father. He was the black sheep of the family and left for Seattle when he was eighteen.”

  “A pen company?” she asked. He nodded. “As in, ‘Parker Pens’?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

  “Wow,” she breathed. “Why did your father go to Seattle?”

  “A woman, would you believe… My mom.”

  Her smile lit up her whole face. “That’s so romantic.”

  Yeah, Max had thought that too. When he was growing up, that was all he wanted. He wanted to find his soul mate and get married, have kids, grow old together…until his parents told him they were getting a divorce. He was eighteen years old and the illusion of finding his ‘perfect match’ had been shattered. He could have believed in it again if it wasn’t for Chelsea. She had ground the shattered pieces of his fantasy under the heel of her stiletto and laughed.

  “Are they still married?”

  “No.” The word was heavy…sad, almost. “They got divorced about eight years ago.”

  “I’m so sorry, Max.”

  He looked at her. “You want to know what the funny thing is? They’re still really close. They have a better relationship now than when they were married.”

  His revelation made her smile, and he realized he liked being the one to make her do it. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

  “Three brothers—triplets if you can believe it.”

  “Wow. I couldn’t imagine having triplet brothers,” she uttered. “It was just little old me growing up, so I find it hard to picture there being someone else to share a bathroom with.”

  His lips flexed into a smile remembering what it was like growing up with his older brothers.

  Being the youngest, he was often picked on and made fun of. That lasted until he was about sixteen. Max had started hitting the gym that year. He had bulked up so he was actually the same size—if not slightly bigger—than his brothers and he was able to stick up for himself. After that, they’d left him alone.