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“Oh, I’m being rude. You’re a customer.” I shake off the raw attraction pulling me to him like a planet tugging on its star and plaster on my happy-to-help face. “What can I help you find, sir?”
His throaty chuckle sends a shiver down my spine. “I’m not a customer. I’m Max Lincoln, the new boy.”
I almost snort.Boy?Hardly.All man, every delicious inch of him, my libido whispers.
“You’rethe new sales associate?” I squeak. I expected a gangly, pimple-faced teen, not a big, brawny man who does funny things to my insides.
Shit. What with my cat-puking, dishwasher-flooding, trouser-ripping morning, I forgot I was supposed to be training a new staff member. It should’ve been Gerald, but he said he was too busy doingmanagement stuff.
Max frowns. “You weren’t expecting me?”
How could anyone be expecting this hunk of manly goodness? “Of course I was. It’s just …you’re a little more mature than most sales associates. Usually, they’re twenty-somethings like me, but you’re…”
Max’s mouth twitches, and he raises a questioning eyebrow.
Cheeks blazing, I shake my head. “Never mind.” I stick out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Max Lincoln. I’m Eva Starling.”
My hand looks tiny in his big paw as he clasps it. “Pleasure to meet you, too, Eva Starling.”
My name rolls off his tongue like hot chocolate and sex. I’m very familiar with the first. The second, not so much. But something tells me this man is.
Damn, he fills out his clothes well. He’s not like those no-neck gym rats who strut through here, trying to impress with their big muscles and tiny brains. No, Max is strong and solid. He’s got the thickset dad bod that women crave. I must admit, I’m craving this man’s dad bod too. I can imagine cuddling up to him, wrapped in those big arms, his mouth on mine, his hands caressing my—
“I heard they were looking for staff here,” Max says, cutting across my inappropriate thoughts. “Things have been … difficult since I lost my dad a few months ago. It’s just Mum and me now, and I needed a job, so here I am.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry for your loss,” I say softly, reaching out instinctively to squeeze his hand. “I lost my mum to cancer four years ago, and it still feels like yesterday. My father’s never been on the scene, so I know the struggle to make ends meet and keep your head above water.” I’m not one for sharing my shit, particularly not with men I met five minutes ago, but somehow, it seems natural with Max.
His thumb rubs idly across the back of my hand, causing goosebumps to chase up my arm and my nipples to tighten. “I’m sorry you lost your mum. Losing a parent is hard. My father and I were very different, and we weren’t as close as I would’ve liked, but we loved each other.”
I nod in understanding. “Of course you did. We don’t always see eye to eye with loved ones, but that doesn’t cancel out our feelings for them.”
I could kick myself for opening my big mouth. Max has obviously had a tough time and needs this job to keep things ticking over for his mum and him.
I reluctantly pull my hand from his, missing its warmth. “Well, you’re in the right place.” I give him a bright smile. “Sutherland’s is a great company to work for. They have opportunities for advancement, and if you’re looking to retrain or study, they offer a scholarship program. It’s how I put myself through business school. Next, I want to do the internal management training programme. If only my store manager would approve my request.” I grimace and then shrug. “Maybe I won’t have to rely on him if I get the assistant manager promotion I applied for.”
Max narrows his eyes on me. “Something tells me you’d make a great assistant manager.”
I laugh and wave off his praise, pretending it doesn’t warm me down to my toes. “You sure about that? A few minutes ago, I was in a heap on the floor, being assaulted by a mannequin. Doesn’t exactly scream assistant manager material, does it?”
Max smiles. “I’m a good judge of character, and I see bigger and better things in your future, Eva Starling.”
If by “bigger” and “better” he means himself—yes, please.
No, no, no. He’s off limits, ever-practical inner Eva points out.
My heart sinks at the knowledge. He’s my colleague. Mixing business with pleasure is never a good idea. Look where it landed my mum. Abandoned by her married boss when he learned she was pregnant with me.
Still, Max is incredibly easy on the eye, so at least I’ll have something nice to look at every day.Look but don’t touch.It’s a rule I’ve lived by since working in Sutherland’s—most things here are well out of my price range, in the same way that Max Joseph is out of my league.
I summon a smile. “Why don’t I show you to the manager’s office?”
Max sweeps a hand to the side. “Lead the way.”
Chapter3
Max
I’m in trouble.Eva Starling has knocked my feet out from under me.
