by J. Woods
“Guess. And if you get it wrong, consider yourself handcuffed to your bed,” he murmured. His attention was caught as her tongue peaked out to lick her lips in a nervous gesture.
“And if I get it right?” she whispered, her eyes trained on his mouth.
“Anything you want,” he promised. “So?” he promoted. “What’s your guess?”
“Cop.” Her voice was hoarse and he knew in that moment she was just as affected as he was. Damn, but he needed to be over top of her and inside of her. Now. He narrowed his eyes at her one worded answer. “You gave it away with the handcuffs,” she explained, her throat dry.
“Hmm, correct. So what will your prize be then, beautiful Brie?” Right in that moment as he leaned in further to take what they both wanted, the shrill of her cell phone cut through the tense moment and he wanted to curse the damn thing to eternity. She came to her senses, pushing him away as she got up off the couch and grabbed for it. She looked at the screen then back to him with wide eyes.
“It’s Roxy - so be quiet,” she hissed. He wanted to laugh at how one moment she could be hot and the next cold. He made an exaggerated gesture of zipping his lips as she answered.
***
“Hey, Roxy.”
“Hey! I was calling to see how you were feeling today?” Completely unbalanced and out of sorts, she thought as she stared at the man that was at the root of it.
“Fine. Much better, thanks. How was the rest of the party?”
“Oh it was great. Logan and Zoe are so in love it’s almost sickening.”
“Oh I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet them, I would have liked that.”
“You can meet them some other time. You would recognize Logan because he looks exactly like Max. It’s like they’re twins from different wombs.” Brie doubted that, she couldn’t see anyone looking like Max. That would just be cruel to the female population. He narrowed his eyes at her and she quickly turned away, realizing she was staring. God, he was too big in her tiny apartment. He took up too much space and filled it with his warm masculinity and sensual playfulness. She needed him out. Before she did something stupid. Like take off her clothes and beg him for those handcuffs. Of course he was the cop - oh how she had always fantasized about cops. “Smurf?”
“Hmm?” Damn it, she was going to have to start paying attention instead of fantasizing.
“I was saying I was thinking I could come over today and we could finish unpacking your place.”
“Today? Um, no.” Shit.
“No?”
“Sorry, Rox. It’s just, I’m still pretty tired from what happened last night and I was planning on just going back to bed.” Max nodded his head in agreement, that stupid knowing grin curving at lips she almost begged to kiss her only a few minutes ago. She could still feel the burn of his kiss from last night. She shook her head no at him causing him to laugh silently. She winced at the thought of lying to her best friend. But she didn’t know what else to do.
“Oh of course, Brie. You’ll let me know if you need anything okay?”
“I will. Thanks for checking in, Rox. Really appreciate it.”
“Okay, love you.”
“Love you too.”
Brie hung up the phone and fell back down onto the couch.
“I hate you and I hate me,” she said, covering her face with her arm.
“And why is that?” Max asked.
“Because I just had to lie to my best friend. And I have never lied to her before.”
“I’m sure she’ll get over it.”
Max continued to unpack her boxes all while commanding her to sit on her couch. She felt helpless, she should be doing something. This was her stuff!
“Who’s this?” he asked a while later, showing her a framed picture. She felt her chest clench at the sight of the young man, bent down caressing the little girl’s hair in the photo.
“My dad,” she told him quietly. He didn’t miss the wistful sadness in her voice and waited for her to explain. “He passed away five years ago. Heart attack in his sleep.”
“I’m so sorry, Brie.” She shrugged her shoulders. She never knew what to say when people apologized for the death of her father. “And your Mom?”
“You won’t find any pictures of her,” she explained, trying to keep the bitter tone out of her voice. “Her and I... let’s just say we have different opinions when it comes to life. More specifically, my life.”
“Ah, I see.”
“She wasn’t a very warm and fuzzy person before my Dad died, but afterward, it’s like his death just sucked every ounce of light she had in her. That’s why I love your mom so much, she is the complete opposite of mine.” She took a deep breath, realizing she had been rambling.
“Do you look more like your Mom or your Dad?” he asked her then. She smiled, knowing he was trying to deflect her thoughts.
“Neither, actually. I’m one of a kind,” she teased.
“Yes. You certainly are.”
Chapter Seven
“Can you tell me about what you do?”
Max turned around from placing the last picture frame on her shelf. “What do you want to know?”
“Anything you can divulge. I know only what Roxy told me, which isn’t much.”
“Well, lately I’ve been away a lot, back to back missions.”
“Is it always like that?”
“No, not always.” He wasn’t about to tell her it was because she had wormed her way into his head and it was his only distraction. She nodded her head, waiting for him to continue. “I love what I do though. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Logan called me up one afternoon, told me about his idea and that day I quit the force. We’re still able to help people, now we’re just able to do it by our own rules.”
“Is there one that stands out among the rest?”
“One what?”
“Mission.”
“I think we each have one that stands out among the rest.” Max didn’t want to remember it, he hadn’t talked about it to anyone after his debrief almost a week before he met Brie. He knew she deserved to hear it and in order to gain her trust, he knew he was going to have to share parts of himself he never had before.
“I had come back right before we met. We had been sent on a mission to this, god, this shack in the middle of the damn jungle. And it was so hot and humid, everything stuck to your skin. I can still feel that oppressing heat to this day.” He stopped to pick up another box, trying to pull air into his lungs as if he was back amongst the dense trees, his lungs attempting to pull in the weight of the air around him. “We had one target, a little girl, she was five years old. The mission was to retrieve her at any cost. Whenever we receive an issue like that we know one of two things: one, the bad guys in charge are probably on lists we don’t even know about and every government agency has pulled us in to clean up the dirty work, and two, we need to be prepared for anything because it’s probably going to get nasty. We weren’t wrong, on either count. It was this group of thugs call the Locos, this gang who found out a certain family were staying at one of the resorts along the coast. They broke into their hotel room one night, took their daughter and left a ransom note in her place. They were so quiet, the family didn’t notice until the morning. Anyways, we were called in after a few days. Cameron was able to locate their safe house where they were keeping the girl and we set out to go get the little girl. It took us two days to approach this damn shack in the middle of nowhere. If it weren’t for Cam and her ability to find just about anything on that computer, we would probably still be looking for it. My heart clenched when I heard the little girl crying inside. She wanted her mommy and I was going to do everything I could to make that happen. I walked up to the window where I thought she was being held and when she saw me I put my finger to my lips and she nodded as if understanding I was one of the good guys. I still don’t know how she knew but I smiled at her and even through her puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks she managed to give one back to me. I gest
ured for her to climb underneath the bed and I watched as she did before I made my move. I pointed to the men with me to start out with our plan and to be ready. Shooting a flare in the general area where I had moved to, away from the house, they all ran out with guns ready and immediately we were engaged in a gunfight. They didn’t know what they were getting in to and within minutes most of them were on the ground, fighting for their last breaths while I ran inside and called for the little girl. Her name was Maddy and she ran into my arms, her face dirty, her eyes too dull from the days she had endured in literal hell. I stood there and just held her. I don’t know how to explain it, I was just so glad she was alright. I heard my name from outside and knew we had to move. So we zigzagged back the way we came making sure no one was following us and after two hours we were able to stop so I could give Maddy some water and one of the power bars in my pack. She was almost unconscious she was so dehydrated and hungry. She took both greedily and just as I was about to give her another, we were ambushed. Three men jumped out of the bush behind us, their faces painted green to blend in with the jungle but we knew they were Locos. We had been so careful, we couldn’t figure out how they found us but with three on three, I had no choice but to tell Maddy to run and hide. She did after I promised her I would find her. God, she was so strong, I knew she wanted to cry, she was terrified, but she didn’t. She agreed with determination and took off in the opposite direction. The fight ended quickly, but not without injury. One of our men took a bullet to the shoulder, but we knew if there were three that found us here, who knew how many others were waiting. I had to find Maddy. I had to. I ran in the direction she went, luckily she left a fairly easy trail to follow until she didn’t. Calling her name softly, I waited to hear something. The jungle was too quiet, too still and I knew something was wrong. We heard a muffled cry and my heart sank. Someone had her. Again. I had never felt such failure and such determination in my entire life. Nothing mattered anymore, not the mission, not the Locos, just that little girl. I followed the sound and finally caught sight of them. It was one man, who was gripping her arm, his other hand over her mouth as he dragged her through the roughage of the bush. After a few minutes it looked like they were slowing down. I climbed the nearest tree and set up the sniper I kept on my back, the rest of the team flanking each side in case we needed to ambush. I looked through my scope and felt only the cold rage that ran through me at her bruised little arms. I pulled the trigger and he fell. Instantly. Maddy looked up and saw me in the tree. ‘I knew you’d come for me,’ she called. I climbed down quickly and she ran to me, flinging her arms around my neck. We didn’t have time to stop, we needed to get to the chopper that was waiting for us. I looked at her and smiled. ‘I made you a promise, didn’t I?’ I told her. My gut was fucking churning Brie, even though we had her back, I had never felt so helpless, so defeated in those moments I had lost her.” Brie remained silent, as he continued and he was glad for it. He felt like he was baring his soul to her, something he had never done with any woman before. But Brie made it easy, she made him want to get close to her and want her to get close to him. For the first time in his life, he wanted a woman, this woman, to know him. The real him. He wanted her trust, and to gain that, he knew he had to trust her first. And telling her his deepest, darkest memory was more trust than he had given anyone. When his brothers had debriefed him about the mission, he had told them what happened, he hadn’t told them how it affected him, how it tore apart his insides or how it was the only mission that had actually stayed with him even in his sleep. Max knew he was falling. This thing with Brie, it was no longer surface, no longer the familiar relationships he was used to. It was beginning to become deep and he was determined he wasn’t going to drown in this by himself. He was absolutely going to pull her down with him. “We ended up back at the chopper within a few hours and relatively no troubles. Maddy was instantly asleep as soon as we were in the sky but she refused to sit anywhere but my lap.” He smiled fondly at the memory of the little girl drooling on his shoulder. His gut clenched, he needed to schedule a trip soon to go visit her. “It was a long flight back. From the chopper we had to get on a plane back to the states and everyone managed to get some shut eye. But I couldn’t. I kept replaying the whole thing over and over to see what had gone wrong, what I had missed. Finally we landed and Maddy’s parent’s were waiting on the tarmac. Once the doors opened she ran down the stairs as they ran up them. It really was a sight I will never forget. And just as they were about to put her in the waiting car, she ran out of her fathers arms and back to me. She clung to my leg until I bent down to pick her up. She leaned in and kissed my cheek. ‘Thanks Max,’ she whispered. I told her I was going to visit her and check up on her and she promised she would write me letters and send me pictures.”
“Does she?” Brie asked. Max was so lost in the moment, her soft voice penetrating his memories of the past.
“Yeah, she does. I have all her latest artistic work up on my fridge. She writes her letters on the back of them and tells me all about her friends at school and the latest gossip of a six year old.” Brie chuckled at his wagging eyebrows. “I’ve gone to see her a few times. I was just thinking that I need to schedule a visit again soon.”
“I’m sure she would love that.” Max turned to look at woman who was now staring at him with narrowed eyes as if she was just seeing him for the first time. Looking down he saw an empty box in front of her. Pursing his lips, he realized she’d been quietly unpacking, completely ignoring his demand not to as she shot him a knowing, sassy grin.
“So devious!” he gasped in exaggeration.
“I like to think of it as stealth,” she told him, nodding her head as if confirming to herself. She was so damn cute he had to physically reprimand himself not to jump on her and take what him and his cock was begging for. Picking up the box she moved to stack it in the pile of empty cardboard when she turned back to him. “Thank you, for telling me.”
“Thanks for listening.”
A short while later, they stood side by side, surveying the now unpacked apartment. Hands on her hips, she let out a sigh of both accomplishment and exhaustion. Max pulled her down onto the couch, dragging her legs into his lap and before she could narrow her eyes at him he heard the groan escape her lips as his fingers massaged her feet. He loved making a woman putty in his hand, but this woman, with just a touch she was able to spark an arousal in him like he’d never experienced with anyone before.
***
“Feel good?” She closed her eyes, telling herself it was because her feet were sore and not because of the hunger she heard in his voice. She had never been so - affected - by someone as she was Max. He was overtop of her, inside of her, almost as if he were trying to infuse himself into her very pores, into her very soul. And she refused to admit to him and herself that he’d already done that. One grin was all it took seven months ago and she was done, ruined for anyone else. His hands moved from her feet to her calves and she felt her belly clench in anticipation. She opened her eyes and found him staring at her, the light blue of his own dark with desire. Her gaze travelled down the length of his body and she found herself licking her lips, pausing at his evident arousal behind his jeans. At the same moment she heard him lose the thin hold he had on his control. Standing up he pulled her with him, picking her up swiftly in his arms and carrying her down the hall to her bedroom. She knew she should be protesting, she wanted to protest but he spurned an arousal in her that was almost painful. She loved the way he looked at her. It was the way he always looked at her, like she was the only woman he saw. She had never felt so sexy, so wanted than when she was with Max. The way his lips moved over her skin, his whispers of wicked promises left her panting with a want that scared her. It was crazy, she was crazy, she thought. She had spent one night with him - one passion filled, lustful, desirous all consuming night and yet when he held her it was like he’d been missing her almost as much as she missed him. But that couldn’t be true.
Lay
ing her softly against the mattress she had no time to argue, finding his mouth immediately against hers in a hungry passion. His tongue licked against the seam of her lips demanding entry. She tasted his need and it matched her own. Throwing her fingers into his hair, she tugged and pulled, his teeth nipping at her lower lip in retaliation. She felt his grin as he dragged his mouth across her cheek, his teeth grazing her jaw as he murmured soft words of want and need.
“God Brie, you make me crazy for you.” He moved back and grabbing the edge of her t shirt pulled it quickly over her head. She couldn’t wait. Wiggling her hips out of her pants, the urgency she had only ever felt with Max crashed through her. A slow, dark grin spread across his gorgeous lips and she couldn’t help it, pulling him down roughly against hers. His low chuckle caressed her skin causing a shiver to run through her - she was all sensation, his touch igniting a fire across her skin, branding her until she could feel nothing else. She hadn’t been with anyone since she had been with Max and, god, she needed. She felt the ache run through her, straight to her core. She nipped and sucked at his neck before ripping his shirt off his head. She needed his skin against hers. “Slow down, love. I need to take my time with you.” She shook her head, as much as she loved the sound of him taking his time with her, the want that continued to rise within her was overpowering every other thought.
“Next time Max,” she begged in a whisper. She felt his fingers grip the clasp of her bra, deftly and with knowing movements she felt her nipples tighten further as the air caressed her bare breasts. Before she could take her next panting breath, he grasped the band of her lacy thong before pulling back and gliding it unbearably slowly down her thighs. She heard his sharp intake, his large, rough hands unable to stop touching her, his fingers gliding up her bare legs.
“You are so fucking beautiful,” he whispered. She was nervous about his seeing her again. Her stomach was growing, and every female insecurity she had been able to squash before had come instantly rushing to her mind. But the way Max looked at her now, the awe in his voice as he took in every inch of her with a hunger she felt mirrored inside of her, all of her insecurities immediately disappeared. She watched as he lowered his head, his lips pressing hot, searing kisses across her collar bone to her overly sensitive breasts. She heard the breathy cry tear from her throat as the heat of his mouth closed over first one anticipating rigid peak then the next. She wrapped her legs around his waist, not wanting him to move. She almost groaned at the feel of his jeans rubbing against her calves, she needed him just as naked as she was. Using her heels she pushed at the waistband, shoving them roughly down his hips and over an ass she wanted to bite in to. He nipped at the underside of her breast before sucking at the skin and laving the small sting. She knew he was leaving his mark, claiming her in this moment as his own knowing every time she looked in a mirror she would remember this, remember him and the fantasy he managed to give her. She grabbed his shoulders, her nails marking her own territory as she pulled him back up to her. Placing her hands on either side of his face she leaned in and kissed him softly, pleadingly.
