Page 85 of Bratva's Intern

“Maxim, be serious. If word about us gets out, people will gossip about me.”

“Then I’ll fire them.”

I threw my hands up in the air. “I can’t reason with you.”

“I’m not deliberately trying to be unreasonable, Wren. Just standing next to you now, look at the state I am in!”

I dropped my gaze below his waist, inhaling sharply. His erection stood proudly at full mast.

“Dammit, Maxim,” I groaned, turning away from him.

The sight of his arousal was a stark reminder of how much I’d wanted him last night. Mixing work and pleasure wouldn’t be easy. Was that a road I wanted to go down?

“Look,” he said, tone full of steely resolve. “I’m not going to let you go. I can’t do that because… well, because.” He faltered over the words, shaking his head.

“Because what?” I crossed my arms over my chest lest he feed me some line to get his way.

Maxim’s lips pressed together as though he were debating whether to answer. He took a step closer to me and brought his hand up to trace a line down my cheek. His touch sent shivers coursing through me, but I held my ground, waiting for his reply.

“Because… it felt right,” he said quietly, looking away from me for a moment, then turning back to meet my gaze. “Everything about last night felt right.”

A strange sense of warmth flooded me as I studied him.Despite all the bravado and arrogance that was part of Maxim’s persona, this moment felt genuine.

“It’s—it’s hard to understand you, Max.” I trailed a finger down his chest. “Last night, you were so mean to me.”

“I know.” He lowered his head, grazing my lips with his. “Look, this is new for me too. You’re learning too much about me too fast. You already know a secret about me only a few people do, and that worries me.”

My gaze flickered down to the slight bulge beneath Maxim’s skin, just above his left collarbone. It wasn’t prominent, but now that I knew it was there, I couldn’t unsee it—the subtle, firm rise just under the flesh, a perfectly rounded disk no bigger than a silver dollar. The way the skin stretched taut over it, smooth yet unnatural, made my throat go dry.

Last night, when he moved, the faintest outline had become visible, shifting slightly beneath his skin like a secret he couldn’t quite keep hidden. It wasn’t grotesque, but it was… haunting. Foreign. Like something that didn’t quite belong inside a man as powerful and unshakable as Maxim.

I hadn’t touched it. I hadn’t dared. But now, standing here with his chest bare before me, I wondered about the specifics of what it was and how it worked. What would it feel like under my fingers? Would he allow me to touch it?

I swallowed hard, forcing my gaze back to his face. “You mean your seizure?”

His body stiffened, the flicker of something guarded flashing through his eyes, but then he exhaled, slow and measured.

“Yes.”

I could see it—why he always kept his distance, why he was so guarded. Maxim wasn’t a man who showed vulnerability easily. He wore confidence like a second skin, his power so absolute that people rarely questioned him.

But this? This was proof that he wasn’t untouchable. Thatbeneath the tailored suits and razor-sharp dominance, his body had its limitations.

And he hated that I had seen it.

I stepped closer, drawn to the truth lingering between us. I let my hand hover just above the implant, hesitating. His chest rose and fell in steady breaths, but the tension in his shoulders betrayed him.

“May I?”

His throat bobbed in a hard swallow. After a beat of silence, he gave the smallest nod.

Slowly, cautiously, I pressed my fingertips to the raised swell beneath his skin.

It was firm. Unyielding. Cool beneath his warm skin. “It’s for your seizure?”

He nodded.

“How does it work?”

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