A Bride for the Billionaire Bad Boy (The Romero Brothers, Book 2) (6 page)

The man was photogenic, yes. But oh, he was so much
better looking in person. He was GQ or Sports Illustrated cover material.
And that lovely boyish grin on his face and the dimpled impression in
his cheek when he smiled.
He was quite a charmer. He sure knew how to
ring her magic bell.
 
He made her
want to scream out, “Seduce me.”

His lips looked so kissable. Man, she could really use
the touch of his lips on her right now. She wondered what his strong arms would
feel like around her body. Heck, she wondered what he would be like in bed.

Okay, her thoughts were all over the place. She really
had to round them up and get them out of the naughty gutter soon or she would
say something that could make this morning’s debacle in the papers seem like a
quiet day at the press.

“I…It’s nothing really,” she hesitated as she rung her
hands in her lap. She sighed deeply and decided she could not hide it from him.
What was the point? Clearly this man was not going to let up any time soon. And
neither of them would get anything done. The sooner she came out with it, the
better. Then he’d realize that it was all a silly situation not worthy of additional
attention.

Maxine spent the next few minutes explaining
everything to Lucas. She noticed his poker face and then later his grim
expression.

“But it’s nothing really. Detective
Lindle
is going to look after everything and that’s that.
Probably some hoax. Maybe one of our competitors got my address somehow and
simply wanted to scare me off.”

Lucas said nothing for a moment then stood up, shoving
his hands in his pockets. “I’m going to look into this myself. I know people
who can check this out. In the meanwhile, I don’t think you should be alone.”

“Alone?” Maxine was offended. “What makes you think
I’m alone?” Which she was, but how dare he insinuate that she was frail and
vulnerable and had nobody else in her life
who
was
capable of supporting her.

“Don’t you live alone?”

“How did you…?”

“You just told me.”

“Okay. So I live alone. Doesn’t mean I’m vulnerable. I
live in an apartment complex. We do have security. It's not like anyone will
try to break in to the building and come up to the eleventh floor and try to
abduct me or anything.”

"Do you realize what you are saying? This is a
little bit dangerous for you, don't you think?"

“Maybe, but it's up to me to make that decision. Thank
you so much for your interest, Mr. Romero.” Maxine was tormented by conflicting
emotions. What was with this guy? Her emotions were out of control. Strange and
disquieting thoughts raced through her mind. A part of her wanted to beg him
for help. But she was way too independent for that. She was no damsel in
distress, that
was for sure. Oh, it was tempting all right. A
sexy, rich guy like Lucas Romero wanting to help her out. He didn't actually
say it, but she knew what he was implying. She'd heard about his reputation.
And that was something she wasn't going to touch with a ten-foot pole.

He looked intently into her eyes and her heart flipped
in response. She could feel the sexual magnetism between them; it was
undeniable. The same way he'd made her feel at Lucy's wedding only six months earlier.

Besides, she also had her mother to think about. Her
home may be modest but it was her place and the place where she and her mother
stayed for so many years.

"So you're just going to go back to your
apartment knowing that someone knows where you live?"

“I'll be fine ... really,” Maxine stuttered. Gosh, the
man was making her nervous as hell. Her mind was drawing a blank. She was about
to say something else but then she was completely distracted by his refined
assets.

“I don't think you'll be fine. I want to help you,
Maxine. Let me help you," he ordered.

Maxine was attracted to this gorgeous hunk in front of
her, but man, he seemed as if he wanted to control her.
No, thank you, sir. I can take care of myself, thank you very much.

“Thank you so much, Lucas. I really do appreciate it,
but really, I'm good,” Maxine murmured. “Now, about this new software program,”
Maxine shifted the topic. “Your grandfather mentioned you would be able to help
Dream Weddings, Inc. revamp into a more digital-friendly service?"

Lucas looked more annoyed than anything else. Did she
just offend him?

Maxine surveyed Lucas’s sexy, dark eyes. There appeared
to be a mischievous twinkle in his dark eyes. It was delicious but seemingly dangerous.
She hoped he wasn't going to do anything behind her back.

Lucas moved behind the desk and he leaned over Maxine.
His palms were spread out on the desk as he bent over her laptop. Oh, that sexually
charged scent of his heady cologne. It was tantalizing Maxine's nose. She
wanted to ask him what cologne it was. But she stopped herself. The last thing
she wanted him to feel was that she was flirting with him. Rumor had it he had
enough women throwing themselves at his feet. She did not want to be one of
them.

She was inches from Lucas. This was crazy. She didn't
know if she could actually contain herself How would she be able to focus with
Mr. Sexy so close to her, inches from her? His voice was husky when he spoke to
give her instructions on which webpage to log on to.

“I already had my men set up things for you on this
unique Web server,” Lucas instructed.

“Great. Do I go from here?”

“Click on that link where it says download,” he advised
in a velvet-deep voice.

“Okay. Done.”

“Now. Once it's done downloading, save to a location
on your desktop.”

Maxine did as he advised. Everything seemed to be
going so smoothly but she knew this was only the beginning of the setup.

Lucas surveyed the screen to ensure that everything was
downloading as intended. “Good. Let me take over from here.” He rolled Maxine's
chair out of the way so he could hover over her keyboard.

Maxine was blown away by the speed of his fingers. It
was rare to see a man who could type so fast. She'd read somewhere that he was
some sort of a hacker but then again those were probably just rumors. She
didn't believe everything she read in the tabloids.

When Lucas was done he leaned back and surveyed the
screen. “Now, over the next few weeks we'll be working closely with you to
develop the program fully. I'll send my tech guy over to spend some time with
you going through the interface.”

Maxine's heart sank to the ground. “Tech guy? I
thought
…” she broke off.

“You thought what?” Lucas’s voice was commanding.

She was about to say that she thought…or hoped, Lucas
would be the one to be spending time with her over the next few weeks to go
over the software program with her but she stopped herself.

You
don't
want him
,
remember
? So
why do you care if he's going to be around you for the next few weeks are not?

“What was the name of that bungee jumping couple?”
Lucas fired up the question so quickly she didn't really have time to think
about it.

Her answer just flew out of her mouth before she could
stop it.

“I shouldn’t have told you that,” Maxine said flatly
after she revealed the couple’s surname.

"You don't have to worry about me breaking your
confidence, Maxine.” Lucas's tone was brittle yet a smug grin touched his lips.

What was he going to do now? She hoped to God that
Lucas was not about to interfere with the investigation. What was she doing
talking to a Romero like that? She should've kept her mouth shut. This was
her
private business, not his.

"Oh, God, look at the time. It’s so late,”
Maxine
commented.

Lucas glanced at his expensive watch. He then reached
into his breast pocket and pulled out a business card. He handed it to her so
smoothly as if he was James Bond. A grin touched his lips.

“Be sure to call me if anything comes up.” His tone of
voice was hard.
If. Anything. Comes. Up.
He had spoken the words so deliberately that it caused a chill to slither down
Maxine’s spine. She’d read about his dangerous ways, too. He could be a real
friend but woe
be
it if anyone messed around with his
family…or his friends, she guessed.

Lucas Romero had connections everywhere.

She took the card from him. "
Th
-thank
you. I…I don’t think I’ll be needing it, though.”

“Don’t count on that, Ms. Summers.” With those words,
he extended his hand to shake hers. Their meeting was officially over, she
supposed.

He gave her a firm handshake. So firm that she felt a
surge of power shoot through her body.

Have mercy! This man had a lot of strength. He caught
her by surprise by lifting her hand slowly and pressed his lips to the back of
her hand. This well-dressed human deity was not only sexy but so charming as
well. Electricity jolted through her body at his sexual touch. Oh, what a soft
kiss. Was he teasing her with a sample of what he could offer?

It was a wonder that he wasn’t accused of getting more
women pregnant, she humored.

Maxine was melting inside. How was she to respond?
"Thank you,” she said softly. She felt a surge of heat rush to her cheeks.
She hoped she wasn't blushing. She wished she had access to a mirror to be
sure.

He eyed her salaciously before making his way out of
her office. “I’ll see myself out.”

Maxine was beside herself. Lucas had caused so many emotions
to stir within her over the past couple hours they'd just spent together. She
wanted more of him. She needed to see more of him. What had she done? She
should've asked him to stay longer. But no, she had work to do, a lot of work
to do. And she knew he was busy and had lots of things to attend to himself.
She was honored to be given a few hours of his time today of all days.

Just then Betty came back into the office with a
couple of coffees in her hand. “Are you all right?” Betty placed the cups on
the desk.

“I’m good, thanks,” Maxine said absently. “Well, the
good news is that we'll be getting a new system in place over the next few
weeks.”

“Yay,” Betty chimed in. “It’s about time. And what's
the bad news?”

“Oh nothing. It's just that…”
If I don’t get Lucas Romero inside me soon, I think I’m going to
explode.

Maxine thought about her hormones running wild and
chalked it up to the fact that she hadn’t been with a guy in almost two years.
She’d been celibate way too long. Way, way too long. And now, the one guy who fueled
the fireworks to explode inside her and was rocking her world without even
knowing it had just walked out of her life again. How was she going to get with
him now? Not that she really wanted to be involved with a local celebrity, but
damn! Hot damn! She at least wanted to see him again. She was quickly becoming
addicted to the way he made her mind spin and butterflies to flutter inside
her.

“You like him, don’t you?” Betty leaned in with a grin.

“No. I don’t,” Maxine shot back sharply. She felt
sorry for snapping at Betty who was only trying to make light of the situation.
“Sorry, Betty, I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

“I know. No worries.”

“Anyway, we’ve got tons of work to do before the new
system goes live. I’m going to contact the advertising agency we used last year
and see if they can do a little campaign on a budget for us. It’s the only
thing we have going if we’re going to compete in the new market.”

“Tell me about it. Everything is self-serving these
days. All you need is an Internet connection and a password to do anything and
everything.”

“For sure,” Maxine said, lifting her latte to her
lips. Her mind was still on Lucas, though. Would she ever see him
again—besides on the Internet tabloid news?

CHAPTER SIX

Four weeks had passed since the sex scandal involving
Lucas Romero became public. All eyes were on Lucas as he sat at the head of the
long oval table in the boardroom with the sun beaming through the
ceiling-to-floor windows. He casually leaned back in his leather executive
chair with his knee propped up.

“So, what’s the verdict?” He turned to his team.

His grandfather insisted on attending the meeting
along with his brothers Zack, Jules, Troy and Carl. Though the brothers didn’t
always attend meetings together, one thing was for sure—they stuck
together like a pack of wolves during tough times.

“We need to do damage control again,” Toni said
firmly.

It had been a few good weeks since allegations that Lucas
had gotten a young woman he’d met in a nightclub pregnant.

What did Lucas do?

He reluctantly followed the advice of his grandfather
and the family’s spokesperson to lay low for a while.

He almost disappeared from the limelight. And it was a
divine coincidence that a senator was engulfed in a political scandal that
rocked the nation and dominated headlines, thus taking the spotlight off Lucas for
a while. But still he would see reporters camped out at his family’s home or
one of his condo buildings once in a while.