Janie (The Casanova Club Book 15) Read online

  I’d been paranoid the whole drive over that people would start talking about us if we showed up together. Max held fast to his belief that none of our colleagues would care. They’d all be too busy running around with their tasks for the day. The only people thinking about us were, well, us.

  He was right.

  Nobody shot us any looks. Nobody turned to a co-worker to whisper something about us behind our backs. Nobody giggled behind their hand.

  I held my chin up a little higher as we went to our office doors about twenty feet apart. Max opened his and looked over at me with a lopsided smile. “Have a good day, pretty girl.”

  “You too, stud.”

  He snorted, shook his head at my lack of professionalism, and stepped into his office, where Shawn, quick as a bunny, popped up out of nowhere and followed Max inside before the door fell closed behind him.

  Smiling to myself, I went into my own office. I set my purse down on the floor by my desk and made myself a cup of fancy coffee with frothed milk in the espresso machine Max had put in the office for me. I sipped the foam off the top and opened my blinds before settling into my chair and turning on my computer.

  I swiveled around in my chair while I waited for the computer to boot up.

  Even though my confrontation with Sienna at the pool had only been two days ago, it felt like an eternity had passed since then. All the anguish, confusion, and frustration that Max had experienced vanished overnight. He was back to his usual self. The walls he’d tried to put up between us while he sorted things out with Sienna had been torn down kiss by kiss. It was a task I’d thoroughly enjoyed.

  Now everything was beginning to feel normal. The mundane routine of getting up in the morning and getting ready for work together had been nothing short of wondrous. We smiled at each other’s reflections in the bathroom mirror while we brushed our teeth. We bickered about who got to get in the shower first and compromised by showering together.

  I had avocado toast for breakfast while Max stuck his nose up at it and claimed there was something wrong with me for wanting to start my day out like that. He ate eggs and a smoothie that was dark green and smelled like spinach and dirt. We wasted precious time as we got dressed and stole each other’s personal items. He hid my panties and chased me around the bedroom as I tried to find them. I put his tie on and told him he could only have it back if he gave me my panties.

  Hence why we were half an hour late for work.

  I signed into my computer and started with the most boring of my office manager task: checking my email. I spent a good hour sorting through all the emails I’d missed over the weekend and crafting professional replies.

  I was about to get up and treat myself to a second fancy cup of coffee when I glanced up from my computer screen and caught Max watching me from his office.

  Shawn was still in there, pacing back and forth in front of Max’s desk with his nose buried in his agenda. He was talking and most likely saying something important, but most of Max’s attention was on me.

  I blushed.

  Max smiled and straightened his suit jacket.

  He had no right to look as good as he did in the office. His smile and sharp blue eyes were enough to make any girl weak in the knees. But the sharpness of his jaw and the way his suit fit him? It was criminal.

  Not to mention how he looked at me.

  I pinched my knees together and dared myself to keep my composure. I was the office manager when I was here. Back at his house, I could be the nympho I wanted to be right now.

  Shawn snapped his fingers and Max straightened before returning his full attention to his assistant.

  It was the break I needed to get up and fix my second cup of coffee. I kept my back to his office and suspected his eyes were on me again. I could feel the heat of his stare. I could practically hear his thoughts mingling with my own as he whispered in my mind what he was going to do to me when we got home tonight.

  “I’ll let you do anything you want,” I whispered to my empty office.

  By some miracle, I managed to get a lot of work done that morning. Unfortunately, I was interrupted by a business meeting scheduled in the conference room, where I found a seat on Max’s right. He sat at the head of the table and several other people filed into the conference room. In the middle of the table were bagels as well as individual packets of butter, cream cheese, and jam. I reached for a blueberry bagel and a packet of cream cheese as the meeting got underway.

  Max led the meeting with effortless smoothness.

  When we first started dating the first go around, I knew he was an impressive businessman but I never grasped how impressive he was because I never had a chance to see him in action. Sure, I’d been exposed to my fair share of bigwigs, like Jackson Lee, but none of them held a candle to Max. He was an inspirer of people and a leader. He made every person in the room smile and he supported them rather than intimidated them into doing good work. People hung on his every word and so did I.

  Maybe it wasn’t entirely because of how good of a leader he was.

  Maybe there were other factors, like how for the first time in a long time it finally felt like the pieces of my life were falling into place. When I’d called Piper yesterday and brought her up to speed on everything that had been happening with me and Max, she’d been delighted. She shrieked shrilly into the phone with excitement. Wyatt, who’d been somewhere in another room in the ranch house, had come running to make sure she was okay. Both of them had started giggling at the other.

  It felt so good that I had that now too.

  Piper said as much. She’d told me how happy she was that I found someone—and that someone was a good stand-up man like Max. She and Wyatt had invited us to come spend a weekend with them when our work schedule permitted. At first, I’d wondered if Max would think it kind of strange to crash at his ex-girlfriend’s house but he had shaken his head and insisted we go. Piper was my best friend, after all. And he could do with a weekend getaway.

  It wouldn’t hurt that Wyatt would be waiting on him.

  After being in the meeting for almost an hour and a half, Max dismissed everyone. Shawn chattered over Max’s shoulder, stealing the moment I wanted for myself as we all left the conference room and made for our offices. Shawn hovered over Max’s shoulder, going over details about tomorrow’s schedule while I passed the break room and swerved to grab my third coffee of the day.

  I opted for decaf to play it safe.

  While I was there, I grabbed one for Max, too. Maybe I could sneak into his office and get rid of Shawn just for fifteen minutes or so to give Max a break.

  When I got back to Max’s office, however, Shawn wasn’t there.

  Max’s eyes were glued to his computer screen as he clicked through several pages. I let myself into his office. He didn’t notice. Intrigued by what was consuming so much of his attention, I crept deeper into his office until the toe of my shoe caught on the corner of his rug.

  I yelped.

  Max looked up and quickly clicked away from whatever was on his computer screen. He shot out of his chair like a teenager caught looking at something too sexy for his own good and blinked at me.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  I held up one of the coffees. “I thought you might want one.”

  “Oh.”

  “What are you up to in here? You look like you’re being naughty.”

  “Not as naughty as you were last—”

  “Ha ha.” I stuck my tongue out at him and walked around his desk. The only thing on his monitor was his screensaver. An Apple logo slowly bounced up and down on a black background. I peered up at him, not buying it. “What were you looking at?”

  “Work stuff.”

  I handed his coffee to him. “You’ve always been a bad liar.”

  “That’s not true.”

  I put my coffee down on the corner of his desk and turned around to pretend that I was going to sit in one of his comfy chairs. Max stepped away from his com
puter and made to follow.

  In a mad dash, I swerved in the opposite direction. A cry of dismay left him as I rushed around the other side of his desk, beating him to his mouse. I let out a shout of victory as I wiggled the mouse and the screensaver broke, revealing a website with cream and purple accent colors.

  And pictures of engagement rings.

  Max leapt in front of the monitor and tried to hide it with his body.

  But I’d already seen the truth. He was looking at engagement rings.

  My eyes felt so big they were going to pop out of my head. I looked up at him, my heart racing, stomach fluttering, skin burning. “Max…” I breathed as I pushed past him and leaned over so I could study the gorgeous diamond ring on the screen. It had diamonds all around the band as well as a massive teardrop-shaped stone in the middle. Nestled against the main stone were two tiny sapphires. It was stunning.

  I turned around.

  Max was behind me but he was no longer standing. He’d dropped to one knee, and even though one eyebrow was arched in a way that suggested he was annoyed I’d spoiled the surprise, he was smiling. It was a radiant smile.

  “This isn’t what I had in mind when I thought of proposing,” he said. “But you’re always beating me to the punch, so here we are.”

  Proposing?

  “Max, is this real?”

  “It’s real. It’s very real.” He reached out and took my hand. His thumb traced a slow pattern over my knuckles as he gazed up at me. “I pictured this happening somewhere else. Maybe on my balcony during a sunset or on Wyatt’s ranch with Piper there. But this works too.”

  I covered my mouth with one hand as the tears started to flow.

  Max pulled me a little closer to him. “Janie, I’ve been in love with you since the first night you kissed me.”

  “You kissed me,” I corrected him.

  “Oh yeah.”

  I wiped away fresh tears and laughed.

  Max grinned at me. “You keep me on my toes. You challenge me. You put me first. I haven’t experienced a whole lot of that in my life outside my family. I was a fool to let you go the first time. I never thought I’d get lucky enough to have a second chance with you and I’m not going to blow it again. You deserve the world, Janie. If you’ll have me, I want to spend the rest of our lives reminding you how special you are and treating you the way you deserve. I want to make you happy. I want to take care of you. I want to marry you.”

  He stuck a hand in his pocket and pulled out an imaginary ring box. I sobbed and laughed as he pretended to pop it open and hold it out to me.

  “Will you marry me?”

  I nodded furiously. He pulled my hand closer and pretended to slide the ring on my ring finger. I held it up in front of my face and gasped as he got to his feet and wrapped an arm around my waist.

  “It’s stunning,” I exclaimed.

  Max threw his head back and laughed.

  I cupped the back of his neck and pulled my fiancé down to me for a ravenous kiss for all the office to see.

  Chapter 22

  Max

  Janie kissed me like she never had before. Her fingers at the nape of my neck slid up into my hair and she hooked a leg around mine. She practically purred against me as I wrapped an arm around her waist and held her to me.

  I never wanted to let go.

  But Janie broke the kiss and pulled back with tear-stained rosy cheeks. “We should probably close the blinds.”

  “And lock the door.”

  “Good idea.”

  I let her go. Janie stepped back, a little unsteady on her feet. She waited for me as I closed the blinds and locked my office door. If people had seen us kissing, or me proposing for that matter, they didn’t let on. Finally, we were plunged into solitude.

  I turned back to Janie as she untucked her blouse and pulled it off over her head. She tossed it aside and it caught on the armrest of one of my comfy chairs.

  “I’m so glad I called you drunk from my bathtub in New York,” she whispered.

  I couldn’t imagine what today would look like if that phone call had never happened. Janie would still be in the Big Apple and I’d be here, worrying over a baby that didn’t exist and a future that was a figment of Sienna’s lies.

  I’d be miserable, lonely, and longing for the woman I loved.

  “I’m glad too,” I said as I loosened my tie.

  “This should probably be the last time we have sex in your office.”

  “That’s not the kind of thing my wife would say,” I said.

  Janie’s laughter was light and bubbly. She reached behind her back and unzipped her skirt so she could step out of it. Her long legs were on display and I had a hard time looking at anything else as she ran a finger along the waistband of her silky black panties. “Your wife. I like the sound of that.”

  So did I.

  Janie lifted a hand and curled her finger, beckoning me to come closer. “What are you doing all the way over there?”

  I shrugged out of my suit jacket and draped it over the other comfy chair. I began unbuttoning my white shirt as I approached Janie, who unsnapped her bra and let it fall to the floor with her skirt. Her breasts were perky and full and begging to be worshiped. Sunlight streamed through the window at her back and I thanked the building’s design for placing my office in a section where not a single soul could see through my windows.

  The sunlight painted her in all her glory.

  I tossed my shirt aside. Janie stepped out of her panties and shot them at me like a slingshot. I tucked them in my pocket.

  “I’ll need those back when we’re done here,” she said.

  “Then you shouldn’t have shot them at me.”

  Her cheeks burned pink as I closed the space between us. “And just what do you intend to do with a pair of my panties?”

  “Keep them so that I know you’re walking around here in that sexy skirt with nothing on underneath.”

  “You’re a devil.”

  I caught her around the waist, pulled her in, and dropped her low. “I’m your devil.”

  She let out a breathless sigh. I silenced her with a deep kiss. Janie melted in my arms and I pulled her back up in a flourish. She balanced on the balls of her feet and let me lead her to one of the comfy chairs. I sat her down as I finished stripping out of my clothes. She watched every move I made with her bottom lip pinched between her teeth.

  When I dropped my pants and boxers, she sat up a little straighter. Eager anticipation was written all over her face and she made to go to her knees, but I stopped her with a hand on her chest.

  She melted back against the chair. I went to my knees in front of her and spread her thighs. Janie rested her head against the back of the chair. I slid my hands under her ass and pulled her right to the edge of the seat cushion before I leaned in and tasted her. Janie moaned softly. Somewhere out in the office, a phone rang. Seconds later, Shawn knocked on my door.

  Janie stiffened.

  I let my tongue swirl over her clit.

  She gripped the armrests. “What if that’s important?”

  I suckled her clit, drawing it between my lips and flicking my tongue over it. She flinched and jerked.

  “Max,” she breathed.

  I ran my tongue up her slit. She was swelling before my very eyes and turning a magnificent shade of pink. She glistened for me. Whoever was knocking on the door could wait.

  I eased a finger inside her and continued worshiping her clit. Janie sighed with pleasure. The alertness she’d had a minute before when someone knocked on the door vanished entirely as she turned to putty at the end of my tongue.

  “Good girl,” I mumbled between her thighs.

  Janie reached down and plunged her fingers into my hair. She held me there, my lips sealed over her clit, my finger inside her pressing up against her G-spot, and rolled her hips. She rode my finger and teased herself on my tongue, her desire unabashed and unhinged. I felt the muscles in her hips and ass tighten with every rot
ation as she drew closer to her climax.

  I wasn’t going to let her get it by working for it herself.

  I shifted, dropping one knee to the floor and lifting the other so I could get better leverage. Janie gasped as I gave her another finger and pressed deeper. Her fingers fell from my hair and I planted a hand on her lower stomach to create pressure.

  She whispered my name but I cut her off when I started flicking my fingers up and down inside her.

  Her eyes rolled back. I let out a primal growl of satisfaction as her fingernails clawed at the chair and her back arched.

  “Let it go,” I breathed.

  Janie’s breath hitched, and I fucked her harder.

  She started to come all at once. A cry left her, and I stood up to silence her with a kiss. All the while, she gushed and writhed beneath me, but she never begged for mercy. She could always handle so much more than I ever imagined.

  Janie lay panting in the chair while I searched my pockets for a condom. I found the one I’d stashed in my pocket before we left the house this morning. Sure, we’d fucked like rabbits all night long, but I knew there was a chance something like this might happen today. I couldn’t keep my hands off her, after all.

  Janie tried to sit up as I rolled the condom on and turned back to her but her muscles were mush. She gave me a dreamy smile as I returned once more to my knees and dragged her back to the edge of the cushion. I lifted her legs and rested her calves against my shoulders. She gripped the back of her knees as I pushed in deep.

  She pulled me in one inch at a time. She was slick with her juices and her pussy pulsed around my cock with need. She was still riding out the storm of her orgasm. I reveled in the pressure, the squeeze, and the release as I gave her every inch I had.

  Janie whimpered my name and reached out for me.

  I dropped over her and folded her in half. Her own knees were pressed to her shoulders but she didn’t seem to care. She wrapped both hands behind my neck and held me there for a long kiss while I thrust my hips in steady, consistent motion. Not only could I feel how wet she was, but I could hear it too.