Page 71 of Boss from Hell

My mother needed someone to stop her in her fucking tracks, but at the same time, I didn’t want to make Lillian more uncomfortable than she probably already was. I decided to tackle my mother when Lillian was out of my parents’ home.

Lillian stayed in silent contemplation, and when she spoke it was almost to herself. “Strange how she seemed to really hate it that I was one of your staff. She called me a secretary as if it was a dirty word.”

I looked down at her fair bent head and a memory came to mind, one that I’d long forgotten about. And suddenly, I knew why my mother was being so unreasonable.

“My mother’s hatred is not personal, Lillian. It comes from the biggest humiliation of her life. My father was having an affair with his secretary, and while they were going to a hotel from a party he met with an accident. His secretary died on the spot and it became a big scandal. The newspapers carried the story and all her friends were whispering about it behind her back.

“I was twelve then, but I can still recall how incensed she was about the discovery of the affair rather than the actual affair. She was willing to accept my father’s affairs as long as he was discreet about them.”

“You’ve probably hit the nail on the head. Until she found out I was your assistant she was quite friendly,” Lillian said. “After what happened to her, I guess she hates all secretaries and PAs.”

We’d talked about my mother enough. I had an idea of how to make the rest of the night pleasurable for both of us.

Chapter 40

Lillian

He brought the car to a stop in front of his parents’ house, killed the engine and turned to look at me, his face serious.

“You know me; I’m an asshole, but I don’t play games. When I’m with someone, I’m with only that person. Okay?”

‘A girl like Paige,’ Max’s mother had said, ‘is from our class. Can’t you see how well they look together?’

Once she had let me know that Max and Paige could have been the love affair of the century, she gleefully went on to advise me that Max was just using me. I understood perfectly what Max’s mother was trying to drum into me. Of course, she was right: men had been sleeping with their secretaries for centuries and never married them, but it had hurt seeing Max and Paige draw so close to each other.

I shook my head, determined not to let that memory of Max grabbing her and holding her next to him bother me. I lifted my face to his. “I know, but you just looked like you were getting a bit… close to her.”

“Looks can be deceiving.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I know that too.”

“Paige tripped and would have fallen if I’d not caught her. That was all that happened between us.”

He hadn’t pulled her to him, the little madam had fallen on him. A ray of happy sunshine pierced my heart. A small smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. “So you weren’t being a total asshole.”

He smiled back. “How much longer do you think this inquisition is going to last because this asshole is in heat?”

I giggled. “The things you say, Max, could make a woman fall for you.”

A veil dropped over his eyes when I said that.

“That was a joke,” I said quickly.

“Don’t worry, I know,” he said and opened his door.

I tiptoed after Max into the house trying to make as little noise as possible with my high heels. We had reached the middle of the staircase when I put my hand on his arm.

“I want to see your room.”

“Now?”

I nodded.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just want to take a peek into little Max’s life. You can tell a lot about a man by looking at his childhood bedroom.”

He shrugged. “Fine. I can fuck you anywhere.”

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