Page 4 of Maximus

CHAPTER 3

SIERRA

The elevator door opens and I swallow hard as a beautiful woman steps from it, dressed in gold and looking like a million dollars. She offers me no second glance, but there is something familiar about her that I cannot place.

She moves away toward the reception and the elevator beckons me inside. I should step away from the most foolish mistake I will probably ever make and allow the doors to close and yet something stirs inside me. Curiosity mixed with heady excitement.

It’s too tempting.

I will never get this moment again and if things work out the way I hope, I will have something that nobody can ever take away from me.

A choice.

For the first time in my life, I’m making a decision. Possibly not the best one, but it’s my mistake to make. This is my moment to be assertive and flip off the establishment. Perhaps I’ve had too much champagne, but life is looking very different right now. Exciting, intoxicating, and dangerous.

I jump inside before the doors close and as I press for the penthouse, I swear my heart is thumping above the noise of the machinery.

What am I doing? I’m out of control—a fool even, but when my friends left, I saw an opening and dived right through it with no plan of how to get back. There will be no way back. I already know that and yet it’s the danger surrounding the situation that’s driving my desire.

For once, I will live in somebody else’s identity because I have never done this before and I’m not just talking about impersonating a whore.

I’m almost hyperventilating when the elevator stops and as I step out on to the carpeted hallway, I note the white door in front of me. There is only one room on this floor and the only way is down, in every sense of the word.

I’m almost giggling as I thump on the door, channeling my inner pretty woman as I fidget on the spot.

My inner voices are conflicted.

This is a bad idea—this is a great idea.

No good will come of this. No good will come of your future, anyway. It’s now or never before the chains tighten and the padlock clicks into place, so grab your moment while you still can and do something despicable.

The door opens and the man that’s standing there causes my jaw to drop and my heart to race.

I wasn’t expecting him.

His dark eyes are heavy with secrets and his hair is short and dark, his obsidian eyes piercing through my soul and stripping it bare.

“Um–”

I have no words because he is staring at me with a mixture of disgust and interest and I swear my heart is failing as he crooks his finger and steps aside.

My legs wobble as I teeter into the room, wondering if I’m not suitably dressed for the occasion. I should be wearing something short, sexier perhaps and not the blue silk dress that hangs just past my knee with matching silk shoes that cause me to tower past most men.

I’m tall, stupidly skinny with no tits—a stick if you like, and certainly not an enticing proposition for a man seeking flesh and nothing else. I hardly have any and I wonder if he’s disappointed.

I wouldn’t know because his expression is unreadable and yet my pulse is racing at the thought of what happens next.

“Sit.” He commands me like I’m his dog and I drop onto the white couch and nervously crumple the silk dress in my sweaty palm.

He moves toward a silver tray laden with bottles and pours some champagne into a glass and offers it to me.

“You’re different from what I imagined.” I blurt out nervously.

“So are you.” His voice is husky, velvet syllables coated with danger. His eyes flash and I blush at the sight of the muscled body evident through the tight white shirt that is unbuttoned to the waist. His inked skin is as turbulent as my mind right now, and the gold chain that nestles against the dark shadows of his chest sparkles in the dusky light.

He’s younger than I imagined. Possibly mid-thirties and yet has an assured arrogance that is evident as he fixes his eyes on my body with a broad sweep that causes me to blush, as his meaning is clear.

He sits opposite and drags his heated gaze the length of me and I forget to breathe.

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