He pulled her the rest of the way into the room where the lights were set at dim. The only response he gave her was the press of his lips to hers and the slow sway of his body as he held her against him. Her arms linked around his neck, and for a moment, her eyes pricked with the threat of tears.
“Thank you, Max.”
He shook his head, looking down at her with dark eyes. “Thank you, baby.”
And then he was kissing her again, still slowly, but this time with the hunger that had been building with every date. She opened beneath him, welcoming the first thrust of his tongue with a trembling moan. And like that, her body was alive, on fire.
Ready.
Her fingers clutched at the back of his neck as she pressed into him, wanting to feel all of him. Max groaned into her mouth, his hands coasting over the curve of her ass and down to the backs of her thighs. Between her legs.
“Max.” She shuddered as he brought them even closer and she felt the hard bulge of his shaft between them.
“You are so damned beautiful,” he groaned against her neck. “I didn’t know if I’d be able to make it through dinner without pulling you out of there and bringing you home. But now, baby, I need to see you again. All of you.”
It had been one of those lines Max wouldn’t cross during their dates. Even when he’d had his fingers deep inside her, their clothes had stayed on. When she’d asked him about it after, his answer had been that he was just a man and even his restraint had limits.
But tonight that restraint was cast aside.
She nodded and he took her by the shoulders, gently turning her so she faced away from him. The barest hint of stubble scraped the spot where her shoulder and neck met, followed by the lightest suction. Her belly tensed as liquid heat spilled through her center. Drawing the zipper down her back, inch after inch, he followed the path of newly exposed skin with soft kisses that ended low on her spine, just above the racy panties she’d bought for him.
Brushing his thumb over the scalloped edge, he growled, “Turn around for me, baby.”
Hands going to the narrow straps of her dress, she did as he asked. Max knelt before her, his eyes hooded, his hands resting lightly on the fabric at her hips. “Show me.”
Slipping the straps from her shoulders, she let the dress pool around her feet so she was standing there in her heels and scantily cut bra and panties. Max’s eyes burned a path up her body and back down.
“My every fantasy.” Hands moving back to her hips, he pressed his mouth low against her stomach, licking the spot and then sucking just hard enough to pull at that achy place deep inside. Kissing lower still, he mouthed the front of her panties and then licked the silky panel between her legs.
His breath was warm against the place that was already wet. His tongue, a decadent stroke that nearly buckled her knees. Then he was standing, working the buttons of his shirt free before shouldering out of it.
Her mouth watered at the sight of all that bare skin and hard muscle. Because Max was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. And in that moment, he was making her feel like the most treasured, valued woman in all eternity.
His motions were quick and efficient as he freed the tongue of his belt and undid his fly. “On the bed, Sarah.”
She could hear the urgency in his voice, the restraint, and it only added fuel to her fire. Shucking his pants but not his boxer briefs, he stepped over to the bed, stopping in front of her where she’d sat at the edge.
The black fabric of his shorts was stretched over his thick shaft, tempting her in a way she’d never been tempted before. Reaching for him, she smoothed her hand over his covered length, gently squeezing. Max’s breath left him in a hiss as he jerked under her touch. She licked her lips, wanting more. Fingers creeping past the elastic, she freed him, pushing the briefs down his thighs.
Her breath was coming fast, her heart racing as she stared at his engorged length. She’d known he was big. Had felt him beneath his clothes before. Noticed and contemplated the difference between him and Cory.
The significant difference.
Max stood in front of her, every muscle in his body tensed, but the only contact he made was the gentle brush of his hand over her hair to where it was pinned in place. Slowly, he removed the pins one after another as she ran her fingers over the taut skin, wrapping her hand around him and—
“Enough, baby,” he said, pulling back from her grasp. “It’s too good.”
Retrieving a condom she hadn’t noticed before, he opened the package and rolled the protection on. Her heart skipped. Was this it?
He knelt in front of her again, pulling her knees forward so they bracketed his ribs and he could kiss her, tease her with slow thrusts of his tongue that had her insides clenching and her hips shifting as she tried to get closer to him. She needed contact.
Max undid her bra and helped her out of it, breaking from their kiss to look at her breasts. Thumbing her tight nipples, he rumbled, “So many temptations, where to kiss first?”
“Anywhere,” she whispered, feeling like she was on fire.
He shook his head, giving her another of those devastating grins. “Everywhere.”
His mouth sought her breast, his tongue circling the nipple before drawing hard against it. Crying out, she arched into him, moving forward until she was practically straddling him where he knelt. He shifted his attention to her other breast, giving her his teeth and tongue as his strong hands squeezed and kneaded her ass, spreading that delicious sensation of sensual possession throughout her body.
“More,” Max panted against her soft flesh, burning a path of devouring kisses down her stomach. Lower. Hooking his fingers into the sides of her panties, he edged out from between her legs so he could pull the garment down. “I need to taste you.”
Then, eyes locked with hers, he slowly, deliberately palmed her knees and pressed them open. She trembled—from the vulnerability of her position, from knowing that any second those dark-gray eyes would drop, and he would be looking at her there. From wanting him to.
Shouldering his way between her legs, he slid his hands beneath her, and cupping her bottom, he lifted her to his mouth.
“Max!” she gasped as he licked through her sex. His fingers flexed against her, and his eyes closed in what might have been pain, but when they reopened, she saw pure, unadulterated pleasure in them. He tasted her again, sinking into it like he’d never get enough. Her back arched, and she cried out at the sudden sensation rocketing through her. Eyes closed, she writhed beneath a kiss so all-consuming she could barely catalog what was happening, except that it was the best thing anyone had ever done to her.
His tongue dipped inside, stroking in and out as she gasped his name and clutched at his hair. Arching her hips, she begged for more and cried out when he replaced his tongue with one finger and then two. He played with her, running circles around that throbbing bundle of nerves with the tip of his tongue and then giving her the flat of it. Sucking her. Pumping his thick fingers in and out. Two became three, and oh, sensation was building fast within her. Hot and sweet, it was so much and not enough and—
“Please,” she begged, her hips rocking to meet each thrust and lick. Need laced tighter and tighter. “Please… I need… Yes, please… Max…”
Stroking her with a beckoning curl of his fingers, he hit a spot she’d heard rumors about but hadn’t, until that moment, been sure actually existed. Everything stopped, her entire being refocusing on that singular spot that sent lightning forking through her body.
Shocked, she looked down to where Max was staring up at her from between her legs. Her chest hurt; her body trembled.
Reaching for him, she brushed her fingertips against the short strands of his hair. He climbed up her body, one arm sliding under her to pull her higher up the bed. And then he was braced above her, her knees at either side of his hips, her fingers light agains
t his chest and face. She blinked up into Max’s waiting, patient, heated eyes.
“I think my next breath depends on you,” she whispered, a calm coming over her even with her body tensed on the edge of release.
Supporting himself on one arm, Max brushed her bottom lip with his thumb and then positioned himself so he was at her opening. The thick head nudged against that place of give where she was wet and slick and so very sensitive. He waited a beat, maybe giving her a chance to change her mind or maybe just to collect himself, but then he pushed inside, penetrating her a bare inch before easing back out. The stretch was greater than it had been with his fingers, but it was good. The kind of good that had her heels sliding up the backs of his thighs and her fingers splaying over his perfect butt, urging him back for more.
He sank again, an inch and then an inch more. Repeating the process again and again. Each penetration ratcheting up the tension within her. She’d been so close before, but this wet friction was so much more, so completely different. Like nothing else. No one else. Just Max.
Another stroke, not quite as shallow as the one before, and she could feel herself nearing the edge. Her inner muscles clenched and pulsed around him. And then he was there, the head of his cock at that point of resistance within her.
He held where he was, letting her feel the acute strain of pressure through one breath.
Their eyes met, and he reached between them, pressing his thumb against her with the perfect amount of pressure, the perfect pace—and suddenly she was hurdling back to that place she’d been so close to before. Another shallow stroke, coupled with the steady rub of his thumb, and Max above her, his brow dotted with sweat, his eyes burning into her, and she could feel herself ready to fall.
“Come for me, Sarah.”
Starbursts exploded behind her eyes and she shattered, crying out as she came apart in a gripping wave of ecstasy so intense it nearly swamped the accompanying single short stab of pain. Her eyes shot open, her breath stalling in her lungs as Max took her completely, filling her in a way she couldn’t have imagined. Buried deep within her, he waited out the pleasure crashing and surging around him, until it eased to a gentle lap.
She’d had no idea.
Smiling up at him, she was overwhelmed by emotion. She wanted to say things she shouldn’t. Things that were outside their arrangement. Things that were true nonetheless.
Max returned her smile, staring down at her, the restraint still evident in his features. “So fucking beautiful,” he whispered.
Her knees slid farther up his ribs, and he caught her by the back of the thigh, holding her as his hips pumped slowly, in and out.
“So good,” she gasped, her hands going to his hair, to his face. His mouth and jaw. Max was staring down at her, watching her every response. Reacting to it. Ramping up her pleasure faster than she could believe. He shifted again, rocking forward so the contact increased with every stroke, the sensation amplified with every thrust.
It was impossible that anything could feel like this. That any man could—
Suddenly, a laugh escaped her lips and she slapped her hands over her mouth, her eyes going wide as Max stopped, a crooked smile on his face. “Laughing?”
She shook her head, horrified and yet delighted at the same time. “Now I get why they wrote your name on the bathroom wall.”
That cocky smile cranked up a notch, and oh, what it did to her. “Yeah?”
Another slow thrust had her toes curling.
“Oh yeah. Reputation totally deserved,” she gasped when he did it again. “I’m impressed.”
“Glad to hear it.” And again. “So, baby, you ready to find out whether you like hard and fast?”
Chapter 14
Hours later, Max couldn’t remember ever experiencing a comfort so great as holding Sarah in his arms while she slept. There was only one problem. She wouldn’t be sleeping in them the next day. Or the day after that.
Not unless he asked her the question he’d been thinking about since the night he proposed this arrangement of theirs. Would she give him the rest of her time in Chicago? It wasn’t what they’d talked about or agreed upon. Only now everything felt different.
They’d had their one night, and selfish fuck that he was, he wanted more.
Only he didn’t want to take a moment that had been damn near perfect and ruin it by asking her for something she might not want to give. Christ, he didn’t want to take away anything from what they’d just shared.
She stirred in his arms, blinked a few times and then peered up at him with an adorable, bleary-eyed look. Sighing, she snuggled closer, her fingers trailing not so subtly down his abdomen.
He grinned when she poked at his dick and gave it a squeeze.
He was hard. Had been for probably an hour.
“Help you with something, ma’am?” he asked, not bothering to hide the smirk in his voice.
“Yes, well, since I enjoyed this beginner class so thoroughly, I was wondering if maybe an advanced class might be available?” she asked, pressing her breasts into him now.
And there it was. The perfect opening.
Rolling her to her back, he pushed his thigh between her legs and pulled her arms overhead, trapping her wrists in the loose hold of one hand. Her eyes widened, and she went a little breathy.
Someone was definitely ready for the advanced class. “We’ve got a variety of options you might be interested in,” he said, using his lips to toy with her nipple before giving it the smallest nip.
“Max!”
“There’s an accelerated program that begins in the next five minutes and ends about fifteen hours from now.”
“Fifteen hours,” she said, and he hoped like hell that was a pinch of disappointment he detected. “Sounds intense.”
“I won’t lie to you. It’s pretty rigorous.” He brushed his thumb across her cheek and manned up. “But if you were interested, there’s another class, a deeper, more extensive study that’s only completed when your instructor drops you at the airport at the end of the term.”
Sarah was quiet, and Max wondered if he’d just royally screwed up something perfectly sweet. But then she was pulling her hands free and linking her arms around his neck. “Are you sure, Max?” she asked quietly, hopefully.
He nodded. “Baby, never been more.”
* * *
A welcome wave of cool air poured over him as Max stepped into the bustling diner. They always attracted a degree of attention when dressed in uniform. Some good—like the little kid whose eyes had gone saucer-wide with hero worship the minute he’d seen them. Some less than good. It went with the job.
Seated in a booth by the windows, Carl waved Max and CJ over with a beaming smile that only seemed to get bigger through the years.
“’Bout time you boys showed up. Stop for a nap on your way over?” he ribbed, pushing the menus across the scarred tabletop.
“Can’t rush the hero work, Pops,” CJ replied as they joined him.
Max dropped into the booth beside him. “Especially not with this marshmallow dragging behind.” Then grinning across at Carl, he added, “Foot chase this morning, and your boy here could barely keep up. Dropped to his knees right in the alley, wheezing, ‘Go on without me!’”
Not exactly how it had gone down, but Max was going to tell it that way. This was payback his partner had coming in spades.
“Fucker,” CJ muttered affectionately from behind his menu. “I woulda had that guy myself if it wasn’t for the cat. Mangy beast came out of nowhere.”
Max snorted into his hand, looking across at Carl, who was shaking his head, mouth pulled to one side. “You know I’m gonna be hearing about my boy letting a little pussy get in the way of a bust through retirement, right?”
Probably more like a week or two, but yeah, Carl could count on it. There wasn’t a whole hell of a lot to ride
him over, now that he’d been on desk duty a few years.
“No worries,” Max gloated. “I got the guy.”
“Seriously, Pops, that kid could have scored a track scholarship if he’d stayed in school rather than dealing outside one. Fuckin’ waste.”
Then CJ was elbowing Max, nodding across to where his dad was smoothing his hair as his favorite waitress came up to take their order. Linda was the reason they’d been Wednesday regulars for three years running, and Max had a feeling one day he was going to walk in and find Linda on Carl’s lap, a diamond on her finger. He couldn’t wait. For now though all she got was their order, and then it was back to shooting the shit.
Carl wanted to know if CJ was any closer to giving him a grandkid and whether Max had seen the sale Home Depot was running on the band saw he’d been looking at. They exchanged shop gossip over BLTs and turkey clubs, and when a call came over the radio, Max and CJ exchanged knowing looks. It was an all-too-familiar address, close to where they were.
Max threw down enough to cover the lunch, and Carl told them to be safe, watching them with pride in his eyes as they left.
“Always,” CJ promised as Max nodded.
Max’s father had been kicked off the force when Max was just a kid. Vick had been a shitty cop and an even shittier dad. But while he’d still been working his beat, Carl had been his partner. And after, the saving grace in Max’s life. It was like the man had seen what Max was up against at home and one day just consciously decided he wasn’t going to leave Max alone in it.
From time to time, he’d show up at Max’s games. Catch him after school and take him out for a haircut or a burger and ask about classes. Really ask—like wanting to know whether Max had been able to get the extra credit on the project he’d been working on the last time they went out. If he’d beat that Meg girl out for the top grade in trig. If he’d ever gotten around to asking her out. How things were at home.