Reckless Encounter Read online

  “So, why not have a family?” Elena said. She picked up her menu and used it to fan her face, creating a cool current of air. “Balance it out in your personal life?”

  Max stiffened, as though he’d found her question too intrusive. “I don’t know,” he said after a strained pause. “It’s not something you can plan for. It either happens or doesn’t happen. With me it hasn’t happened. Vanessa says I’m incapable of proper intimacy. She says I’m too distrustful of people and will never let anyone close.”

  “And is she right?” Elena asked softly.

  Max lowered his fork and studied her. “I believe I’m as capable of love as anyone else. I just don’t like spilling emotions around. I prefer to leave the genie in the bottle until I know that I want my wish to come true. I’ve always assumed that one day I’ll meet someone, and then everything will fall into place.”

  “I’m sure one day you will,” Elena said lightly, although her pulse went wild.

  “I know.” He gave her a long, thoughtful inspection. “But it never crossed my mind that I might fall for someone who didn’t return my feelings.” He shifted his broad shoulders in an uneasy shrug that dismissed the question. “Enough about me. What about you? Any regrets about leaving Tony and his merry band of lawyers at McKenzie and Harris?”

  “Plenty. If going back into a big firm didn’t mean admitting failure, I’d do it tomorrow.”

  “Can’t your family help?”

  “Un-uh.” Elena shook her head, fiddling with the pink rosebud in a miniature vase by her place setting. She felt no shame for her illegitimate birth or her poor background but had found that it sometimes embarrassed people when she mentioned it. “What about you?” she asked, turning the focus back to Max. “Are you close to your family?”

  “No.” A shuttered expression fell across his face.

  Elena held her breath. Joe had told her that Max didn’t share the details of his personal life. Curiosity nibbled at the edges of her mind, but she felt unsure about probing.

  “How did you get into retailing?” she asked.

  Max became animated again, but there was something forced about his enthusiasm, as if he was making an effort to push troubled thoughts out of his mind. Then his manner eased again, and he entertained her with stories of his struggles in a field for which he had no formal training.

  Elena couldn’t ignore the weightless sensation that invaded her every time she caught him watching her. She found herself seeking excuses to touch him. When she tugged at his arm to keep his sleeve from getting too close to the candle that flickered on the table, he responded by closing his hand over hers, the gesture warm and possessive.

  For a moment, he appeared to hesitate, on the verge of saying something personal, something intimate. Then he shrugged, as if recalling the rules they had set for the evening. He broke the contact and launched into yet another anecdote of some business disaster.

  Throughout the dinner, Elena kept her thoughts from straying to the night they had shared. When they finished their coffee and got up to leave, the memory flooded back. A trembling seized her body as they strolled out of the restaurant, into the elevator, down the corridor.

  “Thank you. I really enjoyed the evening,” Elena said, halting outside her door.

  “So did I,” Max replied after a brief pause.

  Low in her body, a temptation flickered like a flame. “Goodnight,” she said softly.

  Max took a step closer. “Perhaps you could fly down to San Francisco one weekend. We could do something. Go to the opera, or to the theater. Or, if you prefer, I could come up to Seattle.”

  “Do you mean like a date?”

  “Yes. Like a date.” He reached up and smoothed a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I want you so much it’s eating me up, making me do irrational things.”

  “Such as?” she whispered, staring into his rugged face.

  “Such as forcing you to listen to me making love to another woman, to punish you for rejecting me. Asking Vanessa to come down for no other purpose but to make you jealous.”

  “I thought Vanessa and you were a couple.”

  Max brushed his thumb over her lower lip. “It’s over. I made sure she knows.”

  A fragile thread of happiness wrapped around Elena’s heart. She took a deep breath, and then leapt into the dark currents that swirled between them. “Would you like to come inside?” she asked, with a nervous gesture at the door.

  Max trailed his fingertips over her collarbone. “Are you sure?”

  “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”

  He didn’t speak, only nodded, his fingers brushing her skin.

  Elena turned to the door. Her hands shook as she inserted the plastic card into the lock and turned the knob. She felt the presence of Max behind her, like an electric charge that sent a ripple over her skin and interfered with the rhythm of her heartbeat. Then they were inside and the door clicked shut behind them, making a solid barrier to close out the rest of the world.

  Elena fumbled in the darkness until she found the switch to turn on the lights. Every nerve in her body tingled with awareness of Max, who had followed her with silent steps. His hands settled on her shoulders, heavy and warm. Gently but firmly, he turned her around until they faced each other.

  “Elena,” he said in a low voice. “Do you remember how I told you over dinner that one day I expect to meet the right woman and then everything will fall into place?”

  She made wordless sound of acquiescence.

  Max lifted her chin with the edge of his hand. “I’m no longer wondering if that day will ever come.” He bent his head and covered her mouth with his. As his lips roamed in a gentle exploration against hers, Elena recalled the one brief kiss they had shared on that fateful night six months ago. During their hectic coupling, Max had branded her body with his mouth, and she had tasted every inch of him, but there had been no tender kisses, no false pretence of an emotional involvement that didn’t exist.

  Desire pulsed through Elena now, a desire that encompassed her heart as well as her body. She reached up to link her arms behind Max’s neck. He drew her into his embrace and crushed her close, flattening her breasts against the hard planes of his chest. She rose on tiptoe to better fit his erection against the notch at the apex of her thighs.

  “Easy,” Max whispered. “I’m just a man, with limited self control.”

  “Good,” she told him. “I’m trying to shatter it.”

  “No.” He pulled away from her. His eyes glittered as he contemplated her. “I’m not going to sleep with you tonight. I’m going to court you properly before I take you to bed again.”

  His words drew a confused frown from her. “Why?” she murmured. “I thought you wanted me.”

  Max skimmed his fingers along the neckline of her pink linen dress. “I want you.” His fingers curled over the edge of the fabric as he released the top button. “I want you so much it’s keeping me awake at night.” He released the next button, and the next. “I want you so much it’s ruined me for other women.” He stroked the exposed skin before his fingers traveled down to the next button. “I want you so much I’m foul-tempered at work.” He bent in front of her and continued his task of undoing the front of her dress.

  “What’s this?” he asked, puzzled.

  Elena squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh, no,” she groaned. “I’d forgotten.”

  “Forgotten what?” Max asked, tugging at the fabric to inspect the obstacle.

  “It’s a safety pin,” she told him. A blush of mortification surged on her skin. “I have a missing button.”

  “I think I’ve got it.” Grinning, Max twisted the safety pin closed again and handed it to her. “Are there any more?”

  “No,” Elena said feebly. “Just the one.”

  Max straightened. He pushed the edges of the dress open. Then he clasped his hands firmly around her waist and lifted her in the air, her feet dangling inches from the ground. A startled cry caug
ht in Elena’s throat. She gripped his shoulders for support. He was not resting her against his body, but holding her aloft, at arm’s length

  “What did I just tell you?” Max asked as he carried her across the room, making her feel she was weightless, floating on air.

  “You told me how much you want me.”

  “That’s right.” Max propped her to sit on the edge of the desk. The telephone made a clattering sound as he shoved it aside. He nudged her knees apart and settled to stand between them. “But do you want me?” he murmured into her ear. Without giving her an opportunity to reply, he twisted his hands into her hair and kissed her again, a long hungry kiss, his tongue stroking hers, his body forcing her thighs to open wider.

  As Elena responded, a languid heat pooled inside her. She tried to tell Max that she wanted him, but he didn’t allow her to catch her breath to speak. His mouth roamed her lips, then skimmed along her cheek and the curve of her jaw. She sagged against him, a whimper gathering in her throat.

  Max raised his head. “How much?” he murmured, his gaze flickering over her flushed face. “How much do you want me?”

  Elena swallowed. Before she found the words to reply, Max released her and took a small step back. He curled his palms over her knees and inched his hands upward, until he reached the top of her thighs. His fingers drifted to her panties. “How much?” he murmured, dragging his touch over the thin center that protected her sex. “How much do you want me?”

  Elena gasped at the intimacy of his probing touch. Fiery sensations surged through her. She gave up trying to think. Closing her eyes, she tipped her head back. Her fingers dug into Max’s shoulders as he teased her, circling, stopping, finding the spot where the nerves centered. He applied light pressure, barely moving, barely touching, as light as a whispered word.

  After a few silent minutes, an unbearable tension knotted inside Elena. She strained against his touch, seeking a firmer contact.

  “How much do you want me?” Max asked in a roughened voice. He rubbed his fingertips against the silk barrier, tempting her with the elusive release.

  Elena clung to him, her breathing uneven. Her eyes shut tight, but in her mind she saw how they’d been, twined together on the bed, his body heavy and warm over hers as he thrust in and out of her. Suddenly the tension inside her peaked and broke, like an echo of what had been. With a muffled cry, Elena arched over the desk, her hips jolting as the powerful contractions rippled inside her. Max reached out and cradled her in his arms until her shudders died down, and then he fisted his hands in her hair and tilted up her face.

  “How much do you want me?” he murmured, his eyes intent on hers.

  Elena looked into his tense face and realized he wasn’t waiting for her to speak. Her body had already responded. She waited for her heartbeat to settle, and then she answered him anyway.

  “I want you as much as you want me.”

  Max gave a slow nod of acceptance. He remained quiet for a long moment, his body taut, as if frozen in some kind of an internal battle. Then he stepped closer to her, so that Elena could feel his erection pressing against her.

  “Walking out of that door is going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he told her. “But I’m going to do it. I want to court you, prove that I’m prepared to wait for you, make sacrifices for you.”

  “I’m not asking for any.”

  Max moved away until their bodies no longer touched. “I won’t see you tomorrow morning,” he told her, not reacting to her comment. “I have an early appointment in town, but I’ll call you about meeting me in San Francisco.” He reached out to press a finger across her lips to silence any protests. “And just in case you were wondering, you’ll be the next woman I make love to. There’ll be no one else, as long as you want me.”

  He turned around and strode to the entrance. The door closed with a soft click behind him. Elena stared at the empty room, confusion clouding her thoughts. She shook her head to clear her mind. If Max Glaser intended to make her fall in love with him, he certainly knew how to go about it.

  Chapter Seven

  Elena clutched her beaded jade-green evening bag with both hands and peered out of the window as the limo rolled to a stop outside the white Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. She’d planned to meet Max in his home and change there, but her flight had been delayed. He’d sent a driver to take her straight to the Opera House, and she’d changed into her evening clothes in the restroom at the airport.

  She hadn’t spoken to him since they had dinner at the hotel in Colorado three days ago. When she got home, a light blinked on her answering machine. The message was from Max, telling her that he had two tickets to the opera on Saturday. When she tried calling him back, she found him tied up with meetings, and in the end they had made the arrangements through his secretary.

  Elena expected that Max would have offered to send her plane ticket if she had asked, but she had booked her own. Money was a bit easier now, with plenty of billable hours, and she wanted to meet her own expenses. It would help her to feel his equal, rather than a rich man’s mistress. For the same reason, she hadn’t cashed his check, even though she accepted that the ten thousand dollars had become a gift between friends instead of a payment for sexual favors.

  As Elena scanned the crowds up and down the street, the car door rattled and then flung open, and Max was there, reaching a hand inside to help her out. The black dinner jacket hugged his broad shoulders, and the white shirt beneath the bow tie set off the bronzed hue of his skin.

  Once she was safely standing on the sidewalk, he took a moment to discuss with the driver where he should pick them up after the performance, and then he turned to brush a kiss on her cheek.

  “You look lovely,” he said as he held her at arm’s length.

  “Not thanks to you.” She sent him a frown. “You didn’t tell me it was a gala benefit.”

  “My secretary was supposed to call you with information on the dress code.”

  Elena sighed. “She must have left a message on my home telephone. I forgot to check. Work has gone crazy in the last two days. In addition to the leases and insurance policies you asked me to review, Tony Harris has given me a bunch of landlord and tenant disputes for one of his real estate clients. I’ve been running around the rough part of town inspecting tenements and serving notices.”

  Max threw her a sharp glance. “Is it safe?”

  “Yes. Being Puerto Rican is an asset in those neighborhoods. People think I’m on their side.”

  “And are you?”

  “I’m on the side of the law,” Elena said firmly and followed Max up the wide entrance steps.

  “If you didn’t get the message, how did you know to wear an evening gown?” Max gestured at the slim sheath of jade green satin that clung to her curves and left her shoulders bare. The long slit on the left revealed her legs as she tried to keep pace with him.

  “I looked up tonight’s performance on the Internet and realized it was black tie.” The calm words gave no indication of her panic when she’d found out. In the end, she’d grabbed an hour between meetings with recalcitrant tenants and rushed out to the mall, where she’d bought the dress, raiding the funds she had set aside for a new fax machine.

  “I never asked if you like the opera,” Max said as they joined the throng in the soaring foyer and waited to be shown to their seats.

  Elena smiled at him. “I wouldn’t know, since I’ve never been.”

  His brows edged up. “Never?”

  “I lived in Puerto Rico until I was five and grew up in a slum in New York. A ticket to the movies was a luxury. The opera might just as well have been on the moon.”

  Max made a sweeping gesture that took in her appearance. “I thought you were born to wealth and privilege. You have an air of class and sophistication about you.”

  Her laughter rang out so loud that people around them turned to look. Elena lowered her voice. “Good heavens, what on earth gave you the idea? My mother is
a single parent who worked on the production line in a pharmaceutical plant, making tablets. I went to college on a scholarship and slaved at McKenzie and Harris for eight years to scrape together enough money to buy a small house in the less fashionable suburbs of Seattle. I’ve never been to Europe. I don’t know how to ride on horseback or sail or play tennis. I’ve never spent more than a hundred dollars on a pair of shoes. The only decent jewelry I own is what you see.” She touched the gold chain around her neck, a gift from her mother upon her graduation from law school. The pearl earrings she’d bought herself, to celebrate her first paycheck. “You know I’m broke,” she added, feeling a little defensive. “Why on earth would you think that I’m from an affluent background?”

  “I don’t know…I just assumed,” Max admitted.

  “Does it bother you? Did you expect to sit by a blue-blood tonight?”

  He raised their joined hands and kissed her wrist. “I expected to sit beside you.”

  The line of people snaked toward the auditorium, and they made their way to their seats. Conversation soared around the open space. Elena drank in the scene, pleased with her choice of green gown. It shone like a jewel against the sea of severe black. She had twisted her hair up into a chignon, leaving a few dark strands to frame her face.

  “Do you like the opera?” she asked as she settled down next to Max.

  “It’s one of the few cultural pursuits I like.”

  “What else do you like?”

  “I did athletics at college. Throwing things—discus, hammer, javelin. Like you, I went on a scholarship.”

  “I thought you had the physique of a football player.”

  “I don’t enjoy team sports.”

  Before Elena had a chance to react to his blunt statement, the lights dimmed and the curtain went up. She’d heard opera on the radio, but her musical tastes were less refined—salsa and country, mostly. Once her ears had attuned to the dramatic music, her pulse began to race. When she glanced at Max, she caught him staring at her.