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I stared at his ar out fro asp and every ti a sound His confident, firs and I pushed into hi more, and harder somehow In the distance a dish crashed to the floor, but Max quietlyed from the kitchen and headed toward us

"Look at you," Max said, leaning to kiss my neck just below my ear His breath ar on his touch and fretting about theacross the room toward our table The coht almost made me fall to pieces

As if he knew this, Max murmured, "No one in here knows you’re about to come all over my hand"

I expected him to stop, to put his hands on the table, but Max simply stilled his thumb as the waiter stopped at our table, and refilled his water Ice clinked against the glass, and a drop of condensation slid froer and larger aswith me From above the table, it looked like Max had si He slid his thuasped

"Your food should be out in just a minute," the waiter said with a bland smile

Max pressed his thumb hard intoout He smiled up at the waiter "Thank you"

The waiter turned and walked away and when Max looked atrelief ue stab of disappointment, and I felt myself fully melt in his hands

"That’s it," he whispered, rocking his paler inside With this, he stretched e of pain and I felt indecent, like I was doing so irrevocably filthy, but he just watched me craveinto the leather cushion below ers, his shoulders rocking My head fell back against the booth and I let out the s clax that tore through ed it with his long fingers pushing even deeper I turned to press my face into the shoulder of his suit to stiflehis hand froers to histhe ue tastes like candy, but your puy tastes even better" He leaned in and kissed me deeply "I want it to be my ck inside you next ti my brain? Because I wanted it, too Even after what he’d just given me, I wanted to climb into his lap and take all of hiet me into even more trouble, my phone buzzed in my purse I pulled it out: Bennett

BACK FROM MY MEETING LET’S SIT DOWN AT 2

The clock on o"

"We’re establishing a pattern here, Sara You coo"

I offered him a half-smile, half-wince, but when the waiter came back with our food, I slid a twenty onto the table and asked hio container

"I’d like your nu the hed

I had no idea how this had unraveled Okay, that was a lie, I knew exactly how it had unraveled--he’d started whispering in that hot accent and then fingered et involved with Max For one, he was a player, and in no way did I want to go down that road again And two, et it froive it to you without my permission Very few people want to punch my ex more than I do, but Bennett is one of theot up "Thanks for the appetizer Delete the video"

"I’ll consider it if you go out withwith a back a sasm for lunch I wasn’t any less obsessed

"So who are you bringing tonight?" Will asked absently, eyes on the folded copy of the Times in his hand

The drive back to the office from the tailor had been silent up to this point, broken only by the sound of the engine and the occasional car horn or shout froht--photographs fro solo, actually"

He looked up at lanced over just in time to see his eyebrows inch up in surprise "What?"

"How long have we known each other, Max?"

"Six years, I’d say"

"And in all that time, have you ever attended a social function without a date?"

"I really wouldn’t ree Six I bet they’d know," he deadpanned

"Very funny"

"It’s unusual, that’s all It’s our biggest event of the year and you don’t have a date"

"It hardly ht now? ‘Who is Max Stella taking?’ is one of the first things people ask when there’s a party like this"

"I like how you playwolf in contrast to you, all upstanding and virtuous"

"Oh, I never said anything about being virtuous," he said over the top of his paper "I’ someone there, that’s all"

I turned back to my files as I considered this In truth, I hadn’t made a date for the fund-raiser I hadn’tanyone

Which eird Maybe Will was right Ever since I’d met Sara, other woht when he said the annual Stella & Suest event of the summer It was held at the Museum of Modern Art, and everyone as anyone in New York would be in attendance With dancing, dinner, and the silent auction that folloe ed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for a pediatric cancer foundation every year

The dreary sky of the afternoon had cleared, but the s in the air when my car stopped at the barricades in front of thethe button of my tuxedo jacket as I stood My name was called fro like a s storm within the press area

"Max! Where’s the date?"

"Max, quick photo! Quick, over here!"