Max frowned down at her.
“And why is that.”
“Because you think you have to marry me, baby or no baby.” There, she hadn’t held back. Wasn’t communication supposed to be open and up front? She’d just said exactly what she feared. “How do I know you’re not asking because you feel guilty about my virginity, and Em, and our parents’ approval? Out of moral obligation to make things right instead of l—”
“Loving you? I do love you. The question is— Why can’t you accept that I’ve waited years for you to grow up, for the timing to be right.”
“Is that why you asked another woman to marry you?” The words slipped out before she could stop herself. Chloe winced at her tone, and the thundercloud forming on Max’s face. She didn’t want to fight with him. Why hadn’t she kept her mouth shut? Enjoyed a stroll on the beach with the man of her dreams, instead of turning it into an argument? “Please, just forget it. Forget I said that.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Max—”
“No. Let’s clear the air and be done with it. Yes, I asked Hailey to marry me. I asked when I was drunk and lonely.”
“I don’t want to hear this.”
“I think you do. God knows Em has always wanted to tell you.”
Chloe turned and began walking, unable to stand still. Max followed a step behind her, his presence comforting and disturbing at the same time. “What did Em want to tell me,” she asked after they’d walked for a while.
“She pointed out my stupidity in not realizing I only dated Hailey because she resembled you.”
Chloe faced him, the lights from the resort a long way behind them. “What did you say?”
Max tilted his head to the side, a wry curl to one side of his mouth.
“Hailey resembled you, Chloe. Em pointed it out, and I’m not too proud to admit she was right. I wanted you, not a substitute, and when Hailey realized where my mind and heart was, she dumped me.” He lifted his hands and let them fall to his sides, the gesture filled with frustration.
Chloe stared up at Max. Had he really dated Hailey because the woman had looked like—her? “Why didn’t you say something to me before now?”
“I couldn’t. Em needed your help with the wedding, and before that you were busy dating that James guy. You looked happy, and I didn’t want to screw that up for you if he was who you wanted.”
James… Sweet, safe, snooze-worthy James. James was everything she was looking for in a man. Smart, handsome, kind. She’d imagined a future with someone like him, but when things began to get serious she’d had to end it. Because all she could see was a future of long boring nights with a man who wasn’t the man for her. “You moved home two weeks after I broke up with him.”
Max nodded in agreement, seemingly pleased she’d realized the significance.
“I was missing out on everything I wanted, and the longer I stayed away, the more chance there was of us never being together. I didn’t want to push you, but haven’t you wondered why Em’s been getting us together so much.”
Em. Oh, sweet, Em. “I just thought it was because of the wedding preparations. Max…” she whispered, awestruck by the overwhelming awareness of it all.
He slid his hand along her jaw and tugged her close, until his lips brushed hers when he spoke.
“I know what I want. I know who I want. Now it’s up to you. I want you, Chloe. Only you. Always you. Crazy as it sounds to show up here for Em’s wedding and spring this on you, I couldn’t think of a better time or a more beautiful place finally tell you how I feel.”
She couldn’t stop the smile forming on her lips anymore than she could keep from closing the distance between them and throwing herself in his arms, dragging his head down to hers for a voracious kiss.
Max bent and lifted her up, sliding her along his hard body. It seemed only natural to curl her legs around him, to cant her hips so that she could feel the bulge hardening beneath his slacks.
Max tore his mouth from hers and groaned.
“No chair here, sweetheart. Sand only. Besides, no proper maiden would let herself be taken in the open night.”
Her eyes widened at the mention of her fantasy and she lifted her face toward his, trying to adopt a haughty, appropriately shocked expression. “Indeed they wouldn’t. Let go.”
“I don’t think that’s what you want,” her pirate Max countered. “Come here, wench.”
With a muffled shriek, she turned and sprinted down the beach, struggling to control her laughter and gain more distance from the hotel, even while her body warmed in anticipation.
Max let her stay a step or two ahead of him, playfully reaching out to snag her arm only to “slip” so she could get away. The game lasted a few minutes, until she was breathless and slowing to a jog.
That was all the encouragement Max needed. He closed the distance between them and swept her up, holding her high against his chest while he carried her away from the edge of the shore to the edge of the dunes. He lowered her to the sand, making sure her long skirt protected her intimate places. She kept up the pretense of the fantasy, struggling a bit while he stripped her of panties.
“Nothing will keep me from my reward, wench.”
Max shouldered his way between her thighs and promptly tongued her clit, ending any comeback she might have made.
She dug her toes into the sand, the sky above twinkling with stars and the half-moon, the surf in her ears. Her pirate loving her in the most intimate of ways, his mouth suckling her, flicking her clit before venturing low and probing her entry with breath-stealing lunges that tormented and teased until she lifted her hips. “Please.”
His big hands gripped her outer thighs and held her still while he played her, his lips pulling at her clit again and again until she was soaked and dripping, desperate with need.
“Say the words I want to hear, wench.”
She knew what he wanted, knew she couldn’t deny him. And why would she when she wanted to be his? But the fantasy… “Make me.”
Max lightly smacked her hip for her response and closed his lips around her again, suckling hard, every draw of his mouth ravaging her senses.
Oooh, it felt good. His head was buried in her mound, his lips sucking on her with no sign of stopping. But stop he did. Again and again and again just when she was about to shoot into the stars above them. “Yes,” she said simply, wondering how long it would take for him to comprehend the meaning behind the single word.
Apparently Max still had enough blood left in his brain to understand the significance because he stilled and lifted his head.
“Yes—Yes, what, love?”
“Yes. I love you.”
The growl Max released was purely animalistic. The sound sent a shiver through her, but that was nothing compared to the way she felt when he freed his cock and surged into her, her body so slick he slid home with one thrust.
“You love me. Almost as much as I love you. Which is why you’ll marry me.”
It wasn’t so much a statement as an order. One she couldn’t deny. Not when the last two weeks had been the best two weeks of her life.
She smiled into his eyes, her body full of Max’s pillaging, plundering cock, and her heart full of love. “Yes. I will.”
OTHER TITLES BY NICOLETTE LYONS
THE HONEYMOON DIARIES COMPLETE COLLECTION
VIRGIN HONEYMOON
HONEYMOON AT HOME
HONEYMOON AT HOME II
HONEYMOOND ROAD TRIP
HONEYMOON HOLIDAYS
HONEYMOON FANTASIES
AUTHOR BIO
Nicolette Lyons is a southern girl who likes sweet tea, shopping, and sitting on the beach reading hot, steamy romance that doesn’t take God’s name in vain, or mistake physical abuse as “sensuality”. If you enjoyed this erotic short story, please consider leaving a review.
Her Best Friend's Brother Page 7
