McDonald_MM_GEN_Dec2013

by Donna McDonald

  Her quip back was natural to her. So was using the nickname she’d given him back when they were dating. Then she got an idea. “Hey Reston, are you labeled a womanizer by the media? Tell me the truth. You know it won’t change how I think of you.”

  Taylor smirked at Max who grunted at Reston and glared. When she saw Max was sizing him up as a new challenger, she shook her head again. Despite the craving she had for those with an abundance of the chemical, sometimes she really hated testosterone. You would think at forty her body would be more discerning.

  When Reston grinned wickedly at her, she wanted to swear at him. He was probably wondering if Max was going to get her to bend her ‘no-jock’ rule. He was probably hoping she would reconsider dating him again, once Max got on her nerves bad enough. She snorted as she watched Reston rub a hand over a chiseled jaw and chin rough with an evening beard. Even mild stubble looked odd on the man who normally shaved twice a day. He once told her he would never agree to another endorsement contract that required his face to be smooth all the time.

  “Well, if by ‘womanizer’ you mean that I prefer women and date a lot—then yeah, I guess you could say that I am one. But Taylor—Sugar—you know I’d give up all the others for you. You kiss like an angel, and you’re the hardest working woman I have ever met. Hell, I’ll be forty in a few months. I’d settle down if you’d agree to marry me.”

  Taylor rolled her eyes at Reston’s proposal and shook her head, which was pretty much what she had done every other time he had made the same unappealing offer. She wasn’t willing to become the prize female the cowboy could put out on display like he did his horses. His lack of romance was just one of the many reasons she’d stopped dating him.

  “Sorry, Tex. That matrimonial dream is never happening with me, but thanks for the compliment. I’m sure when the urge to settle down takes more solid root, you’ll find someone even more perfect than me, not mention lots younger. Wasn’t your last girlfriend twenty-two?”

  “Yes, but I’m finding youth in women is overrated. There’s nothing better than being with a woman who knows herself and what she wants. Since I’m gentleman enough not to discuss your finer attributes in front of a stranger, we better change the subject. What’s with you and the little glaring dude here?”

  Taylor fought her amusement as Reston swung a knowing grin to the now seething Max, whose face was turning red.

  “You dating this kid, Legs? When we broke up, you said you were giving up jocks. Wasn’t your last guy some kind of insurance broker or something?” Reston asked.

  Max met Reston’s gaze and fought the urge to walk over to him. “What do you mean ‘little dude’?”

  The jab about being a kid hadn’t stung much, even though Max didn’t consider forty all that much older than being thirty-one. But he was damn glad this guy thought he looked like a jock. Sometimes lately he sure didn’t feel like one. All the same, his scowl darkened when the man laughed again. It was obvious that there was a lot of history between the abrasive cowboy and Taylor.

  “Compared to the men Taylor is used to being around? Yeah boy, you’re little. Want to come out to the gym floor and meet some of Taylor’s former guys? There’s a bunch of them in here right now, though I think I was the last one she dated of our kind.”

  “Reston—that’s enough of your teasing. Leave Max alone. He’s not interested in my dating past. Lay off or I’ll cancel your membership,” Taylor ordered.

  “Are you sure about that, Sugar? The guy looks pretty interested to me. In fact, he looks like he’d like to kick my ass six ways from Sunday just because you and I are being friendly.”

  Turning, Max gave Taylor a disbelieving stare, finally broken by a strange sound erupting from him. It was a cross between a snort and a huff, and reminded him way too much of his brother, Jasper. It also didn’t help his frame of mind that Taylor rolled her eyes at him when she heard it. He decided not to let her condescending habit make him more mad.

  “I’m so not like this guy,” Max said firmly.

  “Yes, Maximillan—you are. You’re just a different generation.” When both men glowered at her reference to their ages, Taylor had had enough. “If you gentleman will both kindly exit my office, I’ll get back to work. Max, I’ll see you Thursday evening. Emma and I are definitely coming for the second set.”

  “Ah hell—we’re both being dismissed, boy. That’s not a good sign. You might want to cut your losses and find another filly.” Flashing a wide smile, Reston tipped his Stetson and walked off.

  Max waited until he thought the man completely out of earshot before continuing his argument. “Now that we’re alone again, back to the jock question. No, let’s be more specific. What was your problem with Mr. Wish-I-Was-A-Cowboy when you dated him?”

  Max stood there for a few moments watching Taylor ignore him with no visible remorse whatsoever for doing so. Walking around her desk, she sat down in her office chair and starting removing her sneakers. He walked around the side to get a better view himself.

  Opening the bottom drawer of her massive desk, Taylor pulled out a pair of jet black four inch skyscrapers and casually slipped them on. When she stood to straightened her clothes, Max’s gaze traveled up her legs and back to the floor. Her painted toes peeked out of the ends. What had the hell had he asked her? Oh yeah—her dating the damn cowboy.

  “Time for you to leave, Max. I have work to do,” she said.

  “Okay—look. Maybe your dating past is none of my business since we’re not sleeping together yet, but answer this for me. Do the men in your life always leave when you dismiss them? What kind of wimps have you been dating up to now?”

  Taylor gave Max the look she usually reserved for her ex-husband. “Well, I have had to call the cops once or twice. In your case, I would just call your brother. Or Sam.”

  “Sam?” Max was surprised to hear the name rolling so easily off Taylor’s tongue. “How do you know Sam? He uses the gym at the hotel.”

  “I am not discussing how I know Sam because it’s none of your business.”

  She bit her lip at the flash of pain in Max’s eyes, but wasn’t about to admit that Sam had sought her out to talk about her resistance to dating the younger man. Wicked Wad’s ego was already large enough. He didn’t need to know his brother and Sam thought he was the best thing since sliced bread.

  “Just tell me you are not dating Sam. That’s all I really care about,” Max said. The rough order barely made it out of his tight throat. Surely Sam wouldn’t try to date Taylor behind his back? Not when he knew Max was interested in her? Sam was not that kind of man. Was he?

  “My relationship with Sam, or any other man, is none of your business. You can ask him if you must, but I really wish you wouldn’t. I’m usually more discreet about dropping names. We had lunch to discuss some business. That’s all. It wasn’t a date.”

  Max moved closer to her, just a couple of feet away. He was now officially desperate to believe he meant something more to Taylor than every other male in the jock harem her business supplied her with daily. And God help him, he wanted to be more important to her than someone like Sam, too. It was too late to play it cool. All he could do was try to recover the play.

  “You are an enigmatic woman, Taylor Baird. Kiss me like you mean it. I’ll try and forget the subject of your dating past came up and made me jealous.”

  Taylor snorted. “Emotional blackmail is like pouring gasoline on a burning fire, Max. I doubt you ever worry about a woman’s dating past. I, on the hand, do care about such things which is why I research men who ask me out. A simple internet search pulled up way more than I ever wanted to know. You seduced two different nurses while you were in the hospital recuperating from your accident. Then not too much later you did the same thing to that journalist friend of Ryan Carmichael’s. Your resume is not exactly filled with high recommendations.”

  “The nurses were just nice women and I didn’t sleep with either of them. I don’t know how that could even count
as dating. The journalist was someone I thought was a friend, but instead she used my accident for advancing her career. Yes, I had a brief intimate relationship with her, but I wasn’t exactly on my best game physically if you know what I mean. Frankly, if you want to hear the real story of my life, I’d be happy to tell you, Taylor. You don’t have to read it online.”

  “What you did and with whom is none of my business, but it does make me curious. What exactly am I to you, Max? Just the next dating game you’re ready to play? I would be what—Wicked Wade’s affair with an older woman?”

  “No, of course not. I want to date you and see where it goes. While we’re throwing stones, I guess I’ll lob one back to you. Are you saying none of your relationships were casual?”

  “No—they weren’t—or at least they weren’t for me. I don’t do casual. I dated with the goal of finding someone to marry. Though my marriage ended badly, I at least let myself fall in love. How long was your longest relationship? I’m guessing six weeks tops. Casual should be your middle name.”

  One day, when Taylor was able to hear him, Max thought he might tell her that the nurses were friendly and caring at a time when he had been alone and scared of losing virtually everything he knew. Frankly, he had needed the comfort of sweet kisses and hugs, while he waited to find out the extent of his physical damage. Neither of those women had expected anything from him even when the press had linked their names to his.

  The reporter had happened because he had badly needed a friend after he’d found out his career was on hold, but she hadn’t turned out to be as good as she had first seemed. Maybe he’d been naïve or just vulnerable. He’d needed to hear someone tell him life wasn’t over even though he’d feared his sports career was. Her exploitation of his injury had seemed more than enough reason to call it quits.

  Since his mistake with trusting the reporter, he’d become a lot more discerning, which is why he hadn’t been dating. His interest in Taylor was certainly different from anything he’d felt for a woman before.

  “My longest relationship was for three months. That doesn’t mean I’m some kind of commitment-phobe who keeps women at an emotional distance. It just means I haven’t found the right person,” he said.

  “I was married for four and a half years. I went into it thinking it would be forever and tried like hell to save it. That’s how not casual I am,” Taylor said.

  Max wondered how Taylor could think he was so awful. He’d been on his best behavior the whole time he’d known her. “If you honestly consider me so irredeemable, then why bother with Thursday then? Don’t you think I deserve the same shot Reston got, Legs.”

  Max used the cowboy’s nickname for her and saw her eyes blaze. He wanted that fire to be for another reason, but he’d take anger over being ignored. He didn’t plan on being lumped into the group with the rest of her jock discards.

  Of the two of them, it seemed to him that Taylor had the bigger problem. Her heart was walled up behind her bad experiences, automatically refusing anyone who wanted to find out what would make her happy. Her resistance left Max little recourse but to try a forecheck play and see it through. Wicked Wade had a reputation of doing anything to gain possession. Winning even a small amount of Taylor’s approval was becoming critical to his self-respect.

  “Kiss me and prove you’re not interested. Call it dare if you want, but I think you want me more than you are admitting. If there’s no spark between us, then I’ll leave you alone.”

  Tired of his taunting, Taylor walked to him. If Max wanted humiliation as well as truth, then she could dish that out too. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Max brought clammy palms to her cheeks and saw surprise in Taylor’s eyes at his show of nerves. “Yes. I’m nervous. Are you happy now? Your opinion matters to me. Can you at least try to believe that I’m in the process of changing?”

  Taylor couldn’t tear her gaze away from his. God, she wanted to believe him. Why? What did it matter? Max was ten years her junior and she definitely did not need to be Wicked Wade’s next sexual conquest. “Why are you pressing me so hard?”

  “You are the first woman who has owned my full attention in every way and hasn’t wanted to use me. My interest has been growing since I saw you the first time. Baby, I want to kiss you so badly I ache.” Max leaned forward and kissed her forehead instead of her mouth. “But you know what? I’ve changed my mind. I can’t enjoy it the way I want to with you thinking I’m just some jock jerk.”

  Pulling his hands off Taylor was the hardest thing Max could ever remember doing, until he turned and made himself walk away from her. He suddenly had a clear picture of what real failure felt like, and it was a lot worse than losing his ability to play in a hockey game. Maybe he was already in love with Taylor. It would explain a lot about why her opinion of him mattered so much.

  “Max—wait. Don’t leave like this.” Taylor snapped out the order, walking quickly to him, swearing under her breath as she did so.

  Her stomach was full of butterflies. Her heart was beating hard between her breasts. When Max opened his arms to receive her, she walked straight into them, even though she knew it wasn’t wise. The moment they touched, her whole body fell against his, wanting to be held. When his arms tightened around her in welcome, she sighed in need as she felt Max bury his face in her hair.

  “Damn you. I really don’t want this,” she said, but still turned up her face to reach his mouth. Max bent to meet her, his mouth hot and needy in return. Kissing him was just as good as it had been the first time.

  When he put one hand behind her head and delved into her mouth with his tongue, Taylor heard a desperate moan escape her throat. The man kissing her took the sound she made as an invitation to torture her more. Suddenly, she was lifted up and pressed against Max’s hips. It forced to stand on tip-toes even in her four inch heels. She felt like a ballerina about to dance away, struggling to stay in place while Max rubbed against her in promise of what could be if she’d just give in to it. His hands swept down to her hips and gripped firmly to keep her close.

  “See? I’m not all that little. Make sure to tell the cowboy he was wrong next time you see him,” Max said.

  “Stop your bragging and kiss me again,” Taylor ordered.

  Her stomach fluttered as Max laughed against her mouth, continuing to press the evidence of his desire against her. It was quite some time before he finally allowed some breathing space between their bodies. She sighed as she tried to get her feet to feel grounded. It was hard to do standing on her toes and pressed against a hard, excited male.

  “Damn it, Max. I knew kissing you was a bad idea. What am I supposed to do with you now?” she demanded.

  “I don’t know, but I’m anxious as hell to find out. Go out with me, Taylor. Or just stay for a drink Thursday night after the show. I just want to spend a little time with you—alone—just the two of us. At least get to know me before you condemn me.”

  Taylor took a deep breath and swore silently. She had expressly promised herself not to be stupid about a guy again. Lewis had been a big enough mistake for a lifetime. Max had the potential to be an even bigger one. The man knew how to hug and her arms didn’t want to let go.

  “I haven’t walked on the beach in ages. Maybe we can take a late walk after your last set Thursday. I never made it down the cliffs either time I stayed at the hotel,” she said.

  She let out a breath when Max finally lowered her to the floor, letting her slide down him even though the action made them both unsteady with lust. Her ragged, disappointed sigh was an echo of his.

  “Sounds like a great idea, but also too long from now,” he said.

  “Max, all I’m offering is a walk on the beach.” His blatant disbelief had her blushing. When she pulled out of his arms and stepped away, he let her go but was slow about it. Her disappointment to be out of his arms was so keen that it hurt.

  “Sexy woman. Moonlight. That’s a lot more game than I’ve had in a while. I�
�m up for it. I’m sure I will be again on Thursday,” Max said, letting him grin at her.

  “Take your double-entendres out of my office and let me get back to work, Wade.”

  Taylor turned away so Max wouldn’t see her smile. When she turned back to where Max had been standing, it was to find that he had finally gone. Unnerved by her own neediness, she shook her head at her thoughts. Thursday did seem awfully far away.

  ## Coming Soon ##

  Contemporary Books

  NEVER TOO LATE SERIES

  Dating A Cougar (Book One)

  Dating Dr. Notorious (Book Two)

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