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Not just to get him in bed? Bemused, Miles stared down at her. She said that as if she hoped to accomplish both. “Since you’re the one who kicked me out of it, I didn’t think you had.”

Her back went so straight she looked ready to crack. With a rush of heat flushing her face, she plunked the coffee cup down on the desk. “I didn’t kick you out,” she stated, her hands fisted. “We were casual at best—”

“By your insistence.” To Sahara, who had paused with a finger over the intercom button to listen to their byplay, he said, “I didn’t know she had a doctor for a brother, or lived in a farmhouse, or that she had property. Hell, I barely knew her name.”

Maxi gasped.

He continued anyway. “No personal questions were allowed.”

“I never heard you complain!”

He’d complained plenty...in his own head. From the beginning, Maxi had struck a chord. The sex was unparalleled, yet after having her only three times, she’d cut ties.

He’d wanted more.

Apparently she hadn’t.

On only one night had he managed to break down a few of her walls...and that was the last he’d heard from her. He’d awakened the next morning to an empty bed.

“If I’d wanted to see her again,” Miles said, keeping Maxi’s gaze trapped in his, “I had no way of getting hold of her. That was her plan, of course.”

Sahara smiled. “She’s here now. I imagine you’ll get to know her quite well during this assignment.” She pressed the button and said to Enoch, “Get hold of Dr. Brummel and tell her we need an appointment immediately. Let me know as soon as you have a time arranged.” With that done, she took her seat, steepled her fingers and looked at each of them. “As Miles put it, he already knows you intimately, and because this will be a job that requires him to stick close to you, that’s bound to be a benefit. Who’d want a complete stranger underfoot?”

Maxi looked away without replying.

“While it’s true I like to offer sexier agents, actual intimacy with the client is generally taboo—”

Miles snorted. “The horse is out of the barn on that one.”

“—but I’m feeling so much animosity that I’m not sure if it’d even be an issue.”

Still Maxi stayed silent, not issuing a single objection. So did she want him back in her bed?

Did he want to be there?

Damn straight. Knowing that this time it’d be on his terms only made the idea hotter.

Unaware of his mental ramblings, Sahara asked, “Is there going to be a problem with the two of you getting along?”

Now that he had the bare bones of a plan, Miles said with confidence, “Not for me,” as if he could be totally impartial.

Ha! He could deny it all he liked, but in his gut, he knew he’d already staked a claim to Maxi. Even though it appeared she’d gotten into trouble with another man, he still wanted her.

The chemistry was as strong as ever. He knew it. He felt it.

Given that she’d noted small changes in his physique, he suspected she felt it, too.

He hadn’t been good enough to continue seeing, but now she wanted him working for her, and possibly more. He was definitely the safer bet for her, since he’d never coerced a woman in his life, and he sure as hell wouldn’t drug anyone.

Not liking the idea of her with another man, he cut off that thought.

“I realize this is a horrible imposition,” Maxi said, staring up at him. “The thing is, I came to you specifically because I know you and I trust you—”

“There’s more about me that you don’t know,” he corrected. “But you’re right to trust me.”

She looked ready to argue that point, but instead she rested against him, her forehead on his sternum, her small body leaning into his.

CHAPTER TWO (#udcc22cdf-68e8-5161-aa4e-d09620e81d53)

SURPRISED BY THE sudden affection—or was it simple need for comfort?—Miles put his arms around her. She felt soft and warm, and damn, he couldn’t help but react. The stirring came from deep inside him, along with a need to coddle her. “Hey, you okay, babe?”

Nodding, she whispered, “Honest to God, Miles, I don’t have the energy to fight.” She moved even closer. “Someone did something to me. I don’t know who it was, or why, and it’s so blasted scary. All I know for sure is that it wasn’t you, because you would never hurt me.”

She’d rejected him, so why did her trust make him feel so damn good? “No, I wouldn’t.” He was glad she understood that, but he was also pissed at himself for upsetting her more after what she’d been through.

Even if she lied about seeing another guy or being at a bar, he couldn’t bear seeing her like this.

They’d hash out everything, but not until she was in fighting form. “I’m sorry.”

She tipped her face up to his. “That’s what I was going to say.”

He pulled a leaf from her hair. “I’ve never seen you messy before.” It made her somehow seem more vulnerable.

“Well, get used to it. I mean, I’m not usually this messy. But with the farmhouse now, and all those cats, it’s tough to stay stylish.”

“Farmhouse?” he asked. And cats?

“I inherited it from my grandmother.”

He wanted to know everything about her, and now he had his chance. It was a shitty situation, but it was all he had, so he’d work with it. “It’s a nice place?”

“Shoot no. It’s a pit.”

So she hadn’t wanted him to see it...yet some other guy knew where to find her? Leaning closer to her ear, he said, “You should have come to me privately. Body Armor isn’t cheap.”

“I know. I can afford it.”

“Yes, she can,” Sahara said, proving she hadn’t missed a thing. “I already discussed all that with her while we were waiting for you to arrive.”

With his arms still around Maxi, his hands moving up and down her narrow back, Miles glanced at Sahara. “All what?”

“Ms. Nevar not only inherited from her grandmother, but her mother, also.”

In one morning, Sahara had learned more about Maxi than he had after sleeping with her on three separate occasions. “Does that mean your mother passed away, too?”

“Yes.”

To lose two people so close together was truly tragic. “When did they die?”