Chapter 11
SYDNEY
T he cafeteria air lacks oxygen after Max’s words.
His hand still holds mine across the table, warm and steady, that familiar possessive grip that makes my body remember everything, even as my heart hesitates. My mind spins as it tries to process all the information.
Ben is awake. Max spoke to him. And now this…confessions in a sterile hospital basement while Alex’s enforcers hover discreetly nearby.
“I don’t know if I can trust you yet,” I whisper again, but my fingers curl tighter around his anyway. The chemistry hasn’t died. It crackles under my skin, pulling me toward him like it did that first night at the auction.
“I will earn back your trust, I promise.” Max’s dark eyes lock on mine, intense and unyielding. “Come home with me to our home. No more hiding. No more secrets.”
I should say no. I should demand more time, more explanations. But the exhaustion of the last few days, the relief of Ben waking up, and the aching emptiness I’ve felt without Max win out. I nod.
The drive back to the penthouse is quiet, charged. Max keeps one hand on my thigh the entire time, thumb stroking possessive circles.
When we step inside, the familiar space hits me hard. The windows overlooking the city, and when I enter the bedroom to drop off my bag, the bed where he claimed me night after night.
Max follows steps into the room, cupping my face with both hands. “I was a bastard for sending you away the way I did,” he says, voice rough. “I was terrified, Sydney. Terrified they’d hurt you to get to me. And terrified of how much I love you. I panicked. I’m so fucking sorry.”
Tears slip down my cheeks. “You made me feel like all those nights where you made me feel… everything were just a transaction.”
“I know.” He rests his forehead against mine. “Let me remind you what’s real.” His kiss starts tender. Soft lips explore gently, like he’s afraid I’ll pull away. But when I melt into him, it deepens, and I can feel the hunger burning inside him. How much he wants to claim me.
His hands slide down my body, pulling me flush against him. His I erect cock pushes hard against my belly. The familiar heat floods between my legs. “Max…” I breathe against his mouth.
“Tell me you want this,” he murmurs. “Tell me you’re still mine.”
“I’m scared.”
“I’m here. All of me.” He lifts me effortlessly, carrying me to the bed and laying me down like I’m special to him, precious. His eyes never leave mine as he strips off his shirt, revealing the muscled chest I’ve traced with my fingers and lips so many times.
He undresses me slowly, reverently, kissing every inch of skin he exposes. When I’m bare beneath him, he pauses, drinking me in. “So fucking beautiful. This body has haunted me every second you were gone.”
His mouth descends on my breasts, sucking one nipple deep while his hand palms the other. I arch into him with a moan.
He moves lower, kissing down my stomach, spreading my thighs wide with firm hands. The first lick along my pussy makes me cry out. “Max—oh fuck.”
He groans against me, the vibration shooting pleasure through my core.
“Missed this sweet pussy so much. So wet for me already.” His tongue circles my clit with devastating precision, then dips inside me, fucking me while his thumbs hold me open.
He devours me like a starving man, tender and relentless at once.
Two thick fingers slide in, curling against the spot that makes me see stars.
I come hard, thighs shaking around his head, his name a sob on my lips.
He licks me through the entire orgasm, drawing out every wave until I’m trembling and oversensitive.
He rises, shedding the rest of his clothes. His cock is thick and heavy, the head glistening as he settles between my legs, rubbing the length along my slick folds. “Look at me, Sydney.”
I meet his gaze, tears still clinging to my lashes.
“I love you,” he says, voice thick with emotion.
“Not the sugar baby. You. The woman who’s strong enough to sacrifice everything for her brother.
The woman who takes my cock so perfectly and looks at me like I’m worthy.
” He pushes in slowly, inch by inch, stretching me open with that delicious burn I’ve missed.
“This pussy is mine. But my heart is yours too. Always.”
“Max…” I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling him deeper. He bottoms out with a deep groan, buried to the hilt.
For a moment we just stay like that, connected, eyes locked. The tenderness cracks something open in me.
Then he moves. Deep, powerful thrusts claim every part of me.
“Fuck, you feel like heaven. So tight. So perfect.” His pace is slow and steady at first, savoring, but then he grips my hips harder, the strokes becoming faster and a little erratic.
“I’m never letting you go again. Never pushing you away. You’re my woman. My future.”
I claw his back, meeting his thrusts, the pleasure building fast and overwhelming. “Harder,” I beg. “Remind me.”
He growls and gives me what I need. The rhythm turns possessive, dominant. His hips snap while he drives his cock deep into me, kissing me fiercely. “That’s my good girl. Taking every inch of my cock like you were made for it. This tight little pussy squeezes me so perfectly. Mine. Say it.”
“Yours,” I gasp, tears of pleasure and relief mixing. “I’m yours, Max.”
He flips us, pulling me on top. His hands guide my hips as I sink down onto him, taking him even deeper. “Ride me, baby. Show me how much you missed this.” I brace my hands on his chest and move, grinding my clit against him with every roll.
He looks up at me, a mixture of raw love and hunger shining in his eyes. One hand slides up to cup my breast, the thumb teasing the nipple, while the other grips my ass possessively.
“So fucking gorgeous like this,” he rasps. “Taking my cock, chasing your pleasure. I love you, Sydney. Love watching you fall apart on me.”
The words push me over. I come again, clenching around him, crying out as waves crash through me.
He sits up, wrapping his arms around me tightly, holding me close as he thrusts up into me through my orgasm. Skin to skin, heartbeat to heartbeat. Tender and filthy all at once.
He flips me onto my hands and knees, covering my back with his body. One hand fists gently in my hair, the other reaches around to rub my swollen clit.
He enters me from behind in one smooth thrust, deep and claiming. “Feel that? How perfectly we fit. I was lost without you. Every night I remembered how you’d moan for me, how your pussy milked my cock when you came.”
His powerful thrusts slaps his hips against my ass, but his mouth is soft on my shoulder, kissing, whispering declarations of love between the dirty promises. “Never again. I’ll spend every day proving I’m worthy of you. Proving this isn’t just sex. It’s everything.”
I push back against him, lost in sensation and emotion. Another orgasm builds, sharper this time. “Max—I’m close?—”
“Come for me, baby. Let me feel it. Give me everything.”
I shatter, sobbing his name as pleasure rips through me. My walls pulse around his thick cock, drawing him deeper. Milking him.
He groans loudly, thrusting until he buries himself to the hilt with one hard push and erupts inside me. “I’m putting a baby inside you. My baby in your womb,” he growls. Hot release fills me as he holds me tight, trembling against my back.
We collapse together onto the sheets, him still buried inside me, arms wrapped around me like he’ll never let go.
Our breathing slows in sync.
He presses tender kisses to my neck, my shoulder, my hair, whispering “I love you” over and over like a vow.
Tears slip silently down my face, but this time they’re from relief, from being claimed and loved so completely. The betrayal, the fear, the separation, they don’t vanish. But here, in his arms, with his cock still twitching inside me and his heart beating against my back, they feel surmountable.
He’s mine again.
And I’m his in my body, heart, and future.