Maxie (Triple X) by Kimberly Dean

seamlessly.
    He must have been really good at his old job. He’d taken on the role of her boyfriend without a hitch, but he had a life too. He had to be missing more than a workout by tagging along with her all day.
    And then there was his reputation. Her fingernails bit into her palms. The people at the restaurant. They’d talk about more than her dinner guests. “If you want to back out, you can. I didn’t mean to tie up your whole day or get you so deeply involved. If you want to leave—”
    “ Leave? ” He looked at her like she’d grown two heads. “Let’s get one thing straight. I’m not going anywhere. That option isn’t even on the table. You just need to make the call whether I stay in your room or not. I’m fine with sleeping on the couch downstairs, but I’m not leaving you in a house full of strangers, especially when one has a nickname of Hatchet.”
    “They’re not strangers,” Maxie blurted. She blinked. That wasn’t the bourbon talking.
    “He is. I don’t know anything about this Cameron Rowe guy. When I did the background checks, I only took a cursory look at him.”
    “Oh.” She really hadn’t given much thought to Lexie’s boyfriend.
    But Zac obviously had.
    He planted his hands on his hips, his pectoral muscles flexing. “So what’s it going to be? Here or the couch?”
    There was a long pause as Maxie stared at him. She didn’t want to sleep in that bed with him. Her willpower was at an all-time low, and he was standing there looking so big and male and touchable. But he was thinking like a cop. He was doing the job she’d asked him to do. He’d kissed her, yes, and touched her, but was that all part of the act?
    She heard movement downstairs. She didn’t want to ruin what had happened with Lexie and Roxie. Not tonight.
    And she didn’t think she could bear to send him away.
    “Stay. It’s a big bed.”
    His gaze darkened as it raked over the mattress. “Not that big.”
    That surge of need returned, slamming into Maxie’s belly. All she wanted to do was slide her hands over that amazing chest of his, grab him by the belt and pull him to the bed. But she wasn’t feeling so brave alone with him. She’d given in to too many impulses for one day, and doing anything like that was still beyond her. Probably always would be.
    “I…I’m going to take a shower,” she improvised. She’d taken two steps towards it before she felt her wet panties clinging suggestively. She didn’t have any clothes in there, and as easily as she’d jumped into the pool half-naked, this wasn’t the same.
    Easing by him, she opened a dresser drawer far enough to stick her hand inside. “I need to get the chlorine out of my hair.”
    He lifted one of his eyebrows. He didn’t look as if he bought the excuse.
    Grabbing what she needed, she scooted off to the bathroom. She shut the door with a click and sagged back against it.
    She’d invited Zac Ford into her bed.
    Her knees turned to jelly. She needed some time, but somehow she doubted he’d let her stay in here long. She tossed her clothes into the hamper, wet panties and all. When she got into the shower, her body shook. All night, alone in bed with Mr. Blond, Buff and Beautiful.
    She should have drunk more bourbon.
     
    Maxie took as long as she could, but eventually she had to leave the bathroom. She smoothed the oversized T-shirt over her thighs, wishing it was longer. Her normal sleepwear was lighter and girlier, but for tonight, this was better.
    Or so she thought until she opened the door and saw Zac already stretched out on the bed. He’d stripped down too, and had gotten rid of the jeans and dark shirt. All he wore were gym shorts, the long, slippery nylon kind. Nothing else. His torso was bare, showing more tempting muscles that she’d missed. His shoulders were wide, tapering to a trim, rippled waist. The shorts he wore rode so low she could see his hipbones and a tempting tapestry of muscles working its way down his