Courage in the Kiss (10 page)

The drive back to the house was tense, while Hadley listened to the news and Maxx kept up that stony, awkward silence.

She didn’t know what to say, so chose to keep her mouth shut. This was, after all, her fault. She’d never learned to keep her opinions to herself or remember that, when talking to Micah, Maxx, or Emerson, she was actually talking to her employers.

The engine purred softly as Maxx drove it into the garage and stopped. He got out of the car without a word and headed for the boot, to extract the shopping bags.

Hadley followed, accepting the bags he handed her without argument, though he didn’t look at her as he did it. Digging the key out of her pocket with one hand, she held the bags in the other and unlocked the door leading from the garage to the hallway. Then it was a short two minute walk down a corridor, into the kitchen.

Maxx arrived right behind her and set about unpacking, while she thought of what she could say to break the tension. This was a ridiculous thing to argue about, but she
had
just put his plans for a casual fling in jeopardy.

When the last of the freezer foods had been put away and all that was left were cupboard items, Hadley was surprised by the hand that grasped hers. She’d been reaching for the bread when Maxx diverted her hand and brought it to rest on his chest.

A second later, he was kissing her again.

Her head spun, just at the very thought of how tender and lingering the kiss was, without acknowledging that he didn’t seem all that angry with her after all. Hadley responded with a brief participation in the kiss, before backing away.

“Do you even realise how sexy you are, when you threaten me?” Maxx asked, much to her amazement. Then he kissed her again, cutting off any chance of a reply. One hand swept into her hair, cupping her head, as the other slid around her waist and pulled her body tight against his.

Hadley closed her eyes to the teasing brush of his tongue against hers, as fingers walked up her back and began undoing the zip of her dress. When Maxx’s mouth left hers, to trail down her neck in soft, tormenting motions, she braved using her voice for something other than moaning.

“What...are you...doing?” she asked, struggling to breathe evenly as the cold kitchen air gradually tickled her spine.

“This is what I want from you, Had,” Maxx told her in a whisper. “I want the fire and heat of who you are,” he said, nipping the sensitive skin over her rapidly beating pulse. “Not some submissive creature that will do anything I ask. I want your honesty and,” lips sucked on the lobe of her ear, “I want you to take what you want.”

A shiver went up her spine with those last few words.
What you want.
What was it she wanted? Unconditional, everlasting love? Sure, but he wasn’t offering that. Smouldering sex and flames flickering over every nerve in her body; that’s what he was asking from her.

Hadley gently pushed his chest and put some distance between them, to figure out what she wanted and – more importantly – what she could deal with.

Maxx waited, patiently, for her decision. He never took his eyes off her, as she walked to the kitchen door and into the hallway.

She wasn’t sure what she’d decided, but she figured she was about to find out.

As soon as Hadley walked into the hallway, she couldn’t stop the tingles that taunted her skin. The way he’d looked at her had practically made her get on her knees and beg him to make love to her again.

Her mind was locked in a dream world of fantasies, some that had the chance to become reality and some that could never be. She barely even heard the footsteps behind her, as she crossed to the stairs.

“Hadley,” Maxx’s playful, beckoning voice sent a new series of shivers through her, as she turned on the bottom step to find him right in front of her, “why do you tease me so much when you know how much I want you?” he asked in a sigh, as he kissed her softly.

“Who said I was teasing?” Her voice was barely a whisper, but Maxx heard her words as clear as day.

He reacted instantly; kissing her and coaxing an urgent response from Hadley. She’d never been this reckless before, never followed her gut instincts rather than thinking everything through to the last detail.

This time, she wouldn’t hesitate to do exactly what Maxx had said; go after what she really wanted. And that was him.

She opened her mouth hungrily against his, wanting nothing more than to have him all to herself with no interruptions.

Their passion took hold of them as Hadley absent-mindedly began to unbutton Maxx’s shirt and ran her hands from his chest to around his neck, pulling herself further into his kisses.

All other thoughts eluded her, as Maxx pulled back from their kiss and looked into her eyes.

Hadley could barely control her breathing, as she took his hand and started climbing the stairs. Before they’d even reached the top, Maxx re-initiated their kiss, as they stumbled up the last few steps.

Maxx backed her up against the wall opposite the stairs.

Hadley slipped her hands inside his open shirt and slid it off his shoulders. She smiled, as Maxx helped, letting it fall to the floor, before replacing his hands on her hips, pulling her into his body.

She breathed erratically as she began to undo his belt. She dropped it onto the floor, looking into his eyes as she pulled down the zip on his trousers. There was a hoarse moan from the back of his throat, and then his mouth caught hers in an intense, fiery kiss.

Maxx’s hands roamed over her body, pushing her dress to her hips and letting it lie where it fell.

There was the sound of the front door opening and laughter from the hallway. It sounded like Micah and Rowan were back.

Hadley was too caught up in the way she felt for Maxx to care. When she felt him hesitate on his way toward his bedroom, she broke the kiss. “Don’t even think about it,” she threatened playfully.

“I was about to say the same to you,” he said with a laugh. “Maybe we could practice that whole keeping you quiet thing?” he suggested with a wink.

Taking her hand, Hadley couldn’t take her eyes off him as Maxx led her into his bedroom. She was so in love with him, and she was already going crazy with wanting him, but now he had to make it worse by teasing and tempting her, with little tastes of what was to come.

Shutting the door behind him, Hadley felt like he’d shut out the entire world and escaped somewhere they could finally be alone. The second he pulled her back into his body and began to kiss and caress her, that world and everything about it looked better and better, beckoning her to give into his whim. She wanted to fall so far into what Maxx offered that they could never escape and she wouldn’t have to acknowledge that it wasn’t real.

That it could never be real.

Hadley woke to an unfamiliar buzzing, at what must have been the middle of the night.

After their afternoon tryst, they’d appeared in the games room, to find Micah locked in a military battle with Rowan, on one of the consoles. They’d lied, when he asked where they’d been, and said they’d been out shopping. They just hadn’t said
when
.

Maxx left for his meeting at two o’clock and Hadley had gone around the house, cleaning in a nervous state. She’d had a strange sense of something being wrong all day and couldn’t pin point what it was, except that she’d gone against her conscience and become a fling to suit Maxx’s whims.

Now, she realised that it was the phone ringing. Whatever lay on the other side of that phone call was the reason for her sense of apprehension.

Maxx moaned beside her, and blindly reached out to the bedside table. He grabbed his phone and the screen flickered to life after a second, illuminating the whole room. When she turned over, seeing two fifteen on the screen, she caught Maxx putting it down and reaching for the house phone.

That was even more ominous.

Everyone knew that Maxx didn’t do business through the house phone, and that Emerson had gone to the cabin for a few days. Nothing good could come of this phone call.

“What?” Maxx grumbled into the phone, sleepily.

Hadley sat up and opened the beside drawer on her side, trying to find a pen and paper. When she couldn’t find anything, she reached across Maxx’s still body and grabbed his phone.

“Barnabas, slow down. You’re not making any sense,” Maxx objected, waiting until she sat back on her side of the double bed, before moving to sit up. He leaned back on the headboard and flicked on the bedside lamp, before rubbing the bridge of his nose, wearily. “Right.” He nodded and turned Hadley’s way, gesturing to the phone with his thumb up.

She brought up the note app on his phone and began typing, as he spoke.

“He’s at Silver Grove A&E, okay,” he said, nodding and raking his free hand through his ruffled hair. Then Maxx rolled his eyes and went on. “They think it’s stress related. I see. Yeah, I’ll get over there and see him as soon as I can. No, don’t worry. I’ll take care of the paperwork,” he promised.

Hadley didn’t know what to do but keep typing, hoping that Maxx would explain more once he got off the phone.

“Yeah, thanks for calling. You did the right thing,” he said, clearly trying to reassure Barnabas that neither of them cared that he’d woken them. When Maxx hung up a moment later, he took a deep breath and ran both hands over his face.

“I’ll make you coffee and grab some snacks, in case you want to stay a while,” she offered before he could speak. Hadley knew this was the last thing he needed, but she couldn’t help but feel guilty. Had this happened because of her refusal to be adopted by Emerson, or because he’d officially retired?

Was this her fault?

“Thanks, baby,” Maxx replied, the pet name rolling off his tongue so easily that it made her stop as she threw back the covers. “You want to come with me, now that you’re awake?” he offered, already out of bed and reaching for his clothes.

Hadley made the mistake of looking his way and getting a full view of that glorious backside, naked and reminding her of his request. While Emerson wasn’t home, Maxx had asked her to sleep in his bed, winking as he suggested that she’d probably end up there, anyway.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” she admitted, only to hear a creak from the hallway. “But maybe I should stay with Micah? If he wakes, from the phone call, he might panic if we’re both gone,” she warned him.

Maxx was nodding, while yawning, when he turned and fastened his trousers. “Great plan. I wouldn’t want him freaking out,” he agreed. Then he grabbed a shirt and threw it on, while crossing the room to her side of the bed. “You stay with him and I’ll grab coffee and a snack at the hospital,” he said, absently ducking in to kiss her quickly before leaving the room.

Hadley slammed her fist on the bed. God, that man was so infuriating! One minute, he wanted nothing but a fling from her, the next he was seducing every stitch of clothing from her body. He’d asked her to sleep in his bed, without expectations of what it might lead to, and was now kissing her goodbye. Yet, he’d made it clear that a relationship wasn’t on the cards.

With a groan, she pushed her confusion aside and slipped out of bed in the nightdress she’d worn when climbing in. Maxx had whipped off her underwear, at one point, but insisted that it was sexy to feel the silk nightie against his skin while he was ‘fucking’ her.

That damned word again.

“Shut it,” Hadley whispered to herself, frustrated that her mind was in knots, for an entirely new reason. Taking a calming breath, she snuck out of the room and back to her own, to change into pyjamas and underwear in preparation for Micah waking up.

Maxx was already in the downstairs hallway as she reached the top of the stairs, and that was when she realised he’d forgotten something.

“Maxx,” she hissed, trying to whisper but be heard, while not waking Micah.

He looked her way, sleepily, with more confusion than was good for him this late at night.

Hadley held her finger up, asking him to wait a minute and rushed back into his room to grab his mobile. She ran downstairs, in her bare feet, and pressed it into his hand. “You forgot this. And, please don’t drive,” she asked, since he’d been rudely woken after just a few hours sleep. “Call a taxi. That gives me time to make you a coffee before you leave,” she reasoned.

Maxx smiled; this time it was less cocky and more lazily adorable. “You’re an angel,” he said, wrapping his arm around her and drawing her in for a kiss. “That sounds like a great plan. And, might I just say, that I’m kind of loving this look on you,” he admitted, with a short laugh.

Hadley smacked his arm lightly for the teasing. Her pyjamas were an early birthday gift from Micah, from two weeks ago. He’d bought them when he had the money, but knew he was no good at keeping presents for the actual date, so he gave them to her early. A pair of red and blue, comic book inspired pyjamas weren’t exactly the first choice for a girl’s birthday, but they suited her to a tee.

“These are from Micah, right?” he asked, looking her over.

She nodded and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I didn’t know you liked comic books,” Maxx commented thoughtfully.

Hadley took his hand and led him toward the kitchen, where she’d make him some strong coffee to wake him up. “I like all sorts of books. Anything that has a good story,” she explained, sitting him on a stool at the table.

Maxx lay both elbows on the tabletop and started pressing buttons on his phone. When he found what he wanted, he put it to his ear and ordered a taxi to take him to the hospital. “They’ll be here in ten minutes,” he explained.

She nodded her reply, knowing that they were a little out of the way. That had been Emerson’s intention when he bought the house, which was fine for getting to the local village, but it made it inconvenient for going into the city.

Maxx sighed and rested his head in his hands, looking exhausted. “I have a collection of classic comics still stashed away in the attic from my younger days. You think Micah would like them?” he wondered, sounding oddly nostalgic and caring.

She didn’t answer for a long time, as she made coffee and thought over his offer. He and Micah hadn’t been close these last few years, with Micah knuckling down to study hard and Maxx always travelling out of town on business. It wasn’t easy to keep up the close brotherly dynamic.

“Yes,” she replied, deciding that it might do them good. Not only would it give them something to talk about, for once, but they might even reconnect over it. “I really think he’d appreciate that.”

“Good. I’ll dig them out later this week,” he promised, though she noticed his eyelids drooped.

Hadley tried to keep quiet, as she prepared the coffee, made from real coffee beans just the way he liked it, and then put it into a hot flask for him.

She heard the gravel mulching under the taxi tyres, then caught a bright flash of light as it arched into the driveway, its headlights on. “Maxx...” she whispered, gently touching his arm to wake him.

He hummed and opened his eyes again.

“The taxi’s here,” she explained, thankful that he’d agreed not to drive to the hospital himself. “Here’s your coffee. Are you sure you don’t want to wait until morning to visit your father? It’s so late, and they might not let you in,” she warned.

Maxx nodded and accepted the coffee flask with a smile. “No, I have to go. Barnabas is waiting with him until I arrive, because they need paperwork filled out about Dad’s medical history. Barnabas doesn’t know, and Dad keeps telling them it’s pointless, because he’s fine,” he explained, with a look that spoke volumes.

Hadley nodded, but didn’t comment. There was no point; Emerson would never change. He’d hated hospitals ever since Eloise died.

This time, he had no choice.