A few minutes before five o’clock, a squealing Meghan ran into Kara’s office. “Kara, aren’t you excited? You. Max. South America!”

“Whoopee-fucking-doo,” Kara snapped. Did people really think she was over the moon having to miss her vacation in order to spend time with workaholic robot man, Max Richards? After the disaster of a lunch with the company owner’s wife six hours ago, she and Max hadn’t said one word to each other on the drive back to the office. Which was fine with her. Quiet after listening to that woman for an hour was heaven.

Meghan rolled her eyes, grinned unrepentantly, and shut the door. “Oh, cut the crap, Kar. You have got to be excited, even if only a little bit. I mean, this is Max. The man we all wish to see on a males-most-likely-to-make-you-hump-a-door calendar. You’re going to see that hot body on the beach. You’re the only person who’s ever gotten to do that. We’re all super excited for you. How can you not be thrilled?”

Meghan bounced on the chair across from Kara’s desk and smiled. Her dark curls made her look like a little girl. If they hadn’t been best friends since grade school, Kara wouldn’t have believed the woman across from her was going on thirty.

Kara tugged off her gold hoop earring. The stupid thing kept unlocking and falling off. “Maybe because I was looking forward to my cruise instead of having to work during the time I requested off months ago. Now you get to go on the cruise without me. We no longer get to celebrate our upcoming big three-o together. Instead, I get to work on my damned birthday.” Kara’s voice rose, and she took a breath to calm her frustration. She threw the offending earring on her desk and groaned. Typical Max, he assumed everyone was willing to stop everything to do his bidding.

Max seemed like the epitome of every wet dream. Tall, muscular, and so fine, he made her eyes water. She learned quickly that he was easy on the eyes, but extremely frustrating on her nerves. Nowadays the sight of him only brought out the urge to slap some sense into his workhorse brain.

Meghan sighed and stopped bouncing on the seat. She reached out one of her hands to pat Kara’s. “I know you were looking forward to the cruise, but what you’re working on is major. You’ve undertaken a big project. Heck, going through a decade of records is more than most people can handle.”

Kara pinched the bridge of her nose with her other hand, trying to keep her patience. “Meghan, I needed this vacation so badly.”

“I know, sweetie. Go, get this done, come back, and we’ll plan a new cruise.”

Kara’s anger abated with Meghan’s soothing smile. “It’s not just the cruise anymore. I have no life. You know why Barry broke up with me? Because he said I prefer to be at Max’s beck and call than to do something that might upset Max.”

She tugged off the second hoop and placed it on her desk, stacking the earrings one over the other. “And though it pains me to admit it, Barry was right. I haven’t had a life since I started working for Max, and I won’t have one until I get out of here. Shit, I’ve gone on one date since Barry and I broke up, and that was over months ago.”

Meghan frowned, placed her arm on the desk and cupped her cheek. “You know you’re Max’s right-hand man. Plus, other than me—because he adores me like the sister he never had and spends more time in my office than his own—” she said and grinned, “you’re probably the only woman he talks to for more than a minute. That’s including his secretary, Susan. Short of kidnapping yourself, how are you going to get out of here?”

Kara leaned back in her chair and lolled her head on the cushioned headrest. “After I finish these contracts, I’m quitting.” It was difficult to say the words. Never would she have thought to actually go this far, but damn it, she wanted to date. She wanted to take vacations. Fuck it; she wanted to have sex! She wanted great sex. Lots of it. The kind that left her breathless and so exhausted, she needed a nap to recuperate. And in order to get that, she needed to stop working fifteen-hour days and have a life.

“You think Max is going to let you quit?” Meghan laughed, making Kara glance at her.

“What do you mean ‘let me’? He doesn’t own me.” Kara ground her teeth in irritation. “I have an at-will contract, and the only way I’d consider staying here is if he realizes I need to work regular hours, and that’s not going to happen. I don’t know how he does it, but he can work nonstop without needing food or sleep.” And still have the audacity to look so good that she wanted to hurt him. After late-night meetings, she ended up looking ragged, and he’d looked disgustingly hot.

Meghan smirked and shrugged, her chair creaking when she folded one leg over the other. She wiggled her leg in a nervous tick Kara was used to. “He might not own you, but he’s going to try to work his charm to keep you here. It’s what he does with everyone. Why do you think his turnover is so low? I should know. I’m the HR guru. Good luck trying to get out of his sexy claws. When Max Richards sinks them into someone, there’s no way of getting out.”

Kara rolled her eyes and flicked a lock of her hair over her shoulder, scrunching her nose in the process. “Maybe with anyone else who falls for his charm, or his physique and overwhelming sex appeal, but not me.”

Damn straight, not her. She’d interacted with him enough that he no longer made her tongue tied. She didn’t marvel over him for the duration of their meetings. No longer was she keeping a daily regimen of Max-induced fantasies because she controlled her libido for the most part. It boggled her mind that he managed to look so good, so brawny and golden when he worked so many hours. How the hell did he do that? Still, he would not be able to convince her to stay if she didn’t want to.

Meghan’s voice broke through Kara’s musings. “Just calm down, Kara. You love your job. Why don’t you try talking to Max about a new schedule, one that lets you see the sun at some point during the day? You’re so pale you’re starting to look like the bride of Dracula.” Meghan giggled. “No, but seriously, you have to think this through before you do something crazy. You are the top dog in the department. Are you going to leave and go somewhere you might just be another grunt? Max listens to you. He trusts you. Some women don’t even have a manager that listens to their ideas and appreciates their hard work.”

“Yeah? Well, I’m sorry for them. No one should settle for anything less than what they want in every aspect of their lives. And I want a life. Not just a work life, I want a personal one, too.” Thinking of her personal life, she glanced at the clock. Eight minutes until time to leave. Looked like she’d be able to keep her dinner date with the only person she’d gone out with in months.

She’d met Stefano at a sushi bar where she stopped to eat after working late a week ago. Things had gone well enough that she said yes to meeting him a second time. Of course, he wanted to meet right away, but she had to cancel the next couple nights to keep working on Max projects.

But tonight was looking good.

Meghan leaned on the desk. “What’s that smile for? Are you seeing someone and haven’t told me?”

“What?!” Kara tried to feign innocence. It amazed her how well her friend read her—like a frigging open book. “Why would you ask that?” She didn’t want to lie, but she didn’t want to admit the truth until she was sure she and Stefano were an item. Which could be somewhat soon.

The man seemed too perfect. Attentive to her needs, listened to her. He liked to be close to her, wanted to be with her. She felt terrible having to turn him down a few times since their first impromptu dinner. But he didn’t seem to be upset. Said he’d wait for her.

Then a deep, sexy voice came over her office phone’s speaker. “Kara?” Both Meghan and she groaned.

“Well,” Meghan said, getting up from the chair, “I should be going. Time to call it a day.” Her friend cringed, knowing she shouldn’t have said that when she knew why Max was on the phone.

“Yeah,” Kara sighed, “wish it were true.” She picked up the phone as Meghan wiggled her fingers bye as she closed the door behind her. “Yes, Max. I was just getting ready to leave.” Hopefully that would dissuade him from asking her to do something for him.

“Is it that late already?” His voice sounded sincere, but that didn’t keep her anger from rising. She bit her tongue to not come back with a smartass comment. “Kara, would you mind putting together a quick spreadsheet with the liabilities, notes, and due dates for our South American client for me to take home tonight?”

Take home tonight told her he wanted it now. That would take at least an hour to pull together with all the subsidiaries of the foreign corporation. She contemplated telling Max to go fuck himself, she had a date. But she didn’t want to sabotage the South American meeting in two days by making him wait to study the financial picture of the possible acquisition.

She’d have to cancel with Stefano. Again. “I’ll have the spreadsheet to you as soon as possible.”

“Thank you, Kara. What would I do without your help on this?” he said. Mentally, she snorted. What would he do, indeed? She pushed the button to release his call and get an outside line. She dialed Stefano’s number by memory.

When the other side of the line picked up, soft music sounded in the background. Someone shushed a giggle that she distinctly heard as feminine. What the fuck? Did Stefano have a woman with him?

“Stefano?” Kara asked.

“Hey, Kara. Calling to ditch me again?” he said, sounding a bit slurrish.

Kara’s heart crashed. Another giggle came over the line. Stefano jostled the phone, disturbing the sound on his side. “Stefano, who’s with you?”

After a moment, he cleared his throat. “No one, Kara. Certainly not you.” That set off her anger. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to go out with him. It was her boss. “Stay and do what your boss wants, Kara. Don’t worry about me.”

Maybe she wouldn’t worry about him since he had someone else there who could. “Yeah, Stef,” Kara said, “I don’t think this is going to work for us.”

“Not work for you, you mean,” he snapped. “I got someone who wants to be with me. Have a nice life. Hope you find someone but your boss you want to be with.” He hung up.

What was that supposed to mean? She didn’t want to be with Max. Did she? No! She didn’t. She wanted someone who loved her, who spent time with her, who wouldn’t have eyes for anyone else. She wanted a hero like those in the romance novels she read. He would take her on picnics, let her have all the green Skittles in the bag, want to hold her in his arms, walk along the beach, and be a god under the sheets.

And when imagining this man, he always resembled Max.

She slammed the phone down and grabbed a stack of papers and slapped them on her desk. Keyboard in front of her, she stabbed the keys, creating the spreadsheet her boss wanted. Damn prick. He had no consideration for her personal life or her time. He wanted, wanted, wanted, and never gave in return.

She couldn’t wait to throw her resignation letter at him and watch him fumble around trying to convince her to stay. Fuck that. His charms didn’t work on her. He wouldn’t blink his dark, sexy eyes at her and get what he wanted on a whim.

At least she could go to kickboxing tonight to work out her anger and aggression. She needed it badly.