Chapter 14
14
Fleur
I was so turned on I was trembling.
Max’s eyes widened at the sight of my bare skin, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He looked at me like he couldn’t really believe I was in his lap.
I wasn’t exactly the nervous type, but this was Max, and everything was different with Max. There was nothing casual about this. It was intense, and desperate and all consuming. I wanted this to be good for him. Hell, I wanted it to be good for me, too.
He felt amazing between my legs, pressing against me as I straddled him on the bed. So hot with his hands molding to my shape, bringing my body closer as if he was never going to let me go.
I fused my mouth to his, giving myself over to the kiss. It was already different from all the other kisses we’d shared. He kissed me like he was lost and I was the key to his being found. He kissed me with a hunger and a desperation I’d never felt from anyone before. His tongue invaded my mouth, as if marking his territory.
We kissed for what felt like an hour, his hands holding me in place, all our attention focused on our mouths. I’d always missed kissing once I started having sex. Costa had stopped caring if we kissed and, instead, focused on the main event. But there was something about kissing, an intimacy that took Max and me out of ourselves and placed each of us in the other’s body.
We kissed and kissed until I couldn’t take it anymore. Until my hips were rocking against his, my body desperate for release. Until I rubbed my breasts against his chest, my nipples tight and aching for all the things he’d said he’d do to me.
I broke away, moving to unhook my bra, when his hands caught mine.
“Wait.” He seemed to force the word out, his chest rising and falling rapidly, his skin flushed, lips puffy, hair mussed, eyes huge.
“I don’t want to wait. I can’t wait.”
“Fleur.” Max stilled, his forehead touching mine. We stayed like that for a minute or two as I slowly got my shit under control and his breathing calmed. And then he pulled back, his gaze on my face.
Disappointment flooded me. Was that it? I didn’t come here expecting sex, wasn’t ready for that, but come on, second base . I’d spent three hundred pounds on a bra. I know he didn’t know that—and likely would think I was ridiculous if he did—but there were expectations that came with a three-hundred-pound bra.
I started to shift off him, but his hands came down on either side of my hips, holding me in place.
Still hard. Really hard. I swallowed a moan.
“Where are you going?” Max whispered, his eyes wide, his expression slightly dazed.
I shrugged—an art to pull off when you were half-dressed. “You stopped.”
His lips curved into a lopsided grin. “I didn’t stop for good. I just needed a moment. I mean, the kissing is great and all, but you said you wanted to go to second base, and I aim to please.”
I gaped at him. He grinned at me.
“Babe, I’m just getting started.”
His hands, still on either side of my hips, pulled me up with him as he settled back against the headboard. He shifted me on top of his body. My stomach fluttered at the thought of his words— I’m just getting started.
His lips curved as his hand moved from my hips to my cleavage. He hovered there, still not touching me, until one finger reached out and grazed the underside of my breast through my bra. I sucked in a deep breath.
“Pretty,” he whispered, that wicked smile that called to me on his face. His finger moved over my breast, back and forth, his touch maddeningly slow and light. I arched my back, pushing myself into his palm, not really caring about anything beyond the need to have his hands on me.
“I could play with you for hours like this,” he murmured, his expression lazy, his gaze heavy lidded with desire. “Do you know how you look sitting on my lap like this? So damned pretty.”
My eyes closed and my head rolled back, giving myself over to the sound of his voice and the touch of his hand. It felt like liquid gold flowed through every vein in my body. I felt heady and rich; I felt weightless.
I felt everything.
His other hand came up from my hip, and I felt his fingertip tracing the same pattern on my other breast, my eyes still closed. For minutes he played with me like that, giving me a preview of what I needed, of what it could be like, without giving me what I really wanted. It was a delicious tease. And then I felt it, the pressure of his palm against my breast.
He groaned. “Do you know how many times I’ve fantasized about you like this?”
He looks at you.
Maggie’s words flew back to me now, and I wondered just how right she was.
How long had this been going on? And how could I have been so stupid to not see what was right in front of me all along? How could I have been with George and Costa, when I could have had this?
Max continued molding and shaping my breast with his palm, each brush against my skin filling me with heat. Finally, I felt the pressure of his fingertips rubbing my nipples through the sheer bra, rolling them between his fingers, pinching—
My eyes slammed open as the moan fled my lips, and my body rocked forward.
“You’re killing me,” I whispered, my mouth back on his.
His eyes darkened.
“And I haven’t even gotten to play yet,” I added.
I reached between us, gripping the hem of his shirt, pulling it up until he leaned back and helped me yank it over his shoulders, and he sat before me in all his shirtless glory.
“You get a few minutes to play, and then it’s all about you,” he warned with a teasing smile.
I rolled my eyes. “Bossy, aren’t you?”
He laughed. “Normally, no, but babe, I think I have to be bossy to keep up with you.”
“Ha ha,” I responded dryly, ignoring the flutters that sprang up at him calling me babe again. It was so American, but also sexy and kind of sweet, and it shocked me that I liked it. A lot.
I leaned forward, my lips on his chest, using my hands and teeth and tongue to torment him as much as he’d tortured me. He was a guy, so it wasn’t the same, not by half, but by the way his body jerked beneath mine, he was massively turned on.
Added bonus? The view was spectacular.
For someone who spent most of his time in the library, Max took care of his body. Really good care of his body. His shoulders were broad, his chest a little on the bulky side, his muscles defined. His stomach was ridges and hard planes. The indentations on the sides of his hips were jaw-dropping. I lowered my fingers in the dips on either side, and he rocked against me.
“If you go any farther, you’ll be trying to steal third.”
I blinked at him. “What?”
He laughed, his hands coming up to thread through my hair and massage the back of my head.
“Come here,” he whispered, bringing our mouths together. Our lips caressed, and then he pulled back again.
“My turn.”
I wasn’t sure how many of his turns I could take.
His hands left my hair and moved down my back, his fingers unhooking my bra strap in one swoop.
I arched my eyebrow in surprise and he burst out laughing.
“As much as it pains me to admit it, that was probably more dumb luck than actual skill. I promise there will be plenty of opportunities for you to bust my balls over my fumbling bra-removing skills.”
God, he was adorable.
“Good to know,” I replied with a smile.
He grinned back at me, and then I watched as the smile slid off his face and my bra hit the floor.
I didn’t have big breasts; I wasn’t built that way. But what I did have were firm breasts with a nice shape, and I liked them the way they were. The way Max looked at me made me love my breasts. Although, really, I was beginning to realize that with Max it was more about me than my body. I was falling so hard, so fast, and with my track record it was probably a dangerous combination.
“Hey.” His hands found mine and linked our fingers together. “You okay? Where’d you go?”
I hadn’t even realized my body had stiffened. He noticed everything .
“I’m fine.”
“We can stop if you want.” He gave me the sweetest smile that stole my breath. “Believe me. You’ve already fulfilled enough fantasies to last a lifetime. We should probably stop before I have a heart attack.”
I shook my head with a smile. “I’m collecting on your promises.”
“See? Bossy,” he teased, leaning forward. “Your wish is my command.”
The last word got lost somewhere between us as his lips closed over my nipple, and pleasure flooded me.
If his touch had been electric, his mouth was magic. Or maybe it was just that it was Max, and I liked everything he did to me. Whatever it was, my trip to second base had just become the hottest experience of my life.
An hour later, when my breasts were heavy from his mouth and hands, my skin flushed, my nipples tight, my body rocked against his until, finally, my orgasm slammed into me, and I ended my drought.
Max
“Mmm. That was nice,” Fleur murmured into my arm, her voice sleepy.
We both lay in my bed on our backs, her body tucked against mine, my arm around her shoulders lazily stroking her side.
After the best time on second base I’d ever had, we put on clothes, ordered takeout Chinese and collapsed on my bed. She’d changed into a pair of my boxers and one of my shirts, and the sight of her in my clothes had me hard again, even after I’d already come.
I couldn’t remember the last time—my first time, maybe—that I’d gotten off from just over-the-clothes touching. If this was what second base was like with Fleur, home plate would be everything.
“I can think of a few other words to describe it.”
Fleur giggled. “I can’t let you get a big head.”
“Babe, you were squirming on my lap, and you moaned...a lot. Let me enjoy the moment.”
She hit me in the side playfully, kissing my bare chest. She seemed to like me without a shirt on, and I’d decided I pretty much lived to give this girl what she wanted, so I rocked my boxers and nothing else.
“I don’t want to move.” She groaned. “I’m sore. I work out five days a week. How am I sore?”
“It was hours,” I teased. “Different muscle groups, maybe?”
“Maybe.” She lifted up and looked at the alarm clock on my nightstand. “How much time do we have before George is back?”
“A couple hours.”
She was quiet for a long time. “I wish you had your own room.”
“Me, too.”
“Max?”
“Mmm-hmm?”
“How slow is slow?”
“What?”
Fleur moved forward, laid her head on my chest and my heart skipped a beat. “We said we were going to take things slow. How slow is slow?”
I kissed the top of her head, my hand stroking her back, holding her in place against me. I didn’t know what answer to give her. The truth was I already wanted her in my bed, and I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to give her up. I wanted to fall asleep beside her and wake up next to her in the morning.
“It probably just sped up a bit,” I admitted. “Keeping my hands off you is going to be a big challenge.”
She nodded, and tension seemed to fill her body, and then fall away. “Good.”
We stayed there for minutes, her head on my chest, my arms around her.
“Max?”
“Yeah?”
“Samir’s throwing Maggie a surprise anniversary party this weekend at Babel. They’re celebrating one year of dating. I know clubs aren’t really your thing, but would you want to go with me?” She hesitated. “As my date?” she added.
I was glad her head was on my chest because I wasn’t sure I was ready for her to see the stupid grin that spread across my face.
“I’ll be there.”
I felt her lips part against my bare skin. “Okay. Thanks.”
I waited for a beat. “What should I wear? I know there’s a dress code for these things. I can go shopping or something—”
She lifted her head up and kissed me, her lips soft and sweet. She pulled back and stared into my eyes.
“I was an asshole to ever say anything to you about the shoes last year. It wasn’t about you. You wear whatever you want. I like you. I don’t care what anyone thinks. I’ll have the hottest boyfriend there regardless of how you’re dressed.”
She kissed me again and then pulled back. I’d never seen that look in her eyes. It was fiercely possessive. It reminded me a bit of the way she’d looked at me at Mist right after my interview, and yet it was more.
I only heard parts of what she said, because most of it was drowned out by the one word that had come through loud and clear.
I was Fleur’s boyfriend.
My heart skipped and stumbled before it fell headfirst in love.