by Aria Cole
My heart thumped harder than it ever had.
“Love?”
I squinted, having heard that word before but never quite believing it as much as I did now. When I’d heard it from silly high school boyfriends, I’d figured it was only a means of getting what they wanted—in my pants—but now… what did I have to give Maxwell?
“Way I see it, you showed up in my library for a reason. You need me, and I certainly need you.” He traced a dancing fingertip across my sternum and my cleavage, sending shivers through me.
“How do I need you?” I asked.
“Well, for starters, that guy that’s been hanging around—”
“Oh, that.” I laughed, running the pad of my thumb across one of his chiseled cheekbones.
“Oh, that? That guy looked plenty dangerous to me. And he won’t fuck with what’s mine. So I don’t want you going back to that place alone. In fact, now that I’ve been inside you, I kinda want to just tie you to my bed to have you when I want you.” He snaked his nose along my neck.
“I-I’m not sure if I should be flattered or insulted,” I said. His brand of alpha male might have been a little too over-the-top for me.
“You have to tell me everything.” His hands caressed my hair, down to my cheeks, before landing at my jaw.
I trusted him. For the first time, I had this oddest sensation...I trusted a man.
“Dad’s been this way since I was a kid.” I felt the pain of my father’s inadequacies like a fresh knife in my back. “He never hit me or anything, but sometimes I think he might as well have.” I glanced back at Maxwell to find his eyes bleeding sympathy, his hands holding mine tightly, as if offering any support he could. “My dad’s been an addict and a gambler my entire life. He used to get physical with my mom. I remember hiding behind the couch when I was eight. She kept screaming as he hit her. The soft thud and smacking... you don’t forget that sound. Ever.”
“That must have been terrible for you, baby. I swear, if he ever came around…” Maxwell’s hands tightened around mine.
“No, no, I don’t want him hurt. He’s my dad. He has addictions. I don’t blame him. I just wish he would get help, finally pull himself out of this dark hole he’s in. I think that’s my problem—caring too much, loving too much, holding out hope that he’ll change. Everyone says people don’t change, but I don’t believe that. I can’t believe that, or I’ll just be another emotionally abandoned, verbally abused kid with a deadbeat father. I have to fight for him even when he won’t fight for himself.” I stopped, a painful lump of tears building in my throat. “I can’t turn away from him.” I shook my head until the tears finally rained down my cheeks. The pain of all those years had taken their toll. All of the nights I’d spent in my bed, wishing and praying he would change someday, consumed me. But I was drained and ready to forget the pain of my past in favor of focusing on the amazing man next to me now. “My father has always had shady people coming and going from our house. They look scary, but they wouldn’t hurt me. They’re all bark and no bite.”
“Well, I definitely don’t want you going back to that apartment alone now. So it’s settled. You need to go back to that place? I go with you. At least until we know you’re safe from this guy because despite what you may think, I don’t trust his slimy ass for a second.”
His large palm stroked across my lower abdomen, twisting my tummy with some mix of anxiety and elation. I didn’t respond; I only tucked myself into his body and draped one arm across the chiseled ridges of his abdominal muscles.
“You seem quite agreeable at the moment.” His voice lowered as one hand slid down my belly to swirl at my clit, working my already aroused body into an even higher state of sexual desperation. “I heard an orgasm improves the chance of conception.”
His tongue trailed across the shell of my ear as his fingers worked my clit. My hips bucked, and my fingers clutched the fine fabric of the duvet. I loved getting lost in his touch.
“Maxwell…” I sighed as a second orgasm rolled through my system at his hands.
“That’s it, baby. We’re going to have so much fun now.” He pulled me into his large body, tucking my head into that special place at his shoulder, making me feel warm and fuzzy with lust and bliss, a combination that I hadn’t known I was starved for until now.
Maxwell Black had entered my life like a lightning strike—unexpected, overwhelming, and dangerously thrilling.
Chapter Fourteen
Elle
I woke the next morning to the sound of sexy, guttural grunts echoing down the hallway. I rolled like a cat, stretching, a slow smile creeping across my face at the memory of his big body caging me in his arms, the raw purr that resonated in his deep voice and went straight to my clit. And love. Maxwell had said last night he loved me. Not in so many words but it warmed my chilled heart all the same. In the bright light of morning, I was surprised to find I loved him too. As quick as our courtship may have been, feelings didn’t lie. If I’d learned anything in twenty-one years, it was to trust my gut. And my gut was screaming for more Maxwell.
Another grunt rattled my lovesick brain, followed by a deeper one.
Mmm. Maxwell was working out.
I slid out of bed, planted my feet on the floor, and found a glass of orange juice and two small pills on the side table. I twisted, thinking I did feel a little raw. My thighs, my ass, even my nipples felt tingly, as if he’d just had his hands on me moments ago, not hours.
Butterflies flitted wildly in my tummy as I thought about his heavy length invading me last night.
I was no longer a virgin. How did that make me feel? I’d feared feeling like a slut with morning-after regrets, but with Maxwell… he cared. He was the first man in my life who seemed to really look at me and see me. I’d known that instantly about him. Like a bullet in my guts, I’d left everything inside me on the shiny wood floors of his beautiful little library downstairs and given myself over to him. So no, I didn’t regret a thing.
I slipped the tiny white pills into my mouth and swallowed them with the juice before heading down the hallway toward the sexy outbursts. I turned the corner to find his large body lying across the weight bench, naked from the waist up, his abdomen etched like patterned bricks, tight and bulging with exertion as his thick biceps held a weighted bar over his head. He counted silently, a slight frown on his beautiful, rugged face, before a low sound emanated from somewhere down deep in his belly and he heaved the bar on the supports.
He sat up quickly, his body agile despite its broad physique, then took long pulls from a bottle of water. I was suddenly conscious of standing in his small dining room, his decadently built body before me and sweating, before one long drizzle of water trailed down his chin and throat, catching on one chiseled pectoral before trailing just past his nipple. Down the little drop went, traveling the narrow slice of sternum separating his rippling abdominal muscles. Arousal flooded my thighs as I watched that little rivulet make its way down his beautiful body. I’d never been so jealous of anything as I was of that tiny crystal ball of water.
I swallowed and, without thinking twice, dropped to my knees. The glistening wood bit at my kneecaps as I crawled to him. His dark eyes flared for a moment before, with a hood of lust, they traveled down the length of my body. His heavy palms reached out to thread through the long strands of my wild hair and pull my gaze up from the thin cotton of his waistband. I wanted to yank his sweat-dampened shorts from his hips and reveal the key that unlocked the man of my dreams, the pleasure hidden between his powerful thighs.
“What are you doing to me?” he growled, but his words were lost on my ears.
My tongue darted out as I reached for his waistband and pulled the shorts down to reveal his heavy penis to my hungry vision.
“Elle…”
He trailed off when I kissed the tip of his tall erection. I grasped the base, marveling at its girth—much too big to wrap my palm around. I grinned, using my other hand to fist him completely before I li
cked the tip, tasting the dot of precum that had gathered there.
A much darker groan than what’d radiated from him earlier fell on my ears and urged me on as his hands tightened in my hair.
“Fuck, Elle!” he grit when I sucked his penis into my mouth.
I covered it with my lips and hollowed my cheeks, sucking as best as I imagined one should. I tasted the salty precum as my insides grew molten with need for Maxwell Black. My hips rocked involuntarily, then his large palm fisted my bottom. I sucked harder and quicker, cheered on by his moans of pleasure, before I felt his thighs tensing beneath me.
Was I actually close to getting him off the very first time I’d ever given a blowjob? I grew giddy with my own proud excitement before Maxwell took me by surprise once again. His roughened fingers slid past the cheeks of my ass to thrust between my legs and inside my soaked entrance. I moaned, my lips falling open in pleasure before his hand was at my collarbone and he was pushing me back to sit on my heels. His two fingers slid in and out of my body relentlessly while the other palm caressed my hot skin.
“You’re not getting my cum so easily,” he said, his palms now running up my neck and caressing every heightened nerve I had. “You’re going to work for it today.”
I gasped as his thumb worked at the tight bud of my back entrance.
“And maybe we’ll have a little fun too.” His beautiful eyes burned with desire, and I knew instantly he had more planned, more I would enjoy. “Once I think you’ve done enough, I’ll give you my cum. When I decide.” His lips were near mine now, hovering closely, threatening a kiss or a bite—I wasn’t sure. I wanted it either way. “How does that sound, beautiful?”
I swallowed past the sexual energy eating up the air between us, the anxiety twisting my stomach over just what Maxwell’s words meant exactly.
“Answer me.” Maxwell nipped at my earlobe, warning and barely bridled passion in his words.
“Y-yes,” I stuttered, uncaring what I was agreeing to as long as I would find Maxwell between my legs again.
“Yes what?” A confident grin flashed across his lips.
“Yes, Maxwell.” My stomach twisted with desire.
“Good girl.”
Maxwell’s lips finally connected with mine, and he brought me to a swift and fast orgasm. His thumb worked the virgin rose at my back, his fingers invaded the entrance between my thighs, and I was his. Completely. I was exactly where I wanted to be.
Chapter Fifteen
Maxwell
My eyes devoured the soft curves of her body, all rosy flesh and creamy skin as she washed herself in my shower after I’d gotten her off. She was decadent. I’d never understood the fad of wafer-thin models. From the beginning, they’d always been a turnoff to me. When my buddies’ eyes were trained on girls with short shorts and no hips, mine were focused on the girl with an ass that I could really dig my fingers into. Someone I could really fuck and not hold back. Without hurting…
My thoughts flicked back to a time long ago, when I had been the victim of someone’s hand. I flinched, and Elle’s hands immediately ran across my scalp and down my sinewy muscles, bringing me back to the present and soothing me back into focus.
“Are you okay?”
Her soft lilt sent my heart stumbling a few beats. I wasn’t used to a woman’s concern—or anyone’s, for that matter. It made me feel special for the first time in too long.
“Better now.” I turned off the shower and stepped out before wrapping her in the extra-large towel and circling her in my arms.
She looked up at me with wide, innocent doe eyes, and my mind eased a little. The anxiety of the past few years fell away, and I was suddenly focused on the beautiful woman in front of me. Keeping her happy was my only focus.
Happy. It was a novel idea. I felt it in her warm eyes and soft smile. She was mine, sent here to ease my untamed heart. I just had to be the man she deserved.
“Will you tell me about the scar?” she whispered, catching me off guard as her fingertips whispered across the angry slash on my right cheek.
My eyes flickered away as my thoughts were pulled back into the past, to a time I’d spent years trying to forget.
“Someone hurt me a long time ago, and I swore I’d never be the weak one again.”
My fists tightened at her shoulders before I recognized that I might be hurting her and I released her, clenching them instead at my sides. I swallowed the heavy feeling in my throat. At some point, I’d have to tell her everything, but no way was that time now, not when I had her to worry about.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”
She was suddenly in my space again, her arms wrapping around my naked torso. My body raged like a wild animal in her presence while for the first time in so long, my mind seemed to quiet. It was peacefully quiet. Being around her was like inhaling fresh air for the first time. She kept the angry beasts away. Instead of days consumed in the library and nights devoured by lifting weights to keep the demons at bay, I now had her.
“That’s why I work out so much. I like to stay fit and strong. I don’t like feeling overpowered,” I mumbled, thinking I had to add something to help her understand without sharing too much, too soon and scaring her--or worse.
She nodded thoughtfully before padding out into my master bedroom. Her gaze landed on her clothes, crumpled on the floor from last night.
A grin cocked my lips as I remembered what I had planned for today.
“I’m not sure what you want to do today,” she said as if reading my mind, “but maybe I could run home and get some clothes?” She held the towel around her tightly.
I grinned, shaking my head. “I’ve got plenty planned for today, and none of it involves you wearing clothes.” I dropped my own towel at my feet.
Her eyes glistened as she caught sight of my hungry cock saluting her, ready for action.
“Maxwell…” Her mouth fell into a soft O.
I immediately wanted her lips wrapped around me again. My cock jumped, eager as ever at the thought. I’d have to get some clothes on if her reaction to my cock was that sexy.
I pulled on a pair of navy slacks without underwear—I wanted my cock close for relief with what I had in mind—then I approached her. “Lose the towel and follow me.”
Elle’s soft eyes fell in shock, her gaze trained on the obvious outline of my dick in my trousers.
“You’ve got a one-track mind, beautiful.” I smiled, thinking how sweet and innocent she’d been only yesterday. After a night in my hands, she was the horniest little sex kitten I’d ever seen. I loved all the sides of her.
I didn’t give her a chance to argue or pout. I stalked out of the bedroom, through the kitchen, then opened the door that led down the short flight of stairs to the library. I smiled when I heard her footsteps behind me. I didn’t check to see if she held the towel. She was a good girl; I knew she didn’t.
Chapter Sixteen
Elle
I stood in the cold, shivering and naked in the dim light, wondering what on earth I was doing, without a stitch of clothing, following a man into the library on a Sunday morning.
“We’re cleaning today.”
The lights suddenly flicked on, and Maxwell came around the corner, a few bleached white rags and a spray bottle in his hands.
“What? Are you crazy?” My eyes flicked to the front window, thankful that at least the shutters were closed. No prying eyes could see me in all my naked, curvy glory. “You want me to clean? Naked?” I must have been misunderstanding him again.
“Mmm…” He approached, and his fingers trailed between my legs, sliding between my still-damp lips and working slow circles at my burning clit. “Yes, I want you to clean naked. It’s easier for me to do this.” One long finger dipped inside and gathered more of my juices before swirling around my clit again and making my stomach swim with anxious butterflies. “And this.” His finger left my body and thrust deep into his mouth, where he licked and sucked the glistening sex o
ff his finger. “Now stop complaining.”
He kissed me long and sweet, and I tasted my own musk on his breath. That alone made me eager to do anything he said. Coupled with his lips pressed to mine… he could make me his sexy slave, and I’d be a willing participant.
“Now get to work.” He landed a swift smack at my ass, and arousal tore through me. I was suddenly desperately needy and so ready to play his game. He winked.
“I told you I would make you work for my cum today.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not afraid of a little hard work then.” I cocked my own head then spun, pulling the rags and spray from his hands, and dropped to my knees at his feet. “Where should I start?”
His eyes flared as they flicked up and down my body while I waited, my eyes landing at the bulge tenting his dark slacks. It was so thick and rigid I could make out the crown of his erection. The engorged tip faintly outlined through the thick fabric had me so wet I half hoped he’d see me bent over and, unable to control himself, take me right there on the floor.
I contemplated reaching up to grasp his length—at least nine inches in my estimation—and beg him to let me put it in my mouth again. I licked my lips before one large palm covered his length and he squeezed.
He squeezed.
My eyes nearly bulged from my head as arousal trailed down my thighs at seeing him hold his erection. His eyes flickered with amusement when he saw the torture he was putting me through, and he squeezed it again, adjusting it to stand straight up, the tip threatening to pop through the waistband at his navel.
“Something got you distracted?” His gravelly voice sent shivers down my spine before he grabbed a chair and planted himself in front of the circulation desk, his hand still caressing his length from the outside of his pants.
