“Wastes time.”

“Precisely.” His fingers tightened on her hand. “So do you know why I really asked you to stay out at the estate for the weekend?”

Her brain short-circuited. He didn’t give her a chance to recover. “I want you, Sidney.”

The soft declaration made her ears ring. Her fingers quivered in his warm grasp.

“And you want me.”

Sidney pulled in a ragged breath. “Max—”

He squeezed her hand. “Don’t you?”

“I—”

“Look, I’m not trying to rush you. I know small talk generally eludes me.”

“You could say that.”

“I wouldn’t have told you last night—I should have told you last night, but I was afraid you’d leave. I wanted you here. With me.”

Sidney concentrated on breathing normally. “It wouldn’t work. We’re too different.”

“I thought so, too.” He cast a swift glance at the door. “For a long time, I thought so. But I changed my mind.”

“If that gets out,” she managed to quip, “it could cause the value of the dollar to plunge in the foreign currency markets.”

His soft chuckle rumbled along her nerve endings. “You have an overinflated sense of my importance, I assure you.”

“As long as we’re laying our cards on the table, is this a good time for me to tell you that you scare me to death?”

His eyebrows rose. “I’d never hurt you, Sidney.”

“I know that. That’s not what I mean.”

“Explain it to me.”

She searched for words. “I guess—I don’t want to feel like another corporate takeover.”

He blinked. “Excuse me?”

She pulled her hand from his. “It’s hard to explain. After Carter—after my divorce—I swore I’d never do that to myself again.”

“Are you comparing me to your ex-husband?” His tone had turned flat—and sounded somehow more dangerous.

“No.” She shook her head. “No, you’re nothing like Carter. He was weak and selfish, and I was a fool to marry him.”

“Sidney—”

“Don’t say it,” she said with a slight smile. “There’s no point in arguing with me. What kind of idiot gets involved with a jerk like that?”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

She inwardly cringed. He could never understand the flood of self-condemnation that had engulfed her when her marriage dissolved. Max didn’t make colossal mistakes. It was beyond his scope of experience. “Whatever. The point is, I had a really hard time putting myself back together after he—after it was over.”

“I know.” His gray eyes studied her. “Philip told me.”

“He tells you a lot, doesn’t he?”

“He loves you.”

“I know he does.” She managed a slight smile. “He loves you, too.”

With incredibly gentle fingers, Max tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Sidney, no more stalling.” He seated himself on the edge of his desk. “Talk to me.”

“I’m afraid of what might happen to me if I get involved with you,” she admitted.

“I’ll take care of you.”

“Oh, Max. Don’t you see? I don’t want you to take care of me. I’ve just started to feel like I’m pretty good at taking care of myself. I’m not ready to turn the job over to someone else.”

That made him frown. “I didn’t mean—”

“I know. It’s not you. It’s me.” She couldn’t hold his gaze any longer. “This is all moving a little fast for me.”

“I’ve known you for ten years.”

She laughed a little. “You’ve barely spoken to me, and now, suddenly, you want…” She couldn’t continue.

“It’s not sudden. I’ve wanted you for a long time, but things were never right for us.”

Her gaze flew to his. “Max—”

“It’s true.” He leaned closer. “It’s complicated, and I’m not sure I understand it. I’m not very good at explaining myself. I don’t have to do it very often.”

“I don’t think—”

He cut her off. “We’re going to be together all weekend.” His gaze narrowed. “If I have my way, really together. I want you to understand that. I don’t want to play games.”

“I’m feeling overwhelmed.”

“I tend to have that effect on people.” With his fingertips he gently traced the curve of her eyebrows. The touch made her shiver. “I decided last night that I’m tired of waiting. I’d prefer to know exactly where I stand with you.”

She was drowning in the intoxicating sensation of his clean scent filling her head and his warmth wrapping her in a sensory cocoon. “Max, please.”

“Please what?” His voice had dropped to a seductive whisper. “Please stop? Please don’t stop?”

She shook her head, trying to clear it. “I don’t know.”

His lips turned into a beautiful smile that stole her breath and made her heart skip a beat. “Don’t worry.” He reached for her hand, then raised it to press a kiss to her wrist. “I’ve waited this long, and I may not like it, but I can wait a little longer. I can wait until you’re ready.”

Sidney drew a steadying breath.

“A few more hours won’t kill me.”

“Hours?” she choked out.

His smile widened. “Did I happen to mention that in addition to ‘Mad Max,’ my adversaries call me ‘Max the Relentless?”’

“I’d heard that.”

He tipped his head so his mouth was a hairbreadth from hers. “You’re about to experience it firsthand.”

Her knees almost buckled. “I might not survive.”

He pressed a swift kiss to her lips. “Don’t worry,” he said again. “You won’t get hurt. I promise.”

Her lips burned from the slight contact, but the words penetrated the fog in her brain to leave her with an uneasy feeling. “You can’t guarantee that.”

He evidently decided to ignore her protest. He shrugged. “I’ll let you make the choice, Sidney. Just don’t wait too long to make it.”

Or, she thought, you’ll make it for me.

To her utter relief, Sidney barely saw Max for the rest of the day. She had ample time to consider her reaction to the man as she and her staff prepared for the evening’s event. Max’s guests proved to be relatively undemanding during the daylight hours, which, Sidney considered, was a good thing. In her current muddle, she wasn’t certain she could have adequately handled a major crisis.

More than once, she chided herself for an overactive imagination when Max’s staff seemed to study her with undue curiosity. For the most part, she’d known these people for years through her relationship with her uncle. They knew of her long history with the Loden family, and surely found nothing odd about her third-floor rendezvous with their boss. After all, Philip had left her in charge for the weekend. Everyone knew it. Guilt alone was making her think everyone knew she harbored thoughts of jumping their boss’s bones.

One of the housemaids sauntered by, offering Sidney a jaunty smile. “Cripes,” Sidney mumbled to herself. “Two more days of this and they’ll have to have me committed.” More likely, two more days of close proximity to Max and she’d turn into a complete simpleton. He had that effect on her. He enveloped her. How in the world, she wondered more than once, could anyone fail to notice the way the man sucked up all the available oxygen and space in a room. He was like a human firecracker—he inspired awe when properly handled, and he had the potential to be positively deadly.

Sidney had worked herself into a nervous sweat by the time she put the finishing touches on a tray of handmade chocolates. The combination of stainless steel and granite in Max’s ultramodern kitchen did nothing to chill the slight fever on her flesh.

Unmistakably strong, tanned hands came from behind to rest on either side of her, pinning her to the counter. Sidney pulled in a ragged breath and tried not to surrender to the urge to melt into him.

Max whispered against her ear, “I hope you brought something to wear to the party tonight.” His breath fanned her face.

Sidney kept her voice light. “My uniform.”

He nuzzled her ear. “I’d rather you attended. I’m looking forward to—” he paused almost imperceptibly “—dancing with you.”