Page 2 of Hard Wired

“But would you let Lana near him?” Lana was Max’s girlfriend.

He huffed. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

Sylvie knew the real reason Max wanted to keep his girlfriend away from Dominic Crane. It was the exact same reason that Sylvie preferred not to get near the former head of the Silverlake Syndicate.

Crane was gorgeous. Like, model gorgeous. The man had the face of an angel and a wicked smile that promised he was anything but. He was the type of flirtatious that made women weak in the knees, even as they knew they should stay far away. Sylvie had never even met Crane in person, yet she could tell he was irresistible.

As a human being, the man should’ve been repulsive. But she had a schoolgirl crush on him. She liked the idea of Crane laying a hand on her. That was exactly the problem.

Sylvie had worked hard to earn the respect of her colleagues. If she got tongue-tied and acted like a fool in front of the most attractive criminal defendant in West Oaks, then her co-workers would never let her live it down. If she ended up in bed with him? She’d lose all respect for herself.

What was wrong with her brain that she found this man so sexy?

“I thought his former friends were trying to kill him.” Sylvie had heard about the civil war within the Syndicate from her law enforcement contacts. “It can’t be safe to be hanging around his place.”

“Why else do you think he needs this security system so badly? Like I said, you’ll have one of our bodyguards with you. Take your pick. It’ll just be for a few hours. It’s possible the man isn’t as bad as he seems.”

Max put down the stress ball and folded his hands together. Sylvie noticed the new addition on his ring finger. She lurched forward, pressing her hands onto the surface of his desk.

“Wait, what is that? Did you and Lana get married?”

He looked down at his hand, splaying his fingers. “No, not married. I would’ve told you about something like that. It’s…” He trailed off, then gripped the back of his neck, as if he wanted to hide the ring from view.

Max Bennett was looking downright sheepish.

“I’ve started wearing it whenever Lana and I are apart. Just to make sure everyone knows I’m taken.”

Sylvie burst out laughing. “That’s possibly the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard.”

He wasn’t just her boss. Sylvie considered Max a friend, and she knew him well enough to have noticed his tendencies.

Before Lana, he’d been a bit of a man-whore. He’d left a wake of satisfied ladies in his path, always making clear it would be no-strings attached. Sometimes those women still called the office, hoping for more, and the receptionists knew how to deflect when needed. It had been a very big deal for Lana to take the title of “Max’s girlfriend” in the first place.

“Usually, men remove their rings when their significant others aren’t around,” Sylvie pointed out.

“I’m aware of that. I can’t help if I happen to be an enticing guy. Women can’t stay away from me. The ring helps explain why I can no longer return their affections.”

Sylvie snorted. “Good to know your ego remains firmly in check. I was afraid you’d gone and changed on me.”

But Max had changed, that was obvious. While Sylvie was thrilled for him and Lana—and relieved that Max occasionally took days off now instead of working himself into the ground—she didn’t trust the idea of change in a person. Sylvie refused to change herself for anyone, and she would never expect anyone to change for her.

So many people in this world had fought for the right to be their true selves. Sylvie had personally given up a lot, even friends and family, to be able to live her life as she wished. Those sacrifices hurt. She still bore the scars.

But it had always been easier to assume that she had no choice. That there was no going back. And here was Max Bennett, making change look so effortless.

But this isn’t about me, she reminded herself. Max could do whatever he wanted.

“Some women are even more enticed by a guy wearing a wedding ring,” she warned him. “If you really don’t want women after you, just be uglier.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen.” Max held out his hands, as if asking, What can I do?

The topic of attractive men brought her right back to Dominic Crane. The long ski slope of his nose, his plump cupid’s-bow mouth…

Sylvie was surrounded by muscular former-military men daily. Guys like Max. Most women found them panty-dropping hot. But guys like Max weren’t Sylvie’s type.

Dominic Crane and his aura of wickedness? Oh, so exactly her type. And so wrong for her. Why couldn’t nice guys turn her on that much?

She had one final ploy. “Look, I’ll make sure everything about Crane’s system is perfect. Custom coding, whatever he wants. But I can do that much more effectively from my desk once he’s connected to our network.” That was how Sylvie usually handled their most demanding clients. From behind her wall of computer screens.

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