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* * *
Ryan was a bit perplexed. Maxi hadn’t answered his calls or texts after she’d left the office the night before and now she’d separated out the departments in the division and managed one set of meetings while he managed the other. As though she were avoiding him.
He couldn’t catch her alone all day. That agitated him further. What was going on?
“She’s been acting a little strange,” Avril admitted when Ryan stopped by her desk for the fifth time to see if he could steal a minute with Maxi. “Very curt and standoffish. Locking herself in her office. That’s not like her at all.”
“No, that definitely doesn’t sound like her,” he concurred.
“Has she said anything to you?” Avril asked. “Or did something happen between the two of you?”
“Absolutely not. The last time I saw her was in my office when—”
Oh, for fuck’s sake!
Was he really that colossal an idiot?
He instantly thought of Elizabeth reaching for the knot on his tie to whisk it off and dab club soda on the silk before the splatters of mustard stained it. And Ryan had taken his glasses off to clean them.
How had that looked to Maxi? Especially when he’d introduced her to Elizabeth?
But then again—
“Ryan, are you okay?” Avril asked, concerned.
He raked a hand through his hair in agitation. He’d specifically told Maxi that it was over between him and Elizabeth. So why would she instantly jump to the conclusion that they’d suddenly reunited?
Her words spring-boarded to the forefront of his mind: …being emotionally invested in a man, as you call it, has gotten me, uh…nowhere.
She’d been burned before. Had been used before.
Was clearly sensitive to the slight.
But, damn it! Didn’t Maxi know that he was crazy about her? That he had no intention of ever returning to Elizabeth and was, instead, ecstatic to be involved with Maxi?
Just Maxi?
“Christ,” he mumbled, when he really wanted to roar. To Avril, he said, “When you see Maxi, please tell her I have to speak with her immediately. It’s urgent.”
Because if he was right about the assumption she’d made, he needed to clear the air as quickly as possible.
* * *
Maxi was in her office when Staci stopped in at a half-past five.
The striking redhead who owned Staci Kay Shoes wore a pearly white smile that made Maxi relax just the tiniest bit.
“Please tell me you have good news,” Maxi said, as her boss swept into the room with a saucy sway to her hips and crossed to Maxi’s desk.
“I have stellar news,” Staci declared.
“Thank God. I could certainly use it.”
Staci’s smile dimmed. Her brow dipped. “You do look pretty down in the dumps. Not like you at all. What gives?”
“Nothing to worry about.” Maxi had been squirting drops in her eyes in hopes of clearing the red that cropped up every time tears stung them. She bucked up further to throw Staci from the trail of heartbreak. “I’d rather talk about what brings you down from the executive floor for a visit.”
“Maxi.” Staci slid gracefully into one of the white armless chairs before the glass-topped desk. “Something’s up. What is it?”
