He was such a meticulous gardener, ruthless with weeds and trimming, then claiming that all that flowers needed to be beautiful was some sunshine and rain. On one occasion, she’d even heard him muttering mixed threats and encouragement to sick plants.
Was he still the same way? What if her dad hadn’t lost his fortune? What if she hadn’t been shipped off that fateful night and they’d made it to the dance? What if things had worked out differently?
She took the last sip. Alcohol usually made her drowsy, but tonight it didn’t feel like it was doing a damned thing.
The truth was, she was too aroused, wondering what it would feel like to have the weight of Max on her, to get tangled up in his arms and legs, to kiss and sweat and swear until her mind and body emptied and the aching stopped.
Max was a man now, not a boy her father had forbidden her to see. She was a woman too, not a child who could be manipulated by her father.
An outrageous thought began to bloom in her mind. What if I made his wish come true? What if I simply showed up at his door?
“No way,” she whispered, closing her eyes and trying to listen to the tiny voice of cool logic. Hadn’t she wanted him for … forever?
Wishes are not for cowards.
Oh, God. This was insane.
Well, skimpy underwear would not be a problem. It was one of the few things she pampered herself with every now and then. She flopped on her belly, propped her head on her chin, and contemplated her reflection on the dresser mirror a short distance away.
No! How could she even think it?
Assuming she wasn’t going to be too chicken to knock on his door, what would she say if he answered?
With a groan, she flopped on her back. Insane. Absolutely not! She argued with herself for twenty minutes more before she settled on doing a dry run. She didn’t want to think of whether that made her cowardly or not.
Chances were excellent that he was asleep anyway. She’d simply revel in the brazenness of standing at his door for a few moments.
Room 220. She knew because she’d arranged the hotel stay for the guests and, well, it had stuck in her head. She groaned. Everything about Max seemed to stick in her head.
Hell, maybe the alcohol was working after all.
The full impact of what she was doing hit her when she found herself at the door of Max’s room, in nothing but her pink silk-strapped high heels and her beige thigh-length coat while wearing only a skimpy coral-colored thong underneath. There was a glow of light under the door, and she could make out the low drone of a television.
Good God, he was awake!
Or dozing in front of the TV screen.
“Go back,” she mumbled to herself. Her stomach was in roiling knots, her heart was knocking like a flailing piston, and dammit, she was all but shaking from nerves. “What the hell am I doing?”
Five years! She’d put him on a pedestal for all that time, so wasn’t it time to act on her feelings for him?
She clenched her right hand and then, holding her breath, moved it mere inches from the door.
One knock, she decided. Just one itsy-bitsy, tiny, quiet knock. If he heard it, fine. If not, she’d go into the hotel gym and get on the treadmill for a serious marathon run.
She took a deep shaky breath then as quietly as possible, knocked on the door.
MAX RESIGNED HIMSELF to the fact that his insomnia was less about lack of sleep than it was about Shauna’s haunting kiss, of her soft curvy body and the feel of her that had made him hard in record time.
It had been reckless to goad her like that, to make such a remark about wishes and cowards. The way he saw it, he’d given her two choices: She could run from him, which was probably for the best. Or she could come to him. There was a one-in-a-million chance of that happening.
And why would she? Maybe she still saw him as her gardener from back in the day. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear she didn’t know he’d done business with her father. The old man had lost his business edge, and it had showed. In fact, the old man considered him the enemy. How could she not know?
He shook his head, then rubbed his eyes. At the moment, none of that seemed to matter.
He hadn’t been able to get Shauna out of his mind, and in fact, he’d been stuck in a state of semiarousal ever since. The familiarity of her smile, the gleam in her eyes, heck, even that sassy mouth of hers gave him an unmistakable feeling of coming home, as invigorating as a breath of fresh air.
But what was he thinking? She was still out of his league. He sighed.
Watching the news had only made the night seem longer, so in a last-ditch effort to exhaust his body; Max did some sit-ups and crunches, intending to finish up only when he was exhausted.
Anything but masturbation. If he resorted to that, Shauna would become a permanent wet dream that he would never be able to abolish.
Max was in the middle of doing a push-up when suddenly he spotted the shadow of feet under the door.
He shoved himself off the ground in time to hear the light tap, if that’s what it was at all. Quickly, he pulled his jeans on over his boxer shorts and went to answer the door.
Shauna stood before him, looking at him with panicked wide eyes, her hands tucked into a coat jacket … and nothing else between the bottom hem of her coat and the pink satin shoes except long luscious brown legs.
Words failed him for a second before he came up with, “Hey.”
Her smile was weak, ephemeral. “Hi.”
From what he could see of her cleavage, it looked like she had nothing on underneath the coat. A hot curl of desire began unraveling in his gut like kerosene, sparking to life as he watched her nervously nibble the fullness of her bottom lip.
“You’re up.” She gave a wistful huff of a laugh and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear in a sensuous but nervous gesture. “May I come in?”
She might as well have stuck her hand down his pants, his reaction was just as powerful. Sweet Jesus, did she have any idea how much he wanted her?
Unable to help himself, he took a step back, silently inviting her into his room. She moved hesitantly past him in a trail of soft-scented perfume before Max closed the door.
SHAUNA SAT PRIMLY on the edge of his unmade bed, hoping she looked as suave and sophisticated as possible. “Max, I know what you’re probably thinking—”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” he said, sounding positively sure. He turned off the TV and stood patiently with his hands on his hips. His jeans were just slack enough on his hips and crotch to make him calendar material. She practically gaped when she noticed he was already aroused.
Nervously, she turned her eyes away. “Okay, so maybe I don’t know what you’re thinking. I mean, I’ve never done anything like this before in my life.”
A stiff, crooked smile appeared on his lips, but he waited for her to continue. The more nervous she got, the more she realized she was making a fool out of herself. Wha t had she been thinking?
The air suddenly felt thin, and the fragile bravery she’d worked up began to fail. Why didn’t he say something? Anything?
“I, ah … I’m sorry, Max. I can see this was a bad idea.” She stood to head for the door, ready to bolt, but he stopped her, his hand resting on her waist.
“Don’t run off on me now.” His soft, raw whisper was far more calming than if he’d flirted. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”
The warmth of his touch settled right through the thin jacket. It’s now or never. She leaned up, kissed him on the lips, and confessed, “I want you.”
It seemed as if he didn’t move for an eternity, then he was pulling her completely against him, his powerful arms embracing her tightly. “Then I’m yours.”
His mouth covered hers in a slow, soulful, devastating kiss. She felt like she’d crashed into it, into him. Wrapping her arms around his warm, hard shoulders, she demanded her own hungry kisses, grinding slowly against him with the sweet need that trembled from deep inside.
She simp
ly couldn’t get enough of him. His hands roamed her back, cresting over her butt cheeks to rock her against his rigid erection. For that sweet, intimate moment, even the kiss remained suspended.
“Oh, God … Max …” Please, please, please …
“Let’s take it easy, hon.”
Then somehow the coat belt was undone, and his wide palms were sliding up her ribs to cup her breasts, squeezing the weight and ache there, adding to her breathless delirium.
“God, you’re damn near naked… . So beautiful.” She heard the words said between harsh breaths, between kisses and nuzzles and soft bites as he worked his way up her neck. He licked her skin, found her pulse, and sucked on it, creating ruthless little shivers that had her moaning much too loudly.
The coat rustled as it slid to her elbows, the whoosh of cooler air at her back added to the shivers going up her spine.
Her hands searched out his jeans, and she stroked over the hard ridge of his erection, feeling the tremor of his response all the way to his shoulders.
“God! Shauna …” He withstood two thorough strokes before pulling her hand away. “I’m not going to make it if you keep that up.”
“Take ’em off.”
He silenced her with a brutal kiss, this one hungrier than the last. His hands slid up her thighs, gripped her hips, and she barely registered the taut rip of her lacy thong falling apart. He pulled the material free, the slickness of her arousal sliding over her clitoris before the fabric was tossed away. She broke the kiss, desperate for air, desperate for him.
“Max, hurry.”
She fumbled with his button fly, but he was quicker, and the hiss of the zipper soon followed. In a flash, his jeans and boxers were shucked to his knees, and she was yanked back into his arms.
After a weightless moment, she realized he’d lifted her—lifted her!—right off her feet, to bury his face in her breasts.
“Oh!” Her shaky moan sounded too pornographic in the quietness of the room.
He took a nipple into his mouth, sucking it as intently as he’d tasted her mouth. He moved to her other breast, then lowered her slowly down his body, riding the unmistakable hard length of his cock.
“Oh … God … yes.” She couldn’t look away from his eyes as she slid farther down his body. The bulbous tip of his cock teased the wet folds of her sex, finding and pushing into her sheath, delving deeper, inch by slick inch.
“Oh yes.”
His arms trembled around her, and she moaned weakly, very aware of his thickness invading her, stretching her more and more, deeper, until the snugness bordered on pain.
She saw the shock in his eyes as realization hit. “A virgin?”
Ruled by the need to get past the discomfort, she replied by shifting her hips, feeling trapped, aroused and incomplete, trying to end the unrelenting yearning.
“Don’t!” Abruptly, he lifted her off him. The world dipped, and she suddenly felt the bed at her back as they tumbled into it. The hard bluntness of his cock was hot where it pushed damply against her inner thigh. Above her, Max was clenching his teeth, his eyes blazing with desire, accusation, anger, and some other unnamed emotion.
Shauna shifted beneath him, stripped of her pride, naked beyond skin. “Please, Max … You want me. I want you—”
“Sweet heaven,” he growled.
Emotion choked her, and she cupped his face in her hands, almost in tears. “Wishes are not for cowards,” she whispered.
“Damn you,” he muttered.
He closed his eyes, and she could feel the strain of his muscles as he held perfectly still. She kissed him desperately, using every feminine instinct to break his willpower.
“I promise I won’t ask for anything more than this, Max. Don’t make me beg.”
His eyes closed, his muscles strained beneath her touch before he kissed her with such tenderness that her heart squeezed in her chest. Then as she drowned in the taste of him, he slid into her again, partially filling her and stroking in sweet, short thrusts that only served to make her more senseless.
She tightened her grip around his hips, saying his name with urgency. The pleasure spiraled in degrees, with his hungry, searching mouth, with the sensuous strokes and caresses of his hands, with those infuriating short strokes that were just not enough.
Shauna cried out in frustration. “Max!”
He suddenly flexed his hips harder, breaching her virginity and filling her to the hilt in one swift thrust.
The pain suspended the pleasure for an instant before fading. Then there was the overwhelming, delicious sensation of feeling joined and utterly filled by him. Finally!
Shauna cupped his head, and kissed him, and kissed him, and kissed him … their hips unmoving.
“Shauna … I’m sorry.” Max braced above her, his face taut, his teeth clenched. “I wanted to go slow for you,” he growled huskily.
“It feels … incredible.”
He rocked into her in an experimental thrust, as if testing his control. Then again, and again … and again …
The rhythm of it docked deep into her, riding her wetness, tilling new emotions with each thrust. She moaned, unable to help herself. Each breath and caress gathered the fringes of a new sensual storm closer like a circling fire. The scrape of his jaw brushed her breast as his mouth found her nipple again.
“Relax, babe,” he coaxed. “Don’t fight it.”
“I, ah … oh …” It was there, almost within reach, almost…
The sensations gathered force, drawing nearer, and she only knew that she felt as if she were about to dive backward from a ledge. “Oh, God.”
He murmured things against her skin, the wide rub of his palms holding her possessively, his mouth nipping, licking and sucking, alternately made her tremble further until she was breathlessly dizzy.
When she thought she couldn’t stand it anymore, his hand moved between their bodies and stroked her clitoris, circling and rubbing the nub in synch with his thrusts, his words coaxing her in a mindless language of murmurs.
“Now, babe,” he whispered urgently. “Now …”
Behind her eyes, she fell backward into the abyss of pleasure, surrendering, trusting, falling … falling …
The whiplash of orgasm was sudden and blinding, clenching around him, grinding and gripping him as she drowned in the mindless, timeless sensation of utter release.
In the riptide of the aftermath, she felt him surge into her twice more, uncontrolled and primal, hitting that still molten spot in her womb.
His soft coarse groan was lost in the thunder of heartbeats when his hot ejaculation spilled inside her. His breath broke, quivering against her mouth while her body trembled at the force of it. He lay heavily on her, imprisoning her in his embrace, rustling the sheets.
For an eternity, she simply floated there, utterly blissful.
Good God.
So this was what she’d been missing her entire life.
She grinned weakly, her calves sliding on the back of his thighs. She felt her remaining shoe slide off and heard it hit the ground with a light thud.
“You okay?” he asked, his voice hoarse.
It seemed to take too much effort to speak. “Yeah.”
He kissed her cheek, then her neck, and finally her lips.
She sighed, smiled, and surrendered to the hazy lure of sleep.
MAX TURNED THE bedside lamp on and simply took his time admiring Shauna. Never in his wildest dreams had he really thought she’d come to him. Him!
The knowledge gripped tightly around his heart, and he felt both incredibly honored and equally terrified. She was his now, no doubt about it. A crazy swell of pride and possession filled his chest.
His.
How in God’s name had this beautiful, sexy twenty-two-year-old woman remained a virgin all these years anyway? A virgin. It ricocheted around in his mind like a trapped bullet.
His erection throbbed to life, and he wanted nothing more than to make love to her again.
&nbs
p; This changed everything. He wasn’t sure how, but simply knew that it did. A sliver of panic trailed down his back when he remembered he hadn’t used a condom. He could only hope she’d thought of contraception, mostly because he didn’t want her to have any regrets.
He trailed his fingers over Shauna’s ribs, watching the goose bumps form, and a frown marred her forehead in sleep. So damn sexy.
Not only had her clothes and shoes landed on the floor, but her purse had also spilled fortune cookies everywhere. Hell, her coat wasn’t even completely off. He couldn’t even feel ashamed for that.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” he whispered. “You can’t just come in here looking for some action then fall asleep like this.” He chuckled when she swatted at his hand.
He took her right nipple briefly into his mouth, loving the weak moan that escaped her. “We need to talk,” he said.
“Wouldn’t you rather just do it again?” she mumbled, smiling with her eyes closed.
“Aren’t you sore?”
She peered at him, blushing beautifully, a rose at first bloom. “A little.”
“I should’ve stopped to discuss your bill of health. But I would’ve found out then.”
She licked her lips, and he was sure she had no idea how sexy that was. “If you want to use a condom, that’s okay, but I like the feel of your, um, skin.”
His cock all but jerked to mount her, and his pulse thickened in his veins. “God, Shauna.”
He studied her for a few more seconds, dazed and grinning like a fool.
“Why me?” he finally asked the question he’d been dying to know.
Her hand crept up to cover his where it rested over her right breast. “I’ve always known I could trust you.”
He fumbled to understand her softly spoken words, feeling both humbled at her honesty and ashamed, knowing she would never have trusted him if she knew about the business with her father.
“Think we would’ve done this five years ago?” she asked.
He paused, feeling the warm memories of the past wrap around them. “I doubt it. You argued with me every chance you got. I couldn’t even get you to kiss me.”
Mr. Satisfaction Page 8
