Her breath caught. “You can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do.”

  I smirked, cupping her jaw. “Ah, you see, baby …” I kissed the corner of her mouth. “I can make you do whatever I want because I know you want it too.”

  “Fuck you,” she bit out.

  I chuckled, biting her bottom lip. “We keep trying that.”

  Max shoved me. “Get. Out.”

  In a quick move, I curled my hand around her nape and covered her mouth with mine. The kiss was desperate and filled with so much pain, it only made me kiss her harder and faster. She wouldn’t let me fuck her. Well, I sure as hell would let her know that I wasn’t done with her.

  It took everything in me not to force her onto the couch and shove my dick inside of her. I understood she was upset but this back and forth shit between us was starting to piss me off. I got that I hurt her. I understood I would have to grovel for her forgiveness but teasing me was not the way to make that happen.

  Breaking the kiss, I left Max’s office filled with anger, a raging hard-on and a stupid grin on my face. She would come to me. I made sure that damn kiss would be the reason.

  Coby told me to be patient but there was only so much patience I could muster before it all went to shit and I lost control.

  “Dale. Wait.”

  ***

  (Max)

  “Dale.” I ran out of the room, stopping him before he left the gallery. “Wait.”

  He paused, turning back around to face me.

  “I …” My chest rose and fell. I had no idea what to say to him after all the hateful words had passed between us already. But I needed him. At that moment. At that time. I just needed to feel again. Him inside me. Moving. Hard and throbbing. Making me feel alive. I needed him to make me feel like a woman. Like a damn human being who wasn’t distraught and hated life. I needed him to make me feel like I belonged. Even if it was only for a little bit.

  I wanted him to feel the pain rushing through me.

  “What, kitten?” He took a step toward me. “What do you want to say that you haven’t said already?”

  My hands clenched into fists at my sides. My body trembled, the need for him became strong until nothing else mattered. Not our feelings. Not the past. Present. Or even the future. What I knew was that I needed him to be in the now with me.

  Instead of talking like I knew we needed to, I ran toward him and jumped in his arms. Crashing my mouth to his, I forced my tongue between his lips.

  A deep growl rumbled from his chest and vibrated right into my soul.

  Pushing my fingers through his hair, I deepened the kiss.

  Dale ran his hands beneath my dress, cupping my ass and pulled me against him. His erection pushed into my center, igniting that familiar burn I had for him since the very beginning.

  I kissed him with everything in me. Like my life had depended on it. Like I needed his taste to survive. I didn’t care about anything else. I didn’t care about life or how shitty it had been to us and our friends. All I cared about in that moment was getting him inside of me and forcing me over that delicious edge. I wanted to use sex as an outlet for our pain and I knew the only way to get through it was to do it together.

  Dale carried me to my office and slammed me up against the wall, kicking the door closed behind him.

  My hands ran under his hoodie. Breaking apart the kiss for a mere second, I pulled the sweatshirt up and over his head. My fingers ran down the ladder of abs adorning his stomach. The muscles twitched beneath my touch.

  Dale pulled the straps of my dress off my shoulders, brushing his mouth along the skin before sinking his teeth into the flesh.

  The pain caused electricity to jolt right into my center.

  Gripping the sides of my thong, he ripped it in half. Pushing the dress up my body, he pulled it over my head. He groaned, his scarred, tanned skin a contradiction to my pale form.

  He licked his lips, peering down at my naked body. “So damn beautiful.”

  Circling my hands around his neck, I pulled his head down to meet the impact of my mouth. Running my fingers through his hair, I tugged his head back and fucked his mouth with my tongue.

  He snarled, pushed my knee up to my chest, and thrust a finger hard inside of me.

  I cried out, arching against him. “Dale,” I whimpered against his mouth.

  He broke the kiss, watching me.

  I swallowed hard at the intense heat in his gaze.

  Inserting a second finger, he thrust deep and stroked my clit with his thumb. “You’re going to come for me.”

  I nodded even though it wasn’t a question. Biting my bottom lip, I gripped his shoulders, moving my hips back and forth against his hand.

  “That’s it, Max. Ride my fingers. Show me what you’re going to do to my cock.” He leaned a hand against the wall beside me, towering over me. He pulled his fingers free from my body, brushing them from my core to the tight spot between my ass.

  I gasped, tightening my legs around him.

  In one full sweep, his fingers brushed back to my clit. “So fucking wet.”

  Much to my surprise, he brought his hand up to his mouth and sucked his fingers between his lips. He moaned, swallowing the taste of my body. “Do you want a taste of this sweetness, Max?”

  A breath left me on a whoosh.

  Dale thrust his fingers back into my lower body, once, twice, before bringing them up to my mouth. The acidic scent of my pleasure wafted into my nose. Brushing his finger over my bottom lip, he rubbed the juices from my body onto my mouth.

  “Kiss me,” I demanded, tilting my head.

  His mouth covered mine, the evidence of my desire for him fusing between our joined lips.

  “What do you want?” he asked, his deep voice rough and laced with promises of undying pleasure.

  “More.” I glanced down between us, watching him reach into his pants and pull out his straining cock.

  “Not good enough.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “Tell me what you want.”

  “Fuck me.”

  “Eyes on me, kitten,” he demanded. “Watch me.”

  My gaze snapped back to his.

  “I need you to look at me.” His hold on my jaw tightened. “Understand?”

  I nodded. The sound of a tinfoil package sent a shiver down my spine.

  “I’m only going to ask this once.” He licked down the length of my jaw to my ear. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” I breathed.

  He leaned his head from side to side, the sound of a crack reverberating around the room. Keeping hold of my jaw, he grabbed under my knee with his free hand and thrust into me so damn hard, I screamed.

  He paused, keeping his gaze on mine. He looked at me like he was peering into my soul until he found what dark kinky desires I had so he could use them for his own pleasure.

  Dale’s cock was thick and full, throbbing inside of me, but he didn’t move. He was so damn still it made me twitchy.

  I cried out in frustration and began moving my hips.

  His smirk turned into a wicked grin as his hold on my jaw only tightened while I slid my body up and down his cock. He wanted me to show him how much I needed him. I thought I had been in control but really, he was the one controlling me the whole damn time.

  My thigh muscles burned, my heels dug into his ass but it only made me move faster and harder. I gripped his hips, riding and taking from him what I wanted. What he had been desperate to give me these past couple of weeks. He felt good. Damn good. And when he still didn’t move, I took it upon myself to give us both the pleasure we craved.

  “That’s it, baby,” he kissed my mouth. “Ride my cock. Take from me what I can give you. Take what you need.”

  My movements grew fast, hard. Rough.

  Our breathing picked up. His dick swelled. My pussy clenched down around him.

  A tingle spread from my toes to my center until his name left my lips on a hard cry.

  Only then did he move.
>
  Dale dropped me on my feet, turned me around and thrust back inside of me so hard, another release shattered through me.

  His rough calloused hands, cupped my thighs, spreading me open for him. His hot breath scorched the side of my face, his mouth moving gently over the soft spot just under my ear.

  I kept my hands against the wall, pushing back against him and met him thrust for every violent thrust.

  “I can feel your cunt dripping,” he said, his rough voice sliding over my skin. “Your sweet juices are running down my balls, kitten. Is this what you wanted? All of this damn time?”

  “Yes,” I whimpered, slamming my ass back against his hips.

  “Fuck, Max. You feel … damn good,” he panted, his fingers digging hard enough, they were surely going to cause bruises. But I didn’t care. I craved the feeling of his marks on my body.

  “Harder, Dale,” I begged. “I need it.”

  Hooking an arm around my middle, he lifted me and fisted my hair with his free hand. “Of course you need it,” he snarled in my ear. “I’m the only man who can make you feel this way. As much as you hate me, you crave my cock deep inside you. Don’t you?” He thrust harder.

  I cried out. “Yes.”

  “Then come again.” He pulled my head back and cupped my throat. “Come so damn hard I smell like you for days.”

  ***

  (Dale)

  Max came. Hard. Violent. Her screams were so fucking loud, they forced an orgasm to rip out of my balls and shoot straight into the condom wrapped around my dick. Releasing her suddenly, I pulled off the condom and wrapped my hand around the straining muscle while I finished my release on the flesh of her ass.

  Her eyes widened.

  The release was hard. I bellowed out her name, letting out a snarl when she pushed back against me.

  Righting my pants, I brushed a finger through the cum on the cheek of her rear and shoved it into her mouth.

  She moaned, closing her lips around my finger.

  “That’s right, kitten.” I kissed her neck. “Taste me.”

  She licked and sucked, lapping it up like an ice cream cone. “I’ve missed your taste.”

  I grinned and pushed her to her knees. Brushing my fingers down her cheek, I pinched her chin. “Then be a good girl and suck.”

  MY BODY BURNED with desire for the man deep inside me. It had been hours since our moment at the gallery. Dale had come back to my place and as much as I knew we needed to talk, right then I just wanted to feel. I had shut off all my emotions and wrapped myself around him. Feeling. Needing. Craving.

  “Max.” Dale brushed his mouth over mine as he shuddered against me.

  Running my hands down his sweat-soaked back, I placed a final kiss on his mouth before crawling out from beneath him. I got dressed, throwing on shorts and a tank top, and sat on the edge of the bed.

  “I need a smoke,” Dale muttered, rising from the bed.

  “You don’t smoke,” I reminded him.

  “I know. Still need one though.” He came around to my side of the bed and pinched my chin. Tilting my head back to meet his mouth, he smacked a hard kiss on my lips. “Hmm … so damn delicious.”

  I shivered. My scent was all over him. My taste on his tongue. But it was only that. Sex. Nothing more. This wasn’t what I wanted but it was what I needed at the same time.

  “You should go,” I told him, itching to get back to a new painting.

  “You kicking me out of your bed, baby?” He brushed his mouth down the length of my jaw.

  “Yes.” I gently pushed him back and rose from the bed. “I need to paint.”

  He grunted, smacking me gently on the ass. “Fine.”

  My body heated, the slight tingle of pain spreading through me like fire. “Come back later?” I blurted, grabbing hold of his arm.

  Dale did up his jeans, leaving the top button undone.

  I swallowed hard at the treasure trail that dipped below his belt.

  “I will come back until you push me away for good.” He kissed my head, leaving the room as he threw his hoodie on over his head. “Oh, and Max?” he called from the hallway.

  “Yeah?”

  “This will be the only time you’ll get a chance to kick me out of your bed.” He peeked his head into the room, his gaze roaming down my scantily-clad body. “Remember who your pussy belongs to.” And with that, he left the room.

  I sighed, scrubbing my hands up and down and my face.

  What the hell was I doing?

  I was playing with my heart and I damn well knew it would be me that got hurt in the end.

  ***

  (Dale)

  It had been a month of nonstop sex.

  Screams, passion, and the delicious begging I had come to crave from Max’s lips. I knew she was using me but I was using her body to tell her how I feel. Both of us needed each other to feel something. Anything other than the pain we both dealt with on our own but could never share. I had no issues talking to Coby but when it came to the woman I was fucking—the words froze on my tongue.

  We used each other to comfort the pain we felt, channeling it, and unleashing it through our bodies.

  Max and I were both stubborn that talking about it only turned into fighting which turned into sex. I could still hear her screams and it had been hours since I left the warmth of her sheets. I had made good on my promise. She never kicked me out of her bed again.

  We didn’t talk but like Coby suggested, I made sure to show her how I felt through my body. Every word I thought, I unleashed them onto her skin with a kiss. A bite. A lick.

  Every time we were done, she tried kicking me out; using the excuse she needed to paint. And then I would kiss her and the thought of painting left her when she kissed me back. It wasn’t right. She needed to do her job and my dick was going to fall off but I also needed to make her feel good. It was the only thing I looked forward to doing anymore. I was medically discharged from the Navy. I worked for Angel’s construction company as a side job. I wasn’t good at anything else.

  I fought. I killed. I fucked.

  I was finally ready to admit how I loved Max then and loved her still. But I wouldn’t tell her until I felt she was ready to hear it. I didn’t want those three little words that impacted such a punch to hinder any progress I had made with her. Even if it was just sex.

  My phone rang, jarring me from my thoughts. Grabbing it off the table, I hit speaker. “Yeah.”

  “Meeting at the club,” Coby said and hung up.

  My body vibrated knowing I would see Max in a couple of minutes. As much pain as I was in from the excessive amount of sex we had been having, my dick still grew.

  I put on my running shoes, locked up my apartment, and headed to the club. It was only a couple of blocks away but the closer I got, the tenser I became. Every inch of me came alive over seeing Max. We spent the last month together, and I still couldn’t get enough.

  Once I arrived at the clubhouse, the hair at the back of my neck tingled. My muscles tensed. Scanning the area, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Hell, no one was around. The tingle shot down my arms and straight into the tips of my fingers. I needed to fight. And hard.

  “Hey, brother.”

  I jumped, spinning around to find Coby standing at the doorway into the building.

  “What’s up?” he asked, taking a step toward me. The guy was good. He was scanning our surroundings. If I didn’t know him well enough, I wouldn’t have seen it. The slight flick of his eyes looking past me was fast, even I almost missed it.

  “Nothing.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Something seems …”

  “Off,” he finished for me.

  “Yeah.” I followed him into the club, clenching and unclenching my fists, trying to ward off the impending rage traveling through me. “What’s going on?” I asked when I saw Max standing by the bar. Every nerve ending came alive at the mere sight of her. She wore a sexy as fuck white dress I couldn’t wait to dive beneath.
r />   She glanced my way, her tongue peeking out to lick along her bottom lip.

  My cock grew, remembering where that tongue had been earlier that morning.

  She winked, turning around on the stool to go back to her conversation with Brogan.

  Fuck. Me.

  “You might want to take care of your issue before seeing Angel.” Coby raised an eyebrow.

  “What issue?”

  He pointed at my waist.

  I looked down, noticing the wood I was sporting in my pants. “Shit.” I adjusted myself.

  Coby chuckled, shaking his head, and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “I know how it is, brother.”

  I grunted.

  “We’re meeting in five,” Angel said, walking by us without giving me a look.

  “Angel,” I said, following him.

  He stopped. “Yeah.”

  “We good?”

  His brows narrowed. “We are, but hurt her again and we’ll revisit that question.”

  “I appreciate you watching out for her but what happens between Max and I is none of your fucking business.”

  “No?” He stepped into my face. “When her being upset effects my pregnant fiancée, you better damn well believe it is my business.”

  “I love you, and I respect you, brother” —my lips pulled back, baring my teeth— “but right now, I don’t give a shit what you or anyone else thinks. I’m trying to do what I can for Max and make up for the wrong I’ve done without having you breathing down my neck. So, Angel? You can fuck right off.” Instead of waiting for his answer, I turned around and headed back out to the main part of the club.

  “Dale?” Max came up behind me, placing her hand gently on my arm. “You okay?”

  Taking a breath and then another, I relaxed my body and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

  She shivered, giving me a small smile.

  My heart jumped. “I am now.”

  I WAS USING him.

  He knew it.

  He was using me.

  I knew it.

  When the paintings started flowing out of me after Dale and I had sex the first time, I kept on seeing him.