Page 77 of Wicked Beautiful (Wicked Games 1)
“That sounds suspiciously like an invitation to spend the night, Mr. Maxwell,” she teases, batting her lashes.
Sweet Jesus, I love it when she flirts with me.
I grin. “Call me when you’re finished with drinks and I’ll come get you, wherever you are.”
“Such an eager beaver! I’ll have you know I have a very important meeting first thing in the morning.”
I kiss the corners of her mouth, the tip of her nose, her petal-soft cheek. “Then I’ll have you up bright and early for work, Ms. Price. And you probably shouldn’t say the word beaver in my presence, unless you’d like the bulge in my trousers to get even bigger than it already is.”
She throws back her head and laughs.
“Boss!” shouts Bailey through the door. She bangs her fist against it again.
I’m really going to have to talk to her about her attitude.
“I’ll let you get back to work. Call you later.”
Victoria plants one final kiss on my lips. She slips out of my arms, and we both walk to the door.
When I open it, Bailey stands there glaring at us like an ex-wife in divorce court. She says, “Finally!” shoots Victoria a lethal glare, and then spins on her heel and stalks off.
Victoria smiles. “Oh dear. I see your sidekick doesn’t approve.”
I decide it’s prudent not to answer. I lift her hand and kiss it. “Until later, baby.”
At my endearment, her cheeks color. It makes me hard.
“Until later, Mr. Beaver.” She winks and walks away.
I watch her go, grinning from ear to ear, until Bailey reappears around the corner.
“Hold your horses, Bailey. I’m coming.”
She looks at the bulge in my crotch. “Or you would’ve been if I hadn’t knocked!”
I say quietly, “Watch yourself.”
She flushes and looks away. After a moment she mumbles, “Sorry.”
Shaking my head, I brush past her on my way to the kitchen. She falls into step beside me.
“So—what was her excuse for blowing you off?”
It pleases me greatly to say, “Her mother was sick. She had to fly out of state on short notice to visit her.”
In my peripheral vision, I see Bailey’s face fall. “Oh. I guess that explains why she was in Texas.”
I stop dead in my tracks. “Texas?”
Bailey nods, lifting a shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. “Yeah. I read it on the Drudge Report. She was spotted in Texas, some shitty border town. Must be weird to have people following you all the time.”
She turns and continues on toward the kitchen, but I’m rooted to the floor, feeling like a wrecking ball has just blasted a hole straight through my chest.
Victoria said she’d been in California, but she’d actually been in Texas.
What the fuck is in Texas?
It takes me only another second to recall how deftly she’d sidestepped any more questions from me about her mother by asking me to kiss her. Had she known how completely that would distract me?
