22. Theo
22
THEO
D ropping Renee off at her home felt wrong, but there was nothing Max and I could do to change her mind.
We’d each tried to sway her during the drive, me with promises of a dozen different restaurant options, and Max with the hard facts about what would be waiting for her at home. I stayed out of that part, thinking that Max would have the best shot at getting through to her, but nothing Max said seemed to have an impact on her mother.
I thought about speaking up…but it wasn’t my place. Max had made that abundantly clear.
We pulled up in front of the modest home, and I wished that I felt close enough to both of them to feel comfortable walking Renee right up to the front door, so I could glare at the man who was making her life miserable. Intimidate him a little, and maybe make him rethink his communication style.
Instead, I had to sit in the driver seat like a chauffeur while Max debated with her mom just outside the car. It sounded like she wanted to go inside to speak to Nick, and Renee was attempting to prevent it. I was ready for action, either way.
I watched Renee head up the sidewalk solo and felt a surge of energy. Max said the man wasn’t violent, but she also mentioned that he’d been escalating. I hated the thought of what Renee could be walking into.
Max slid into the front seat, and we both watched in silence as Renee slipped inside.
“Let’s just wait a few minutes,” Max murmured. She rolled down her window. “I want to make sure he’s not going to blow up at her.”
“Should we do something?” I asked. “I mean, if we know he’s going to be on her case can’t we?—”
“Theo,” she barked at me. “You don’t need to worry about this, okay? I feel bad enough that you’re here. And what can we do, anyway? She’s a grown woman, it’s not like I can drag her out of there. Trust me, I’ve tried reasoning with her from every angle I can think of. Nothing works.”
“But what about Rafe?” I asked.
She let out a long breath. “Yeah. Rafe.”
We both fell quiet at the sound of a slamming door echoing out. Max held up a finger to shush me even though I hadn’t been talking. We sat in silence and both seemed to relax when we couldn’t hear anything else.
“Okay, good. He’s not yelling right off the bat, which means he’s probably pouting. Not a great response either but at least he’s not being aggressive toward her.”
“I can’t even imagine that kind of dynamic …” I shook my head.
“Don’t get me started.” Max was staring out the window frowning. “We can go. She’s fine.”
“For now,” I muttered.
I eased the car onto the road and tried to figure out what was safe to discuss. Clearly not her family.
“Where to?” I asked. It was getting late, but I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Max yet, and I hoped that she felt the same.
She was leaning back against the seat looking totally drained by what we’d been through. I wondered how often she had to get involved in her mom’s drama.
“I don’t have anywhere I need to be …” she rolled her head so she could meet my eyes. “You?”
“Wide open. Want to go back to my place, eat candy and watch a movie?”
She finally smiled at me. “ You have candy?”
“I don’t at the moment, but I can stop in that convenience store right there and load up on anything you want.”
“Let’s do it.”
I maneuvered my car into a parking spot and held my hand up when she started to unbuckle her seatbelt. “Please allow me, m’lady. Wait here.”
“Oh, you’re a candy concierge?” she laughed, and I felt relieved at the sound of it.
“In a way, yes. I think you’ll be pleased with my selections. Be right back.”
I ran into the store and grabbed enough candy to feed a school bus of children. Max burst out laughing when I placed the two overflowing bags in her lap.
“Why so much?” she asked as she peered inside them.
“I wasn’t sure if you were feeling fruity or chocolate-y so I got both. In one bag you’ve got your Nerds, Sour Patch Kids, Starburst, and Jolly Ranchers, and the other is all chocolate. Snickers, Milky Way, Reese’s, Skor bars, stuff like that.”
“Did you clean them out completely?” she asked, pulling out a giant lollypop.
“Maybe, but it was worth it to make you smile.”
She giggled as she dug through the bag, and once again I was reminded how easy it was to make Max happy. I wasn’t used to someone who was so … real. I’d gone out with women who refused to talk to me in the morning until they’d had a chance to put on their make-up, yet Max greeted the world with a bare face every day. She didn’t need fine dining or expensive clothes. Everything about her was straightforward, transparent, honest, and I was getting way too used to it.
Once we were back at my place, we headed for my media room. “What do you want to watch?”
“I think I’ve probably seen everything you have,” she said, plopping onto an oversized recliner. “I watch a lot of movies.”
“Have you seen the latest George Clooney movie? The one where he’s a long-haul truck driver named Miles who has multiple personalities? I think it’s called Many Miles .”
“ A Million Miles .” She frowned at me. “That isn’t out yet.”
“Ah, but I know people,” I said, pulling my phone from my pocket.
“You know George Clooney?” she asked, awestruck.
“Not yet. But I know the primary financial backer on the film. He’ll send me a screener if I ask. So do you want to watch it?”
“I mean, yeah, I do.”
“Done,” I replied as I typed out a quick message. Jay McGinnis had yachted with me a bunch of times and was more than happy to hook me up. Twenty minutes later, I turned the lights down and dropped into the chair next to Max.
“What’s the candy of choice?” I asked.
“Don’t judge. I haven’t had Nerds in years so I’m on my second box. They’re delicious.” She shrank down in her chair, sheepish.
“And I’m having a chocolate craving, so hand over that Snickers bar,” I shot back, grinning at her.
We watched the credits, and I noticed that Max was rubbing her calf. “What’s going on with your leg?”
“Ugh, I’m sore. I had a session with the owner of a new shop and I was on my knees for hours, trying to frame the shots properly. My whole body hurts, but my legs especially are super tight from crouching.”
“Gimme,” I said, holding out my hand.
“Give you what?”
“That leg,” I nodded toward it. “Let me massage it.”
“Oh come on,” she scolded playfully. “If you want to get me in bed just say so.”
But even though I hoped that was where the night would end up, in the short term I only wanted to ease her pain.
“I do, oh I definitely do, but can I at least take a crack at it first?” I held my hand out and she dropped her shapely leg into it. I started rubbing her calf and she winced.
“Are you that tender?”
“A little.”
“Hold on, I have an idea.”
I jogged out of the media room and down the hall to my master bathroom. One of the resorts I frequently visited always left gift baskets full of products for me, and I knew at least one of them had massage oil in it. I picked through the vials and pots in my closet until I found it, along with a towel.
“I tried to pause the movie, but I don’t know how to work your controller,” Max said, pointing at the screen as I walked in. “So far all you’ve missed is Miles driving down a lonesome highway, singing along to Willie Nelson.”
I stared at the screen and realized I was much more interested in the beautiful woman in front of it. I got back into position next to her, and she draped her legs over the arm of the chair and into my lap.
“Massage oil?” she asked as I unscrewed the cap. “This is going to get messy.”
I pulled the towel off my shoulder and put it beneath her legs. “I planned ahead.”
“You’re a full-service concierge,” she said, raising an eyebrow at me. “But is this a full service massage? The kind that comes with a happy ending?”
I’d poured a little bit of oil and was warming it in my hands before I touched her skin. I didn’t answer, instead smoothing my oily palms along her calf.
“You’ll find out,” I murmured as I worked my thumb against her tight muscle.
Max writhed on the chair. “I can’t tell if that feels good or terrible.”
“Should I stop?”
“Don’t you dare.”
I eased my fingertips up and down her leg and felt her start to relax beneath my touch. It was turning me on, but I refused to let it show.
“Oh my God!” Max exclaimed, pointing at the screen. “Ugh, no thank you.”
I looked up and saw a jump cut of a crying woman tied up in the back of the truck cab.
“Oh, it’s that kind of movie?” I asked, scowling at the screen. “Not what I was expecting from George.”
“Same. I hate scary movies.”
“I’ll turn it off,” I said, using the back of my hand to click through the menu on my phone. I was surprised to learn that the tough girl had a weakness. “Let’s watch something else.”
“Watch whatever you want, I’m just going to close my eyes and enjoy the massage,” Max sighed as I resumed my therapy.
I managed to turn on music without getting my phone completely greasy. I refocused on my work, making Max melt into my hands.
“Shoulders next,” I said. I moved back and slapped the cushion in front of me. “Right here.”
Max eased down, letting her ass drag along my crotch like a stripper before she ended up settling in front of me with her back to me. As much as I wanted to tear off her clothes I refrained, because I could tell that even though she wanted me as well, it was clear that she also wanted a massage. Her tank top with thin straps gave me plenty of real estate to work on.
As I dug into the knots along her shoulders her breathing slowed, and she let her head fall forward. It wasn’t just the strain from her work the day before; I’m sure the stress of dealing with her mom was contributing to her tightness. I tried to remember the techniques my massage therapist used on me.
“This is exactly what I needed,” she whispered.
I smiled and dragged my hands across her back. I wanted to make her feel good. I wanted to make her happy. Yeah, my dick was straining in my pants, but I was more concerned with easing her discomfort than prioritizing my own pleasure.
I was so focused on working a knot in between her shoulder blades that I didn’t even notice she was leaning back slowly.
“What’s wrong?”
“You never answered my question about if this is a full-service massage,” her back was pressed against my chest, and she placed a little kiss on the side of my neck.
“Ma’am, I’m not sure what you mean,” I huffed, pretending to be confused.
“Sometimes women have … tension … that needs a special touch,” she whispered, low and sexy. “Do you understand what I mean?”
“Like this?” I murmured, rubbing along her ribs and letting my hand slip ever so slightly to graze the side of her breast.
Her body curled slightly at the ticklish touch. “That’s a start. What else have you got?”
I moved closer and draped my arms over hers so that I could reach her legs. “How about this?”
I started at her knees and inched my way higher, making little circular patterns as I got closer to the edge of her dress.
“Feel good?” I rasped in her ear.
“You’ve got the right idea,” she sighed as I let my hands trail toward the soft skin of her inner thighs.
Max spread her legs a little farther and I teased her, letting my fingertips come within inches of her heat but moving away at the last moment before actually touching her where she wanted to be touched. She writhed against me then grabbed my hand and moved it directly on top of her underwear.
“No more games,” she scolded. Her breath caught as I snuck my fingertip beneath silk and found the soft, wet center of her pleasure.
Max arched back against me, and I swear every time her ass brushed on my crotch I felt like a high schooler in the back of a car. I was not going to let myself get off from dry humping, not when a little patience would mean I could bury myself in the beautiful woman I was currently making tremble.
I could tell she was trying to wait, biting her lip and squeezing her eyes shut as I touched her.
“Come for me,” I whispered, my lips pressed against her ear. “Right now, and then again and again once I get you in my bed.”
It was as if she was waiting for me to give her permission to let go. She writhed against my hand as I trailed kisses along her neck. The second her cries faded, I picked her up and headed for my bedroom.
“Ready for more?” I asked as I strode down the hallway with her clasped in my arms.
Her answer was a searing kiss and a look that told me we were in for a long night.