I stepped into Max's imposing office, the rich scent of leather and mahogany enveloping me like a thick velvet curtain. My eyes immediately landed on the man himself, seated behind his large desk like an imperious monarch surveying his domain.

When those intense hazel eyes found me hovering in the doorway, something predatory flickered in their depths, raising goosebumps along my arms.

I wavered slightly under the scorching intensity of his stare, trying not to gawk at the sheer virile power radiating from his athletic frame. Light brown hair tousled to perfection, the open collar of his crisp shirt provided a tantalizing glimpse of his sculpted chest and throat.

Objectively speaking, Max Pemberton epitomized masculine beauty. Too bad he was also an arrogant prick who looked at me like a piece of dirt on his italian loafers.

"You wanted to see me...sir?" I asked, silently cursing the slight waver in my voice as memories of the news headlines thanks to my disastrous photoshopped idea to repel Brad replayed in my mind.

Max leveled me with a look that could peel paint off the walls. "Indeed, Ms. Bennett. Have a seat." He gestured to the straight-backed chair opposite him with a flick of his wrist.

Drawing a steadying breath, I crossed the room and lowered myself into the chair, back ramrod straight. My heart stuttered unevenly as his penetrating stare roamed over me.

"I trust you're well aware of the utterly unacceptable situation your ridiculous stunt has created," he began, steepling those long fingers beneath his chiseled chin. "You effectively humiliated me in front of half Manhattan."

I opened my mouth to try and explain again, but he raised his hand, effectively silencing me with that simple commanding gesture. So damn rude.

"Manhattan's business elite are utterly convinced that we," he paused, jaw ticking, "are engaged in an unseemly workplace romance. A cheap fling between employer and employee."

Anger and embarrassment burned hot in my cheeks. "I can explain what happened to the press. If you'd just let me—"

Max's glower intensified into an outright glare. "Need I remind you how this preposterous notion came to be, Ms. Bennett? Your foolish prank has brought my personal and professional integrity into question on a massive scale."

Ouch. That one stung, worse than I cared to admit. I shifted in my seat, feeling about two inches tall under his furious, disapproving glare. How had such a stupid, harmless idea spiraled so quickly into this nightmare?

Mustering what tattered shreds of dignity I had left, I met his stare head-on. "Look, I already apologized profusely. It was a stupid, ill-conceived scheme that spiraled out of control, but I never meant –"

"Meant to make me the laughingstock of the entire city?" Max cut in with biting sarcasm. "Yes, how careless of you."

He exhaled slowly through his nose, icy composure slipping back into place. "Which leads us to a most...delicate situation that requires an equally delicate solution."

I frowned, a lead weight forming in the pit of my stomach. "What do you mean?"

A ghost of a smirk played across Max's lips as he leaned back, fingertips brushing his razor-sharp jawline. "I've given this considerable thought. As distasteful as I find this entire debacle, retribution must be...unconventional."

He paused, seeming to struggle with the words as my heart kicked into overdrive. "You'll be pursuing me."

My jaw dropped. "You're saying I should...what?"

"Pursue me as if you were madly, obsessively in love. Yes." That smirk deepened as his eyes roamed over me with undisguised relish. "An outrageously public campaign of love and devotion, if you will."

I blinked dumbly, breath stalling in my lungs. He couldn't be implying what it sounded like...could he? Tilting my head in utter bewilderment, I managed to blurt, "Come again?"

The muscle in Max's jaw ticked again, whether from annoyance or some other emotion, I couldn't tell. "Yes, Ms. Bennett. To atone for your reprehensible actions, you'll be putting yourself in a similar position of public ridicule and humiliation."

His piercing stare continued to bore into me as I squirmed, surely dead a thousand different deaths behind those glacial eyes.

"More specifically, you'll make a show of pursuing me - your employer, the infamous Max Pemberton, 'Manhattan's #1 Bachelor' - in the most cloying, sycophantic manner imaginable."

A flush of appalled heat rushed through me so violently that I felt lightheaded. What the everloving fuck? He wanted me to pursue him romantically? Publicly? Like some lovesick fangirl?

"B-but sir!" I sputtered, hands clenching on the armrests. "Surely there's been some misunderstanding. Is this because of my comment from earlier? If so, I apologize I assure you I would never turn this into a soap opera script, that was just a silly joke!"

In one sinuous movement, Max rose to his full towering height and prowled around the desk with powerful, predatory strides until he loomed over me, eyes glittering like chips of frozen fire. The sheer alpha masculinity rolling off him in heady waves was utterly overwhelming, rendering me breathless.

Without warning, he caged me against the chair, thick forearms planted on either side as his intoxicating cologne and body heat surrounded me in a dizzying vortex. I was pinned beneath the raging storm of his virility and scarcely-leashed anger.

Max leaned in until I could feel the scorching whisper of his breath ghosting my parted lips, seemingly branding them with his possession. His overwhelming proximity ignited a reckless, treacherous conflagration deep in my core that had me squirming despite myself.

"You'll pursue me as outrageously and shamelessly as any lovesick schoolgirl," he growled, voice lowering to a gravelly purr that reverberated straight to the neglected ache blooming between my thighs. "Rose petals, poetic serenades, public love letters pledging your undying devotion - the whole spectacle, Ms. Bennett. All of it before as wide an audience as humanly possible."

A deranged part of my psyche supplied a lurid image of me spelunking down his office hallway strewn with rose petals and tacky banners, trailing a cloud of cringe-worthy romantic cliches - exactly what the prim and proper security staff would consider disgruntled employee antics. My face flamed.

"But...sir, you can't actually expect me to.." I protested weakly.

One inky brow arched imperiously above that penetrating hazel stare, seeming to strip me utterly naked with just a scorching glance. "Why yes, Ms. Bennett - I do expect your full compliance. This is the price you'll pay for so grievously betraying my trust with your clumsy, thoughtless prank."

I opened and closed my mouth, at a total loss. On one hand, fake romancing my terrifying boss seemed like a cosmically bad idea - the stuff romantic comedy nightmares were made of. But facing complete professional and personal ruin wasn't exactly an attractive option either.

I froze, mouth working silently as the horrible reality settled in. With my back against the wall and nowhere to turn, what choice did I have?

Dragging in a shaky breath, I forced out a strangled whisper. "I...understand. You've made your expectations clear, Mr. Pemberton."

Something akin to dark triumph flickered across Max's features before that arrogant mask slammed back into place. Abruptly, he released me from his caging stance and crossed back around the desk in a few powerful strides.

"Excellent." That infuriatingly smug purr raised the fine hairs on my nape as he settled into his chair like a king on his throne. "Then we're in complete accord, Ms. Bennett. I expect your...apology tour to commence first thing Monday morning. You're dismissed."

With a tight jaw and burning cheeks, I pushed myself onto wobbling legs and fled Max's office, the whisper of his soft laughter licking at my retreating back. Only once I was outside Pemberton Financial did I finally sag against the cool stone exterior, mortification and dread warring within me.

Just what fresh hell had I brought upon myself? And why did a tiny part of me find it...bizarrely thrilling?

BONUS:

Max's Mini-POV:

"Yes, Ms. Bennett," I said, my voice cold. "I do expect your full compliance. This is the price you'll pay for betraying my trust with your clumsy, thoughtless prank."

My name, my status, my credibility—all were now suspect thanks to her idiocy. Years spent guarding my reputation, maintaining an impeccable image, undone by her staggering lack of forethought. The look of shame burning across her cheeks was a pitifully inadequate balm. This blatant disregard for discretion was unacceptable, inexcusable. She would atone for this error and learn a hard lesson.