I jab a finger in the air at him. “You can’t talk like that here. Someone might hear you.”
He looks around. “There is literally no one on this floor but the two of us. Your co-workers must have gotten the memo that they can leave the building during their lunch break. Why didn’t you text me back?”
I should have read all the text messages Max sent me this morning, but I was busy answering a string of calls from nervous employees wondering if their jobs are in jeopardy. I couldn’t reassure any of them because I have no idea what my boss’s next move is.
“You didn’t even hear me when I called your name after I got off the elevator,” he goes on. “I see why. You were in a hot guy trance.”
I heard the ping of the elevator as the doors opened, but I assumed it was Karley. She shows up every Thursday in the early afternoon to water the plants in the building.
I reach for my laptop, but Max tugs it closer to him. “Who is this, Bella?”
Lying won’t work. Max can read me like a book. He’ll know if I tell him a fib, so I lay it all on the line and brace for the inevitable assault of questions coming my way. “That’s my boss.”
“Like hell it is.” He looks at the screen before he levels his eyes on my face. “This stunner in the board shorts is your new boss?”
I nod. “I thought I’d do a quick search online for him just for research, of course, and I stumbled on all of that.”
“You fell down the rabbit hole.” He winks at me. “See what I did there? You and your rabbit vibrator.”
&nb
sp; “Shut up.” I jump to my feet. “I don’t have that anymore.”
“You broke another vibrator?” He huffs out a laugh. “They come with instructions, don’t they? Maybe you need to give those a read before you get down to business.”
I cover my mouth with my hand to shield the uncontainable smile on my lips. “Stop talking, Max.”
“Why are there so many pictures of your hot boss online?” He scrolls a finger over the screen. “He looks just as good in a tux as he does out of one.”
I can’t argue with that.
Tugging the laptop from his hands, I snap the lid shut. “An ex-girlfriend of his took most of those pictures. I stumbled on her social media accounts and there he was.”
Skepticism knits his brow. “You must have been digging pretty deep to find that treasure trove. Did the ex tag him in all those pictures?”
“Something like that,” I say with a shrug.
It’s nothing like that. I found those pictures because I typed ‘who is Barrett Adler dating’ into Google.
I expected nothing to pop up, but instead of zero results there were thousands. Most of them were articles about his relationship with a former reality TV star.
Alyssa Wells went on national TV to find a husband. She struck out but met Barrett at a grocery store in Chicago a week after the final episode of her season aired. Every online gossip site was all over their relationship.
Max takes a step forward so he can peek into Barrett’s empty office. “I take it that Mr. Hunk of Burning Lust isn’t here right now?”
Barrett doesn’t need a nickname, so I stop that train on its tracks. “Mr. Adler is out at meetings all day.”
Max tosses his head back in laughter. “Listen to you being all professional.”
I set my laptop on my desk. “Exactly why are you here?”
Doing one full turn with his arms outstretched at his sides, he cocks a brow. “What do you think?”
“I think you’re the best friend in the world,” I say with a smile.
His bottom lip pouts out. “Bella, pay attention. Something is different about me.”
I study his face. It’s just as gorgeous as it was the last time I saw it. His hair hasn’t been trimmed in the past two weeks. No beard. No new face piercings. I didn’t expect any of those since he took out his eyebrow and nose ring years ago.