Free Broken Submission: Surrendering Softly (Contemporary Submissive Romance) by Katelyn Skye Page B

shower.
    Lucky for him
he had no sapping traces of a hangover but he did have a
figuratively sour taste in his mouth thanks to how things had been
going all week. Or make that a few months or so of the same thing
happening night after night. Partying, clubbing, staying out until
the early hours of the morning. This life of dissipation had become
far too familiar to him for a long while and yet no matter how many
women tumbled into his bed or how many rounds of alcohol he
consumed, he still couldn’t stem the emptiness inside.
    Why was he
doing this to himself?
    Hours later,
that was the same thing his best friend James Ransom asked as they
faced each other across the desk in James’s spacious high rise
office. James and Maxwell had been friends since their days at
Harvard, even playing on the same college baseball team. Their
friendship had endured even years after as both had reached their
thirty-fifth year. James was as single as Maxwell but didn’t have
the same wild proclivity for women.
    A renowned
attorney with whole corporations and celebrities on his client
list, James was attractive and dark-haired while Maxwell was just
as handsome but with a thick mop of golden curls he tried taming
with severe cuts that only drew more attention to the almost
beautiful edge to his good looks. Maxwell topped many ‘eligible
bachelor’ lists though James always teased that Maxwell went
through so many women it was a wonder anyone considered him fit for
marriage at all.
    “You’re the
quintessential bad boy, Max,” James noted with a slant in his white
smile. “Wasting your very expensive and accomplished education and
silver-spoon background on this path to debauchery.”
    “Stop, James.
Jesus,” Maxwell groaned playfully, placing his hand to his head
with a grimace. “You’ll start sounding too much like my father.
Maybe like him you think I should take more of a dedicated role in
his mighty conglomerate.”
    James shrugged
his broad shoulders. “As your best friend and lawyer I can honestly
say you’re one of the most intelligent men I know. You can excel at
anything you set your mind on. It’s a shame you can’t dedicate it
to more worthy pursuits than attempting to run through the city’s
adult female population.”
    “Now you’re
beginning to sound like my mother,” mocked Maxwell, but James
merely chuckled and shook his head just as there came a buzzing
from his desk.
    “Yes, Amelia?”
James asked, depressing the button to speak to his secretary.
    “It’s Lily, Mr.
Ransome. Should I send her in?”
    James told her
yes and sat back with an almost apologetic grin directed at
Maxwell. “Some of us have to work, buddy,” he murmured.
    Not budging,
Maxwell spread out his hands. “I’ll try not to be too much of a
distraction,” he replied just as a knock sounded briefly on the
door and at James’ command, a woman entered, holding a file to her
chest.
    Maxwell’s eyes
sharpened as they fell on the employee. She greeted her boss with a
smile which faltered somewhat when she turned and noticed
Maxwell.
    “Oh I’m sorry,
Mr. Ransom. I thought you were alone; you did ask me to see you at
eleven to discuss the Chase Foxworth case file. Good morning, Mr.
Craig.”
    Maxwell merely
nodded though his gaze remained speculative as he ran it
deliberately over the shapely woman from head to foot. He noted the
blush staining her cheek and smiled secretly. Maxwell hardly ever
switched off his wolfish mode; he was always on the look-out for
conquests and the lovely Lily had caught his eye the minute she
joined James’ firm as a paralegal.
    She was a bit
curvy and much too sedate for his tastes but then Maxwell could
tell there was great potential beneath her dowdy skirt suits and
frumpy heels. Her dark auburn hair was luxurious and thick even in
its austere chignon and her eyes behind her black simple frames
were a bright, captivating green. There was something about her
that called to the dominant and the ravisher