Chapter Seventeen #2
Maximus leaned down to press a soft kiss on my lips. “Subs tend to be naked or clothed in silk. The leather cuffs come much later, and the butt plugs are optional until you’re ready for anal sex.”
My eyes flew open to meet the amusement in his sapphire blue gaze.
“You seem to know an awful lot about kinky sex,” I said.
“There’s nothing kinky about sex,” Maximus replied, pushing himself up to stare down at me. “I own a lot of businesses, and some of them involve consensual sexual encounters.”
I cleared my throat and glanced away. “I’m not sure what that means.”
His fingers grasped my chin, turning my head until he was staring into my eyes. “It means what I said. I own some clubs that offer our clientele privacy to live out their ultimate fantasy, and some of those are sexual in nature.”
I pursed my lips. “What does that mean for us? As owner, are you a regular visitor?” Sickness burned up my throat at the thought of having to watch my husband having sex with another woman, or being forced to have sex with another man in his club.
He swept my hair from my shoulder, pressing a kiss to the side of my throat. “I used to attend before we became engaged. I told you, I take my vows seriously.”
A thousand questions raced through my head.
A thrill rippled through me, and pulsed between my legs at the image of a club filled with undulating bodies, fulfilling their ultimate fantasies.
My books had graphically described some of these adult clubs, but they all evaporated when Maximus’ phone rang again, and he groaned.
“I swear I’m going to start shooting people who phone me without a good reason,” he muttered, rolling out of the bed, and pacing across the room. “Yeah?”
Maximus’ entire body language changed, his muscles stiffening. I recognised the way he pushed his fingers through his hair, how his jaw tightened, and the expression on his face changed. Maximus morphed from my husband to a dangerous businessman, who had no issue killing a problem in his path.
“Do we know who did it?” Maximus asked, pacing to the window to stare out into the darkness. “Make sure you have answers when I get there.”
He hung up, remaining where he stood, his figure looking lonely and withdrawn, untouchable.
Maximus was my husband, and this was now my life.
I rolled out of the bed, and padded my way across the room, wrapping my arms around his waist to rest my forehead at the top of his spine.
“Problem?” I asked.
“Someone decided they could fuck with my business since I’m out of the country,” he replied. “Jake is investigating.”
“I’ll pack our bags,” I said, tracing my hand over his hard abdominal muscles.
“We’re on honeymoon,” Maximus replied, spinning around to stare down at me.
“Maximus,” I said, sighing. “We’ve been spending every day in bed, and we have a bed back home. You’ll spend the last two days of our honeymoon stomping about, and demanding answers. I think it’s best if we go home, and you can go and shoot people.”
His right eyebrow rose. “You make me sound like a psychopath.”
“Absolutely not.” I grinned up at him. “A psychopath has no empathy, and can be reckless and impulsive. You know exactly what you’re doing, Maximus. I’ve never seen you do anything without thinking through every angle.”
I stood on my tiptoes, and pressed a kiss to his lips.
His hand wrapped around my hair to tug my head back. “What did I do to deserve you?” he asked, and my body responded to the slight bite of pain of him pulling my hair, goosebumps rising.
“I somehow doubt you help old ladies across the road, or buy girl scout cookies.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I have no objections to some cookies every now and then, I just make sure one of my men buy them so the act of charity never finds its way to my door.”
Maximus studied me with an intensity that made my stomach clench.
“What if you are nothing more than a fly caught in my web?” Maximus asked, his head tilting toward mine. “If I am the architect of your doom?”
“Then I have walked into that doom with my eyes wide open.” I moved closer to him, my hands on his hips. “You forget you accepted my marriage proposal.”
His other hand cupped the side of my face. “My innocent little lamb. You were mine from the moment you walked into that hall ten years ago. The only ending was you being here with me.”
“That is either terrifying or incredibly romantic,” I whispered, trying to determine what Maximus meant since I had been engaged to Dale. There was no way he could have believed we would have ended up together.
Maximus slowly shook his head, a terrifying grin tipping his lips up. “I can be both, Olivia. In our home, I am your husband and lover, but outside I am the monster who will destroy anyone in our path.”
His hand slipped from my cheek to my throat, and a thrill rippled down my spine.
Maximus had always been dangerous, but there was a seductive edge to his darkness that awakened a creature inside me that stretched herself in his presence.
He set a fire to my blood, and I wanted to warm myself in his presence because everything only made sense when I was with him.
“Sometimes the hero is the monster to protect those he loves,” I replied. “I know who I married when I made my vows. Our world is filled with misery and pain, and each of us must find our place. Mine is with you.”
Maximus’ thumb rubbed the pulse at the side of my throat. “Remember this moment when our world gets dark,” he said. “A war is brewing, and we all have to do what is needed to survive.”
I nodded slowly, my tongue flicking out to moisten my lips. “It’s time to go home and face the music.”
“If that’s true, then we will be dancing with death.”
Maximus pressed a hard kiss to my mouth, and it felt as if we were sealing an oath to each other.