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“What I know is we already made this mistake and you found it easy enough to walk away, which means you’re only using me now. And my answer is no.” She refused to accept that the sizzle between them held any depth. Or that it was mutual. He’d already proven he found her totally resistible.
“Is that what you think?” He lifted hungry eyes from her lips to her eyes. “That was me running from trouble.”
“Yeah? Well, nothing has changed. Let go, Max.”
This time he released her. She immediately stepped back, but he grabbed her arm, holding her in place. And she saw why when she glanced down and saw Troy standing underfoot.
“Daddy.” Troy tugged at Max’s sweatpants, and Max swung the toddler into his arms. He appeared unaffected by the embrace, except for the color riding the sharp lines of his cheekbones.
Troy instantly held his arms out to Elle. She shook her head.
“What should I do while you’re gone?”
“Change him, feed him.” She turned to leave. If he could pretend to be unmoved so could she. “If you’re going to be a full-time dad, you’d better get used to it.”
Max stepped into her path bringing her face-to-face with father and son, an innocent and a beard-shadowed ruffian. What a mismatched pair, and Max wanted her to bring them together.
“I’m not messing around,” Max snapped, snagging her gaze with an intent stare. “I can change a diaper. That wasn’t what I was asking. Don’t try to blow me off, Elle. If you’re not back here in an hour, I’ll personally see to it that your next job is ticket-taker. Are we clear?”
“Too clear.” She pulled free and hurried down the stairs. When she made the turn at the bend he still stood there watching her. Emotions seething, she stopped. “I know you’re used to violence on the ice, but intimidation isn’t going to work in this situation. It’s going to be about the law and what’s best for Troy. It’s going to be about appearances and using professionalism and persuasion to get what you want.
“This is my arena,” she reminded him, “where I’m the stud. You’ll need to do what I say, when I say, how I say. If you have a problem with that, you can take it up with Ray.” She waited a beat and when he simply scowled at her, she demanded, “Are we clear?”
His eyes flashed his displeasure, but he gave a sharp nod.
“Good.” She offered him a smile that was all teeth. “The first thing you should know is I don’t respond well to threats. I’ll be back when I’ve showered and changed.”
Pleased to have put him in his place, she hid a real smile and continued down the stairs.
“Pick up some breakfast, will you?” He tossed the directive down at her. “I don’t keep food in the house.”
She ground her teeth together, aware he’d put her in her place. Miserable man. He needed help all right, but not her. They were oil and vinegar; it would be a mistake to work together. She needed to talk to Ray, to fix this.
* * *
As soon as she got on the road, Elle called her boss. She wanted to hear it from him that she was to give her time to Max.
“Elle,” he greeted her briskly. “What’s the status on Max’s situation?”
She gritted her teeth at the clear indication Max had been telling the truth. “I wanted to talk to you before I got too far in my planning. Are you sure the team wants to get involved in Max’s private drama?”
“Ordinarily I’d say no, but the press is going to be all over this and I’d prefer to be ahead of the game. A press conference might be too overt,” Ray speculated, voicing one of Elle’s concerns. “Max is trying to do the right thing by his son. We need to get that out before Amber can make him out to be the bad guy.”
“Ray, a bandage isn’t going to fix this. It’s going to take a full-scale plan to rearrange his life on a personal front and a strategic campaign to change the public’s persona of him.”
“Exactly. So what’s the problem?”
She cleared her throat. “Are you sure I’m the best one for the job? There’s the Jaden incident I should be working on.”
She couldn’t tell him she disliked The Beast, that would be unprofessional—true but unprofessional—and she wasn’t going there.
But she didn’t want to risk any more close encounters with Max either. She’d melted like wax when he put the lip-lock on her. Just like last time.
Clearly she couldn’t trust him. Or herself.
Running from trouble! As if that was an explanation for ditching her—
No, she wasn’t going there. The past was better left in the past. To bring it up would infer an interest she didn’t have. And couldn’t afford.
“There’re the new team commercials to finish up this week,” she reminded Ray. “Plus I’m working with the printers on the brochure for the owners’ meeting at the end of the month.”
“So get Jenna to help you.” He dismissed her workload. “It’s that or I assign her to Max and I’d rather not do that.”
Everything in Elle rebelled at that option. Elle had taken the girl under her wing and mentored her. Jenna was fresh and bright and enthusiastic. She had a lot of talent and potential, but she still held the players in awe. The Beast would eat her alive.
Not to mention this deal had disaster written all over it.
Jenna would be out of her depth and Max would walk all over her, which meant Elle would probably be called on to fix anything that went wrong. She chewed on her lower lip, knowing it would be so much better to be in control and prevent those mistakes from happening to begin with.
But if things went south, she could kiss her plans for advancement goodbye. And with Max’s kiss still tingling on her tongue she knew she risked everything if she took the job. She made one last stab at salvation.
“Are you sure this situation doesn’t require your special touch?” she asked hopefully. After all he was retiring, his career couldn’t be hurt.
“No time. I have to hold Natalie’s hand for the whole Wish upon a Puck gala event. It’s only three weeks away now. The woman can’t make a decision to save her life. Tell me again how I got stuck with this assignment?”
“You and the owner go way back and his delicate daughter knows you and feels comfortable working with you, because she knows you’re a pushover.”
A snort came down the line.
“See, that’s why I need you on this Beasley issue. You see the big picture and can cut through the bull. What’s it going to be? Are you going to take it on or should I send Jenna over?”
“You know he’ll just push her around.”
“And she’s not your little sister. It’s a tough business. The blinders have to come off some time.”
Dang it. Dang it. Dang it. Elle sighed. If she didn’t take it she’d be letting both herself and him down. And in her heart she knew she’d be letting Troy down. Hadn’t she vowed to do her best by him last night?
“I’ll do it. But you have to back me up, Ray. Tell him my word is law.”
“I already have,” he told her as if he’d never been in any doubt she’d agree. “Keep me in the loop. I’ll be monitoring the situation. And Elle.”
“Yes?”
“This is a sensitive issue and I trust you to be on top of it. I know you have your eye on the directorship when I retire next year. Handle this right and you’ll be sitting pretty.”
With that the line went dead.
Elle slowly closed her phone. It was already ugly.
Making it through this assignment with her job intact might be the least of her worries. She was going to have to do her best to not outright kill the man.
* * *
“If you have custody, why is Troy living with his mother?” Elle thrust a fragrant bag branded with familiar golden arches into Max’s arms when he opened the door to her almost exactly an hour later.
“Really?” He popped a hash-brown potato stick into his mouth and pulled a sausage-and-egg sandwich from the bag. “She’s his mother, and I travel more than half the year.”
“Huh. So why petition for custody to begin with?” She powered through to the kitchen, where he’d set up Troy in a high chair with cereal loops on the tray.
“Because I prefer to be the one to say how much I pay for child support.” He unwrapped the sandwich, cut it in half and gave part to Troy.
“What do you pay her?” Elle asked as she sat at the island and pulled a computer pad from her purse.
“Why? What difference does it make?”
She sighed. “This is going to take a really long time if you’re going to question everything I ask. I need to get a feel for this situation before I can format a plan.”
He considered that, saw the sound reasoning. Still, he hated discussing his private life, exposing vulnerabilities to a near stranger, no matter how good she tasted.
“Four thousand a month. And I bought a house for them in the best school district in San Diego.”
He wasn’t cheap, damn it. But he didn’t like being taken advantage of and Amber had crossed that line when she deliberately got pregnant.
Emptying the fast-food bag, he poked a straw into an orange-juice carton and added it and some hash browns to Troy’s meal before taking the rest to a seat on the opposite end of the island from Elle. He looked at the pile of sandwiches and potatoes and grunted in approval. At least she recognized a man his size required a decent amount of food.
He frowned, noticing Elle wore her usual buttoned-up, straight-lines professional wear, with her hair once again pinned up in a tidy bun. He much preferred her in the clingy sweater and swinging ponytail. But now he thought of it, he should be happy for the professional armor she insisted on wearing. It helped to remind both of them that their association was totally work-related.
What had possessed him to kiss her?
He’d wanted her help, of course, and had thought to get his way by the usual means, a little charm, a little unemotional sex. Who knew her frozen facade hid such a wanton?
He did. He could tell himself he’d forgotten her taste, the perfect fit of her in his arms, the way she lit up with passion. But he was lying to himself.
He thought about that for a heartbeat, two. And decided he could live with that.
“Is the title of the house in her name or yours?”
“Mine.”
“Does she have a job?”
“No.”
Just like at the Gala, one taste of her and he’d known he needed more, which should have warned him to walk away. Again.
Instead he’d sampled her a second time. A mistake because he already longed for more. He studied her lips even as he remembered Ray’s orders to stay clear of her. Max wasn’t much for rules but he decided to behave himself. He needed her help.
Plus he valued his freedom. And his family jewels.
Now he thought about it he’d clearly experienced a touch of temporary insanity when he suggested they had a mutual attraction. That was just plain nuts.
“So,” she continued her interrogation, “by taking Troy, you’re threatening her livelihood?”
“Yes. And she’ll fight tooth and nail to keep it.”
“Have you had concerns about Amber’s care of Troy before now?”
“Not really.” He shook his head. “Mostly because she’s not the one who usually takes care of him. Her mother does. Donna’s great with Troy.”
“So what’s changed?”
“Donna met a guy who lives in Las Vegas. He’s in town two or three times a month for business. And now she’s been flying over there to see him. I’ve got the feeling Troy’s the only thing keeping her here, and I expect that to change soon.”
Elle typed away on her pad. “So more of Troy’s care has fallen onto Amber.”
“Yeah. Or, more accurately, onto whoever she can con into taking him. And then she forgets he exists until she’s ready to come back again.” And the woman had the nerve to call him an absentee father. “It was bad enough when it was me or her best friend she left hanging. I didn’t know this gal. I’m not putting up with it anymore.”
“That’s understandable.” She clicked a pen against the counter, her honey-brown gaze assessing him. “You don’t want Amber to be responsible for him anymore. But are you really ready to take on the responsibility yourself?”
“You’ve already asked me that.”
“Yes, but I don’t think you’ve really thought about it. You can’t simply hire a nanny and that’s the end of it. You will be responsible for his emotional, physical and spiritual welfare. You’ll have to put his needs before your own. Are you ready to do that?”
Stuck on spiritual welfare, he had no immediate answer.
“Max.” When he focused in on her again, he was surprised to find her standing in front of him. “Do you love Troy?”
“He’s my son.” The answer was automatic.
“I get that, but it doesn’t answer my question.”
“It’s going to have to do.” He’d had enough of her intrusive questions.
“Why? Because you don’t love him?”
“Do you think his mother does?” he taunted, his exasperation getting the better of him. “Wrong. He’s a meal ticket for her. Nothing more. At least I provide for him.”
“Yeah. At least.”
He pushed to his feet so he towered over her. “What do you want from me? I never wanted a kid. I don’t really know how to relate to him. I’m only trying to make sure he’s safe.”
“By taking him away from the only home he’s ever known?”
“By putting him in a safe environment where he’s not likely to be dropped off at the nearest police station because the person watching him is tired of waiting for his mother to come collect him.” He turned to pace away. “Doesn’t sound too loving to me.”
“Maybe not, but from what you told me, it sounds like his grandmother does love him. And you aren’t exactly known for your ability to commit. He’s the innocent here. He deserves tons of love and attention. I’m not convinced you can give it to him. And if I’m not convinced, the public isn’t going to be convinced.”
“Look, I don’t have all the answers right now. But I’ve made up my mind. Do you want to hear I’ll work on the affection part? Fine, I’ll plan playdates. The important thing is I can provide for him and keep him safe. So lay out your strategy and let’s get started.”
