Page 32 of Fragile

Max cleared his throat, now lost in thought. “I tried to pull her one night, but that was when I didn’t know who she was. She wasn’t amused.”

And then it became clear. If Max had treated her like a piece of meat when she was intelligent and ambitious, it didn’t surprise me if she was being difficult now. “Can’t you offer to take her out to dinner and apologise for past behaviours?”

He remained silent, weighing up that option before saying. “No, too much of a pain in the arse. I’d want to strangle her after around five minutes of her company. We have nothing in common.”

“Surely you do if you are both working on the hotel.”

“Fuck that shit. She needs to do as she’s told before I lose it with her.” He growled. I wondered what he meant. Surely, he wouldn’t physically do anything to her, he didn’t come across as that type of guy.

And then he confirmed just that. “The girl needs dragging over someone’s knee, why not mine?”

“Well, your business with her father won’t be booming with an assault charge over your head,” I pointed out.

His expression changed to one of wonder, like he was savouring how it would feel to put his hands on her and I knew there was more to this situation than he was letting on. Although there was also a good chance, he didn’t realise that yet.

“It would almost be worth it. She needs dragging into line and sometimes you need to bring out the big guns.”

Max’s phone then beeped to say he had a message and I watched him as he withdrew it and read from the screen.

“Gabriel’s five minutes away,” he explained and re-pocketed his phone. He then leaned back in his seat; his expression was quite relaxed and I hoped I’d helped.

“Anyway, enough about me and my shit. How have you settled in?” he asked. I could tell I was about to get the third degree as he changed the subject from his girl problem to me.

“Great thanks.”

“How is it living with Mr Moody himself?” he grinned, boyish dimples appearing at the side of his mouth. It softened his appearance and made him more human.

“He’s fine. Everyone is so busy, it’s a bit like ships in the night at times. We all just get on and do our own thing.”

“You do realise you’ve succeeded in shaking the unshakeable in such a short space of time?” Max drawled, looking down his perfectly straight nose at me.

I replayed his comment in my head and frowned. “I don’t understand. What’s unshakeable?”

“Not what, who,” he replied flatly, mirroring his early language.

I threw his comment back at him. “OK, so who is unshakeable?”

“The boss.”

Licking my lips, I glanced towards the door, wondering when he would appear. “I feel like we’re going around in circles. I assume you’re referring to Gabriel?”

He slowly nodded his head, his large hands resting on his knees. “The very same.”

Lowering my feet to the floor, I leaned forward. “So, you all see him as the boss?” I was surprised he admitted that. He oozed control freak himself.

Max shrugged and his muscles rippled. “Every pack needs a leader.” He pointed this out in a matter-of-fact way.

Scratching my chin, I replied. “I can’t imagine you’re easily led.”

A tick in his jaw appeared. “Oh, you’d be surprised. Nice eyes and the perfect rack and I follow like a puppy.”

Smoothing my hair back from my face, I suddenly felt sweaty in my leotard. “Well, I think we can both agree that Gabriel is missing at least one of those attributes.”

“And yet you have both,” Max commented with a cocky look as his eyes roamed over my body and fell on my breasts.

I didn’t move my arms to cover myself. His stare didn’t make me uncomfortable. “I suppose you’re trying to be charming again?”

He shuffled further forward in his seat, the coffee table the only thing separating our two bodies. If there had been wine on the table it would have felt like a conversation between two lovers. “Is it working?” he husked.

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