He was every bit as stunning as I’d expected. His abs led up to perfect moon shaped pecs with flat nipples hidden among a chest hairy enough to give him an outdoorsy kind of feel. His shoulders arced above his chest and led back down to biceps, triceps, and whatever other kind of -ceps there could be, all tense as I appraised him.
I wanted to run my tongue all over his body. My mouth was hanging open but there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. He was amazing and, for one night, he was mine.
Slowly my fingers ran over all his muscles, my eyes devouring the sight of his olive skin against my pale hands. As I outlined each muscle it jumped, like it was doing a mini-happy dance right there under his skin. God knew my body was doing a happy dance of it’s own, and the party seemed to have started between my legs.
When my hands went back to his abs I couldn’t stop, even if I tried, which I didn’t. I had to keep going, to find out what the rest of him felt like, looked like. I looked up into his lust-filled eyes and watched him as I unsnapped his jeans then guided his zipper down. He sucked in a breath and his eyes rolled closed when my fingers brushed against him through his boxer briefs, sending a thrill through me.
His jeans slid down his legs without any help and he kicked out of them, leaving him in his boxer briefs and socks. And an erection straining to get out. Meeting his eyes again I slipped my fingers into the edges of his boxer briefs and slid them down just a little, then reached inside and wrapped my hand around him.
Dear god, the man was huge. My panties dampened, anticipation spiraling through me as I imagined him filling me. I stroked him gently, gripping him just enough to drag the soft skin with my palm, and moaned at the feel of him trembling in my hand.
Max groaned again and crashed his mouth down on mine. His tongue plunged into my mouth, demanding and needy. His teeth clacked against mine as he tried to get our mouths closer together, his tongue deeper into me. My cheeks ached from spreading my lips so wide, but I didn’t care.
I stroked Max as we kissed and his hips joined in, moving against me and helping me set a pace he enjoyed. He pulsed in my hand and I waited, knowing it wouldn’t be long.
Then he was gone.
Max spun away from me and put his head in his hands. “Holy shit, I can’t do that. I’m sorry, Charlotte.”
Disappointment and anger welled up inside. He was standing in my bedroom, almost naked, and decided to get a fucking conscience? What the hell?
“I think you should go,” I said quietly, seething with so much anger I didn’t trust my full voice without showing it.
Max pivoted on his heel and faced me, his face clouded in confusion. “What?”
“If you can’t do it then you should go.”
He reached for me but I evaded him and moved back a few steps. “Charlotte, that’s not what I meant. I didn’t want to come that way. I wanted to make you feel good too. First. You should always come first.”
When I didn’t say anything he moved toward me again but this time I stood still, anxiously waiting for his touch. I could see in his eyes he was being honest and that he wanted me to enjoy it too. He pulled me into him and kissed me again, and like a drug addict, one hit and I was hooked.
Before I realized what he was doing Max had me naked. He spun us back toward the bed and kissed me until I was flat on my back. He hovered over me, the hair on his legs brushing the tops of my thighs. He trailed kisses down my body, over my neck, beyond my collarbone, to the humps of my breasts. He took one in his hand and brought it up to his lips, laving my skin with his tongue before pulling my peaked nipple into his mouth.
My back arched and a moan slipped from my lips. Max coaxed moan after moan out of me before turning his attention to my other breasts where he repeated the delicious torture. When he’d had his fill, he continued his downward path, kissing the undersides of my breasts, the bumps of my stomach, and my no-gap thighs.
When he tried to nudge my thighs apart I locked my knees tighter than Fort Knox. Max chuckled softly and said, “Please Charlotte. I’ve had your cupcakes, but I’m dying to taste your sweetness.”
“Max, I’ve never… I don’t know.”
His eyes met mine over my bumpy body and all I saw in his eyes was raw need. He wanted me. And he wanted me like that. No guy I’d been with had thought twice about going there with anything other than his cock. Having Max’s face down there was… fuck, who was I kidding? It was hotter than hell.
A slow smile spread over his lips as my legs eased apart and his gaze broke from mine to look at me. I’d never given much thought to how I looked down there. I kept up with shaving because I didn’t like how it felt not to, but would Max like it?
Did I care?
One swipe of his hot tongue against me and all my worries vanished. My body came alive under his touch. My head swam with the ecstasy he brought me to, the world spinning faster and faster until I felt the undeniable clench low in my gut that told me I was about to fall apart in the most glorious way.
Max held my legs and cupped his hands under my ass, drawing me closer to him. The edges of my brain darkened until Max slid a finger or two inside me. Everything exploded into a kaleidoscope of colors so bright I wondered where they came from. My body hummed as the colors danced in front of my eyes, the kaleidoscope spinning and changing over and over again until I collapsed against the bed.
Max shed his boxers and protected us both before I could see straight again. I was vaguely aware of the bed shifting with his movements and his mouth traveling back up my body. When he kissed me again it was a slow, soft kiss that matched the way I was feeling. Worn out but anxious for more.
Our kiss grew as Max aligned his body with mine. I felt him hard against my inner thigh and was more than ready for him. When his tongue danced in my mouth I wrapped a leg around his and encouraged his movement.
He chuckled against my lips. “A little anxious, are we?”
I couldn’t help laughing with him. “More than a little.”
Max lined himself up with me and thrust inside in one quick movement. My body stretched around him and welcomed the extra full feeling of having him there. I didn’t get a good look at how big he was, but judging by the more-than-a-handful and how he felt inside, he was of the extra-large variety. God, it felt so good.
Until he started to move.
Ooh, good lord, good didn’t even come close to how it felt. Delicious, spectacular, sensational, amazing, earth-shattering. That got a lot closer.
“All that?” Max whispered close to my ear. “Delicious, spectacular, sensational, amazing, and earth-shattering? That’s the best compliment I’ve ever gotten. And we’re not even done yet.”
Oh, shit. “Did I say that out loud?”
“Yeah,” Max said, his hot breath tickling my ear. His teeth sunk into my earlobe and sent a jolt of pleasure through my body. “And you’re right. It’s all that and more.”
Max sucked on my neck as his hips moved against mine. I clenched my legs tightly around him, wishing I could hook my ankles together. As his lips moved toward my breasts my heart beat faster and my body tightened. He held my breasts together with one hand and nipped at both together, sending me flying over the cliff yet again.
As I called out his name, Max pistoned into me deep and hard. My bed shook, the world quaked, and as I came again he was right there with me, grunting my name before he took my lips in a forceful kiss that would leave my lips bruised and wanting more.
Max collapsed on top of me, his weight pressing me deep into my worn mattress. His breath was warm against my neck and his heart pounded against my own accelerated rhythm.
I wanted to stay just like that forever, surrounded by his manly, intoxicating scent, the feel of his body on top of me.
After a few minutes he rolled off the bed and headed to the bathroom. I pulled a sheet over me, not sure how he was going to act when he came back and not willing to lie there, exposed and vulnerable if he was going to pull on his clothes and vanish.
When he came back to my bed he started collecting his clothes. His shirt, his pants, his boxer briefs, even his boots, all disappeared from my floor into a pile in his hands. If I wasn’t feeling a little hurt I would have laughed at how silly he looked in his black socks, one pulled up to his calf and the other slouched down around his ankle, holding a pile of clothes.
Then he started picking up my clothes. Mine went into the pile with his. He set the whole thing down on the edge of my couch then walked over to the bed, still in only his socks.
Without waiting for an invitation, Max pulled back the sheet on the other side of the bed and climbed in with me. He cuddled up against me and wrapped his big, strong arm around my waist and yanked me into the center of the bed with him. “I need to go get my plow before the snow gets too bad, but I’m not ready to leave just yet,” he whispered against my shoulder.
I nodded and felt my body relax against his, sleep pulling at me until I drifted away, warm and satisfied. And happier than I’d been in a long time.
Ten
I woke up the next morning alone and cold. The pillow Max had been sleeping on was cool, telling me he’d been gone a while. Even though he’d said he would have to go, I couldn’t help the crushing feeling.
Shaking off my melancholy, I showered, dressed, and headed down to start my day. I let myself sleep in a little since I had so much left from the day before while we were at the hospital. Still, I couldn’t go an entire day without baking. I would get restless and anxious.
Downstairs I started the coffee pot and listened to the whir of the mixers as I made my first batch of muffins. When the snowplow passed by my front window I forced myself not to turn on the lights, or to wait for him to knock. Max had gotten what he wanted. Chances were I’d never see him again.
By the time I was ready to open I’d worked myself into a bit of an attitude. Mostly, I was pissed at myself for sleeping with him. Add that on top of the emotions of the day, between Mandy going into labor at Bite Me! and then naming the baby after me, mixed in with Max being so unbelievable all day, had me reeling by the time we got back to my apartment. I think I would have slept with anyone at that point.
No, I knew that wasn’t true. It was more than just my emotions. It was Max. Every day he’d come in to Bite Me! he’d spent time talking to me. He was a nice guy. A guy I enjoyed sitting down with. A guy I never thought would run off in the middle of the night without even telling me.
Yeah, he said he was going to have to leave. But did he have to leave in the middle of the night and not even wake me to say he was going? The only thing he didn’t do was leave some cash on the nightstand.
I slammed my “I can do all things through sarcasm and profanity” mug down on the counter and coffee sloshed over the edge. The dark brown liquid spread across my white countertops, annoying me even as I watched it happen.
I couldn’t do this. I wasn’t the type of woman to lose her shit over some guy. Max was just a guy. We had sex. Amazing, mind-blowing, life-changing sex, but it was still just sex. I could have that again, with someone else. He wasn’t the only man who would ever make me feel that good.
Just because I’d never had it happen before didn’t mean it was special. That he was.
Nope, Max was just a guy.
My early customers were in their normal hurry, grabbing their muffins and coffee to go and heading off to work. It was nine-thirty before I knew it and Mr. and Mrs. O’Neill were pushing through the door coming out of the cold.
“Charlie, I’m so glad you’re back. How’s your friend?”
I pulled out my phone and flipped to the pictures I’d taken of Mandy and Elise. I handed it over to Mrs. O’Neill and she cooed at the baby and asked a dozen questions. When I told her they named the baby after me tears pricked the corners of her eyes and mine dampened again as well.
“What a precious gift, Charlie. She’s a beautiful girl. Your friend’s husband made it?”
“Yeah, Xander got there just after we did. Mandy took a bit longer than we expected, but she did well. We were all there waiting when Elise finally arrived. It was… amazing.”
Mrs. O’Neill handed the phone back to me and looked up at me with a knowing gleam in her eyes. I dreaded whatever was going to come out of her mouth next. “How was the young man who was here yesterday? Was he a good helper?”
I couldn’t stop my smile at her hopeful expression. Mrs. O’Neill had been trying to set me up with her single grandsons for years. Of course in the time I’d known her all of them had gotten married, but she was more interested in my love life than I was most of the time.
Not that I could tell her Max had spent the night with me. Nor could I admit how hurt I was that he left. It was worse having to act like nothing happened, like Max was just our ride to the hospital and not the man who’d made me believe, for a few hours, like I could be the one someone looks for first when he walks in a room. Like I could come first in someone’s life.
“Max was very kind.”
“Did he take care of you, sweetheart?”
“Yes, Mrs. O’Neill,” I answered honestly, smirking at the thought of just how well Max took care of me last night.
“I sure hope he calls you, Charlie. He was a cute one.” She winked at me and waggled her eyebrows, making me laugh and scaring me just a little bit.
I rang up their muffins and cupcakes and shook my head at them as they took their seats near the window. I watched the two of them sit in the corner, holding hands, and talking quietly to each other. A sense of longing coursed through me, one I’d been fighting for years.
Wanting things that I couldn’t have when I wanted was hard for me. For as long as I could remember the only thing I’d ever wanted was to open my own bakery. When I let go of that dream after Grams died I knew I was giving up a piece of myself. After I met Lexi and got that dream back, it was all I thought about.
With Bite Me! doing well, my mind had started to drift.
It couldn’t drift. I couldn’t afford it. If my mind drifted to include other things in my dreams I would only end up disappointed. I didn’t have time for a man. I had too much going on. Even once I found a new place for Bite Me! I was going to be building the business back up again. It was likely that I wouldn’t be back to normal and earning enough to feel comfortable for a year or longer.
Before I got myself worked up even more I headed to the back to start a new batch of cupcakes for the afternoon. Mrs. O’Neill called goodbye as they left and I waved to them from the kitchen door then went back to finish the batter. Just as I got the cupcakes in the oven I heard the bell above the front door chime, letting me know someone was there.
I brushed my hands on my apron and smoothed my hair away from my face before pushing through the door.
And froze.
Max was leaning against the counter looking as though he both belonged and didn’t have a care in the world. His jacket was open again, revealing a black t-shirt that made me want to drag him back upstairs for round two. His eyes met mine and he smiled at me as though I held all the secrets of the world and he was prepared to go to great lengths to get them from me. I knew his smile wasn’t empty though. I could see the glimmer in his eyes, the spark that told me his smile was real, honest, and just for me.
And that I hadn’t mistaken what we’d shared just hours before.
When his gaze drifted from mine to run down my body I nearly stopped breathing. Within seconds his eyes captured mine and I saw the desire in them, sending my body temperature into the stratosphere as my control spiraled away.
“Hi,” I breathed as I forced myself from the doorway to stand on the opposite side of the counter from him. I attempted to reflect his casual pose, but nothing about how I felt was casual.
“Good morning, again.” Max grinned, his dimple peeking out. “Although you probably don’t remember the first time I said good morning since you were snoring.”
“I do not snore,” I protested.
Max leaned forw
ard as though he had a secret to share. He kissed me softly behind my ear, sending tingles throughout my body, then whispered, “Yes, you do. You also hog the covers. I woke up with my ass bare and freezing and when I tried to pull some covers back you tugged so hard I almost ended up on top of you. Not that I would have minded a replay.”
My cheeks heated instantly and I ducked my head to hide it from him, but he saw anyway. One finger slid under my jaw and lifted my face to his. “Leaving you this morning was painful.”
“Well, you’re back now. Do you want your usual?” I pushed off the counter, ready to get his breakfast. I had no idea how to handle him. Us. Was there an us? Why was he back?
“Will you join me?” he asked, his eyes hopeful and pleading. I thought of my cupcakes in the oven and peered back into his chocolate eyes and knew I’d do anything he asked.
“Of course,” I said, drawing another grin from his lips and a wink from his dimple. With his cupcakes and muffins packed up I handed them across then went to the back for his coffee. He was standing at the cash register when I got back out.
I breathed a quick sigh of relief. I never knew if I should charge someone when we were involved. Then again, I didn’t know if Max and I were involved. So, did his intention to pay mean he still only saw me as someone who gave him cupcakes or was he just respectful of my business?
Shit. It was confusing.
I rang up his order and swiped his card then followed from my side of the counter to the end where he sat on one of the stools. I stood against the counter, feeling the bite of the corner against my hip. I shifted until it was mostly comfortable then looked at Max.
Just as he closed his eyes and mouth around a muffin. My mouth watered at the sight and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything yet. I grabbed a from the case and joined him for breakfast.
“It’s been a long time since I shared breakfast with a woman,” Max mumbled. His eyes drifted off and I wondered who he was thinking about, a little jealous of whoever put that forlorn expression on his face. “I’ve missed having someone to eat with.”
Fluffy & Fabulous Page 8
