by Vivian Arend
He spoke against her sex, kissing lightly between the words. “You are beautiful, everywhere. The way you look, the way you taste. I can’t get enough of you.” Another sweep, and she shivered. The temperatures outside had begun to drop, but the heat in here was just fine, thank you very much.
Suddenly, he was inside her again, hunger for more written in all his actions, his every touch. He started slow and gentle, then caught on fire, pounding into her body like a madman, driving in hard. The muscles in his shoulder and forearms bulged as he held himself over her. His hips surged forward, and she pressed her heels down into the mattress to meet him. There was no possible way she could be ready to climax so soon, but somehow, she was. He had played her body so well that this wild act was exactly what she needed to be able to rise back up one final time. Their bodies slammed together. Tasha waited for a single second to take her away. When it came, it was a lightning strike—hard, immediate. It exploded out in magnificent blast. Her core tightened and a harsh groan escaped his lips and Max rocked unsteadily, his face twisted in a grimace, this time one of ecstasy.
There was too much heat, too much pleasure, to do anything other than stay in one place and wait for the earth to settle. Her heart pounded, their breathing echoed harshly off the walls. Contentment filled her. Okay, that had been spectacular, no matter what ulterior reason they had.
Tasha wrapped her arms around him and pulled him on top, sweaty body to sweaty body. The cool air of the room hovered over them, but the heat they’d generated was more than enough to create an oasis to hide from the world.
He kissed her gently. “I’m extremely happy right now.”
She pushed his hair back from his face and met his smile with one of her own.
“Me too.” A yawn escaped, even as she whipped up a hand to try and hide it.
Max laughed quietly. “Did I wear you out?”
She nodded lazily. Why not admit it? “Is there a quilt to go along with this comfy mattress? I don’t think I want to go home yet.”
He rolled off her slowly, tugging her legs until she was curled up on her side. He reached over their heads and grabbed a quilt that he shook over them. One more twist let him nestle his body around her, bare skin against bare, his wet cock nestled in the seam of her butt. She was too relaxed to even think of finding a pair of undies to pull on.
This had been far better than the sterile setting of a medical room, and far more pleasurable. As a means to an end, she could handle sex with Maxwell. As a means to finding fun—with a friend? That was all it was. Right?
The tiny tea lights went out one by one as drafts caught them, or the wicks grew too short. The light coming in the window faded to nothing. Surrounding her was the warmth of his arms and the soft whisper of his words.
“You are home.”
Chapter Ten
It was official. Maxwell Junior was officially head-over-heels in love.
He’d done his best to hide it from Tasha, and so far, he thought he had done a damn fine job. The shirt in his hands hung forgotten for a second as he wasted a moment regretting he wasn’t simply allowed to let her know how he felt. Still, she accepted his attention and seemed to be enjoying his company—all good things that boded well for the future, right?
The drawer in front of him was finally empty and he moved to the next. Clothing and collected bits of junk got sorted, some tossed into the garbage, some into the box he was packing.
“You want me to save any of these dishes?” Tasha called from the other room. “Anything sentimental in here?”
You. You’re the only thing in this house I need. He poked his head out of the bedroom and let the pleasure of seeing her wash over him again. “I picked most of them up at the thrift store when I finished college. Box them up and we can take them back there.”
Tasha leaned on the table and raised a brow as she eyed him up and down. “Interesting packing attire. I’m not sure I want to know.”
Max glanced down at himself and let out a snort. He was down to his boxers, and nothing else. “Yeah, unconventional, but it works. I figured if I was getting rid of old clothes, I should start with the T-shirt I was wearing. Then I realized that with all the dirt and dust bunnies I was unearthing, my shorts would just get messy—”
“The T-shirt you were wearing? There was nothing wrong with it. You didn’t throw it out, did you?”
She crossed her arms and gave him this look that he totally couldn’t interpret. He scrambled to explain. “It’s got a tear under the arm. It’s just one of my college shirts.”
Tasha marched past him, brushing his body as she slipped into his room and grabbed the discarded garment from the edge of the box where it had caught when he threw it earlier. “There’s nothing wrong with this shirt. You can’t throw it out.”
He laughed. “Okay, fine. You can have my ripped shirt.” It would look far better on her than on him anyway. Especially if she wore it with nothing underneath, her long legs bare, her breasts pressing the front of the fabric—
Oh boy. He shook his head and willed his cock to behave. They needed to get the packing done sometime this century. The pile of his belongings grew smaller as he prepared to move in with her. He swallowed hard. Even the thought was enough to re-engage his cock. It was really happening, not only the sex with his dream girl, but the whole relationship and moving-in and establishing-a-family thing. For him, the most important thing in his world. Screw it if some people thought he was crazy, he’d been looking for this all his life.
She shook the shirt in his face. “Thank you, it’s mine. You obviously haven’t had as much practice as I have in making things last as long as possible. Since we’re going to be roommates, you’re going to have to make a few adjustments. Hey, do you think there’s enough left in the fridge for lunch, or do we need to pick something up on the way to the lawyer’s?”
“I’m easy.” Max tried to make his shrug look nonchalant even as the roommates comment hit him hard. That’s what she still thought of them as? Damn. He obviously needed to turn the romancing up a whole lot harder. Of course it hadn’t been all that long since their first time together—two weeks in fact. Leaping forward into moving together had been Tasha’s suggestion, and it still floored him.
He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her against him. “Thanks for letting me move in with you so quick. The thought makes my head spin.”
“I’ll admit it’s a little weird to think about. I haven’t shared a place with anyone for years. But it makes sense, even if the entire Turner family is ready and waiting to ask us all sorts of questions.” She hesitated, then rested her arms around his shoulders as she played with the hair at the back of his neck. “Besides, you had a standing offer for this place, and my apartment is only a rental. Once the new house is officially done, we’ll be moving again.”
“You don’t want to have to move twice, admit it.”
He rolled his neck slightly, loving the glide of her fingers against his skin. She didn’t seem to mind physical contact with him outside the bedroom, but there was still something missing. The spontaneity wasn’t there yet, not on her part. Was it just the years she’d refused to see him as more than a friend? Had she gotten so good at turning him down she was now turning down what could be?
“Oh, I’m guilty of not wanting to move more than necessary. Hate it with a passion. In fact, I think I’ll hire that part of the job to some of the Turner clan. That will get me back in their good books, right?”
“You’re not in their bad books. It’s going to take time for them all to catch up. Just because news travels through the extended family like wildfire, doesn’t mean they take it in that fast. Look at my folks—they’re totally fine with the whole situation.”
“Your parents are incredible. I was sure they would at least give me a few dirty looks when they found out we were moving in together.”
“They are cool—but you gotta realize they’ve learned there’s no use arguing with me. I’m a grown-up, and I’ve proved enough ti
mes I can take care of myself. Besides, they like you. Always have.”
He swayed from side to side, enjoying the feel of his arms around her. They’d been making love daily for the past couple weeks, and he couldn’t get enough of touching her. They’d talked a ton as well, figuring out the details of the prenatal arrangement. He’d been careful to avoid anything like making a promise to keep things nonemotional, and nothing but “friends only forever”. He wasn’t about to lie, but he wasn’t about to scare her away.
He’d practice the fine art of the slow seduction of her heart and cross his fingers that no matter how much she said she only wanted a friend, that eventually she’d accept him as much more.
“We still need to let everyone know we’re getting hitched. What time did the ceremony finally get set for?”
She stiffened for a split second before returning to cuddle against him. “Sorry, that still freaks me out. We’ve got an appointment for a week from Friday, at two.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Freaks me out a bit as well, if it makes you feel better.”
“We could wait until—”
“We’re not waiting, Tasha. This is important to me. We’re having sex and you could be pregnant already. I want to be married before I hear I’m going to become a father. Maybe that makes me some kind of weird toss-back, but you’ll just have to put up with my old-fashioned ways.”
She stretched up on her toes and kissed his nose. “You know what? That’s very sweet, and I promised I would marry you, but I’m saying there’s no rush because I don’t feel like I’m pregnant.”
Oh? “You have some mystical crystal ball you’re consulting, or did you get your period?”
A gasp escaped her. “Umm, that’s blunt.”
He snickered softly. “I thought you were used to it.”
Her cheeks flushed to bright red, and she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I’m not talking about my period with you.”
“Bullshit. We’ve been over this. You want to get pregnant, we need to talk about it. I thought you were going to make me a chart? I know you’ve got one. You’ve probably been tracking for months.”
“Jesus, do you know how weird this is? To talk about my period with a guy? Yes, I’ve got a chart, but you don’t need to be studying it or anything. Just…have sex with me. That’s enough.”
Max debated which way to take this. She’d been fighting to maintain control in the strangest of areas. Maybe straight-out logic would be best. “Is your cycle twenty-four days? Longer? Shorter?”
“Max!”
Of course, teasing was good as well. “Hey, I’m up on basal temperature and all that stuff as well. I’ll take your temperature every day if that will help.”
She shook with her laughter now. “You, Maxwell Turner, are not a normal male.”
“So I’ve been told. But since we’re trying to get preggo, I figured I should do some research. For example, in the book What to Expect When You’re—”
She peeled out of his arms and sat on the edge of the bed, holding her stomach and laughing. “You’ve started reading baby books? Oh my God, you’re a brave man.”
“No, brave is when I ask if you’ve got PMS and don’t run to hide the knives.”
A loud shout burst from her. “Now you’re looking for trouble.”
“I think I found it.” He stepped on either side of her legs.
Tasha stared up at him. “You confuse me.”
He grinned back. “You make me hot.”
Neither of them seemed to be able to stop smiling and inside, he cheered. She seemed to have forgotten temporarily that she wasn’t interested in being more than friends. “You ass, is that going to be your standard answer when you want to win a fight?”
“Don’t see why not. It’s true, and it works.” Besides, it made her flush slightly every time he said it, and he was willing to use every weapon in his arsenal to get the upper hand. After flicking a glance at his watch, a happy idea overtook him. He pressed her back on his bed and buried his face between her breasts. In spite of having spent the morning packing, she smelled wonderful, a hint of jasmine rising on the air.
They’d been apart for far too long, at least twelve hours. “So…”
She wiggled under his touch. “So…what?”
“Are you, or aren’t you? Because we totally have enough time for a quickie, if you’re not having your period…”
She wasn’t, and they did, and he’d never been happier. Rolling with her on the bed in the midst of his college paraphernalia, it was like a homecoming and a hint at the future. Tasha seemed very willing to acknowledge the physical chemistry between them. Max wanted much more. The much more he was determined to achieve, one step at time, and luckily for both of them, each step was turning out to be very pleasurable.
“You’ve got to be kidding. I swear this is some kind of elaborate hoax you two have concocted.”
Tasha sighed into her teacup. Of all the people to have trouble with her situation, she didn’t expect Lila to be the one to freak so hard. Yeah, there had been a few warning grumbles when Tasha had shared that she and Max were dating, but she’d thought that was just from the initial surprise. Heaven knew Lila had heard her complain often enough over the past year that having a man in her life was a low priority.
Now that Saturday had rolled around it was less than a week before she and Max were supposed to make it official. She’d finally got up the courage to drop by Lila’s place and tell her their plans. “No, I’m not kidding. Max and I are getting married.”
“You can’t marry him!”
She raised a brow at her friend’s bold declaration. “I can’t? Why? Is he married already, with a passel of kids I don’t know about?”
Lila growled at her, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms. “If you’re not going to be serious about this…”
“I am being serious. Max and I have decided to get married. I want you to come and be one of our witnesses. It’s at two o’clock. Are you free?”
“You’ve been turning the boy down for dates for years, and now you’re not only dating, you’re getting married? Jumping the gun or what?”
Tasha sighed. Yeah, the tough questions were starting already, and she had only a few options. Either she told the plain and simple truth to Lila, or she lied her head off and pretended to be madly in love. She didn’t want to confess about the baby making to anyone—not even Lila. That topic was something that down the road neither she nor Max wanted trotted out at a Turner gathering. A bold-faced lie was also out of the question. Lila would never in a million years believe her to have fallen head over heels so fast.
Max had suggested a middle ground, and she’d thought it was a good idea. Unfortunately, Lila wasn’t buying.
“He’s not a boy anymore, as he very eloquently pointed out. When I finally agreed to date him, I realized we clicked. It doesn’t make any sense to wait around and make it a long drawn-out engagement and stuff. We’ve known each other for ten years.”
Lila wrinkled her nose. “Please, he was underage for most of that time.”
“You know nothing sexual happened back then.”
Her friend shook her head. “I don’t understand you. From wanting nothing to do with the Y chromosome to committing to marriage?” Lila narrowed her eyes. “You’re up to something, and I’m not sure why you’re not telling me the truth. You’ve had your damn head in the clouds for months. I figured it was stuff with your work or the house-building project. Now you want me to believe you’ve fallen in love with my cousin and that’s it?”
“Why is it so hard to believe?” Tasha scrambled a bit. Having to convince Lila was not on her list of things to do. She’d known it was a stretch—to hope for a quiet coffee break, a congratulatory hug, and then back on her way into a full day that included way too much work. While she and Max were keeping the wedding small and strictly businesslike, there still seemed to be a million things to do.
The fact she’d gotten her period that
morning hadn’t added any joy to the day either. The complication of having to win over her friend seemed a little too much to take at the moment. “It’s happening. It’s real. I just want you to be happy for me.”
“I can’t condone this.” Lila glared at her. “He’s my freaking younger cousin, barely out of his teens.”
Tasha covered her wince as best she could. This was not going to be easy, not with Lila shooting back all the concerns she thought she’d finally convinced herself weren’t issues. Now she got to try saying her responses out loud, like she meant them. She hoped they sounded as convincing this time around as they had when she’d jumped into the relationship with Max.
“Oh, bullshit, you know he’s not a teen. He’s twenty-four, and he’s more mature than most of the thirty-year-olds we’ve been dating. If you pull off the blinders, you’d have to admit that he’s an adult, and a great guy.”
“There’s no way I’m admitting anything. This is simply way too weird.”
Damn it all. “Look, we’re not asking for your permission, I’m asking if you want to be my witness—”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t see why you’re doing this. Unless you guys had sex and you got knocked up or something, I see no reason for you to get married. Hell, even if that’s the case, I still see no reason for you to get married.”
The streak of pain that flashed through Tasha was real, and made her angry all over again. There was no way someone who wasn’t longing for a child could understand how much it hurt to have to spit out the words. “I’m not pregnant.”
“What the hell is going on then? And why aren’t you telling me the truth? I mean, one minute you’re sworn off guys and the next you’re getting married? How come I didn’t hear a word about your change of heart before now?”
Shit. “I just…”
“Just what? Didn’t think you could tell me? Didn’t think you should talk to someone before you made a life-changing decision?”
Tasha froze, her fingers clutching the edge of her cup. It was true. She hadn’t told Lila, not a word, about her plans for artificial insemination. All through the debating and questions, she’d clutched the idea tightly to herself and kept it a secret. Why hadn’t she disclosed her thoughts to Lila? The question had bothered her until she’d realized she didn’t want to tell out of fear Lila would try to talk her out of it.
