Seduce Me (14 page)

Max let out a breath and just held the space for a minute. He hadn’t even realized how badly he’d needed to keep hearing that his father was proud of him. And he’d made a good point. Everyone in the system deserved the best representation possible. The process didn’t always work for the good of the people, but he’d known that going in.

He just hoped that occasionally he’d be on the white-hat side of things. And he wished he had a few of those victories under his belt now. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Don’t forget that you have lots of options. Practicing a different kind of law. Opening your own storefront. I’m not saying you can’t be with the big fish, Max, because we both know that’s not true, but consider the life you want, not just the job.”

Max knew what his father was saying, but the time to make his big move was now. Who was to say he would ever get an opportunity like this again? “I won’t make my final decision without giving it a great deal of thought. I promise.”

“Good to hear. You been talking to your brother?”

“Not as often as I should.”

“Well? I’m pretty sure he’s still awake. Why don’t you call him, make it a home run instead of a double?”

Max needed the chuckle. His dad had always been bad at sports analogies. “I think I will.”

“Take care of yourself. Remember when you’re talking to Mike that your mother expects us to have dinner as a family before you get swallowed up by work again. And call if you want to hash things out some more. I’ve got to go take care of the darned leaky pipe under the sink, or your mother’s going to skin me.”

Max said goodbye, finished his beer and dialed his brother’s number.

14

T
UESDAY
GAME
NIGHT
at her place had seemed like the perfect way to shift things from incendiary to cozy. Now that Natalie had had time to think about Max’s job and what it meant, she’d come to a few realizations. One of them was that he was already a friend. She hoped it would last, but that would only have a chance if she stopped expecting him to be perfect—and if they expanded their relationship beyond sex and talk of films. This evening was a step in that direction. Especially because he hadn’t been thrilled with the idea, but he’d been happy to spend time with her no matter the circumstances.

Max had been the first to show up at her place. They’d had a brief but intense make-out session, then cooled down when Fred and Tony had arrived, but that didn’t mean the rest of the evening hadn’t been interesting.

Max didn’t look at the Scrabble board in the traditional way. His highest scores were gained by the clever use of suffixes. Some that completely changed the meaning of the original word. Which didn’t please Fred at all. Her wonderful tenant was fiercely competitive when it came to the game, and he hadn’t counted on losing.

Tony, Fred’s date, had been an excellent fourth. He taught chemistry at a midtown high school. Even before Fred and Tony had become lovers, Tony had joined them for game night several times. His focus was more on the conversation than accumulating points. “So tell me something I don’t know about you, Natalie,” he said as he proceeded to clean up the game board.

“Okay,” she said, guiding Max to the couch. “You know I grew up in the Bowery, and I worked at the Bowery Ballroom as a bartender all through college. It was good. Mostly I liked the music, but it didn’t do my hearing any favors. Those bands are loud.”

Max seemed stunned at the revelation, although she had no idea why.

“What?” She frowned at his odd look. “It was down the block from my house. I needed a job that left me free for classes.”

“I figured you’d worked in a library,” he said. “Actually, I can’t imagine you anywhere but at Omnibus.”

They were sitting close together, his arm around her shoulder, her legs curled up beside her. She tugged his hair. “Hey. I have hidden depths.”

He smiled as he studied her. “You certainly do. I imagine it will take me a long time to uncover them all.”

The words alone were enough to send her heart racing, but she curbed her enthusiasm because she’d promised Fred there’d be no flirting, and definitely no hanky-panky while they were all together. “Your turn, Max,” she said. “Tell us something surprising. And deep. Don’t skimp on the deep.”

“Wait a minute.” Max reared back to give her a long look. “Deep? Working as a bartender isn’t deep. Now, if you’d run off to Russia with a bass player and lived off vodka and starry nights,
that
would be deep.”

She blinked at him. “Vodka and starry nights? Impressive. Go ahead,” she said. “Show us how it’s done.”

“When am I going to learn to keep my mouth shut?” His eyes narrowed as he thought. Then his gaze drifted a bit and she could tell he was seriously thinking about what to say. “When we were little, my twin brother Mike was hit by a car. We were seven, and it was bad. I have very spotty memories, but mostly I remember being terrified that I’d done something wrong. I hadn’t even been outside when he was hurt, but my parents were so scared it rubbed off on me.”

Natalie curled her fingers in between his. It twisted something inside her to hear his story. He’d jumped into the deep end, all right. The mood in the room had changed. Fred and Tony had grown still at the folding table they’d played on and no one was touching the excellent scotch that Tony had brought.

“Mike and I were comic book freaks.” Max smiled as if he were halfway back to age seven. “We came by it honestly, though, because my dad was a collector. We’d grown up on superheroes. I was Superman and Mike was Batman, and not only on Halloween. On the day of Mike’s surgery, I put on my costume and put Mike’s into his backpack and I told my dad that we needed to go to the hospital and make sure Mike was Batman so that he’d be okay.”

The image was so clear, Natalie’s heart melted. “Oh, God, that’s the sweetest thing ever.”

Fred rolled his eyes at the same time he nodded, and Tony leaned his shoulder against his boyfriend’s.

“Dad told me Mike couldn’t wear his costume at the hospital, and I got really upset. So
he
put on Mike’s black cape, his tool belt and a Batman mask he’d worn the year before to take us trick-or-treating. We went to the hospital like that. Sat in the waiting room for hours as he read me one comic after another. Mike got through the surgery just fine. He’s got a couple of hefty scars and he limps when he’s overtired, but altogether, he got lucky.”

“That right there is one hell of a dad,” Fred said.

Natalie nodded. She wanted to be closer to Max, but they were already pressed against each other. “What an amazing memory. And your dad, what a great role model.”

“Yeah, he was. Is. He’s still the person I go to for advice when things get hard.”

“My father was not a hero of any kind,” Fred said. “In fact, we haven’t spoken since I was seventeen, and I don’t intend to change that. Ever.”

“Oh, man.” Tony frowned. “I had it easy with my pop. He died a couple of years ago, but he was cool with who I am. I mean, he didn’t freak out or anything when he found out I wanted to be a chemistry teacher.”

The laughter felt good. The whole evening had. She’d been worried that she’d feel differently about Max since reading about the tort case, but there was so much to honestly like about the man that she couldn’t see making a big deal out of his work decisions. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to bring it up anymore.

His story had been gorgeous. Just the thought that he’d chosen that to share showed her so much about what a fine, secure man he was. Any friendship with him would be richly rewarding. But also very difficult. Tonight had just reinforced the fact that he was exactly the kind of man she wanted as the father of her children.

Maybe the whole problem would be solved when they were forced to be apart more, after he went back to work. She’d have time to get over this little honeymoon of theirs and get serious about a realistic man to date.

“What’s your dad like, Natalie?” Tony went to the mantel where he’d put the scotch and poured for himself and Fred. She passed, and so did Max.

“He was nice, although I didn’t know him well. Very obsessed with his music. He was a professional cellist, and he spent a great deal of time playing. And he was older. Forty-seven when they had me. Honestly, he wasn’t around a lot. My mother basically raised me.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Max said. “I was lucky.”

Natalie rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, basking in the closeness of their bodies, of the strength of his arm around her. But it was late, and the mess from the evening had to be put to rights.

Somehow it ended up being Max and Tony who tackled the folding table and chairs while Fred grabbed the last of the dishes and met Natalie in the kitchen, where she was already running the hot water in the sink.

“I swear,” Fred said, keeping his voice low, “that story about the costumes nearly killed me. I love that he talks about his family like that.”

“Tony’s great, too.”

“Yeah, he is. I like him a lot. But Max? So far I’ve been impressed with everything I’ve seen. He’s special, kiddo. And you know I don’t say that easily.”

She busied herself scrubbing a dessert plate. “He’s not as perfect as all that,” she said. “But that’s okay, because being with someone perfect would get real old, real quick. Besides, the deal hasn’t changed. Once he’s back to being Super Attorney, I’ll be lucky if I see him once every couple of months.”

“I don’t think so. I think that excuse was him hedging his bet before he knew you.”

“Nope.” She put the last of the plates in the drainer. “He really is going to be swallowed by his work. This has been more like a vacation fling than anything else. And he’s given me something to shoot for that isn’t simply ‘better than Oliver.’”

“Good luck with that.” Fred picked up a dish towel, and then put it back down. “Oh, God. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“Yes, you did. It’s not as if I haven’t already realized how screwed I am. Still, there’s always hope.”

“Of course there is,” he said, although the look on his face certainly didn’t show it. “Hey, if he’s done nothing else, I know he’s changed how you feel about yourself, and that’s worth a hell of a lot.”

“That’s true. I am more confident. And I have better underwear.”

Fred fist-bumped her as they were joined by Tony and Max. “As I was saying,” Fred said archly, “I really hate that your boyfriend won, because I’m supposed to be the king of Scrabble, but I’ll do my best to recover my pride and move on.” He faced the winner with narrowed eyes. “Next time we’re playing Dungeons & Dragons, and I’d like to see you win that one, Mr. Triple Word Score.”

Max laughed. It was nice. The goodbyes continued as they walked to the door. Once it was closed and locked, Max pushed her back against the wood and kissed her. It made her blood heat and stilled her mind until there was only one place she wanted to be.

There were dishes to be put away, but she ignored them. Dropping clothes like breadcrumbs, they kissed the whole way down the hall and by the time they were between the sheets, there was no part of her that wasn’t ready. She didn’t want to waste a minute.

* * *

S
IX
-
THIRTY
SHOULD
have been too damn early to feel this good, but Max had two fingers inside Natalie, who was straddling him, even though she was barely awake. Her head was resting on his chest, and her mix of sleepy, slow and mussed up made everything right with the world.

“What are we doing?” she asked, her words slurred and her hand flailing at her hair, only for her curls to win again as she moved her hips so his fingers could go deeper. She wasn’t doing a very good job of it. Mostly letting him do all the work, but that was fine. Better than fine.

“We’re waking up,” he said. “With sex. And for the record, you climbed on top of me.”

“Ah,” she said as she closed her eyes. “I’m very clever. This feels wonderful.”

“I know. Wait till it’s more than fingers.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Okay. Oh!”

Because sometimes he was a freaking genius, he’d already taken a condom out of the packet. Unfortunately, he had to help Natalie sit up on her own in order to put the damn thing on. “Can you stay like that?”

“All right,” she said.

He let go.

She fell forward just enough to block any possibility of him reaching his cock.

He tried again. This time letting go of her at a different angle, and waiting to see if it was going to be possible at all.

Instead of trying to manage her hair, she anchored herself with a hand on his chest. He was able to slip underneath her and sheath himself. “Done,” he said.

“Wait. Already?”

“Not done with sex. Done with...it doesn’t matter. Maybe I should just let you sleep a little longer.”

“No. Don’t do that.” She wiggled her butt. “I like you a lot better than my alarm clock.”

A little shift of his hips, a hand to keep her steady, and there he was in position. He took his time entering her, and when she squeezed him and moaned, the world became better than ever.

“Max. Max. Wait.”

He froze. “Is something wrong?”

“No. I need to—” She flipped her head back, and finally he could see her beautiful face, her half-lidded eyes and the flush across her cheeks. “There we go,” she said. “Carry on.”

He laughed, and they both jiggled, but then he pushed in and she tightened her muscles and there was no room for anything else as the hot wet heat of her surrounded him, and she sat up and arched her back.

Last night after they’d hit the sheets had been fast and furious and hotter than hell. They’d attacked each other like heathens. He’d thrown her legs over his shoulders and if the guys downstairs hadn’t heard them, then they weren’t trying, because she’d been loud.

Now it was all slow motion and small movements. The way her upper teeth gripped her lower lip, making it pale until she opened her mouth. Watching her lip plump back to pink was maddeningly erotic.

Her nipples were stiff and puckered, and the temptation to suck them was agony. But he held off in order to take in the stretch of her neck, the flush spreading across her chest. The flutter of her tummy, and the low groan when he finally bottomed out.

“Faster,” she said, adjusting her knees until she could balance without touching him. Her index finger moved in a straight line down from her sternum, past her belly button, to her clit. “More,” she whispered, touching herself.

God knew he tried to hold out, but watching her... He finished before she did. Thankfully, not by much.

After she finished coming, she flopped down next to him as though someone had cut her strings. They lay beside each other, panting, too wasted to move, even though he wanted to look at her.

“Natalie.”

“What?”

“Is today one of your days off?”

She moaned as she smooshed her face against his arm. “We could have slept in.”

“Are you sorry we didn’t?”

She raised herself up just enough that he could see her smile. “Nope.”

He turned more onto his side. “Friday night,” he said. “Come with me.”

“Huh?”

“There’s a party. On a yacht moored at Chelsea Pier. It’s kind of dressy and there’ll be cocktails and a lot of lawyers. Come with me.”

“That’s an interview. You’ll be working.”

“Yes and no. It’s not really an interview, not in the traditional sense. I’ve wanted you to come before, but this one will be nicer. The yacht’s big. There’ll be a live band. I’ll have to leave you a little bit, but not for long.”

“I’ll be a distraction.”

This time she sat all the way up and by the look she gave him, she was wide-awake.

“I’d like you to come. But whatever you decide is fine.”