Chapter 28 #2
His kiss stole the rest of the air in my chest. His hands ran down my waist, cupping the curve of my backside to press me closer to his body.
I didn’t know where to put my own hands.
They settled on his chest, climbing the curve of his shoulders, studying the thick muscles of his neck before threading into his hair.
Max kissed me with the force of every instinct he’d held back.
This bloodrage had stripped him of logic and reason, leaving only the natural pursuit of what he desired.
There was no thinking, no second-guessing, no wondering what would happen tomorrow or if we would regret this later.
There was only the rush of arousal, the chase of that mutual need, and the flame that climbed ever higher, forged from some spark between our souls.
It was so easy wanting him, tasting him, feeling him. It was everything my flesh craved. I needed him closer, clawing at his shirt until I found the ripples of his scars lining his back.
As before, it was like a cord snapped between us. He shrank away from me in an instant. His face twisted with shock and frustration. All the heat in his stare vanished, turning it cold.
“Max…” I didn’t know what to say. “I thought that we… Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” he replied. But he looked like he was slipping back into a rage. “This is why I can’t do this. I can’t have you.”
“You can’t, or you won’t?”
“Nina, don’t say that.”
I wanted to say more. I wanted to tell him there was nothing about his appearance, about his body, that would turn me away. But the wall he kept between me and the rest of him wouldn’t even let me get close.
“I don’t know what else to say, Max. Or how to keep you from flinching at my touch—”
His shoulders slumped. “Don’t you think I want to feel you, too? I dream of your hands all over me. I don’t want to live like this, but the moment someone touches those scars…” He stared at the floor, refusing to look at me. His hands pushed back the hair falling in his face.
“You’re back in the lab, aren’t you?”
“I never really left.” He winced. “How can I ever love you the way you deserve when I despise everything I am?”
“That’s the best part—figuring it out together.” I closed the distance between us, lifting his head in my hand to look up at me. “We can take our time. If those are your boundaries, we’ll work around them until you’re ready.”
“Or you can find someone who isn’t so fucked up,” he muttered.
I shook my head. “I’ve already bet on you, Max.”
The light from the wall sconce reflected against the cuff still wrapped around my opposite wrist. An idea came to mind. If touching him was too triggering, perhaps there was a way I could ensure he’d feel secure in a moment so intimate. Let him feel safe so he could be vulnerable.
“You still have the Forge die, correct?”
“Yes, but—”
“And we’re alone down here?”
He nodded without hesitation.
I left him to find a support pole holding up the ceiling, taking the liberty of slipping off my dress to make sure it was out of the way.
“Nina…” He whispered my name slowly. “What are you thinking?”
“I figure if I’m going to keep ending up in handcuffs, I might as well start enjoying it.
” I leaned against the metal pole with my hands over my head, locking myself into the cuffs.
I tugged hard against the slack of the chain around the pole, proving I was locked there.
“Now I can’t get out until you set me free. If you set me free.”
He exhaled a long breath, and I wondered if he was scenting the arousal fueling the beat of my heart. The air must have been thick with it, the way I wanted him. His eyes burned, and a matching flame rose in my blood every second they lingered on my body.
“Nina,” he groaned, taking his head in his hands.
“What’s wrong?”
“This… might work.”
I flicked a stray hair out of my eyes. “You sound so disappointed.”
“Hell, woman, do I look disappointed to you?”
A glance toward the bulge beneath his waistband proved he was anything but.
The wet fabric only accentuated every detail.
Max wanted me. I’d already had the evidence of the truth in the training ring.
He just needed to get out of his own way, and I’d remove any barrier, including my own touch, if it helped him pursue this comfortably.
He took several steps closer, looking furiously at my undergarments like they offended him.
“I must admit, this is a tempting idea. Especially after you snuck out last night.” Max loomed over me, placing a single hand around both my bound wrists.
“But you need to know before we do this, you can’t fix me, Nina.
Not even a brilliant surgeon like you could do that. ”
“I’m not trying to fix you.” My back arched, drawing his eyes downward to my chest where the water funneled between my breasts. “I’m just trying to be with you.”
He slipped a finger beneath the strap of my bralette, pulling it to the edge of my shoulder. “Gods know you shouldn’t.”
Yet he didn’t stop his pursuit. But my heart was racing like a freight train without brakes, straight toward the edge of uncharted territory. “I’ve had to physically restrain myself from grabbing you, Maxence. I’ve wanted you so much.”
He kissed the edge of my collarbone, speaking words into my skin. “You’re too good to me. Too patient.”
“If I have to prove to you that I’m not going anywhere, I’ll chain myself to a bed, to a post, every damn night.”
His laugh skimmed the sensitive skin beneath my ear, triggering a rash of chills. Max sucked another long breath, his breathing quickening. “Your best idea yet.” His canine skimmed my pulse with a light nip of his teeth. “What do you want me to do to you?”
I’d never known this kind of greed, the way I wanted him. “Everything.”
A low growl slipped from his chest, leftover from the wild part of him that hadn’t quite lifted since the fight. He took a moment to stare at me in the gaslight, taking the finger that strayed beneath my strap and pulling it lower. The color of his eyes flared.
“How did I get something as beautiful as you?” His mouth resumed its tour of my body, worshipping the swells of my breasts with his hands, his tongue, his teeth.
My back arched, seeking his counterpressure.
Why the hell were his clothes still on? He sunk his weight into me, pressing me into the metal.
“Relax,” he said. “I promise, I’ll get there very soon.”
“You’re taking too long.”
“You’re not in the position to be making demands, Nina.”
I smirked at him, sensing I had more power here than he was letting on. “I think I’m in a very good position.” His grip tightened on me with a bruising pressure. “Please, Max.”
“Just tell me if you need to stop.”
That word was obliterated from my vocabulary when his mouth inched lower, his tongue joining the frenzy.
I could only take deep breaths, willing myself to relax as he lowered to his knees, kneeling with his head perfectly aligned with my hips.
With silver hair slicked back and a broad hand cupping the underside of my thigh, this dark place beneath a bloody ring was the most exquisite view of our entire journey.
“So good,” he murmured. “You smell so good. Always have.”
I could only nod, somehow losing all my words. His palms smoothed over my thighs, snagging and slipping off my underwear to remove every barrier but the air between us. His lips parted as he touched me, the tips of his canines elongating with hunger.
The idea of him sinking his teeth into me sent a chill down my spine. Max looked at me, continuing his ministrations. A thumb circled my center. “Is this okay?”
I nodded again and again, pulling against the chain. I was so exposed, so vulnerable, and I’d put myself in this position—literally. There wasn’t another person I’d feel safe enough with to give up control like this.
“I’m going to kiss you now.”
“You’ve been kissing me.”
A laugh brushed my wetness. “Not like this.”
His tongue split me in half. Calling this a kiss was not enough. His lips spread me wide, and my thighs squeezed together in reaction. My weight shifted to my toes, rubbing my hips to the motion of his mouth as he gripped me with both hands to hold me down over his face.
Cold water continued to spray down on my exposed skin, leaving me trembling all over from the man between my legs, his tongue stealing the strength from my knees, and the way I could barely touch the ground now that he had taken all control of my lower half.
I whimpered his name, listening as it echoed through the chamber and returned as a whisper. His groans of appreciation vibrated over my sensitive center, and I nearly hit a point of no return with the lazy stroke of his tongue and the pinch of his lips. My legs jerked in his hold.
A light pressure nudged my thoughts, and I opened for him in another way.
“How is this?” he asked through a thread between our minds, since his mouth was occupied.
His face was buried between my thighs, doing things no one else had ever done. I couldn’t discern between his lips and his tongue, only aware of the sweeping pleasure rising from my hips. A broken curse was my only response.
“Do you need a break?”
“A break?” I asked aloud. “How long do you plan on being down there?”
“As long as it takes, love.”
My head fell against the support beam with a protesting groan.
“Unless…” He slid up my body, taking both my wrists in his hand once more as his eyes glowed with a fresh hunger. “You want more?”
I nodded desperately. A throbbing ache splintered through my hips, dissatisfied from the loss of his touch. I muttered a curse, begging him to give me something to ride. His face, his hand, his cock. I’d take anything to finish what he’d started.
“Talk to me, Nina.”
“I want to taste you,” I said impulsively.