“I was.”
Their shared grins filled them both.
Max said, “You’re pretty fascinating too, Doc.”
“Good. Glad I’m making some kind of impression.”
“Oh, you are. Believe me.” In order to keep from jumping across the table on him, Max turned her head and looked out toward the lake’s calming water and reminded herself that playing footsie with the client was a no-no.
Adam studied her elegant profile and wondered how much longer he was going to be able to keep his desire for her to himself. The celibacy vow was gone, blown away, leaving in its wake a stirring need, not just for any woman, but for this one. He had always prided himself on his discipline and work ethic, but for the first time in his life, neither attribute ruled. The unconventional Max Blake had reduced or elevated him, depending on one’s point of view, to just a regular everyday brother trying to get next to a sister who made him ache at the sight of her. Adam found the realization startling and humbling. Wanting to hear her sigh when he kissed her, wanting to feel the softness of her skin beneath the soft slide of his hands, was suddenly as important as finding a solution to the problem plaguing his prototype. By all rights, the prototype should be the only thing on his mind, but his well-ordered life had been tossed out of the window the moment she showed up in his doorway wearing a Stetson and those green snakeskin boots.
As if she could feel his thoughts, she turned her head and met his eyes, saying, “This is the part where I ask what you’re thinking about, but I already know.”
“Do you?”
She nodded. “And it’s a bad idea to mix business with pleasure, especially in a situation like this.”
“So, the answer is no?”
She allowed a small smile to show. “Let’s just say I’m going to hold out for as long as I can.”
“Good plan, but a flawed one.”
“Oh really?” she asked, amused. “Why so?”
“Because there’s nothing a man enjoys more than a challenge.”
“And that’s what you think I am?”
“I know that’s what you are.”
“A woman likes a challenge, too,” she tossed back, “especially one determined not to succumb. Better bring your A game.”
“Oh, I will. Don’t worry.”
Max was certain the umbrella over their heads was smoldering. The confident way in which he was studying her made her ask, “Got a little bit of playa in you, do you?”
“Enough.”
“Who’d’ve thought?”
“You just watch out.”
Max’s nipples tightened shamelessly. Even though she was sure her discipline would carry the day, in reality all she could think about was how he’d feel against her in bed. “Oh, I plan to.”
They assessed each other for a few silent moments longer, then she said, “I’m going to take the plates back inside, then the dogs and I are heading for the beach. Care to join us?”
Adam’s eyes shifted to the dogs lying quietly on the edge of the large patio. As he had mused earlier, he knew he was going to have to come to terms with his issues surrounding them. “I—”
“Hey Doc?” Benny called from the doorway. “You mind if we play poker here tonight?”
Adam turned. “Nope.”
Benny grinned. “Good. Game’ll start around eight.” He disappeared.
Max checked her watch—six-thirty—then looked down into the eyes of the man who’d stated his intention to seduce her and to whom she had given a tacit okay to do so. “Are you going to play?”
“Probably not. You?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. We’ll see.” She began gathering up the paper plates and cups, telling herself that resisting Dr. Gary the Mack would be easy. “What did you decide about the beach?”
“I’ll take a rain check.”
“Okay.” She studied him.
He studied her.
She finally said, “See you later.”
He nodded, and she took the dinner leavings into the house.
When she returned, she called the dogs and the three of them left to hit the beach.
Adam sat and watched her toss the Frisbees while his need to know absolutely everything about Max Blake grew stronger. He had no idea why this particular woman should move him in ways others had not, but she had, to the point of distraction.
Around seven-thirty that evening Benny’s poker players began arriving, bearing chips, salsa, beer, and all the other munchies associated with such a gathering. Most of the men invited were from the contractors working on the house, and Max greeted them with a smile. Benny’s date for the evening, a tall blonde with blue eyes, was introduced as Gretchen. Max wondered if Kaitlin knew that Benny had moved on. The answer became apparent when Kaitlin showed up downstairs dressed in a killer red dress and shoes.
While Max and the others sat at the table and pretended invisibility, Benny introduced Gretchen to Kaitlin, and Kaitlin stiffened like a piece of wood. “This is the waitress from the place we had dinner at last night,” she said.
Gretchen didn’t look the least bit ashamed, and Max saw no reason for her to. “Nice seeing you again,” Gretchen said to Kaitlin with a smile.
Kaitlin obviously felt differently. Seething, she gave Benny a stony look then stormed out to the patio. If Benny felt any remorse, he didn’t show it. Instead he cracked open the new deck and the game began.
An hour later Max looked at the useless cards in her hand and cracked, “You know, if my grandmother Loreli were here, she’d be kicking your butts.”
Benny tossed back, “Well, until your granny rises from the dead, we’ll just keep kicking yours.”
The other men around the table chuckled good-naturedly.
Max stuck out her tongue at her ex, then decided she’d lost enough money for one night. She put down her hand. “I’m out. I’ll settle up later.”
Benny grinned. “You sure?”
“Yes, Ben, I’m sure. Only thing I have left are the dogs, and you are not getting my babies.”
While the men set up for another hand, Max left them and went out to the patio to check on the dogs and to get some air.
She was surprised to see Kaitlin seated at the table. She assumed the young woman would be in her frothy pink room sending her daddy poison e-mails about Benny. The dogs were lying in their spot by the edge of the patio.
“You come to gloat?” Kaitlin asked her.
Max took up a position with her back against the patio railing. “Nope. I usually don’t kick other women when they’re down.”
Kaitlin stared out at the water for a few silent moments then turned back to say, “This is that tank you were trying to warn me about, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Max replied softly, “it is.”
Kaitlin sighed.
Max told her, “At least you didn’t marry him.”
“Was it bad?”
“For me, yeah, because I got tired of smelling perfume that wasn’t mine, seeing lipstick that wasn’t mine, and hearing him yell out names that weren’t mine when we were making love.”
“I really thought he liked me.”
“He probably still does. His problem is he’s never met a woman he didn’t like.”
For a moment there was silence.
Kaitlin said, “My father wants me to marry Adam.”
Max fought to keep her voice neutral. “Really? Why?”
“He thinks we’d be the perfect couple.”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t think Adam’s feeling it, and my father isn’t going to understand that it’s not going to happen.”
Max studied Kaitlin’s face. “I’m sure once you explain—”
“No. My father thinks whatever he wants he should have, even if it means pimping his daughter to get it.”
Max was surprised by the bitterness of her tone. “Sounds like you and your father need to do some serious talking.”
“I wish.” She sighed again, then slowl
y got to her feet. “I’m going to my room. Thanks for listening.”
“Any time.”
She went back into the house.
Max looked over at the dogs and said, “Stay tuned.”
Ruby barked.
If Max found her encounter with Kaitlin surprising, what she found upon entering the kitchen startled her even more. Seated at the table with the poker players was Adam Gary. The stack of chips in front of him was high enough to build the Empire State Building, and the cigar he had stuck in his teeth was fat and lit. Max stared.
Benny grumbled, “Next time, remind me not to invite Rain Man here to the table.”
Max chuckled and flashed the pleased-looking Adam a smile. “You losing, Ben?”
Benny studied his cards. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Adam spread yet another winning hand on the tablecloth. “Read ’em and weep, gentlemen.”
Howls of disbelief filled the kitchen, then they threw in their cards.
In the end it was the last hand. The clock showed it to be past ten, and the contractors needed to get home. Benny walked them to the door, then he and Gretchen left in his car to spend the rest of the evening together. Max was left to clean up the kitchen.
To her delight, Adam pitched in without being asked, and it made the work go faster. Once they were done, Max turned from the sink and said, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You weren’t lying when you said you could play poker.”
“Don’t tell Benny, but I hustled my way through undergrad playing poker.”
“He’s going to want to play again. He hates losing.”
“If I have the time.”
Max flicked off the kitchen lights and plunged the room into darkness. As if they’d talked about it, the two walked through the silent house and outside to the patio. Night had fallen. The lake sparkled like ink under the pale rays of the moonlight, and the breeze was soft and refreshing.
“Are the dogs put down for the night?” he asked.
She nodded. “They’re out in the car. The carpenters promised to start the pen tomorrow.”
“They don’t have to.”
Max searched his face in the moonlight. “Excuse me?”
“I know that isn’t what I said before, but penning them up isn’t going to solve my problem.”
Max waited for him to explain.
“I need to face this head-on.”
“So what’s that mean?”
“Not sure, but I think I want to take them with me when I do my run in the morning.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. My version of immersion therapy.”
Max remembered his reaction to the video, and she wasn’t sure if this idea was good or not. “Okay,” she said, hoping to keep the skepticism out of her voice. “Just tell them where you’re going running and they’ll follow.”
Adam looked out over the water. He wasn’t sure if he could approach the dogs so directly, and yes, the thought of doing it kicked up his anxiety, but he refused to spend the rest of his life cowering in a corner every time a dog crossed his path, so this had to be done.
“You’re really going to do this?” Max asked, looking up at him.
“I’m going to give it my best shot.”
In spite of her misgivings, Max admired anyone with the guts to take on their inner fears. “Then you go, Doc. If there’s any way I can help, just holla.”
He smiled. “Will do.”
The silence rose between them once again. They were as aware of each other’s presence as they were of the night breeze flowing in off the lake.
He finally said, “There is something you can do for me.”
“And that is?”
He reached out and very slowly and gently traced a finger over the curve of her lips. “This…” he whispered. Slowly lowering his head, he touched his mouth to hers, brushing his warm lips over hers. “…if that’s okay.”
Max knew this was a bad idea, but she whispered in turn, “It’s okay….”
Then she was in his arms and learning firsthand that his kisses were as gloriously intense as he, and that, lord, the man could kiss. He kissed her as if she were treasure, precious; as if the only reason he drew breath was to hear her sigh, make her feel. Desire began to creep into her blood like the heated aftermath of an expensive cognac, and she wanted more.
Adam met that need. He wanted her to remember these opening notes, wanted her to remember him above all others, so he ran his palm up and down her pliant back and placed kisses against the edges of her mouth. He tasted the soft skin behind her ear and took in deep draws of the faint scent of her perfume clinging to her throat. It had been some time since he’d made love to a woman, but it wasn’t something a man forgot, so he continued in his quest to make the night memorable by cupping her small breast and feeling the hard nipple burn like a brand against his palm. He dropped his head and bit her gently, savoring the groan she gave up and the way she trembled so sensually.
Without a word he worked the thin strap of her green halter top down her arm, exposing her breast to his eyes, his worshipping finger, and to the moonlight.
Looking down into her eyes, he played slowly; circling, lingering. The heat now claiming Max was so sweet she had to close her eyes. Almost instinctively, she knew that if she didn’t get away from the man, she might never be whole again, but she couldn’t move, didn’t want to; not with him enticing her this way.
Adam couldn’t resist. When she closed her eyes, his desire climbed. Bending his head to the nipple he’d prepared so thoroughly, he slid his tongue over the point then took her into his mouth.
Max groaned aloud. The sensations vibrated through her like a harp. There was something about trysting outside in the dark that had always turned Max on, but adding him to the equation seemed to make it that much hotter.
Max had no memory of her shirt being tugged all the way down, but it was somehow around her waist and she was nude to her neck. He was taking full sensual advantage, too, slowly teasing his tongue around her breasts, sucking on her nipples like erotic pieces of hard candy, and all she could do was let her head fall back and stand there on shaking legs that were being caressed by his strong possessive hands.
He recaptured her mouth and filled his palms with her hips. Pulling her forward so she could feel how much he wanted her, he let his heat say all.
Max understood each and every word, and when he blissfully moved the crinkly fabric of her long cotton skirt over the skin of her behind and then up and down the backs of her thighs, she knew she was in the hands of a master. And when that masterful touch slid her skirt to her waist and found its way to her thong, she was pulsing, wet and well on her way to orgasm.
It took all Adam had not to throw her down on the cement and take her like a caveman. Not having had a woman in such a long time, coupled with the hot wet beauty pulsating beneath his touch, was a recipe for disaster, especially since all of his condoms were upstairs in his room, but he held on. She deserved better than the patio. He promised himself that next time he’d make sure they were near his bed. That in mind, the pleasure tonight would be all hers. His could wait; he’d waited this long.
So he slid to his knees and kissed his way to the heat between her thighs. Max spread her legs without shame, relishing his tribute, and because he was so good, a minute later the orgasm crackled through her like lightning and she let the world know with a hoarse, night-piercing shout of joy.
She came back to herself holding her skirt up and leaning against the table for support. He kissed her mouth, mumbled something about seeing her in the morning, and was gone.
Alone now, she slowly dropped her skirt, fell into one of the chairs and put her head on the tabletop. Nothing in Adam Gary’s file had prepared her for what just happened. Nothing. With the echoes of her orgasm pulsating like a faint drumbeat, and her breathing still uneven, Max Blake realized that even though this was only his opening volley, he had the to
uch of a man who could make a woman crave that pleasure for the rest of her life, and that admission scared her to death.
Nine
Max awoke to the sound of the dogs barking. Concerned that they’d treed another intruder, she tossed off the sheet, stuck her feet into her green boots, reached for her Glock lying on the nightstand and hurried to investigate. Ossie and Ruby only barked for good reason. She remembered Adam talking about taking them running with him this morning, but the barks she heard didn’t sound like fun.
This time there was no treed Robinski but an irate older Black man yelling at the dogs from inside his late model BMW. “Get the hell out of here!”
Max could only wonder who he was and why he was here at such an ungodly hour. The sun was just coming up. Ossie and Ruby were prowling around the car, making sure he stayed inside. Shaking off the fuzziness of sleep, she called out to the dogs, “Okay, you two, I’ll take it from here.”
Gun raised, Max told the man, “You can get out of the car, sir, but keep your hands in sight.”
He stared at her. “Who are you?” he asked.
“Step out of the car.”
He did as he was told, but demanded brusquely, “Where is Dr. Gary?”
“Right here.”
Max turned. Seeing him made her wonder how many times she’d have to tell tell him to keep his butt in the house during situations like this one before he obeyed.
He seemed to interpret her thoughts. “He’s harmless. He’s Kaitlin’s father.”
Max lowered the gun. So this was Daddy. Dr. Sylvester Kent was bald, about five-foot-seven inches tall, and slightly built. He was wearing an expensive-looking blue and white jogging suit. His large head and thin build reminded Max of a cricket. Jiminy Cricket to be exact.
Kent asked Adam, “Who the hell is this?”
Adam was enjoying Kent’s pompous rage, but he was enjoying Max’s surprising attire even more. She was quite a sight for this early in the morning in her thigh-high Cowboys jersey and green boots. The golden legs seemed to go on forever, and he could see the nipples of her small breasts pressing against the jersey’s fabric. When he thought back on how she’d responded to his pleasuring those same nipples last night, he decided to put his mind on something safer. “Max Blake. Sylvester Kent.”