Beautifully Brutal (Southern Boy Mafia #1) Read Online Free

pendant on her necklace.
    She was naïve if she didn’t think he was on to her. He knew about the transmitters those four were wearing. He’d known the moment they’d stepped through his doors. But as he waited to hear what she had to say, he pretended not to notice that he now had an audience listening to their conversation.
    “Hey, Max. Sounds like there’s someone tryin’ to crash your party,” Courtney offered casually— too casually—her eyes never coming to rest on his face.
    He hated that she did that. That she wouldn’t look him in the eye when she spoke to him. If she’d been anyone else, he would’ve considered it a sign of disrespect. With her … he knew that wasn’t the case. No, with Courtney, he knew her inability to look him in the eye when she had something to say didn’t have anything to do with respect but was more of a self-preservation mechanism.
    She wanted him.
    And it was eating her alive.
    “It’s bein’ handled,” Max confirmed, reaching to take the tumbler the bartender set on the bar behind him. Turning back to face her, he followed with, “Tell your boys to stand down.”
    She did look at him then, glancing over at him from behind the silky fall of her dark brown hair. Her exotic white-gray eyes slid over his face as she swallowed hard. “As long as you can promise he won’t get anywhere near Marissa.”
    “You’ve got my word on that,” Max assured her, never looking away, willing her to see him. Really see him.
    Unfortunately, she was the one to break the eye contact.
    Taking a sip of his cognac, Max studied Courtney, taking in her elegance, the sexy way she carried herself, and most importantly, the way she pretended he wasn’t standing less than a foot away from her.
    He wanted to tell her that tonight wasn’t about Marissa Trexler. Not entirely, anyway. But he kept that little tidbit to himself. No sense in handing over his own agenda when it wasn’t necessary to accomplish his goal.
    He knew that the Sniper 1 Security team was dealing with an internal issue, one that happened to bleed over into Max’s organization to a degree, which was why he fully intended to put that to bed tonight. Their enemy, Dan Duchein—the man Courtney and her cohorts were there to find—had at one point been someone who’d proven himself useful to Max. Until recently.
    Ever since the asshole had gone off the reservation and started hunting down Ms. Trexler in an attempt to silence her completely, Max had been watching him closely. He’d known what the guy was doing, who he was after. Hell, he even knew why. It didn’t bother Max that the man was attempting to silence what he thought to be a threat to his livelihood. No, Max actually respected him for that. But he didn’t approve of the way the guy was going about it.
    It was one thing to silence those who could cause a ripple in the financial pond of a corporation, something else entirely to lay the blame elsewhere while doing so. Max fully believed in owning the reason behind the reaction, not opting for the cowardly way out.
    Max stood motionless, staring at the beautiful woman he’d spent countless hours getting to know personally—and intimately—when she glared back at him. Neither of them said anything, but nothing really needed to be said. There was a wealth of conversation going on without the need to cloud it with words.
    Despite her denial, Courtney still wanted him.
    And he still wanted her.
    “If you’ll excuse me,” Courtney said softly before turning.
    Max reached for her arm, stopping her before she could retreat. “I want to talk to you.”
    Courtney glanced down at his hand on her arm, then her gaze lifted to meet his once more. “I’ve said everything I need to say.”
    He leaned in closer, and her hand instantly went to the pendant, clearly cutting the transmission so no one else would hear him. “You’re wrong about that. There are plenty of things left to be said between us.”
    Max released her,