by Jolie Day
Chapter Two
Max
The room was small and simple—not that he was expecting much more.
There was a queen-sized bed pushed against the far wall, with an end table on either side, a chest at the foot of it and a door that led to a private bathroom to the left. To the right were two windows, side-by-side, that looked out on the street in front of the bar. Looking outside, Max could see nothing but darkness and a few blinking streetlights, illuminating the sidewalk in pools of yellow. Not a soul was out past three in the morning.
To the right of the door, as soon as he entered, was a desk and a chair. Like the rest of the room, they were simple, but sturdy. Max set his keys, gun, and wallet down on the desk top and shrugged off his jacket, hanging it on the back of the chair. Then he moved to the bed, divesting himself of his other clothes as he went. By the time he climbed under the sheets, the only thing he was wearing on his body was a pair of boxers and the many tattoos that stretched from his neck to his ankles, making his body look like a canvas.
The bed was soft and the sheets felt good around his body as he felt himself begin to drift off. It had been a long day; spent primarily on the seat of his motorcycle driving down long highways under the hot sun. Max felt like he hadn’t even seen a bed in years, let alone laid in one. And, for the first time in a while, he didn’t exactly have a bedmate.
Not that he would have minded one.
Max grinned at the thought of the barmaid. What was her name? Regina? Yeah, that was it; Regina Carlisle. She was a firecat. Max wouldn’t mind having her in his bed with him right now. Just the thought of those curves under his hands had him standing to attention. He took a deep breath, trying to relax himself; he was way too tired for that, as tempting as it was.
Eventually, he fell into a deep slumber, turning on his side and pressing his face into one of the soft pillows, inhaling the clean scent as he allowed his dreams to take him deeper into slumber.
*****
The body above him is glorious. Heavy breasts quiver with deep, uneven breaths. Moans spill from plump red lips. Wide hips undulate as she moves against him and he can feel her wetness dampening the base of his stomach, just inches away from where he needs her. Max’s hands reach out to stroke her softness, but she arches away, laughing. Her laugh is like music to his ears and he feels himself harden against her ass. A growl starts deep in his throat and she laughs again, those slender hands reaching up to shake her dark curls.
Her face is somewhat familiar, but he can’t recall who the woman above him is. He doesn’t try too hard, either; instead, he moves to flip them over, landing on his knees between her thick, juicy, open thighs. The woman gasps and arches against him, her breasts pushing into his chest and making him shiver. Max presses his open mouth to her neck and the woman moans, her nails digging into his back, pulling him closer to where she needed him. Max growls again, his hands reaching for her hips, keeping them still as he grinds into her. He can practically feel her nails breaking his skin as she drags them down his back. He finds himself chuckling as he nips her pulse point and she whimpers.
When Max enters her, she lets out a shuddering breath, her hands raising above her head to grip the headboard and breathing out hotly against his shoulder as he pumps in and out of her.
“Yes!” Her voice is raw, gravelly and strained with pleasure and it just adds to Max’s. He growls as he pulls almost completely out of her, then pushes back in with a force that makes her entire body shake and shivers run down her spine as she lifts her legs, allowing them to drape over his hips, deepening his angle and making her cry out even louder. “Oh god!” Her entire body quivers beneath his and Max begins to pick up speed, encouraged by her moans and groans and grasps. “Fuck!”
“Like that?” he husks in her ear, pressing his body down on hers to add to the sensations. “Huh, baby? You like how I fuck you?”
“Yes!” the woman gasps, one of her arms slinging around his shoulders, pulling his lips down to hers. She bites his bottom lip and he growls, entering her harder, pushing deeper, making them both cry out in ecstasy. He can feel himself growing closer to orgasm, can feel the pressure at the base of his spine as he continues to enter her, reveling in her deep sighs and the way she huffs into his ear.
“Max.”
He grunts at the sound of his name, spilling into the woman beneath him with a sigh, before collapsing onto her body, pressing his face into the crook of her neck.
“Max,” she whispers into his ear. “Max. Max. Max…”
*****
Regina
She knocked harder on the door, her fist starting to ache now.
“Max!” she groaned. “Max, open up!”
She’d been standing there for close to five minutes, knocking on his door, trying to get him to open it. But there was still no answer and her arms were getting tired. She had a set of fresh sheets tucked under one arm and the dirty ones from the room next door. Unlike Max, her other guest had been up and out by noon.
It was now past three in the afternoon.
“Max Stormwell!” she yelled. “Wake up! I need to clean the room.”
She heard a groan on the other side and sighed, leaning back and tapping her foot on the floor. A couple moments later, the door was creaking open and its occupant poked a dark, heavily underlined, eye out at Regina.
“What do you want?” he grumbled, tiredly.
“I told you to be out of the room at 2:30 so I could clean it. It’s three.”
“Just come back later,” Max sighed, going to close the door. Regina blocked it with her foot.
“I have more work to do today,” she said. “I don’t have time. Just…open the door and let me change the sheets.”
Max took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Fine,” he said. “Just…give me a minute to get dressed.” Before Regina could answer, he shut the door, disappearing inside.
Regina stood there for a long while, tapping her foot and waiting. After three minutes, she knocked again. “Max!” she called. “What are you doing?”
“Hold your horses, sweetheart!” Max called back. Less than a minute later, the door popped open and Max was standing there, wearing the same clothes he had on yesterday. “Happy?” he huffed, stepping to the side so that Regina could enter.
“I’d be happier if you stopped calling me that,” she replied, walking in and setting the new sheets down on the desk, before moving to the bed to start pulling the old sheets off. “My name is Regina.”
“Sorry,” Max chuckled. “Guess I was just so distracted by your bubbly personality.”
“I hear that a lot,” Regina deadpanned. Max laughed again and she felt a bit of delight at that, though she didn’t know why.
She went about stripping the sheets off the bed and shoving them into the laundry bag along with her other guest’s things and stretching the new ones on, leaning over the bed with effort. When she turned back, she found Max watching her with a furrowed brow.
“What?” Regina asked, standing straight and checking her back for some kind of stain or something stuck to the ass of her jeans. There was nothing, so she turned to scowl up at Max. “What were you looking at?”
“Nothing,” he sighed. “Just…nothing. Spacing out. I’m tired, you know?” He sighed as he stretched out his limbs and turned to the door. “I’m gonna head into town now; see if I can find…uh, some clothes.” Regina turned at his hesitation and watched as he hurried his pace, closing the door behind him.
She wasn’t one to insert herself into the lives of her guests, but that was odd.
She shook her head as she turned back to the bed, righting the sheets and placing the pillows back, before hefting the laundry bag over her shoulder. It wasn’t her business what Max was getting into, she told herself as she made her way out and locked the door behind her. She didn’t care so long as he paid her.
Still, she couldn’t help but think about it as she washed the sheets and tried to ignore the large, very obviou
s stain on the sheets she’d taken from Max’s room. She could feel her body grow hot at the thought of him, alone in his bed, doing…that. Regina took a deep breath and headed back to the bar, shooing away any thoughts of Max Stormwell.
It didn’t work.
*****
Max
There was a café just a couple of blocks from Carlisle’s.
There was a sign above the door that read “Daisy’s” and the woman who greeted him at the door was wearing pastel. Max hadn’t seen anybody wearing pastel in months and it was a bit of an eyesore. As was the girl’s bright white smile and sunny personality as she led him to a table in the back, per his request.
“Can I start you off with something to drink?” she asked, bubbly, smiling wide and innocent.
“Uh, sure,” Max replied, feeling a little bit uncomfortable. “I’ll get a black coffee.”
“Would you like cream with that?” she asked.
“No, thank you. Just black.”
“Any sugar?”
“No. Black coffee, please.”
“Okie dokie!” she chirped, before turning on her heel and practically skipping away. Max watched her with a tiny, amused grin. He’d had a girlfriend like that, once. She’d annoyed the hell out of him, but he was a sucker for tiny girls with big blue eyes and smiles like sunlight.
Still, she was a little too soft for his taste; a little too fragile. He liked his women sturdy; the kind that you could grab with both hands and bend them over the—
“Hey, Stormy; long time, no see.”
Max turned toward the sound of the voice and frowned at the other man. He was older and wrinkled and scarred and his white beard could rival Santa Claus, but Max would have known those cloudy blue eyes anywhere. “My father was Stormy, Ray,” Max pointed out.
“Close enough,” the man rumbled, switching from his table to Max’s, moving his food with him. “You look just like him, anyway.”
“Do I?” Max asked. “I must’ve missed it the first million times you told me.”
“Well, you do,” Ray laughed, spearing some of the lettuce on his plate. Max eyed his salad.
“Thought you said you’d never touch rabbit food,” he commented.
“Yeah, well having a heart attack might’ve softened me a little on that.” He popped a cherry tomato in his mouth. “Grace has got me on a whole new diet.”
“So you’ve lost your balls, too, eh?” Max teased, receiving a glare from Ray.
“They ain’t gonna be of any use to a dead man, are they?” he huffed. “Besides, once a month I can have a burger, fries, and two beers. She’ll even make me that rum cake I like so much and I’ll live to see my grandson’s first steps. That’s all I ask.”
“Mary had a baby?” Max asked, smiling at the waitress in thanks as she set down his coffee.
Ray nodded, taking another bite of his salad as he reached, with his opposite hand, for his wallet, flipping it open on the table to reveal a picture of a smiling boy with light blue eyes and dimples. “His name is Sam. He’ll be ten months old next week. Already said his first word: Pop. That’s me.” His grin was wide and proud. Max smiled, too.
“Congrats,” he said.
“Thanks,” Ray replied, placing the wallet back in his pocket. “Mary wanted you to be the godfather, but you wouldn’t return any of our calls. You haven’t been around much since Stormy…well, you know.” Max looked down into his mug. “Have you spoken to your Ma since it happened?”
“Not since his funeral,” Max admitted. “She’ll be fine with Carol while I’m gone. Probably better that she doesn’t see my face for a while; it might confuse her, you know? Besides, I’m going to find the jackass that did it.”
“Is that why you’re in town?” Ray asked. “Thought you might’ve come to visit Mary and the baby.”
“I’m not one for babies,” Max reminded him. “Besides, I don’t think she wants to see me right now. Not while I’m like this.” He motioned to himself. “Anyway, she’s got Gabe, don’t she?”
“He left,” Ray growled, not angry at Max, though his fists were clenched. “Skipped town right after Sam was born. Piece of crap that he is. Mary’s living at home, with us. You should come see her. Maybe you could…” He tilted his head in a meaningful way and Max felt his cheeks grow hot as he shook his head.
“No,” he said. “I-I can’t. I have too much to focus on right now, Ray. Besides, I…I already have a girl.”
“Is that so?” Ray asked. “And what’s her name?” He lifted a brow, dubiously.
“Her name,” Max said, looking away, “is…Regina.”
*****
Regina
“Regina!”
She turned at the sound of her name, brandishing the mug of beer she’d just filled up, smiling at the woman now perched on a stool to her right.
“Hey, Pauline,” she greeted, sliding the beer down the bar to the man who’d ordered it. He saluted her with the glass before walking away. “What’s new?”
“Nothing much, baby,” Pauline replied. “Look at you, though! I swear you look more and more like your mother with every day that passes.”
“Last time you were here, you said I look more like my father!”
“Well, you’re a combination of the two of them, ain’t ya?”
Regina laughed. “What can I get for you, Paul?” she asked.
“Vodka martini, dry,” Pauline ordered. “I’ll be at that table right over there.” She pointed behind her and Regina nodded.
“I’ll send Brandy right over,” she promised.
“No, baby, I said a martini!”
Regina rolled her eyes and shooed the older woman away. She reached for a martini glass and the vodka. She’d gotten a new shipment earlier that afternoon. Sunday was a much slower night than Saturday, so she didn’t need much to get her through, but it always helped to have a well-stocked bar.
Vodka martinis weren’t particularly difficult to make, so she was popping the olive into it and turning to the next customer before Brandy even reached the bar. She nearly jumped when she came face to face with Max Stormwell, whom she hadn’t even notice enter the bar.
“What can I get you?” she asked, raising her brow at him.
“Your waitress’s number,” he replied, cheekily, waving at Brandy, who blushed and giggled and waved back.
Regina scowled. “She’s too young for you,” she said.
“But she’s legal, isn’t she?”
“It’s not gonna happen, Stormwell.”
“Please, call me Max.”
“I’d rather call you a cab.”
“Ooh, nice comeback,” he laughed. She couldn’t help but delight at the praise. “But, seriously, call me Max. I hate my last name.”
“Why?”
“It sounds fake.”
“It does,” Regina agreed, with a grin. “Okay. Max, then. Try to be a human being or I’m kicking you to the curb.”
“Aw, you wouldn’t do that, Reggie; I think you really like me.” He gave her a charming grin and a wink and Regina fought against the blush that rose in her cheeks. She rolled her eyes and turned away.
“Whatever,” she huffed and Max laughed again, reaching out to grab her wrist, gently. Just enough to cause her pause. She turned back to him with slightly widened eyes. Max’s own eyes widened in response and he let go, as if burned.
“Sorry,” he said. “I just…wanted to order a drink.”
“Fine,” Regina said, tilting her head to the side, curiously. “What’re you having?”
“Double-shot of whiskey,” Max ordered. “And a Corona.”
“Strange combination,” Regina commented. “But okay. Coming right up.”
Max smiled in thanks and it immediately fell as Regina turned away to grab the shot glasses and liquor. He watched her back as she went about pouring his drinks and grabbed his beer from the cooler, placing them all on the bar in front of him.
“Thanks,” he said, forcing a smile. Regina nodded and
walked down the bar to serve the next customer. Max continued to watch her as he downed his shots and sipped his beer, his eyes never leaving her back as she went about her business.
“Regina!”
Regina turned, again, towards Pauline, who was brandishing her martini glass in the air like an extension of her arm, and looking away from Regina even as she motioned her forward. Regina leaned in.
“What’s up, Pauline?”
“Who’s that?” Pauline asked, motioning down the bar…at Max. Regina furrowed her brow and turned to look at Pauline’s face, which was a mask of lust. She was biting her lip and looking at him like he was a piece of steak. “I haven’t seen him around here.”
“Oh,” Regina said, frowning, “that’s Max. He’s staying in one of the rooms upstairs.”
“Oh, so he’s a drifter?” Pauline husked, biting the tip of her index finger. “How…exotic.”
“Keep it in your pants, Paulie,” Regina laughed.
“Oh, sorry,” Pauline said. “Did you want him?”
Regina scoffed. “No, thank you,” she said. “You can have him. It’s just…aren’t you married?”
Pauline held up her bare left hand. “Not tonight,” she said with a kittenish mewl. “Give me another martini; I’ll be over there, with the hunk.” Leaving her glass behind, Pauline slinked down the bar, sidling up next to Max, who jumped when he felt her grope his ass.
Regina laughed when he gave her a wide-eyed look of fear and shrugged when he mouthed “help”, turning away to make Pauline’s second vodka martini. She could give them a minute, just for fun.
*****
Max
“Hello,” a soft, husky voice purred in his ear. Max turned and his eyes widened when he found a pair of jade greens staring up at him. He jumped when he felt a sharp pinch at his ass and coughed slightly when the woman in front of him moved closer still. “Can I buy you a drink, handsome?”
“Um…” he glanced over her shoulder, trying to send signals to Regina but she just grinned and turned away, preparing a martini. Max swallowed thickly as he looked down at the older woman who practically had a vice grip on his arm. “Sure?”
