Dreamchaser

A Truth for a Truth

It only took twenty minutes to arrive in front of Max's apartment building, it wasn't far from my own. "Do they live in the same building?" Surely, I couldn't be this unlucky.

"Same apartment while Master Cole is in the city. Shall I take you up?"

"No, it's okay, I'm sure I'll manage. Thank you for the ride." I smiled waiting for him to leave but he stayed planted in the same spot.

"I'll wait until you're finished to drive you home. There's no rush."

"There's really no need, I'm pretty sure it's only a twenty-minute walk to my place from here. I could do with the exercise." I joked looking down at my body.

He made a face and shook his head. "I'm fine waiting." There was no arguing with that. I headed up the stairs and as I opened the tinted glass doors, I walked right into Cole.

"I'm so sorry, I-"

"Hey, princess. Are you stalking me?" Those big amber eyes stared down at me with a devilish grin. Aamon eyed us from the car suspiciously, so I took Cole's arm in mine and pulled him into the building.

"As much as I like a take charge woman, I'm not sure the boss would approve." He purred in my ear looking back at the watchful eyes of Max's driver. "He's got you a babysitter already?" I rolled my eyes and let him lead me to the apartment.

"You know, this is a really bad idea. I could be a murderer for all you know." He stopped in front of the familiar door.

"Yeah, I'm sure a murderer would just announce his plans and give the captive time to run away." Here goes nothing. "How have I never seen you here before? Max never said he had a roommate."

"Wow, you move quick princess. So you're out of the cold phase then?" I pushed him playfully as we entered the apartment. "He's had me running around like a headless chicken, not much time to relax."

"It's part of my job, arsehole. And I've never seen you do much 'work'." It was still overwhelming no matter how many times I'd been inside Max's home. Insanely extravagant, like nearly everything else in his life. Landscapes of places I couldn't even dream up hung on the dark walls, all stunning and magical. A large black leather sofa took up half the room and a tv almost as big facing it even though I'd never seen him use the one in his office. The rest of the right wall was made up of shelves filled with books and trinkets. I ran a hand across the closest shelf and wondered how long it would take to amass such a collection.

"How did you know I'd be here?" Reality check. Time to put on a good show.

"Max sent me, he was busy with his dad and he had work for me to do." Cole watched me closely; he didn't seem the type to check in and I hoped he would just accept my word for it. He feigned a shot to the heart and I knew I was right.

"And here was me thinking you were here to see me."

I snorted, easing the tension, was it even tension if it was one sided? "What can I say, your boss is a ball buster." I shrugged and he laughed out loud.

"Don't we all know it. You thirsty? I make a mean sex on the beach." Back to the flirting, I was home free.

"I'll need ten of those by the time I'm done." Making my way through to the office, I headed towards the crazy number of files lining the walls, each with dates and names I didn't recognise. There must be a hundred years' worth of clients here, not the best filing system I'd created but he'd insisted they were left alone and not to be opened.

I fingered through the papers on the desk, but nothing jumped out, just boring numbers and names. This was stupid. If he came home and found me in his office I was in serious trouble. The drawers of the desk were locked, and the computer password protected. Dead end.