6. Chapter 6
Chapter six
T hey were cuddling together in his bed after a delicious bout of shower sex when her cell phone rang.
She flung her arm out toward the sound, but the rest of her body didn’t follow. "You broke me."
"You complaining?“ He stroked his hand along her flank, leaving shivers of sensation in his wake despite her total satiation.
"No."
"Didn’t think so."
"I should get that."
"Later." He didn’t make a move to incite more sex, though, but pulled her closer into the curve of his body. "We need a nap."
And that? Was really dangerous.
#
Danusia listened to the message her apartment manager had left on her phone for the second time, trying to convince herself it said what she’d thought she’d heard. But it was just so wild.
Max sauntered in from the kitchen. He’d insisted on making dinner again, saying cornbread crust pizza was a no-brainer and she could work on her thesis while he threw it together.
He’d made it pretty clear he didn’t want her help, so she’d come into the dining room. The research wasn’t making any more sense than it had earlier, and she’d remembered the phone call earlier. Listening to her messages seemed like a legitimate reason to procrastinate.
Only the message didn’t make any more sense than the printouts littering the table.
"What’s the matter?" he asked.
"What? Oh..." She closed her phone and stared at the opposite wall, wondering if she should head back to her place tonight, or wait for morning.
Ever since they’d woken from their nap, Max had been putting distance between them. She got that. The sex between them had been too intense and he’d made it clear he wasn’t looking for a relationship.
It still hurt.
"Danusia?" he asked, sounding wary.
She turned to look at him. "I need to get back to my apartment."
He didn’t look disappointed, or happy, or well anything . Max had his game face on, and she had no hope of reading it.
"The super get the door fixed?" he asked.
She filtered the message her manager had left through her brain for an answer to that question. "Yes, with a super deadbolt and an interior security flip bar."
"Sounds like they’re taking your safety seriously."
They should. Her apartment had been broken into a second time, but left totally trashed on this occasion. The thieves, vandals...whatever...had disabled the security alarm this time. Elle was going to be pissed.
All Danusia said was, "Yes."
"When are you going?"
"I was thinking about heading back tonight." The police wanted to talk to her and needed her to go through her place and see what had been taken .
His head jerked, his game face gone in the wake of dark emotion. "Tonight? What’s the rush?"
"There’s no reason to put it off."
He frowned and then got that sexy look she found so irresistible. "I can think of a few."
"Really?"
"If you leave now, you’ll be driving into the wee hours. That’s not safe. Don’t even pretend to think that’s a good idea for a woman alone."
That was so not where she’d expected him to go. And he was right, but she was feeling reckless. She just shrugged.
His eyes narrowed, but all he said was, "You don’t want to miss my pizza."
"It’s that good, huh?"
"It is."
She sighed, knowing his first argument was a valid one, especially in the light of what had happened at her apartment. "I guess."
"Do you really want to give up one more night of this?" he asked, indicating himself.
Finally, he went where she’d thought he was going to begin with, but maybe it was good he hadn’t started out with the sex, which was so much more than just sex. At least for her.
And she would have said for him too.
But she was the first to admit her ability to read men was nothing like her skills in the lab.
"Conceited," she accused.
"You saying I don’t have reason?"
"No."
"So? "
She wasn’t sure her heart could handle more of the kind of sex they had together. And what came after.
Her leaving. And him letting her go.
He stepped toward her, his expression predatory. "You don’t look convinced."
"I might need a little persuasion." Her heart might not survive this intact, but it was already cracking around the edges.
At least one more night in his arms, was one more night before she had to let the pain in. Before the loneliness took over.
And it wasn’t as if she didn’t know how to deal with being alone.
"I think I can do that." He pulled her gently up from the chair, taking her phone and laying it on the table before wrapping her in his arms.
He lowered his head. "The pizza’s got fifteen more minutes. I can do a lot of convincing in that amount of time."
"You’d better get to it then."
"Oh, I plan to."
Then he did. The kiss was incendiary and her worries about her heart melted in its heat. She reached up and locked her hands behind his neck and threw herself into it. Maybe it was that she’d never kissed a man she found so attractive, or maybe it was simply kissing this man, but every time their lips locked, she lost herself.
He lifted her against him, pressing that impressive hard-on into the apex of her thighs. It wasn’t enough.
She wrapped her legs around his hips and rubbed against him, unable to stifle the sounds of frustration when that just made the ache worse.
He broke his mouth away from hers. "Shhh, sexy, I’ll take care of you. "
Then he sat down in the chair she’d been using, standing her up between his thighs. He unsnapped her jeans and lowered the zipper. "Let’s get rid of these."
"Yes." She shoved the denim down her legs and kicked it away.
He grasped her hips, his hands so big that his thumbs easily reached her clitoris through the nylon of her panties. He brushed over the aching nub first with one thumb and then the other, teasing and satisfying with the same touch.
"Touch me, Max."
"I am touching you, professor."
"You know..." her voice failed as he rubbed a little circle over that spot.
"I do, yes."
Suddenly, her panties were gone and then she was sitting astride his lap, facing away from him. He tilted her head back so he could kiss her while his other hand moved between her thighs.
He brushed his fingers up the sensitive skin of her inner thigh before delving into her most intimate flesh. He slid one long finger inside her while his heel pressed against her swollen clitoris.
She moaned into the kiss, her body arching toward that touch, her brain losing touch with reality in a maelstrom of pleasure. She didn’t know how long he touched her like that, but the faint sound of a buzzer sounded from the kitchen just as her body and mind exploded like nanobots in a microwave. Sparkly lights behind her eyelids while she cried out against his lips.
#
Dinner was delicious, but what happened after was mind destroying. He yelled her name when he came and held her throughout the night. She woke before dawn, knowing she needed to get going before she did something really stupid, like ask him to come with her. Or if she could come back.
She was in the shower when she heard her phone ring. It stopped by the time she’d turned off the water and reached for a towel.
She was still drying herself off when Max walked into the bathroom looking pissed off and too darn sexy for this early in the morning.
"You want to explain to me why I just got off the phone with a police detective who wants to know when you’ll be back in town?"
She wrapped the towel around herself and tried sidling toward the door, but Max wasn’t moving. She stopped in front of him. "It’s about the break-in."
"Like hell. The police don’t follow up like this on an attempted break-in when the perp didn’t even make it inside the apartment."
"Not the first time."
"What the hell happened?"
"Do you think I could go to Roman’s room and get some clothes?" Her backpack was still in the master bedroom.
Max leaned against the door jamb. "Talk."
"You’re bossier than all my older siblings combined."
"You think?"
"They never grill me naked."
"You’re wearing a towel and I’m your lover. That comes with certain privileges."
"You’re my current sex partner; that’s not the same thing."
"I’m not done with you yet."
"Right. I’d say we’re done. I’m going back to my apartment, and I don’t see you making a six hour drive for a booty call."
"You plan to go back to an apartment that’s been broken into twice now, alone? " His volume rose with each word until he was as loud as her dad watching the Super Bowl .
She made a show of shaking her finger in her ear. "Loud, much?"
"Tell me what is going on." He bit each word out with a jaw like granite.
So, she told him.
He didn’t look any happier once she’d explained it than when he’d been in the dark. In fact, there was a muscle ticking in his jaw now and his breathing was even only by force of will. She could tell.
"Man, you really are worse than Roman."
"Like hell you are going back there alone," he said instead of responding to her accusation.
"I have to go back. The police need to know if anything has been stolen and I don’t want them calling Rebekah and upsetting her."
"Your roommate can stay just where she is."
Since Danusia agreed, she didn’t say anything.
"I’ll go with you."
"What? No. No way. I’m an adult, I can take care of this."
"It’s either take me, or I call your parents and your sister and two brothers that are in the country right now."
"You don’t have their numbers."
He held up the phone. "I do now."
"You’re being ridiculous."
"Which will it be?"
"You can’t just take off from work like that. You’ve probably got some super-soldier mission to go out on."
He flipped the phone open. "Make your choice."
"Fine. Gosh. If I’d known all it would take to get you to go with me was to get my apartment broken into, I would have done it sooner," she said sarcastically, hoping he couldn’t hear the strain of truth in her voice .
He heard something, because he shook his head and turned with a heartfelt, "Shit," as he went back into the guest bedroom.
"You don’t have to go with me," she called after him. "I could call my sister."
Because really? Two break-ins? Not normal. Danusia and Rebekah had chosen their apartment partly because of the building security and safe neighborhood.
"Don’t start with me, Danusia Lyudmyla Chernichenko," he yelled from the other room.
"You know my middle name?" she asked on a squeak as she hurried into the bedroom, her hand clutched in her towel.
He spun around to face her, a pair of black cargo pants in his hand. "I know a lot about you, your middle name’s the least of it."
"It’s not my fault. My grandmother’s best friend back in the Old Country was named Lyudmyla."
He just gave her a look.
"It’s embarrassing. So old fashioned."
"It’s cute, like the rest of you. Now, go get dressed."
She would have found it more of a compliment if he wasn’t barking at her like a drill sergeant.
She saluted smartly and scurried from the room. He caught up with her halfway down the hall. He spun her around and slammed his mouth down on hers.
He didn’t kiss her long, but when he finished, she was gasping and dazed. "Brat."
She nodded before she realized what she was agreeing to and then shrugged. "If you’re good at something..." She left the rest unsaid.
"I’m good at killing people."
This time she knew exactly why she was nodding.
"I was MARSOC. "
"Marines special forces."
"Yes."
"Sniper or assassin?"
"Does it matter? I was and am a human weapon."
"Maybe it’s time for a career change."
"Maybe it’s not." There was a question in his words, but she wasn’t sure he was even aware it was there.
She just leaned up and kissed him softly. "I’ll get dressed."