Chapter Fourteen #2
I put the last piece of chocolate in my mouth, gathering the last of my courage. “Well, it’s been a long day. I think it’s time for me to go to bed. Night!”
I tried to walk past him, but Maximus caught my hand, tugging me back to him.
“We’re married, that means we now share a bed.” His voice caressed over me, his other hand landing on my waist.
My lips pursed together, and my eyes closed. “Max.”
His heat infused into my back as he stepped forward, his lips skimming the side of my throat.
“This is a real marriage, Livvie. From this day forward we trust no one but each other. Anything that happens in this house is private, and not to be discussed with anyone.” I tugged my hand to move away. “Do you understand?”
There was something in his tone that made me freeze. Maximus was a cold blooded killer, and his voice proved that, but I couldn’t bring myself to fear the man pressed against me.
“Are we negotiating terms of this marriage?” I asked.
His hand slid from my waist to my stomach. “Do you have demands?”
A shiver rippled down my spine as he pressed a kiss to the side of my throat.
“Um.” I paused. “Papa doesn’t hide his mistresses. They wander in and out our house, flaunting their presence. I don’t want that.”
“I don’t intend on having any mistresses.”
“Mama explained to me that men need their distractions. I just don’t want them in my home.” I didn’t want them in his life at all, but I wasn’t in a position to make demands.
Maximus spun me to face him. “I don’t know what you experienced in your previous family, but in our family, marriage vows are sacred. I run our family business and have never heard or seen anything to indicate Dad has ever had a mistress. I intend our marriage to be the same.”
His eyes contained an intensity that coaxed me to believe him. I fell into their blue depths, drowning in his presence.
I sucked in a shaky breath. “I don’t know what you want. Dale and I had an arrangement, and now I find myself in a completely different situation. I no longer know what is expected of me.”
His full lips tipped up in a sexy smile. “I expect everything, Livvie. A marriage in every sense of the word, a wife who shares my bed and my life, and ultimately a family we can watch grow together.”
I wanted that more than anything, but I didn’t know how to tell him that because he held all the power in our relationship.
Step at a time, Maximus moved forward until my back was against the wall. There was nowhere left for me to go. He lifted my hands, lacing his fingers through mine as he pressed them on either side of my head against the wall.
“I don’t share, Livvie, and that means myself.
You need to prepare yourself to be the only woman in my life.
” He shocked me by following his words with his lips possessing mine.
They were warm and firm, moving to tease mine, drugging me with his unique energy.
I had fantasised about this man, touched myself to the memory of him, and now his body pressed to mine, and it was more than I had ever imagined.
Heat radiated out from my stomach, infusing into me, and setting fire to my pelvis. All logic left my mind, and all that remained was sensation. His lips cast a spell, their magical touch rendering me helpless, a slave to the silent words said against mine.
I moaned, my body arching against Maximus’ as I sought to touch more of him since my hands were still held captive. He nipped my bottom lip with his teeth, his tongue flicking between my lips.
“Maximus,” I whispered, a sexual desperation I had never experienced before snaking through my veins.
“I love the way you say my name,” he said against my mouth. “You’re the only one who says it with that inflection.”
I tried to open my eyes, but he kissed me again, chasing all other thoughts from my head. His kisses were powerful aphrodisiacs, weakening my knees and lowering my protective walls.
“Come with me,” Maximus muttered, releasing my fingers so his hands could slide under my ass to lift me.
I had accepted my destiny of a life without affection or passion. Now that Maximus ignited a flame inside me, I was beginning to realise how short-sighted I’d been. He manoeuvred us through the house, my eyes jolting open when he set me on the floor.
“Turn around, Olivia. I don’t want to rip your dress.” His eyes were a darker shade, emotion filling them. “Although, I am seriously tempted right now to cut you out of all that fabric.”
My hands shook as I pushed my hair back, turning away from Maximus. In my fantasies, I had missed my bodies reaction since I had never experienced the physical touch of a man before, especially this man.
The pads of his fingers traced over my skin as he slowly unbuttoned all the tiny silk buttons which decorated the back of my dress, and ran down to my ass. A shiver rippled down my spine, goosebumps rising to meet his touch.
Did it always feel like this?
My breath caught when Maximus pressed a kiss to the side of my throat as he lifted my hair out of his way, his hands slowly slipping under the fabric of my dress to push it down my body until I was left in just my panties and stockings.
His fingers caught mine when I tried to cover my breasts.
“There is no need to hide yourself from me.” I looked up, and found his eyes watching me in the reflection of the window.
All thoughts had evaporated from my head, and I couldn’t think of a single word to say. My marriage was supposed to be a business arrangement, and yet I was losing myself in the intensity of his gaze, the sensation of his touch, and the spell he was weaving around me.
My mouth fell open as he lowered our hands, exposing me to his stare. No one had seen me naked before, had been this close to me.
“Let me show you a world of pleasure,” Maximus said with that deep, husky tone that made my body hum with awareness.
He didn’t wait for a reply, moving me with his grasp at my hips toward the bed.
Maximus spun me to slowly face him, and a wave of shyness crashed into me.
He lifted my face to his, and I lost myself in those blue eyes.
The air stood still, and I couldn’t breathe as his lips descended to mine.
Those lips were magical because they made my heart beat faster and my head swim.
I delved into a world of sensation, where the rest of the world fell away, and all that remained was the new feelings coursing through my body.
I gasped when I fell back onto the bed, Maximus towering over me like a demon who had clawed his way out of Hell to claim me. He slowly removed his clothing one item at a time, and I couldn’t pull my eyes away as he revealed his tanned flesh covered in an elaborate tattoo which mesmerised me.
His chest and arms were the type of physique that artists carved marble to immortalise, his tattoo emphasising the curve of his muscles. His messy black hair fell forward as he fiddled with his belt buckle, releasing his trousers.
I slumped back on the bed, half of me terrified, and the other half of me desperate with a need that overwhelmed me. He was more than my imagination had conjured, and the bulge in his black boxer briefs was enough to make my thighs tighten.
Maximus leaned forward, his fingers hooking into my panties, and tugging them down my legs. I threw my arm over my eyes, not able to look at him since I was fully exposed.
“Look at me.” The command in his tone made me lower my arm and stare at him. “Open your legs.”
I didn’t realise I had clamped my thighs together.
My cheeks burned crimson as I sucked in a deep breath.
“Climb up on the bed,” Maximus commanded, arms folding across his broad chest. “Legs open. Show me what is mine.”
I tried to keep my legs closed as I shimmied up the bed on my ass. Maximus slowly shook his head, his eyes never leaving mine.
“There is no hiding from me, Livvie. Every single inch of your skin is mine to touch, every thought belongs to me, every sensation you experience mine to create. Nothing that happens in this room is to be discussed outside of it.” His words sent a tremor of excitement rippling through me.
What was he about to do to me?
My lips pursed together and my legs trembled as I slowly opened them, my stockings still on. I glanced to the wall, fighting the urge to cover my breasts and between my thighs.
The bed dipped as Maximus climbed onto it.
The magnetism he exuded forced me to look at him, and the image made my mouth dry.
He crawled up the bed, looking like a dark and dangerous lover, who had escaped from my fantasises and into my life.
His muscles flexed with suppressed power, his hair falling forward into his eyes, the expression in those eyes burning me, and igniting a desire deep in my chest.
His hands grasped my thighs, spreading me wider so he could settle himself there.
“Eyes on me,” Maximus instructed as he lowered his head.
My back arched when his tongue caressed me where only I had touched myself. I’d read about this in books, tried to recreate it with my own fingers in the darkness of my room. None of it compared to the way his tongue flicked and licked, his fingers joining in the erotic torment, making me squirm.
His lips trailed up my stomach, pressing kisses on his path to my breasts, the pads of his fingers trailing across my skin.
I gasped when his lips closed over my right nipple, his teeth delicately scraping that sensitive flesh. His thumb caressed my other nipple. When he sucked, a shiver rippled down my body. I struggled with the sensations, my hands lifting and falling back to my sides.
Could I touch him?
I didn’t know the rules of this game, what was acceptable for me to do. Maximus was in charge, owning and touching me how he chose.