Hide and Seek

Prologue

Chapter one

Chapter two

Chapter three

Chapter four

Chapter five

Chapter six

Chapter seven

Chapter eight

Chapter nine

Chapter ten

Chapter eleven

Chapter twelve

Chapter thirteen

Chapter fourteen

Chapter fifteen

Chapter sixteen

Chapter seventeen

Chapter eighteen

Chapter nineteen

Chapter twenty

Chapter twenty-one

Chapter twenty-two

Chapter twenty-three

Epilogue

G
o
out with me.” Maxim held a lit match over the beaker he held in his hand, the flame slowly burning toward his fingertips. “Tonight.”

His commanding voice heated Elisa—both in arousal and anger. It seemed he would never give up and she was too damn close to giving in.

And failing chemistry. She, a normally straight-A student. Which also meant—no thanks to him—she wouldn't be able to move onto Solid Waste Management and Recycling next year, not unless she enrolled in a summer class. She'd planned to volunteer in the Peace Corps.

“Come on. Knock it off!” she hissed under her breath, unconsciously reading the label on the glass container.
ETHYLBENZENE
?

“Maxim!” Emitting a small squeak, Elisa took a step back. “That's very flammable!” What was he thinking? This was
Harvard
!

How had he even gotten in? As hard as she'd worked…

He winked at her. The asshole. “Come on, baby. Go out with me.”

“If I've told you
no
once, I've told you a hundred times. Now blow that match out before you blow up the lab.”

A shiver ran down her spine, tingles pooling in her loins.
Jesus!
This was
not
turning her on.

But it was. Why was she letting this playboy affect her so much? Because of his antics, they'd gotten a D on their last project.

Yet she stayed his lab partner. She told herself it was to please Professor Hobbs, but that was a lie. She was pleasing herself.

“I promise to show you the time of your life,” he insisted.

I bet, she thought.

“Now,” she ordered, whispering so the professor wouldn't notice them. “Do it! Or I'll never go out with you!”

If she wasn't afraid of an explosion, she'd smack him.

Elisa's breath shortened as she stared at him. Go out with him? Why did he keep asking? She'd have to be nuts.

Though he did look rather sexy in those safety glasses, with his wispy, unruly hair sticking out where they hooked on his ears. And the way he left his lab coat half-unbuttoned, as well as his shirt, so just a hint of golden chest hair peeked through, driving her nuts.

With his hard tan body, long golden hair, and deep, soul-searching eyes, he was the sexiest guy on campus. Somehow, he always looked like he'd just rolled out of bed…and like he could easily hop right back in it.
All
the girls appreciated his looks…and weren't ashamed to show it.

Except her. She was far too busy for the likes of him. They were complete opposites and she'd made it totally clear how she felt about him. So why did he even want her?

More importantly,
why
did she want him?

“So you will?”

“I didn't say that!”

Despite how short the match was getting, Maxim lowered his hand another inch. He raised his brows.

Elisa opened her mouth, then clamped it shut.

Damn it!
Maxim's request was hardly a new one; her considering saying yes was. Ever since Professor Hobbs had forced them together as lab partners three months ago, Maxim had been sniffing at her skirts like a hungry dog. No surprise, a man-slut like him wanted to conquer
every
female…apparently even one as nerdy as her.

“Ouch!” The flame reached his fingers and Maxim shook his hand, blowing out the fire.

He was so not her type.

But he was so damn cute. And every time their hands brushed, she swore
she
was going to explode.

After all, this
was
college. Wasn't she supposed to be having fun?

What could one date really hurt?

One might even say she owed it to her femininity.

Maxim relit another match. “Elisa, what d'ya say?”

Maybe she didn't approve of his philandering ways, maybe he didn't “get” her, but somehow, they'd become friends. He was fun to work with. He made her laugh—when he wasn't making her get bad grades and endangering her life.

She wouldn't have sex with him on the first date, she promised herself. Not even by the third. Not even if he begged. If she wasn't going to do it with him, what would a couple of dates hurt?

“Okay, I—”

The classroom door slammed open, drawing their attention. In walked Jenny, one of Maxim's many ex's, the head cheerleader who'd been absent the past week or so. One look revealed why: boob job. Her yellow knit shirt was strung so snug across her bulging chest it was a miracle she hadn't toppled forward.

Elisa's heart lodged in her throat as her gaze dashed to Maxim. He was staring, practically drooling. Jenny looked his way and winked.

Maxim's jaw dropped. The match dropped.

Kaboom!

H
oly
shit!
Could his eyes be fooling him?

Snatching the American tabloid,
Shine
, from the rack, Maxim stared in disbelief at the candid snapshot splashed all over the front cover.

Elisa?
Elisa Cross from college? Women's rights activist, hippy wannabe, environmental science brainiac Elisa, who'd refused his every advance? Advances he would normally never have made toward such a difficult female, except that there had always been something about her…something intriguing…despite the fact that she'd so accurately dubbed him a man-slut.

The beautiful woman caught on camera, sandwiched between two men, passion gleaming in her sea blue eyes, her dark, wavy hair curtaining her upper body from public exposure, made his cock twitch. Instantly, he longed to wrap his fingers in her incredible mane and ride her like a stallion.

Maxim caressed the glossy cover, tracing his fingers along the outline of her lips. Damn, he couldn't believe it. It
was
her, though she appeared quite different from the girl he remembered. She looked like a woman now, fully bloomed, ripe…

His cock swelled, reminding him how much he'd wanted her then. How much he still wanted her now. No matter how many women he fucked, it was Elisa who haunted his dreams, torturing him with what had never been.

Lab partners back at Harvard, he'd become infatuated with her, and had blatantly flirted, asking her out time and again. But her answer had remained the same:
no, not a chance.

Until that one time. He'd almost had her. Then he'd blown it. Literally.

He touched the magazine cover, remembering. She'd had all of five friends, while he'd been downright popular. She'd gotten straight A's; he'd bribed his best friend into doing his homework. She'd been convinced she'd save the world one day; he just wanted to sweet-talk the next female into his bed. What had attracted him to her so deeply was beyond him, but it was different than what he'd felt for any woman, any time in his life. Something about her made him feel
real
, like life was meant to be more than the simple existence he lived, like happily ever after could exist. He liked being around her.

He read the tabloid's headline.
Lance Cross's daughter CAUGHT! The mega soap star disowns her and adopts monkey to inherit his fortune.

Sure, he believed that.

But there was no denying the picture. It didn't appear doctored, not in the least.

Disappointment and anticipation simultaneously filled him. Elisa had despised him for enjoying sex so openly—and frequently—and often with more than one woman. In fact, it had been her main reason for refusing him so many times. Now, here she was, publicly exposed with two men?

He didn't like it. Not one bit.

He should be one of those men. He should be
both
those men.

Maybe now he could be. Elisa must have loosened up—a lot—to be caught in such a situation. The possibility intrigued him to no end.

But he certainly didn't want this article intriguing anyone else. A twinge of jealousy twisted through him. He grabbed the remaining copies from the vendor's display and pulled out his wallet. “I'll take them all.”

After paying the grinning merchant, Maxim rushed through the Khan, the outdoor marketplace in Cairo, in the direction of his convertible Jaguar.

He flipped open the tabloid to her article, speed-reading.
Porn star Elisa Cross denies her sexy new career despite downloads and DVDs now available worldwide…her famous father publicly refutes her…her legal firm says “You're fired!”

Jeez. Poor Elisa. He didn't believe the porn star claim for a minute, but the rest of the scandal? What the hell had happened?

Getting out his cell phone, he highlighted Dylan's phone number and called his old dorm buddy, a man who was practically a brother to him.

Dylan picked up after only one ring. “Hello?”

“Have you seen
Shine
?”

Dylan grunted in amusement. “
Shine
? The tabloid? Not my cup of tea, Maxim. What are you doing up so early, anyway? It must be six a.m. in Egypt.”

Having reached his car, Maxim hopped in the open top, and started the engine. “Seven. I haven't turned in yet—had a glorious night with two redheads who wanted a
thorough
tour of Cairo and all its finer points, if you catch my drift. Besides, I'm avoiding the hotel. The opening of the newest resort in Africa went well, life is running smoothly again, which means my mother is bored. She's taken up residence in the room next to mine and has been making a daily effort to shove
proper
females off on me. She's got it in her head that I couldn't possibly run the hotel efficiently, not until I marry a nice girl and quiet down.”

“When
do
you plan to settle down?”

“Why would I?” Maxim scoffed, not liking the turn of conversation already. Not now, not after the past few hours. Why was it that everyone felt the need to get on his case lately? He was fine!
Happy
. “I've got everything a man could want—plenty of sex, fast cars, and money to burn. The hotel is booming, I've hired plenty of goons in suits to do the boring work, and I spend every day loving life. I live abroad. I travel when I please and where I please. No female badgering me to change my plans, no kids, or potential kids, to worry about. It's a wonderful, incredible way to live, I swear. I'll never understand why you settled down and—”

“You sound like your trying to sell bachelorism to me,” Dylan jested. “Is someone getting slightly bored?”

Maxim gripped his steering wheel, feeling like slamming down on the pedal and speeding away from the truth. Losing interest, he'd actually shortened his evening with the twins last night and had spent the early morning hours roaming the dirty streets of Cairo, thinking about the
future
. He kept telling himself he must be getting a cold, but in truth, lately every single day, every single woman, seemed the same.

Releasing a pent-up breath, Maxim answered, “Maybe.”

He'd never admit that to another damn soul, but Dylan he could trust with his feelings, corny as that sounded.

Dylan came through with a sympathetic response. “Don't sweat it so much. Every man gives up his wild ways eventually.”

Exactly what he was terrified of! Maxim decided it was time to drop the subject. Bored or not, he wasn't settling down. He couldn't. “Speaking of which, how is married life treating you?”

“Sadie is amazing. You know that.”

“Good, good. Now about that tabloid.” Maxim returned to the purpose of his call. “Elisa Cross is splashed all over the front of it.”

“Elisa from college? The sexy, smart chick you lab-partnered with and almost blew up?” Dylan chuckled. “She wouldn't give you the time of day. I think she was one of the most intelligent girls at school, avoiding you as she did.”

Maxim chose to ignore Dylan's jest. “That's the one.”

“What about her? Still pining?”

“Well, according to the picture, she's changed her stance on man-sluts. Now, it appears she's quite into threesomes.”

Dylan grunted. “No shit.”

“No shit.” Maxim retrieved a magazine, again studying the photo, particularly the look in her eyes, the way her pupils were glazed over, making him question her sobriety. She'd either been really turned on, or really, really inebriated. He hoped the latter. “Dylan, I think I'm a little bit pissed.”

It wasn't like him to get jealous. He shared women with his good buddies all the time, and until now, had never wanted a female to himself more than he wanted to pluck Elisa from the magazine cover and take her home.

“I think you still have the hots for her. I think you've always felt different about her.”

“I never kept it a secret. You know I'm not the type to mince words.”

“So find her,” Dylan suggested, as if the answer were so simple.

Was it?

“Really? Find her? That's weird.”

“Hey, you're the one who said you're free to travel anywhere you please. If you want her, go after her, and this time, don't take no for an answer, because I'll tell you right now, Elisa
did
harbor an attraction to you, she was just too smart to admit it.”

Maxim scoffed. “She almost did. Until Miss Tits walked in and made me blow the lab up.”

“Elisa was hurt. Can you blame her?”

“I did apologize.” Over, over, and over.

“You scarred her!”

“So now you're on her side?”

“Hey, Elisa was a nice girl and my friend. What with the way you carried on, I didn't want to see you date her. She had big career plans, was going to save the world, and you were returning to Egypt right after graduation to work for your parents. It couldn't have worked out. You would have hurt her and I wasn't prepared to allow that.”

Dylan was right. Elisa had always been better off without him, hence his willingness to stay away despite how he ached for her. Looking at this photo, he suddenly begged to differ. “And she's not too good for me now?” he asked, more to himself than Dylan.

The way he saw it, Elisa
needed
him around. Look where she'd ended up on her own—publicly embarrassed, disinherited, and unemployed.

Dylan laughed. “Now that you're all grown up and ready to settle down, and—”

“I never said that.”

“Oh, sure. Maxim, she's still on your mind, after all this time. Go after her.”

Maxim nodded, dropping the magazine. “You're right. Thanks, Dylan.”

Why shouldn't he go after Elisa? Get her out of his system once and for all? If he went home like this, he wouldn't sleep for days. He'd be up every night, thinking about her, imagining her in his arms, looking at him the way she looked at the men in that damn photo, and meanwhile, he'd have to suffer his mother and her string of fortune-sniffing females dubbed suitable to marry. Besides, with Mother in town, she could look after the hotel.

He just wanted his life to stay the way it was—with women and parties aplenty. He sure wasn't settling down, not ever, but as far as he was concerned, the doors were open to finally sample Elisa Cross. He wasn't stopping until he was
well
satisfied.

“Don't forget to visit your old bud while you're in the States.”

“Will do,” Maxim promised and then hung up, pressing down hard on the gas pedal as he sped in the direction of the airport.

C
ould
she really use this thing? What's more, could having a piece of rubber shoved up her cunt really compare to a man's cock?

Elisa wiggled the nine-inch hunk of see-through purple rubber shaped at an odd angle. Nope. She tossed it back in the container. “So not me,” she muttered to herself.

Filled with various sex toys, all dusty from neglect, the Rubbermaid box held what her sister Lizzy called the
solution
to all her relationship problems.

“Men are for using, and losing, but never trusting,” Elisa recited to herself.

Crap!
Why hadn't she listened to Lizzy half a year ago?

Lizzy had been asserting her stance on the male sex to Elisa since she'd met Derrick—as well as presenting Elisa with sex toy gag gifts as encouragement to dump the jerk. Lizzy wasn't weird…well…not in the perverted sense. The night club owner was just as kooky as a woman could be, perhaps even a little over the edge, and she did not care for men. At all.

“She's got a real fine point.” Elisa's eyebrows rose as she retrieved a massive-sized vibrator from the collection. “No man is this well-endowed.”

Sighing, Elisa tossed the toy back. Too much for her first test-drive with a fake dick.

With a frown, she continued to sift through the extensive selection. If she'd just listened to Lizzy once, maybe she wouldn't be in this awful situation. Deep down, Elisa had always known Derrick was an ass, but the days had turned into months, and somehow, he'd gained her affection, her confidence. She hadn't even loved the jerk…she'd just lusted for him and her desire had put blinders on her. She'd let him connive her into doing things she'd otherwise never do—clueless that each encounter had been caught on video. Posted on the Internet. Sold on DVD.
The bastard.

Her soap star father and his fame already shoved her into the limelight she despised. Now she'd been turned into a porn star without ever having a clue. What a fool she'd been and now she was paying the price. After
Shine
had exposed her less lucrative “career” in filmmaking, her world had crashed to pieces. She'd lost her father's esteem, her peers' respect. The gossip had been too much to take and her boss had taken over her case, giving her some “time off” to let things blow over, which likely meant she'd be fired. Hell, even her dog had left her, choosing to remain with her slimeball ex.