“What are you doing?” Maddox said.
“It’s my mother!” she hissed as the doors took two hours to shut.
Maddox’s face soured. “We don’t have time for this, Mila.”
“Ssh! We’ll go up one floor and back down again. It won’t take that long.” She pressed the button harder as her mother and Danny started walking straight toward them.
Maddox peered over her head. Then, he grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the elevator.
Before she could protest, Maddox spun her to face him, turning his back to her mother and Danny simultaneously. He held her against him, his face tilted toward her.
Mila stopped breathing as he gazed down at her, his strong arms locked around her body.
Her mother and Danny strolled by without a glance. Once they were safely behind closed doors in the elevator, Mila exhaled.
“How did you not know where your mother was right now?” Maddox said. He didn’t move to let go and Mila was now hyper-aware of how she’d melted against him.
“I’m not her assistant,” she said, noticing how out of breath she sounded. And now that her heart was beating again, it felt erratic. “I knew they were traveling but I never thought they’d be in the same place. Besides, I wasn’t supposed to be here.”
Maddox frowned and slowly dropped his arms. Mila backed away, afraid of what her legs would do on their own.
“Come on.” He grabbed her hand again and led her outside this time. Maddox stopped in front of a black car and a valet opened the back door. Maddox put a hand on her back and nudged her inside. She slid across the leather seats and Maddox followed.
When the door shut, Maddox looked over at her with pressed lips. Mila glanced away uncomfortably.
“First rule of survival,” he said tersely, “is to know what your opponent is doing at all times.”
“She’s not my opponent,” Mila muttered. “She’s my mother.”
“Is that why you just hid behind me?” He arched his thick eyebrows in challenge.
“You hid me voluntarily.” Mila folded her arms. “I was trying to run away.”
Maddox leaned closer. “Are you sure you weren’t trying to get close to me? I know you didn’t want to get away from me in the gym that time.”
Mila’s goosebumps at his breath caressing her neck disappeared and her eyes flashed. “You have no idea what I wanted to do!”
Maddox straightened his blazer. “I have a little idea,” he said under his breath.
Mila scoffed. But he was right. She didn’t want to get away from him then. Or even now, which probably made her pathetic.
Still, he didn’t need to know that.
“Well, I wasn’t alone in that gym, was I?” she retorted.
Maddox slowly met her eyes and Mila resisted the urge to look away. After staring her down, Maddox cleared his throat. “Anyway,” he said casually, “we’ll check to make sure your mother doesn’t follow us around. But you should know where she’s going next time.”
“Right.” Mila slid closer to the door. “I’ll put it right up there with packing.”
Maddox glanced to the opposite side, but Mila thought she saw a smirk.