His End Game (MMG #1) (35 page)

Get some control here Ellie
.

He wiped his eyes with the bottom of his shirt. “I used some of the money my mom left me to attend Centre College in Danville where I graduated with a degree in business. Right before I graduated, my boss at the garage decided to retire. I used the rest of that money to buy him out. Slowly, I built the business and now I have MMG’s all over the south. In fact, I just bought Benny’s. I was thinking that this might be my final expansion and maybe I would settle down here and grow some roots.”

“MMG?”

“It stands for Max McLellan’s Garage. For the past five years I have been known as Jack Barnett. I named my first garage
MMG because I couldn’t name it McLellan’s. Seeing that sign sitting above that garage every day helped me remember who I was and where I wanted to be.”

“What made you come back here now?”

He frowned. “Do you even have to ask that?” When I failed to answer, he shook his head. “Sarah and I were told that we couldn’t step foot back in North Carolina until they had Rocky and all of his guys in custody. They got them one by one throughout the years, but Rocky always slipped the noose. Finally, last month the FBI told us that they were close.”

Something had been bugging me and, finally, it clicked. “Do you by chance know Garrett Lanier?”

He blinked and then glanced away.

I knew it!

“He was never my friend was he?” I tried to keep the hurt out of my voice.

The contemplative look on his face told me all I needed to know. “Garrett Lanier and I go way back and, no, he wasn’t supposed to be your friend.”

“Oh.” This really hurt my feelings.

“As soon as I found out that they had found Rocky, I sent Garrett here to keep an eye on you and Kurt.”

“Who is he…really?”

“He owns a contract security company. We have been friends since college.”

“Wow… so you paid him to watch me?”

“In a sense. We trade favors and he owed me one.”

It would take a while to process this
.

Waving my hand, I told him to continue.

He eyed me speculatively for a minute and then continued with the story. “I had to leave you last week to go testify. Rocky is in for life and we have officially been released from witness protection.” Reaching up, he grabbed a strand of my hair. “There
is nothing in the world that could have stopped me from coming back to you,” he murmured. His sexy blue eyes were eating me up. Realizing that I had put distance between us, he reached over and pulled me onto his lap.

“How did you know I wasn’t married? I could have been married and had six kids by now?”

“I became really good friends with the agents who have watched over you for the past five years.”

My eyes narrowed when he said this. “How good of friends?”

He laughed. “Relax babe, there was only one female agent and she was married with two kids.”

“So, you spied on me?”

“I wouldn’t call it spying exactly. I did, however, make some deals. If they kept me informed as to how you were doing, I would service all of their personal vehicles for free.”

“Oh, you bribed them then?”

“If that’s how you want to see it, yes. They made me walk away from the love of my life and, as if that wasn’t enough, they made sure that I couldn’t communicate with her for five fucking years. All because they couldn’t do their jobs and catch the fucker who killed my dad and wanted my little sister. The least they could do was tell me how you were doing. It’s how I survived. Hearing about you and what you were doing was the only thing that kept me going,” he shrugged unapologetically.

I never thought that I would hear these things from him. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that he would actually come back to me. “I have so many questions running through my head, like how you built your business. Where did you start? How did you expand? I want to hear all about Sarah. How is she? Where is she? What is she doing?”

“Sarah is great. She just finished high-school and we decided that the safest place for her to be was out of the country. So we researched and got her into Napier University in Edinburgh.”

My eyes widened. “Cool. Maybe I can go visit her?”

“Not without me, you won’t,” he seductively whispered. This sent chills racing through my body. Chuckling at my reaction, he began telling me about his business. “After I bought the garage I worked night and day until it could basically run itself. This only took a few months. Then I focused on a business plan to quickly expand. I had the money to open a second shop but didn’t want it in Kentucky. I talked the agency into letting me open another MMG in Tennessee. The location was close enough that I could travel back and forth by car or motorcycle. They agreed as long as I was willing to alter my looks. Fifteen pounds of muscle, a beard, much longer hair and I was ready to go. I bought a Harley and made sure that I was in tight with the locals in the area. By that time Sarah was forming her own life. She didn’t need me as much anymore, not at least, like she did when she was a kid. Still, I didn’t want to be too far away from her. It took me a few months to have the Tennessee garage up and running. After that, I scouted and found one in Mississippi, then Louisiana and last, Texas. My plan is to buy garages that don’t need too much work done for as little money as possible. I needed to find someone to manage each garage so that I didn’t have to be there every day. This is how I met my manager, Nolen. Originally, he worked with Garrett, but Garrett wasn’t looking to expand out of Kentucky at that time. Nolen’s degree was business management and, since Garrett ran his own business, Nolan was pretty much twiddling his thumbs and wasting his time.

“So, since you needed a manager, you hired him,” I finished.

“Exactly. He helps screen and hire dependable people for all of my garages. My goal was always to come back to Charlotte, to you. You asked how I knew that you weren’t married. That was something I thought about all the time. I knew that there was a chance that eventually you would move on without me,
but something inside me just couldn’t give up on the dream of us. My deal with our protection detail and their weekly reports were the only thing that kept me sane.”

“Gee, my own personal stalkers,” I dryly replied. I wanted to hear more but was tired. We had been talking for hours.

Sensing this, Max asked, “Why don’t we try and get some sleep? We have the rest of our lives to play catch up. Sit up and let me get these clothes off of you. He stripped off my shirt and jeans, leaving me in my pretty black lace bra and matching panties. “God, I dreamt about this body,” he hummed as he unclasped my bra. Leaning his head down, he gently took my nipple into his mouth and I moaned in pleasure. He then crawled out of the bed and quickly shed his clothing.

Just the sight of him made my mouth water. His chest was twice as broad as I remembered and his stomach muscles looked like they came straight out of a hot guy magazine. I reached out to touch him. “Hmmm, I see you still don’t like to wear underwear.” “Not yet,” he whispered, pulling out of my reach. Cupping my face in his hands, he leaned down and gently kissed my lips. His fingers reverently stroked a path of pleasure down my neck and over my breasts. They stopped there for a minute as he rolled my nipples, sending chills straight to my core. Leaving my breasts wanting, they continued down my stomach to my waist. I felt a tug and my panties break free. His hands always felt like magic.

“Please Max,” I whimpered.

“Just a minute more.”

I groaned in frustration when he took his hands away, only to sigh as he replaced them with his mouth. In no time, he had me shouting my orgasm.

Crawling back up my body, he straddled my waist. “Now, before we go any further,” he admonished, “I need you to know
that I am clean. In fact, my last test was just a couple of months ago. If you want to see it, you can.”

This threw me.

Do I want to see it? Has he been with other women? It’s Max we’re talking about, Ellie. Does a bear shit in the woods? Of course he has, but that doesn’t mean I want to hear all about it
.

I really didn’t want to ruin the moment so I blew off my concerns…. for now. “I believe you,” I breathily told him.

Looking down at me, he flashed a sexy grin. “Good. Now, since you are so tired, I promise to be quick.”

I scrunched up my face and mumbled, “Don’t rush on my account.” He laughed and before I could tell him where to stick it, he slid down my body and planted a hot, hard kiss on my mouth.

“I’ve missed this mouth,” he whispered. Then, he kissed my neck. “And this neck.” Moving down, he kissed my left breast and then my right. “God knows how much I missed these.” I could feel his smile against my skin and couldn’t help but return it. I gasped when he hit my stomach. “I missed the smell of your skin,” he murmured.

Oh My
.

Holding my breath, I waited for him to move down that final notch. Instead, he started back up, causing me to whimper in distress. When he reached my mouth, he kissed me and, not being able to stand it any longer, I ignited. Our tongues clashing, I dug my hands into his hair and yanked. “I need you now, Max.” That was all it took. Like a huge wave, he slammed into me and took…me…down. The last thought that I had before passing out was that I would have waited a whole lifetime to have this man back.

A banging noise in the kitchen woke me up. I rolled over and moaned. My mouth was dry and my eyes felt like sand paper. Wondering how long I had slept, I glanced over at the clock.

Two hours. No wonder I feel like road kill
.

Taking in a deep breath, I smelled traces of Max on my pillow and froze.

Where’s Max
?

My stomach dipped. The side of the bed where he had slept was cold which let me know that he had been gone for a while. Hearing the deep timbre of his voice from the kitchen brought me back from the emotional ledge I was perched on.

Will I ever not be afraid of him leaving me again
?

I padded to the bathroom and smiled at the pleasant soreness between my thighs. I hadn’t felt this way since… he left.

The things we take for granted
.

Throwing on a long sleeved thermal and pajama pants, I slipped on my fuzzy slippers and was out the door in search of a cup of coffee. I hit the kitchen and stopped short, trying to wrap my brain around what I was seeing. Max was standing next to the refrigerator mixing something in a bowl. He was talking to Piper, who was parked on a barstool next to my dad.

“Ellie,” Piper said, slowly rising. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that Max had come home.” I let her words wash over me.

Max is home
.

Then, I noticed her face.

What the hell
?

Her face looked like she’d either been in a bad wreck or…a bad fight.

“Piper,” I whispered, walking over to her. “What happened? Who did this to you?” I pulled her into my arms and she flinched in pain. Rearing back, I yelled, “Oh my God, where else are you hurt?”

Smiling warily, she said, “I’m okay Ellie. This is actually good… compared.” My eyes bugged in horror and I glanced over at a concerned looking Max. Before I could say anything else, she stopped me. “Look, your dad and Max have already given me the third degree. Can we give it a rest for now?”

Not able to resist the pleading in her voice and eyes, I sighed. “Fine, I’ll drop it for now.” I wanted to cry.

Oh Piper, who has done this to you
?

Squeezing my arms, she pulled me in and whispered, “I’m so glad he’s back.” Then, letting me go, she gingerly sat back down.

During breakfast the story of the morning unfolded. Apparently my dad woke up at his regular five AM time and headed downstairs to make the first pot of coffee. When he hit the bottom step he caught movement from the sofa.

“I contemplated going back upstairs to get my gun, but thought it wouldn’t look good if I accidentally shot one of your friends, so I thought better.”

“You have a gun…in my house?”

Who is this man
?

“I own three but only have one of them here with me in Charlotte.” He then went on to explain how he crept up to the sofa and…

“Scared the living shit out of me,” Piper huffed. “I was lying there minding my own business and suddenly Rambo here is leaning over the sofa in my face. I opened my mouth to scream and he slapped his big paw over it.

Looking sorry, dad said, “Now Piper, I thought we were past this already.”

She gave him a smirk. “We are Sammy. I just got riled up in the re-tell.” I felt like I was following a bouncing ball as their conversation pinged back and forth.

Do I know these people
?

“Anyway,” Piper continued, “I knew Sam was staying here so I introduced myself and helped him make coffee.” Turning to me she said, “Ells, I forgot that your dad is a total DILF!” Max exploded into laughter.

At my confused look, Piper strait-faced. “DILF, you know, opposite of MILF. Dad I’d Like To…”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence Piper O’Connell,” I scolded, “you are talking about my
dad
here.”