Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
He didn’t know what that woman’s problem was, but she needed to keep that hungry look under wraps. That should be for her husband only.
Maxim winced as Aston bent her knees, trying to dip, then rise. She seemed to trip over nothing and fell onto her ass.
Fucking hell.
She was going to injure herself if she kept going like that. Then he spotted something that made his blood boil.
Sharks were circling.
They could see what he saw. Fuck, it wasn’t hard to see it.
That she was special. She might be wearing a dress that was meant to disguise rather than reveal, but that made her all the more appealing.
One of those assholes held out a hand to her as she lay on the floor. Maxim wrapped his hands around the balustrade, fury striking him hard and fast.
She shook her head and he started breathing easier.
But the asshole didn’t move. Kept his hand out. And then she did it . . . she took hold of his hand.
No. Just fucking no.
He was moving before he even realized it. Walking down the stairs and rushing toward her. The top level of the nightclub had high ceilings, and his private area was on a mezzanine floor above the club.
He strode through the dancers. They might not all know who he was, but enough of them did to have them stepping out of his way. And then he was close to her. So close, he swore he could almost smell her scent. And she was smiling up at the idiot who’d helped her up.
He had two seconds to stop touching Maxim’s girl before he removed his hand from his body.
Moving closer, Maxim wrapped his arm around her from behind, drawing her back into his body. She tensed and he dropped a kiss on her neck. Even out clubbing, she still had her hair in a bun.
Fuck, he was going to make it his mission to get her hair out of that ridiculous bun every chance he got. Although, right now, it was enabling him to kiss the soft skin of her neck, which suited him just fine.
“Who . . . Maxim?” She turned her head to stare up at him in shock.
“Hey, baby. Sorry I’m late.” Before she could say something to deny his statement, he dropped his mouth to hers and kissed her.
She grew even more tense in his arms. Drawing back, he looked over at the guy who’d helped her, pleased to note he appeared rather ill.
Maybe it wasn’t nice of him to take pleasure in the other guy’s discomfort. But he needed to know that Aston didn’t belong to him.
She belonged to Maxim Malone.
“Hey, man, saw what happened. My girl gets a bit enthusiastic when she’s dancing. I appreciate you helping her up.” Maxim held out his free hand, the one that wasn’t wrapped around Aston’s ribs, pinning her to him.
Could she feel how hard he was?
Fuck, he couldn’t hide it. Didn’t know if he wanted to. Because he wanted her to realize what she meant to him.
The other man flicked his gaze to Maxim, then down to his hand. He gave it a limp handshake before mumbling something and running off.
Good. He got the picture. He obviously knew who he was and even though he wasn’t the scariest Malone, the last name was enough to have most people treading carefully.
“What did you do that for?”
He raised his eyebrows at her pissed-off tone. Turning, she glared up at him.
“Why did I do what?” He practically had to yell over the music. Just then, he glanced around to see that they had gathered an audience. This wasn’t the place for this conversation.
“Oh, don’t you start with me, mister.” She pressed her finger into his chest. “You know very well what I’m talking about.”
Capturing that hand, he brought it up to kiss her palm. Her mouth dropped open, her whole face softening as a glazed look filled her eyes.
Oh, his girl liked his touch. Good, because he loved touching her. And he liked that he could distract her from her temper by kissing her. He had a feeling that was a trick he would use often.
Another kiss and then he reeled her in close, his arm going around her shoulders to pin her against him. He led her through the crowd of people toward the stairs. She dug her heels in as they got to the private stairs.
Was she worried about going with him alone? He gazed down at her, but she was looking around.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Gretchen. I can’t just leave her on her own. I came here with her. She said she was just going to the toilet, then she’d be back.”
“Rainbow, I’ve been watching you for the last fifteen minutes and didn’t see your friend once. Seems like she’s not as worried about you as you are her.”