Stealing Emma

Chapter 2 - Fire Extinguisher

Max walked into the study room, ready to get down to business. They only had 30 minutes to go over the case study and write down their ideas so they needed to get to it. Especially since he had taken the liberty of grabbing a leisurely coffee after being dismissed from class. Lord knew he had to clear his head after a sleepless night.

His socks almost fell off when he saw Emma seated in the middle of the room being the center of attention and looking mighty fine. Oh, hell no. They were in the same group for the semester? How had he not seen her in class before? Probably because he had been too distracted all morning thinking about her instead.

Emma stopped talking as soon as he walked in, and didn't seem to be pleased by his presence either. "Max. So glad you could join us. Please take a seat," she said politely, but her expression was anything but polite.

"Why, thank you Emma. You are much too kind," he said looking at her menacingly.

"You two know each other?" a blonde girl asked with a Spanish accent.

"You could say that," Emma responded. "Max, I would introduce you to the rest of the team, but your reputation precedes you as the MVP from yesterday's game. Maybe we should just call you LeBron from now on," she said bitterly.

Geez, way to hold a grudge, he thought. She was still upset over that?

Emma stood up and began writing some notes on the whiteboard and outlining the case. All he could do was stare at her from behind. From her long chocolate brown hair, her tiny waist, to those incredibly fitted jeans that did amazing things to her ass.

He was pleased to see it really was quite lovely, and not just a product of his wild imagination from when he had taken a peek at it the day before. It was all too easy to imagine cupping that exquisite flesh and pulling her up tightly against him. Especially after it had permeated throughout his dreams all night long. He suddenly felt uncomfortable in his seat and had to readjust his position before the physical reaction he was having towards her became too obvious.

God, she was sexy as hell. He pictured her emerald green eyes boring into him from the day before, heating up as she first turned to look at him. Yes, he had definitely seen a spark of attraction from her in those eyes, even if it had only lasted for a minute before he had to go and open his big mouth. She clearly hated his guts from that moment on. And he clearly had to do something to change that.

"Max, do you have anything to contribute or are you just going to sit there?"

Man, this American beauty was a feisty one. "I think you've pretty much covered it, Emma. Clearly you're in charge."

"Fine by me. So who wants to present?" she asked the group.

The entire room grumbled as no one wanted to be stuck doing the first presentation of grad school on the fly.

"You don't wanna present, Emma?" a nerdy looking Asian guy asked with a thick accent.

"Well if no one else wants to, I guess I'll just do it," she said.

As soon as the words were out, everyone just filed out of the room. Except Max, of course. He still had some business to attend to with this little firecracker.

"Look, I think we started off on the wrong foot," he told her.

"You think?" she bit out.

"I'm going to let the little stunt you pulled on me yesterday with the girls slip. I guess I deserved that. But just so you know, it wasn't my intention to steal your precious intel. I was standing there the whole time. You were just too busy in your little world to even notice me. Alright?"